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.
Comments
Post a Comment