The Word Before Work

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)When we are engaged in the work God has called us to do in the world, some level of persecution is inevitable. For William Wilberforce, who had chosen to make abolition of the powerful slave trade the “Great Object” of his life, the persecution was intense.Wilberforce had every reason to be afraid for his life. During his decades-long fight to end slavery, multiple slave-ship captains threatened Wilberforce’s life. One even challenged him to a duel. As one of his biographers wrote, Wilberforce “seriously believed he was likely to die violently when some enemy of abolition made good on one of the several threats he had received since becoming the cause’s chiefest champion.”Thank God Wilberforce was surrounded by other believers who encouraged him to fear God more than man. On his deathbed, the great preacher John Wesley wrote this to Wilberforce: “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you?”Reminders of biblical truths like these kept Wilberforce going, even when he was in fear for his own life. But Wilberforce wasn’t just afraid for his life. He also had good reason to fear for his reputation as he diligently and boldly shared the gospel with his fellow Parliamentarians. In his journal, Wilberforce kept a list of friends, and next to each name, a series of what he called “launchers”—topics and angles he planned to bring up to steer conversations with that person to the subject of eternity.Wilberforce understood that Jesus has called each of us to be “full-time missionaries” sharing the gospel as we work in every square inch of creation—even if it means damaging our reputations. When Wilberforce was first elected to Parliament, there were 3 members who identified themselves as serious Christians. Fifty years later, there were nearly 200. In the words of his biographer, “Wilberforce’s influence [to this end]…is hard to avoid.”As you go to work today, fear God, not man. Whether you’re in fear for your life or your reputation, whether you’re fighting evil or sharing the gospel with co-workers, remember that if God is for you, no one can truly be against you (Romans 8:31).

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4–7)Prior to Christ, the only object of Wilberforce’s work was his own glory. But upon his conversion, Wilberforce began asking questions about what God was up to in the world and how he might leverage his vocation to join in his Savior’s mission.But where was Wilberforce to start? Britain had so many wrongs that needed to be righted: prolific prostitution, the orphan crisis, poverty, and of course the slave trade, which Wilberforce described as “that hideous traffic, so disgraceful to the British character.”Wilberforce knew that he needed to focus intensely on one or two causes in Parliament in order to make the most of the life the Lord had given him to steward. But he was far less clear about what that cause should be. So, he took more than a year to explore his options. As one of his biographers wrote, “[Wilberforce] wasn’t about to be bullied or badgered into a decision on how to spend the rest of his life….He would need to know God’s mind, as he would put it…Wilberforce was not about to leap into the fray thoughtlessly; he would first ‘count the cost.’”After he counted the cost and identified the object the Lord was leading him to focus on (the abolition of slavery), Wilberforce recognized that he needed to go all-in and focus singularly on that “Great Object.” And quickly, too. As his dear friend and prime minister William Pitt told him as Wilberforce was close to committing to the cause of abolition, “Do not lose time or the ground will be occupied by another.”Wilberforce knew that if “God Himself was calling him to this task and he shrank from it, God too could find another to do it, and surely would.” In this, Wilberforce demonstrated remarkable humility in choosing his vocational path. He knew that if God wanted slavery abolished, He would find the right person to work through to that end. God didn’t need Wilberforce specifically to accomplish His plans.I imagine Wilberforce meditating on Proverbs 19:21 at this critical juncture of his career: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” The Lord’s purpose would have prevailed with or without Wilberforce. But Wilberforce wanted the privilege of being a part of fighting evil on behalf of his Savior. And so, Wilberforce committed to the “Great Object” of his career from that moment forward: He would be God’s instrument for ending slavery throughout Great Britain.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15–16)After William Wilberforce’s conversion to Christianity at the age of 26, his “Great Change” led to immediate and practical changes in two areas of his life: how he spent his money and time.In the words of one of his biographers, “Before ‘the Great Change,’ Wilberforce had reckoned his money and time his own, to do with as he pleased….But suddenly he knew that this could no longer be the case. The Scriptures were plain and could not be gainsaid on this most basic point: all that was his—his wealth, his talents, his time—was not really his. It all belonged to God and had been given to him to use for God’s purposes and according to God’s will.”While Wilberforce’s relationship with money changed greatly post-conversion, the way he managed his time changed even more dramatically. After the Lord grabbed ahold of his life, Wilberforce grieved over how he previously spent his life. “I condemned myself for having wasted my precious time, and opportunities, and talents,” he said. And so he wrote this resolution in his personal journal: “To endeavour from this moment to amend my plan for time. I hope to live more than heretofore