I am just so compulsive when it comes to
"Because of the nature of God's creation, we need to work for our happiness. And because of God's intentions for our work--to contribute to the flourishing of the world--we have glimpses of what we could accomplish. But because of the fall of the human race, our work is also profoundly frustrating, never as fruitful as we want, and often a complete failure. This is why so many inhabit the extremes of idealism and cynicism--or even ricochet back and forth between those poles. Idealism says, 'Through my work I am going to change things, make a difference, accomplish something new, bring justice to the world.' Cynicism says, 'Nothing really changes. Don't get your hopes up. Do what it takes to make a living. Don't let yourself care too much. Get out of it whatever you can.' Genesis 3, verse 18 tell us not only that 'thorns and thistles' will come out of the ground but also that 'you will eat the plants of the field'" (89).
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23. "Grief and pain so great that he cannot rest: This is the experience of the person whose soul is resting wholly on the circumstances of their work. In this poignant picture, the author is consciously contrasting us with the God whose labor led to real rest, and unconsciously with the Savior who could even sleep through a storm" (98).
"Where one's identity in prior generations might come from being the son of so-and-so or living in a particular part of town or being a member of a church or club, today young people are seeking to define themselves by the status of their work. What wisdom, then, would the Bible give us in choosing our work? First, if we have the luxury of options, we would want to choose work that we can do well...Second, because the main purpose of work is to serve the world, we would want to choose work that benefits others...Third, if possible, we do not simply wish to benefit our family, benefit the human community, and benefit ourselves--we also want to benefit our field of work itself" (103-104).
"One of the reasons work is both fruitless and pointless is the powerful inclination of the human heart to make work, and its attendant benefits, the main basis of one's meaning and identity....it becomes a way to distinguish myself from my neighbor, to show the world and prove to myself that I'm special. It is a way to accumulate power and security, and to exercise control over my destiny" (109).
"They built the city to 'make a name for [them]selves' through their accomplishments--but if we lack a name, it means we don't know who we are. 'To make a name' in the language of the Bible is to construct an identity for ourselves. We either get our name--out defining essence, security, worth, and uniqueness--from what God has done for us an in us (Revelation 2:17), or we make a name through what we can do for ourselves" (110).
Quote from Mere Christianity: "Now what I want you to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by its very nature....Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others" (112).
"There is a danger than you might merely be inspired by Esther's example....If you see Esther not as an example but as a pointer to Jesus, and if you see Jesus not as an example but as a Savior doing these things for you personally, then you will see how valuable you are to him" (121).
"If you see what Jesus Christ has done for you, losing the ultimate palace for you, then you will be able to start to serve God and your neighbor from your place in the palace" (124).
"Why do the Ten Commandments begin with a prohibition of idolatry? It is, Luther argued, because we never break the other commandments without breaking the first....if you lie or obscure inconvenient facts, it is because you have counted success as more important than obedience to God or the good of your 'neighbor' with whom you are negotiating. So beneath the sin of lying is the deeper, conditioning sin of idolatry...Idolatry has power over our actions because it has power over our hearts" (130).
...idols are not only the basis for personal sins and problems; they are also the basis for collective ones. When an individual makes and serves and idol, it creates psychological distortion and trouble; when a family, group, or country makes and serves and idol, it creates social and cultural trouble" (132).
"Modern societies turned away from the authorities of religion and tradition, and replaced them with the authorities of reason and individual freedom" (133).
"... while ancient cultures ostracized anyone who disbelieved in the gods, modern culture castigates anyone who is thought guilty of bigotry or appears to be an enemy of equality and individual freedom" (133-134).
"Keeping in mind that an idol is a good thing turned into an ultimate thing, then a corporate idol is an overemphasis and absolutizing of an admirable cultural trait" (134).
"The idols of modern culture have had a profound influence on the shape of our work today. In traditional societies people found their meaning and sense of value by submitting their interests and sacrificing their desires to serve higher causes like God, family, and other people. In modern societies there is often no higher cause than individual interests and desires" (139).
