Finding God at Work

We kick back against self-control because we want freedom, we want to be able to choose.

But self-control is actually all about finally being able to choose. It’s the restoration of your will to the C-suite of your life.

Often, something else is in charge of our lives: our bodily habits (whether we want them to be or not). The body makes a good servant but a bad master.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God puts your will back in charge so that when you say yes to God, it flows all the way down: Your will says yes to God, your habits say yes to God, and your body says yes to God.

The Spirit gives us means of training so that these changes are real and lasting. By grace, you can live out the fruit of the Spirit in your bodily, everyday life. That’s real freedom.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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Religious communities often try to solve their problems with rules. When we think about living out our faith in the workplace, some of us fall into thinking about "following the rules."

People do really problematic and destructive things sometimes, so this intuition makes sense. Let’s make rules against the problematic and destructive things!

But the rules can’t heal us. They don’t address *why* we’re doing the destructive things in the first place. They don’t give us life.

In Galatians 5, Paul gives us a different approach. When we put our faith in Jesus as Messiah, we receive the Holy Spirit, who can change us from the inside out, transforming how we interact with our coworkers and everyone else at work.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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The Stoic philosophers had some bright ideas. The New Testament both draws on the Stoic tradition and challenges it.

The Stoics’ key idea was “mind over matter.” If you can just *think* about things in the right way, you’ll reach a joy that doesn’t depend on circumstances.

But there’s a step missing here. We’re not just brains on a stick. We have bodies. If we want to experience deep inner goodness, we need more than information. We need a power beyond ourselves that can help us change our embodied habits for good.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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What kind of fruit am I bearing at work?

Fruit pops up all over the Bible. It’s there from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem.

It’s one of the predominant metaphors in the Bible for describing human beings and their relationship with God.

But what does it *mean* to “be fruitful” or to “bear fruit”?

Jesus teaches that, “no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. . . . The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil” (Luke 6:43,45 ESV).

Fruit comes out of who we *really* are, on the inside. When we look at our words and actions in the workplace, we see the condition of our hearts.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we're not always bearing the fruit that we wish we would.

But Jesus can help us with that. He can make the tree good.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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“Don't be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Oh, Lord, open his eyes so he may see” (2 Kings 6:16-17 NIV).

Just like the servant of the prophet Elisha in this story, we need our eyes to be opened.

The reality of God’s kingdom is always there, right around us. But we often miss it. We forget that it’s there.

We don't need stories that are inspirational, but then feel detached and disconnected from the actual stresses we face in the workplace or at home.

We need something that's just as real as the difficulties we face when our alarm goes off in the morning. And that's exactly what God offers. He offers us the opportunity to see his reality.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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An emissary is an ambassador or messenger.

Sometimes, an emissary is a trailblazer. They connect kingdoms that have never been connected before.

Jesus is the emissary who bridges the kingdoms of spiritual reality.

Paul writes, “For [the Father] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13 NIV).

Jesus rescues us.

Then, he sends us as emissaries of light in the dominion of darkness. But the pressure isn’t on us. We’re just two-watt bulbs with solar panels, soaking up the infinite light of Jesus. When we let him shine on us, we have light to share with everyone around us at work.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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Are your coworkers your friends?

Are you a friend to your coworkers?

When we act as a friend, we love the people around us. We will their good.

In the workplace, that often means we bring two things to the people around us: productivity and presence.

Productivity: The first way we can be a good friend to our coworkers is by doing a good job at our job.

Presence: But often we have a unique opportunity to give real, relational attention to our coworkers, too. 

As we let Jesus be our faithful friend at work, we become capable of loving our friends at work well.

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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When Jesus faced a Kingship temptation, he responded with a Servant solution.

The devil offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” (Matthew 4:8 NIV).

Jesus responded by saying, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10 NIV).

A servant does their master’s bidding. What gets Jesus out of this bind is his commitment to be a servant to his Master, his Father.

Even for Jesus, the only safe place for him to exercise his authority is under the authority of his Father.

The same is true for us. When we do our Master’s bidding, our authority serves others well.

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Each one of us has a kingdom. A place where we’re in charge. It may be no bigger than our cubicle, but it matters.

That means each of us needs to learn how to be a king.

Bible history and world history give us plenty of examples of kings gone bad. The Jeroboam Problem still besets Christian leaders today: Clinging to authority more closely than we cling to Jesus.

But King Jesus can teach us how to bear authority well and wisely. We can pray with confidence, “You will make them princes throughout the land” (Psalm 45:16 NIV).

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The Bible says that you can be a builder. Specifically, you can be part of a team of restoration workers.

There’s a promise, but it comes with a condition: “If you do away with the yoke of oppression. . .  and satisfy the needs of the oppressed . . .  you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings” (Isaiah 58:9-12 NIV).

Can we do our everyday work with justice? Can we build up the broken walls of our communities in the name of Jesus?

And can we let Jesus restore us in the process?

Get more resources, including a reflection and study guide for each episode, at https://missioncentral.church.

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