to God’s glory and my fellow-creatures’ good.”Wilberforce’s response to the gospel was remarkably practical. He understood that God had saved him to do good works in the world and redeem what was broken in creation. And that led him to deeply internalize Paul’s command to manage his time wisely: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16).Wilberforce started making sure he got adequate sleep, his journal filled with disciplined notes to himself such as, “Go to bed at eleven and wake at six.” He started walking around London with an inkwell and quill in his pocket in order to capture productive thoughts as they entered his head. And perhaps most significantly, Wilberforce began spending long chunks of time in Scripture, reading it daily and using long walks to meditate, pray, and recite passages to himself.Being intentional about how we manage our time may seem “unspiritual,” but if we believe that we were created to work for the glory of God and the good of others, it is one of the most spiritual things we can do. As Paul wrote, “the days are evil.” Let us, like Wilberforce, be intentional about stewarding them well.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)William Wilberforce was easily one of the most productive people of all time.First elected to British Parliament in 1780 at the age of 21, Wilberforce was a boy king. At one point in his life, he was officially linked to 69 separate social reform groups throughout Great Britain. Oh yeah, and he was the man chiefly responsible for abolishing slavery across the British Empire and eventually the world. As one of Wilberforce’s biographers said, “It’s difficult to escape the verdict that William Wilberforce was simply the greatest social reformer in the history of the world.”Early in his career, Wilberforce was ambitious for all the wrong things, namely the accumulation of power, wealth, and privilege. But his ambition was transformed when he submitted his life to the lordship of Jesus Christ at the age of 26, ushering in what Wilberforce referred to as his “Great Change.”Like many young Christians, Wilberforce’s knee-jerk reaction to his newfound faith was to abandon his vocation. Seeking advice from his friend John Newton (yes, the great minister who wrote Amazing Grace), Wilberforce expected his minister friend to encourage him to resign from Parliament so that he could truly “live now for God.” But “Newton encouraged Wilberforce to stay where he was, saying that God could use him there. Most others in Newton’s place would likely have insisted that Wilberforce pull away from the very place where his salt and light were most needed. How good that Newton did not.”Amen. If Wilberforce’s “Great Change” had led to a great change in his work, where would the world be today? Certainly further away from the Kingdom of God.Wilberforce deeply understood what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You see, the very purpose for which you and I and William Wilberforce were created and saved in Christ was to do good works and glorify the Father in the process. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).Wilberforce’s good works included abolishing the abomination of slavery, bringing us one step closer to the Lord’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). His salvation didn’t change his occupation, but it did radically change his relationship to his work. Next week, we’ll see exactly how.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)If you’ve ever watched the TV show Heroes, you’ll likely recall the show’s famous line: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” The idea was that if the characters of the show could save the life of a cheerleader named Claire, they could save the universe from destruction. And with this charge, the characters focused on that singular goal.As I’ve argued in this series, the Church often takes an equally myopic view of which activities matter for eternity, believing that the only way in which our vocations matter is if we share the gospel with those around us.As I hope I’ve made clear, while sharing the gospel is a good, Jesus–commanded thing to do, it is far from the only God-honoring thing we do through our work. As we’ve seen, our work can be a means of glorifying God, loving neighbor as self, building for the Kingdom, and spreading the aroma of Christ.Today, I want to explore this question: What if spreading the aroma of Christ—or, in other words, working to restore all of creation and not just the souls who dwell in it—can be a means by which people come to faith in Jesus? In other words, what if saving the world is a primary means by which we save the cheerleader?Let me offer one more analogy that I think might be helpful.My wife Kara and I love to travel. It is one of the things we miss most in this post-pandemic world. Recently, Kara and I were talking about how we wanted to go to San Diego because of the city’s gorgeous beaches, clean downtown, world-class zoo, and friendly people. Believe it or not, the mayor of San Diego never once came up in our conversation. We don’t travel because we’re interested in the character or the policies of the person who rules a particular city. We are attracted by what that person’s policies produce.What if the same is true of the Kingdom of God? What if one of the primary ways that God brings people to submission to his kingship is by giving them tastes of truth, justice, and joy—tastes of the Kingdom?Revelation 21 makes clear that one day, Jesus will finish the building of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” But until then, he has called you and I to be his agents in the world, spreading his aroma and the news of his kingship through our work. As N.T. Wright says, “[God] calls his followers to live in him and to be new-creation people here and now, bringing signs and symbols of the kingdom to birth on earth as in heaven.”Let us all embrace our vocations—our attempts to bring “signs and symbols” and the “aroma of Christ” into the world—as good, and God-honoring things in and of themselves, as well as a means of making people long to submit to the lordship of the One True King.