"Modern culture tells us there are no moral absolutes and everyone must choose his or her own standard for right and wrong, yet it then turns and says we must respect human rights and honor the freedom and dignity of every human being. 'But on what basis?' Nietzsche would ask. If there are no moral absolutes, then how can you arbitrarily declare that there are?....despite the fact that in Western society there is still a strong latent influence from traditional worldviews such as Christianity, along with much of the older modern optimism about science, progress, and human freedom, there has still been a pervasive shift called the 'postmodern turn'" (142).
"Heidegger, Docx, and others such as Jacques Ellul are saying that technology, uncertainty, and the market have become the idols of postmodern society. Because in postmodern society no one is sure or can agree about 'ends' or goals for the human race, we now have only 'means' or techniques. Since there is no longer any dominant vision of healthy human life or good human society, we are left with nothing but individual competition for personal success of power. If something can be done through technology, it will be done, because our technology has no higher ideals or moral values to guide it or limit it" (144).
"Many writers argue convincingly that the values of the market--consumerism and cost-benefit efficiencies--are not spreading into every part of life, even family life. This is because modern capitalism is no longer simply a useful instrument for the distribution of goods and services, but has become a near-absolute idol" (145).
"We are encouraged to create a persona through the brands we choose to purchase and the identity we are able to construct for ourselves online" (147).
"Yale philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff observes that modern culture defines the happy life as a life that is 'going well'--full of experiential pleasure--while to the ancients, the happy life meant the life that is lived well, with character, courage, humility, love, and justice" (147).
"Christians agree that when we sell and market, we need to show potential customers that a product 'adds value' to their lives. That doesn't mean it can give them a life. But because Christians have a deeper understanding of human well-being, we will often find ourselves swimming against the very strong currents of the corporate idols of our culture" (148).
"'What hope is there for work? How can we put work right?' we may ask...Nothing will be perfectly right, as St Paul says, until the 'day of Christ' at the end of history....The Christian gospel decidedly furnishes us with the resources for more inspired, realistic, satisfying, and faithful work today. How? First, the gospel provides an alternative story line for our work; this is vital because all work is propelled by a worldview or a narrative account of what human life is all about and what will help us thrive. Second, the Christian faith gives us a new and rich conception of work as partnering with God in his love and care for the world. This biblical conception helps us appreciate all work, from the most simple to the most complex, by both believers and nonbelievers...Third, the gospel gives us a particularly sensitive new moral compass, through a host of sound ethical guidelines to help us make decisions, as well as wise counsel about human hearts. Finally, the gospel radically changes our motives for work and fills us with a new and durable inner power that will be with us through thick and thin" (149-156
"The term 'worldview,' from the German word Weltanschauung, means the comprehensive perspective from which we interpret all of reality. But a worldview is not merely a set of philosophical bullet points. It is essentially a master narrative, a fundamental story about (a) what human life in the world should be like, (b) what has knocked it off balance, and (c) what can be done to make it right. No one can really function in the world without some working answers to those big questions, and so, to provide those answers, we adopt a world-story, a narrative that explains things--a worldview" (156).
"The gospel, however, teaches, that the meaning of life is to love God and love our neighbor, and that the operating principle is servanthood" (158).
Quoting Al Wolters: "The great danger is to always single out some aspect of God's good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain. Such an error conceives of the good-evil dichotomy as intrinsic to the creation itself...something in the good creation is identified as [the source] of evil" (160).
"For example, the movie Lost in Translation assumes that life is ultimately meaningless but affords some small comfort in friendship; the movie Babe inspires us that even a pig can be a sheepdog if he defies tradition and tries hard enough. I believe that Christians can appreciate either kind of story, if it is well told, because from a gospel perspective, both naive and cynical stories are partly true. Life in this fallen world is to a great degree meaningless, our aspirations are constantly being frustrated, and sometimes the respectable people are oppressive and bigoted. And yet there is a Good that will triumph over Evil in the end. From a Christian perspective the problem with both kinds of stories is that they tend to blame problems on things besides sin and identify salvation in things besides God--and therefore are ultimately too simplistic" (174-175).
"...it is a mistake to think that the Christian worldview is operating only when we are doing such overtly Christian activities. Instead, think of the gospel as a set of glasses through which you "look" at everything else in the world...Christians in business will see profit as only one of several bottom lines, and they will work passionately for any kind of enterprise that serves the common good. The Christian writer can constantly be showing the destructiveness of making something besides God into the central thing, even without mentioning God directly" (181).
