Submit To One Another - Work

Sermon from CCM:Gorton
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LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Mim Ballard at the CCM:Gorton site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 11th March 2018.

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SERIES

This message was part of the ‘For Such a Time as This’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Gorton in late 2017. The full series included the following sermons:

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Ephesians 6:5-9

Bondservants and Masters

5Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

KEY POINTS

Work is any productive effort

  • Work is not just what you do to get paid, parents who stay at home looking after their children are working – it is a productive effort that is exhausting but leads to their good.
  • So this passage applies to us all, unless perhaps we are physically incapable, we are supposed to be working in some shape or form.
  • God intends us to work, it is just that our interpretation of the word ‘work’ has become limited.

Work is good

  • Work isn’t a result of sin, it isn’t something we have to do as a result of the fall. Work may be frustrating and may sometimes feel pointless but work as God intended it is good.
  • God is seen working in Genesis when He created the world. He is our first example of work.
  • Adam is put into an environment of work because he is told to take care of the garden of Eden. Gardening takes a lot of effort and involves care and attention.

Work is spiritual

  • Jesus came so that we could have life – abundant life – and have it to the full, which includes all our time spent working.
  • Every part of our lives are vital and important to God, and our work life is no different.
  • Adam didn’t work in a church, yet God was interested in his gardening, in his working of the soil.
  • All work matters to God, and God matters to all of your work.

Work as though we are working for Christ

  • Our attitide to work and our actions at work change when we realise we are working for Christ.
  • If we start serving God in our atitude to work rather than just our earthly masters and profit then we can be free of the futility and idolatry of work.

MORE SERMONS

To see more sermons from Christ Church Manchester, you can visit our sermons page, or why not consider subscribing on iTunes.