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)By the time C.S. Lewis turned 17, his atheism had been quite fully formed. According to one of his biographers, “the rational case for religion was, in Lewis’s view, totally bankrupt.”But something other than reason kept nagging at Lewis, causing some part of him to long for more than what logic could provide. “He continued to find himself experiencing deep feelings of desire,” through “momentary and transient epiphanies” which left “nothing but a memory and a longing.”The most significant of these moments took place when Lewis picked up a copy of a fantasy novel called Phantastes. His biographer writes, “Everything was changed for [Lewis] as a result of reading the book. He had discovered a ‘new quality,’ a ‘bright shadow,’ which seemed to him like a voice calling him from the ends of the earth.”Lewis had no idea at the time that the book’s author, George MacDonald, was a Christian. All he knew was that this was a marvelous novel that caused him to long for something he didn’t yet have. Yet, “a seed had been planted, and it was only a matter of time before it began to germinate.”Last week, we looked at three ways in which our work matters for eternity beyond sharing the gospel and “saving souls” (as important as that is!). Today, I want to focus our attention on a fourth way, illustrated by the story above: The work you and I do today is a means of “spreading the aroma of Christ,” causing others to long for his Kingdom.When Lewis opened Phantastes, he was totally closed off intellectually to Christianity. But there was something about that book that was more true, beautiful, and powerful than anything he had ever experienced. Only years later would Lewis make the connection of the themes of that novel to the “True Myth” of Christianity. But the work of MacDonald—even though it never explicitly mentioned the name of Jesus—clearly accomplished an eternally significant purpose, causing Lewis to “catch a whiff” of what he would later find out only Christianity could provide.Today, you and I have an opportunity to create this same kind of craving for the Kingdom in our work.If you’re a personal trainer, doctor, or nurse, you are helping people live healthier lives, pointing them to the full restoration of their bodies made possible by Christ’s resurrection.If you’re an entrepreneur, you are fixing what is broken in creation by solving problems for customers, causing them to long for the restoration of all things.If you’re an artist or writer, you have a chance to tell stories that spread the aroma of Christ and what life should be and will be like upon his “triumphal procession” into the New Jerusalem.Simply spreading the aroma of Christ and his Kingdom is good and God-honoring in and of itself. But as we will see next week, this work can also be a means by which people are willing to meet our King.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Revelation 21:24-26)As we saw last week, the work you and I do today matters for eternity far beyond using our positions of influence to share the gospel. But before we go any further, let me clearly state the obvious: Sharing the gospel is a good, Jesus-commanded thing.As I’ve written many times before, regardless of our vocation, we should all view ourselves as “full-time missionaries” making disciples of Jesus Christ as we go about our work. The point I want to make today is that Scripture hasn’t commanded us to only share the gospel, and by focusing so myopically on “saving souls,” we can miss Jesus’s bigger mission for his Kingdom and the bigger story for our work.So, aside from using our work to share the gospel with co-workers and customers, what does Scripture have to say about how our work honors God? Here are three answers to that question.First, our work matters because it is a means of glorifying God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 makes this clear, saying that we can do all things—even our work—for the glory of God. According to John Piper, “‘Glorifying’ means…acting in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes.” We worship a creative, productive, working God (see Genesis 1) and “reflect his greatness” when we work with excellence.Second, our work matters because it is a means of loving our neighbors as ourselves. The pursuit of mastery in our work is one way in which we obey this famous command of our Savior. Excellent work is good and God-honoring in and of itself. Jesus didn’t say, “Love your neighbor as yourself…so that you can share the gospel.” “Love your neighbor as yourself” was a complete sentence.Finally, our work matters because Scripture tells us that some of our work will physically last into the New Jerusalem. We see that clearly in today’s passage as well as its parallel passage in Isaiah 60. As Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, and others have made clear, some of the physical things you and I create in this life (that are made in the Spirit and in-line with the principles of our King) have a chance of being considered “the glory of the nations,” laid at the feet of Jesus on his New Earth.Those are just three ways in which Scripture makes clear that our work matters beyond using our vocations to share the gospel. Next week, I’ll add another to this list, showing how our work can cause Christians and non-Christians alike to long for the Kingdom.