"The gay community has contributed hugely to the flourishing of New York City...Another group often noted for their commitment to moving to neighborhoods that have fallen into disrepair and rehabilitating them is the gay community...And, of course, we all know someone in our field who is not a Christian who seems to hold the best values and produce the most elegant product, beautiful dance piece, or trusted and well-organized team. If the Christian worldview is so unique, how do we account for this?" (186-187).
"We must ask how [the Christian's work] can be done distinctively and for his glory. As an extension of God's providential work, our labor has its orientation toward our neighbor, and we must ask how it can be don excellently and for his or her good. This latter motivation is available to everyone...[The] aspect of work-as-provision is the reason that much work that Christians do is not done, at least not in its visible form, any differently from the way non-Christians do it...In fact, an unbalanced emphasis on worldview has certain dangers. For example, it can lead us to privilege white-collar work over blue-collar work" (187).
So this biblical conception of work--as a vehicle for God's loving provision for the world--is essential. It counteracts the elitism and sectarianism that can creep into our approach to work when we grasp the distinctiveness of the Christian worldview (188).
Consider Isaiah 28, verses 24-29: 'When a famer plows for planting...when he has leveled the surface...does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way...Grain must be ground to make bread...all this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.' This is remarkable. Isaiah tells us that anyone who becomes a skillful farmer, or who brings advancements in agriculture, is being taught by God (189).
"Every advancement in learning, every work of art, every innovation in healthcare or technology or management or governance, is simply God 'opening his book of creation and revealing his truth' to us" (190).
On Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1) and the pagan king in Abraham's day (Genesis 20:6-7): "These are indications of how God's Spirit functions both as a nonsaving ennobling force in the world and as a nonsaving restraining force in the world. This is not the Spirit working as a converting or a sanctifying agent. Rather he acts to give wisdom, courage, and insight and to restrain the effects of sin--even to those who would deny God's existence (191).
On Romans 1: "First, we must acknowledge that there is no neutrality in the world. Everyone who does not acknowledge Christ as Lord is operating out of a false view of ultimate reality, while to confess Christ as Lord is to be in line with ultimate reality. Everyone is operating from a worldview that either denies Christ or worships him. No one is objective or neutral; no one can avoid the question. At the same time, the doctrine of common grace means that despite all false worldviews, everyone grasps and to some degree acknowledges aspects of the biblical worldview: truths about God, creation, human nature, and our need for rescue (193)."
"Without an understanding of common grace, the world can be a pretty confusing place for a Christian. It would be natural for many Christians to identify with Antonio Salieri: He is bewildered and bitter that as a morally good person, his talent is modest, while Mozart (a morally despicable person, at least in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus) has been favored by God through the gift of his soaring talent. Beyond this blindness to his own sin, Salieri's problem was a failure to understand the reality of common grace. Grace gives out gifts of wisdom, talent, beauty, and skill according to his grace--that is, in a completely unmerited way. He casts them across the human race like seed, in order to enrich, brighten, and preserve the world. By rights, sin should be making life on earth here much more unbearable than it is--and in fact, all of creation and culture should have fallen apart by now. The reason it is not worse is because of the gift of common grace....so many of the gifts of God has put in the world are given to nonbelievers. Mozart was a gift to us--whether he was a believer or not. So Christians are free to study the world of human culture in order to know more of God; for as creatures made in His image we can appreciate truth and wisdom wherever we find it.... Properly understood, the doctrine of sin means that believers are never as good as our worldview should make us. Similarly, the doctrine of grace means that unbelievers are never as messed up as their false worldview should make them. For in the Christian story, the antagonist is not non-Christians but the reality of sin, which (as the gospel tells us) lies within us as well as within them" (194-195).
"Why this disengagement with our culture? One reason is a 'thin' or legalistic view of sin, where sin is seen as a series of discrete acts of noncompliance with God's regulations. You pursue Christian growth largely by seeking environments where you are less likely to do these sinful actions or to encounter others who have done them. Sin can essentially be removed from your life through separation and discipline....The complex, organic nature of our sin will still be at work making idols out of good things in our lives--such as our moral goodness, financial security, family, doctrinal purity, or pride in our culture...But too much emphasis on wholesale withdrawal from culture increases the likelihood of slipping into other more 'respectable' idolatries. A theologically 'thick' view of sin, by contrast, sees it as a compulsive drive of the heart to produce idols. This view should lead neither to withdrawal nor to uncritical consumption, but rather to humble, critical engagement with culture" (197).
