Luke 16:2
The Work Attributes
We continue with our study on character. Although I did not intend
on doing so in the beginning, it appears that I have grouped the
attributes of character into categories:
1. Foundational Attributes (wisdom, love, self control)
2. Gracious Attributes (gentleness, meekness, kindness)
3. Just Attributes (boldness, anger, righteousness)
4. People Attributes (Although I did not outline the sermon with
them, I mentioned respect, honor, and
integrity)
5. Work Attributes
Does God care about our work and workers? Yes.
1. Many everything Jesus said was either to or about a worker.
a. (planters, reapers, soldiers, workers, servants)
b. How many parables center on workers?
(1) \\#Luke 16:1-10\\ The wicked worker
(2) \\#Matt 20:1-15\\ The worker’s payment
(3) \\#Matt 25:14-30\\ The slothful worker
2. If Jesus was not talking to or about workers, He was talking
to or about employers - lords, nobles, princes, kings,
masters.
3. Most everyone that Jesus talked to, talked about, or helped
was either a worker or an employer of a worker.
Tonight, let’s look at some characteristics that are necessary to
make us good workers.
I. Let’s bust some work myths.
A. Work is NOT part of the curse.
1. God gave work in \\#Ge 2:15\\. The fall did not occur
until Genesis 3.
2. That means that work is not part of the curse. Work is
part of God’s blessed creation.
3. Through work, God gives us the opportunity for:
a. purpose
b. satisfaction
c. reward
B. There is no such thing as secular work.
1. In fact, there is no such thing as secular anything.
a. I am pretty much convinced that secular/scared are
divisions people created in an attempt to live less
than godly.
b. What is a secular job, music, or behavior?
2. Someone says, "I file papers" or "I drive a truck." "My
job is not secular?
a. Why is it secular?
b. Can God not call and bless a person who drives a truck
or wires a house?
3. I am not winning souls and teaching the Bible.
a. Maybe that is not your main focus, but should we not
all be helping people in one way or another?
b. One thing I do know, if you have a job that does not
honor God—or worse, that tears God down—you need a
different job!
4. If your job, work, or career is something that God can
bless, good. If not, you need to leave it.
5. Christians need to do as certain that God would have them
to do what they are doing the way they are doing it as
any pastor and missionary.
C. The problem a lot people have with work is that they are not
doing the work God created them to do.
1. Most people select their occupation either by:
a. The money it pays.
b. The opportunity they found.
c. Or both.
2. That is no more right for the "secular" worker than it is
for the pastor.
3. God created people for a purpose and blessed them with
gifts according to that purpose.
a. The more obvious your gift are, the more narrowed you
calling is likely to be.
b. Find the job you were created to do!
4. Every person must know that they are doing what God wants
them to do. Why? The same reason as a preacher or a
missionary!
a. That assurance that will motivate them to do their
work well and in a godly fashion.
b. It is also THAT assurance that will give them peace
and joy in their work.
II. What characteristics do we need to have when it comes to work?
A. Our work should glorify God.
1. This is THE major consideration when it comes to our work
and our job.
a. Our work must glorify God.
(1) As a minimum, 33% of our adult life is spent
asleep and 24% is spent at a job doing some kind
of work.
(2) How could we begin to think that where we spend
that much of time at and what we spend that much
of our time doing should not glorify God?
b. Anything we do, if it does not glorify God AND
especially if it detracts from God’s glory, we should
stop it.
1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink,
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of
God.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him.
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto men;
2. This is not just true of the saved. It is true of the
unsaved as well.
3. We all work for God. Our immediate employer just signs
the checks.
a. In the 30 years, I have been pastor at Green Pond
Baptist, 3 men signed my checks.
(1) Jim Owenby
(2) James Lippeatt
(3) Mark Moses
b. Did I ever work for them? No, I always worked for
Jesus.
c. You do too.
d. The workers of this world would have a lot more
character if they released this truth!
4. Someone says, "Preacher, I can’t live that way. I live in
the real world."
a. No, you don’t.
b. We are all living in Satan’s world of illusions and
tricks.
c. This whole world is going to perish in smoke and the
ones who released it all along are going to be the ones who
are blessed.