Devotional 1 of 4 in the "Beyond Saving Souls" series

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’” (Exodus 31:12-13)We began this series by reading Exodus 31:1-5 in which we are told that Bezalel—an artist and culture-creator—was the first person to be “filled with the Spirit of God.”The context of that passage is a large chunk of Scripture in which the Lord gave Moses detailed instructions on Mount Sinai, starting with The Ten Commandments in Exodus 19-20. Exodus 31 is the last chapter in this run, but it doesn’t end with the aforementioned scene of Bezalel being filled with God’s creative spirit. Before the Lord adjourns His meeting with Moses at Mount Sinai, he has one last thing to say: He reminds His people to observe His Sabbaths (see today’s reading above).Now, keep in mind, the Lord has already issued the third command to “remember the Sabbath” in Exodus 20:8, and He doesn’t remind Moses of any of the other commandments before He concludes this monumental meeting. So why, after filling Bezalel with His creative spirit, does God remind Moses, Bezalel, and the Israelites to rest? Let me propose three reasons.First, this was the rhythm God himself took on for His creative work. After commissioning Bezalel and team to create like Him, God is reminding them to rest like Him because they are made in His image. The Lord told His people to “observe my Sabbaths.” The implication is clear: I rested from my creating and I designed you to do the same.The second reason I think God repeats this command to rest after commissioning Bezalel to create is that He knew that culture makers are especially prone to workaholism. Creating new things is life-giving, God-like, intoxicating work. As we’ve seen throughout this series, creative work is “very good”—central to who God is and who we are as His image-bearers. Thus, it can be easy to forget to rest, hence God calling special attention to this command here.But if creative work is good, why is rest necessary? That brings me to the third reason I think God reiterates the command to rest: Because we need to remind ourselves that it is His power, His grace, and His Spirit that enables us to create. Bezalel needed to be filled with the Spirit of God in order to do the work God created him to do. The same is true for you and me.Believer, the Creator God lives in you, guiding you as you create good things that point to His glory. Let that humble and empower you to engage in your work with great energy and ambition today!

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded. Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.” (Exodus 36:1-5)We’re in a series exploring the few passages of Scripture that focus on the life of Bezalel—the first person the Bible says was filled with the Spirit of God—extracting applications for our own work as culture makers today.This morning’s passage from Exodus 36 focuses our attention on this truth: Culture making is never a solo endeavor. All of us need community to create.In Exodus 31:6, we are told that God “appointed Oholiab…to help [Bezalel]” in the creation of the Tabernacle. So God, in His graciousness, gave Bezalel a partner. And in today’s passage, we see that the general-contractor duo of Bezalel & Oholiab received help from the broader community, with the people of Israel bringing “freewill offerings” that were “more than enough” to “carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary.”Bezalel needed to rely on others to bring his creations to life. The same is true for you and me. In order to do the work God created us to do, we must learn to create in community.Take these devotionals, for example. My name may be the one you see in your inbox, but make no mistake, there is an army of others behind each email. My friends help me work through the ideas before they’re written. My assistant proofreads each draft. And an email marketing company enables me to distribute these devotionals all around the world.Not only do we not create alone, but in a way, even God created in community. When we tell the story of Genesis, we tend to only picture God the Father speaking the world into existence. Sometimes we forget that the Spirit was there “hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2) and that Jesus was present and engaged in creation (John 1:2-3).Nobody creates in isolation. All creation happens in community.Why does this matter? Because the embrace of community is in line with God’s design, it breeds humility, and it can protect us from the Enemy’s inevitable attempts to sabotage our creative endeavors.In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is isolated from his community while at the same time being hunted by his enemy, Voldemort. Harry receives some wise counsel from his friend, Luna Lovegood, who says, “If I were You-Know-Who [Voldemort], I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else; because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.”You and I need each other to do the work God created us to do. Embrace the community around you as you work to do your most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others!