Meaningful Work - 1st Corinthians 15:58

How many of you remember the movie The Karate Kid from 1984 as young Daniel sought karate lessons from Mr. Miyagi?  As the lessons began, Daniel found himself being given the seemingly meaningless tasks of waxing Mr. Miyagi’s cars, irritated even more by the fact that Mr. Miyagi was very particular about how he was to go about the waxing.  Later, his karate lessons moved from waxing cars with the “wax on/wax off” directions to the painting of the fence with its own particular set of directions.

Last week, we talked about “Holy Work,” remembering Paul’s call that “whatever you do, in word or deed,” that we are to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  We discovered that anything we do, from preaching, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, and setting up for a Fellowship Meal, to working in a textile mill, painting a picture, cooking dinner, or ironing can be holy work, if we are focused on the will of God, and remembering to give God thanks, if for nothing else, the opportunity and ability to do the tasks we have to do.

Sometimes, though, it is hard to remember that all work can be holy work.  Sometimes some of our efforts, some of our labors seem meaningless.  Maybe it seems meaningless because we feel like what we are doing is not getting anywhere.  Maybe it feels like what we’ve been doing is meaningless, because we’ve worked hard, seen some of our labor bear fruit, only to have something happen seem to tear it all down, or watch it fall apart, like waves washing away a sandcastle.

Maybe it is making plans for lunch with a friend, though they every time they cancel out at the last minute.

Maybe it is inviting the same person to come with you to church, and repeatedly getting turned down.

Maybe it is preparing a Sunday School lesson for a class that doesn’t show up, or doesn’t seem interested.

Maybe it is watching a small group ministry grow and flourish, and seem to be heading to great things, only to watch it crumble as members drift off in their own directions.

Maybe it is reaching out to families around the church, offering a variety of opportunities to connect—from concerts to bouncy houses, from Vacation Bible School to Revivals, having crowds gather, but weeks or months later, seemingly no new relationships into our lives.

Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening, other times great efforts seem washed away.  At times it all seems meaningless.

It might not be that repeated efforts are going nowhere.  It may seem like what we are doing is meaningless when it comes to the picture we have of what we are supposed to be doing.  This is where we feel like we are only waxing cars and painting fences when we are supposed to be learning karate.

If we, as a congregation, are supposed to be about making disciples for Jesus Christ, we may consider some of the things we do as insignificant or meaningless. 

What does cooking hotdogs or washing dishes have to do with making disciples?  What does picking up litter or taking out the trash have to do with making disciples?

What does walking laps around a track or passing our candy from the trunk of a car or picking up trash have to do with making disciples?  What does sitting in the park talking to a friend or how you treat the cashier at the grocery store have to do with making disciples?  Those activities are meaningless in the larger picture of what we are supposed to be about, or are they?

As Daniel complained to Mr. Miyagi that he was not learning karate, that Miyagi was not keeping his promise to teach, Miyagi quickly revealed to Daniel that the motions of “wax on and wax off” and painting up and down, had ingrained those motions in his subconscious, motions that Daniel learned, were key defensive moves in karate.  Those seemingly meaningless tasks proved to be meaningful work in shaping young Daniel into the karate champion he would become.