B. Orderly
1Co 14:33 For God is not the author of
confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of
the saints.
1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and
in order.
Tit 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete,
that thou shouldest set in order the things that
are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as
I had appointed thee:
1. There is NO ONE more orderly than God.
a. God never loses or misplaces things or people.
Joh 18:9 That the saying might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have
I lost none.
b. God does not like confusion or chaos.
2. It is evident by the everything that God has created that
God is orderly. One of the greatest proofs for God is
the order in which creation exists!
a. The biggest energy burner in the galaxy is the sun.
b. Every hour the suns gives off 15 billion metric tons
of mass, but it keeps on burning and will for an
estimated 5 billion years.
http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1835.html
c. The sun delivers enough energy to the earth in one
hour though sunlight than we could use in a year!
http://www.alternet.org/environment/sunlight-striking-earths-surface-
just-one-hour-delivers-enough-energy-power-world
d. Yet God has placed us at exactly the right distance
so that our entire planet could exist in that giant
inferno’s neighborhood.
3. In fact, the only things that ever get out of order do so
because of sin.
4. God creates things to work in perfect order.
a. We cannot put things back into their proper order.
b. Put God has commanded us to do everything we do in an
orderly fashion.
c. That means thought-out and with purpose, not rashly.
C. Punctual
1. Punctuality is a godly characteristic.
a. The Bible does not mention punctuality specifically,
but it does give us two examples—both of which
demonstrate bad results.
(1) \\#1Sam 13:8-11\\ Samuel told Saul to organize
the troops and that he would meet them before
the battle to offer sacrifices. Samuel was
late so Saul took it upon himself to offer the
sacrifices. That was God’s last straw for
Saul. God had Samuel give Saul the message that
he would be replaced in \\#1Sam 13:14\\.
(2) \\#2Sam 20:4-10\\ Amasa was given orders by King
David to assemble the troops to put down a
rebellion. He was late and David gave orders
to move on without him. When Amasa came, Joab
murdered him. There is nothing in the Scripture
to indicate the two events are necessarily
related.
b. In both of these cases, the only two I can think of in
the Bible, it was the godly that was late but in both
of these cases, bad followed for someone.
c. I think the lesson is that it is best for all
concerned if we are punctual.
2. There are uncontrollable things which come up that will
make us late.
a. We all understand this. We might even refer to them
as divine providence.
b. However, some people are habitually late and
unreliable.
3. Habitual tardiness is a character flaw and shows some
truths about that person.
a. At best, it shows the person to be unorganized and
disorderly.
b. It can show the person to be selfish and disrespectful
of others.
c. When we are habitually late for work, it shows that we
have no respect for our job, our co-workers, and
those who gave us the job.
4. Someone says, "How can I keep from being late?"
a. Leave earlier.
b. "But if I get there early, I cannot clock in. I waste
my time."
(1) If time must be wasted, it is better for the
worker to waste his time and be early than it is
to waste the company’s time and be late.
(2) Most companies will only put up with such
behavior for so long before they will terminate
you.
c. But that it is not what we are striving for.
(1) We are striving to be the right kind of person.
(2) We want to be a person of character.
D. Honest
1Pe 2:12 Having your conversation honest among
the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation.
1Th 4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them
that are without, and that ye may have lack of
nothing.
1. When we use the word "honest," we mean true, factual,
correct.
2. That is only a portion of what the Bible word for honest
means and God’s command for us is.
a. There are four Greek words used for word honest which
occurs 11 times in the New Testament.
b. The most commonly used word is kalos, used 91 times in
the New Testament and translated often as good, well,
worthy.
3. We should be good men and women doing that which is well
and worthy of our God and our names.
4. Certainly, that means we will be true and factual in our
words and our dealings with others but it means much
more.
a. We should always be striving to do what is good not
bad and to leave things better not worse than when we
found them.
b. This would be true of our family, of our work, or our
church, of our neighbors, of our planet.
5. In relation to our work, it should always be the employees
goal to leave it better than when we found it—no matter
how many obstacles we might find in our way.
6. If we can not do this, it is best for us to find
employment elsewhere.
7. This is character and it is what character demands.
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