"Christians' disengagement from popular culture usually carries over into dualism at work. 'Dualism" is a term used to describe a separating all between the sacred and the secular. It is a direct result of a thin view of sin, common grace, and God's providential purposes" (199-200).
"The integration of faith and work is the opposite of dualism. We should be willing to be engaged with the cultural and vocational worlds of non-Christians. Our thick view of sin will remind us that even explicitly Christian work and culture will have some idolatrous discourse within it. Our thick view of common grace will remind us that even explicitly non-Christian work and culture will always have some witness to God's truth in it. Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them an non-Christians are never as bad as their wrong beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work. We will learn to recognize the half-truths and resist the idols; and we will learn to recognize and celebrate the glimpses of justice, wisdom, truth, and beauty we find around us in all aspects of life" (201).
"Love, then, occupies a supreme place in the Christian imagination. As Jesus says, to be fully human boils down to loving God and loving our neighbor" (211).
"Christians must remain absolutely committed to an understanding of human rights based on the image of God" (215).
"According to the Bible, wisdom is more than just obeying God's ethical norms; it is knowing the right thing to do in the 80 percent of life's situations in which the moral rules don't provide the clear answer" (215).
"On wisdom, and how the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom (Ephesians 1:7). In Acts 15, in deciding whether Gentiles had to keep Jewish dietary laws: "They used their best thinking and reasoning, their knowledge and experience, and came up with a sound decision that they attributed to the Holy Spirit" (218).
"If we being to work as if we were serving the Lord, we will be free from both overwork and underwork" (220).
Psalm 130:4--"But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared." "The more you experience God's mercy and forgiveness, the more the true fear of the Lord will increase in you" (221).
Romans 12:11--"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." zeal= a combination of diligence and urgency. "Keep your spiritual fervor" = "as to your spirit boiling."
"So we are asked to bring emotion, discipline, and urgency to the task of being living sacrifices in the lives we lead and the work we do. We are asked to live with passion (240).
"All of us are haunted by the work under the work--that need to prove and save ourselves, to gain a sense of worth and identity. But if we can experience gospel-rest in our hearts, if we can be free from the need to earn our salvation through our work, we will have a deep reservoir of refreshment that continually rejuvenates us, restores our perspective, and renews our passion" (242).
"To violate the rhythm of work and rest (in either direction) leads to chaos in our life and in the world around us. Sabbath is therefor a celebration of our design....God portrays Sabbath as a reenactment of emancipation from slavery. It reminds us how he delivered his people from a condition in which they were not human beings, but simply units of capacity in Pharaoh's brick production system. Anyone who cannot obey God's command to observe the Sabbath is a slave, even a self-imposed one...Sabbath is therefore a declaration of your freedom. It means you are not a slave--not to your culture's expectations, your family's hopes, your medical school's demands, not even to your own insecurities. It is important that you learn to speak this truth to yourself with a note of triumph--otherwise you will feel guilty for taking time off, or you will be unable to truly unplug" (244).
"We are also to think of Sabbath as an act of trust... To practice Sabbath is a disciplined and faithful way to remember that you are not the one who keeps the world turning, who provides for your family, or even the one who keeps your work projects moving forward" (245).
"Many people are doing the 'work under the work.' They are not merely doing the work that draws the salary--they are also working to chase away their sense of insignificance. But here in Jesus we find the 'rest under the rest,'... Without it, all other work will be unsatisfying" (247).
"Many people have asked if we plan to spin it off into its own independent nonprofit, and the answer is 'no.' Our goal has been to model our conviction that vocational life is essential to being fully human in a Biblical sense. Churches need to embrace the whole person--the married or single person, the healthy or ill person, the person at work and the person at home. Church-based faith and work ministry is important for two reasons: (1) work is often the crucible in which God shines a light on a person's idols and refines them in Christ-likeness, and (2) the church is touching the world at large through the faithful presence of its people in the workplace" (262).