However, The Karate Kid is Hollywood and while Hollywood has shaped a lot of our culture, it should not serve us anymore than offering a nice story or illustration.  Our actions should be shaped by the Word of God, and God’s Word tells us that nothing we do is insignificant or meaningless.  Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Paul’s words remind us that nothing we do in the Name of the Lord is in vain, our efforts are always valued and used by God—sometimes for the purpose of shaping us, sometimes for the purpose of touching the lives of others, but always for His glory.  Paul writes these words to the church in Corinth.  They, like many churches even today, probably wondered at times if their efforts were of any value, if what they were doing was serving any purpose.  They watched as many in the world chased after things there were not of God.  They watched as folks were persecuted for what they believed.  They watched ministries fall apart as divisions formed.   I think it no coincidence that this verse comes at the conclusion of a passage on the Resurrection.  If any had ever thought their work might have been meaningless, it would have been that of Jesus’ original disciples on the other side of the empty tomb.  They had given up everything to follow Jesus, they had done everything Jesus had said, even when it made no sense to them.  For three years, while friends likely were building up their careers, these men had walked the long dusty roads following Jesus, and for what, to watching it come to a screeching halt outside of Jerusalem as Jesus was nailed to a cross, and laid a tomb.  As Jesus laid in that tomb, all that they had done seem to have no value, no worth, whatsoever.  Maybe they thought they had built their lives on the sand, rather than solid rock.  However, with the resurrection, God revealed that nothing that they had done had been meaningless, nothing had been without its value, nothing was insignificant.  The Resurrection shows that even in apparent defeat, God will claim the victory and bring meaning and significance, even when we think we have labored in vain.

Do we feel like we are getting nowhere?  Keep at it, Paul says, be “steadfast, immovable,” don’t quit.  Those efforts will not be in vain.  Think of how one drop of water hitting a rock does nothing, but as drop after drop after drop after drop hits that same spot on that same rock, the rock becomes worn down.  My brothers and sisters, we don’t know when the breakthrough will happen, but God calls us to keep at it.  It may be that the person that we invite over and over again to come to worship with us finally gives in (whether or not it is simply to get us to stop asking doesn’t matter, we do the inviting, God does the converting).  Maybe it is a Sunday School lesson that we have prepared when a visitor shows up and needs to hear just what God has had us prepare. Maybe it is watching someone from the small group we saw fall apart share the love of Christ in an amazing way because of something they took away from the group.  Maybe it is having one new family become part of our family because we tried one more time.

Do we feel like what we are doing isn’t important?  Just do it, and do it to the best of our ability, excelling at what we do—through these things God may be shaping us—washing dishes helping us learn to have a servant’s heart, picking up trash moving us to be better stewards of creation, walking the track reminding us to care for our bodies as they are the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, how we treat the cashier part of how we live out our days as ambassadors, representatives, of Christ in the world. 

God will not let any of these labors be in vain.  Not only will He use them to shape our lives, but He will also use them to touch and shape the lives of all around us.  Sometimes we will readily see it, watching a life transformed before our very eyes as a person comes into a new relationship with Christ.  Other times we may not know until years later, and what we wrote off as trivial and without meaning or significance, God made meaningful work.

When I was in high school, I worked in the sporting good and toy department of Sears at Northgate Mall at Sears.  I formed many friendships with my co-workers.  One friend and I would hand out after work a lot.  We’d go grab a couple of cheeseburgers and simply sit out in the parking lot on the hood of our cars or on the guardrail talking, long after the store had closed.  I never thought there was anything to it.  Just hanging out, like many teenagers, and not going home until we absolutely had to.

Sometime after I had graduated and had left Sears, in the card he had given me for graduation.  I was stopped cold as I read the words that my friend had written.  The card is packed safely away, and I could not get to it to bring and quote exactly, but I will never forget what he said.  I’ll offer a paraphrase:

“Dear Lee, I want you to know that I will always cherish our friendship.  You will never know how much it has meant to me.  I need to share with you something I never told you or anyone else.  It was that first evening that we sat out in the parking lot talking.  You saved my life.  What you didn’t know is that that night, I had intended to leave work, go home, and end my life.  That night you showed me that someone did care about me and showed me I had a friend. Thank you.  I will never forget you.  Your friend, ....

My brothers and sisters, I did not save my friend's life.  God did, I was simply the vessel as I did what then to me was nothing important, just hanging out.  Nothing we do is insignificant or meaningless…nothing is in vain…God uses it all and through His grace it not only becomes Holy Work, it becomes Meaningful Work…whatever we do, may we “be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.