"I had a great week at work. I always have a great week at work. I have the best job in the world and I only work one day a week and we're almost done. I only work till 1:00, right, so it's pretty easy and every week at work, I'm surrounded by spirit filled Christian, wonderful people. I mean, it's just unicorns and lollipops and rainbows. Gum drops. It's awesome. Matter of fact, this past week there was a staff member whose wife is a teacher, and in her class she this week asked her students to fill out this little form and they sent me this text. They said, you're not going to believe this, and there's a little form for a student filled this out. Check this out. It says, hashtag favorite and least favorite subject, science and math. Hashtag, hobbies and interests, schooling and games. Hashtag, family life, good. Hashtag, heroes and role models: Captain America, Rob King.
I have the best job in the world and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, what? I'm thinking that Captain America, he always beats me out. I hate being second to Captain America. Can't tell you about it. Dollar for every time that happens. There is some student out there who goes to church here who holds me in such high esteem, why I have the best job in the world.
Maybe if you were totally honest underneath, just right below where your kind of Christianity stops—you really don't like the people that you work with. You don't like your boss and you just go to a rough place every single day and my heart goes out to you. We're praying for you we’re believing this series is going to help you and encourage you. Maybe you had a week like Dwight Schrute, I don't know. My 18 year old daughter and I will binge watch the Office still. And maybe you had this kind of week.
Check this out.
[The Office clip]
I mean he had a rough week, but was your desk in the bathroom? So, you know, there's a bright side to it. Last week when I was talking, I said that I had an encounter with a guy, and he came back and he was kind of sheepish and he said, am I talking to Rob the pastor or am I talking to Rob the man? We're talking about the fact that we—I said, unfortunately you're talking to both all at once. We have one life. It's easy to look at, you know, Captain America and Pastor Rob and think, that's the spiritual life. And then to take our other part of our life and our work life and it's secular and it's separate. This is one of the things that we're doing as we go through this series is to show that we have one life.
I was reading a story from a book by a leadership kind of guru, John Maxwell. He was consulting these folks. He was in a board room and there were all these business leaders and entrepreneurs, men and women who were sitting around the table, and one of them's name was Charlie, and he was very enthusiastic, passionate leader and he happened to be Italian and he just, just full of life and kind of his heart on his sleeve all the time. And He, and he just couldn't help, he had to share. He said, I have a dilemma in the company that I lead. See, he had just come and given his life to Christ. And he was this businessperson in this kind of cutthroat industry. And he said, I have a dilemma because my employees tell me that there's two different Charlies that show up to work.
There's Charlie love and Charlie Love is the one who shows up and it's just peace and wonderful and there's a bigger picture and there's patience and kindness. This is like, the Christian Charlie. When people see this Charlie come in, they're really happy and they’re content and they're glad that he's there. He said, but there's another—there's kind of this Jekyll and Hyde going on. He said, there's this other Charlie that shows up that my employees have told me about. He's called Charlie Money. And Charlie Money shows up and he's cracking the whip and he's expecting results and he's all about accountability and he's all about profitability and people run and hide and shut the door whenever Charlie Money shows up. So he just very vulnerably shares with Maxwell and these others around the table. “What do I do? I've got this dilemma. These two people are showing up to work and I think I'm schizophrenic in this job and I don't know exactly what to do.” One guy immediately spoke up and he was a Christian guy and he spoke up and he said, oh, this is easy.
He said, Charlie Love needs to take Charlie Money and needs to drag him down to the basement and kill him. And then he had scriptures to back it up. And then they all kind of got quiet and looked around and looked at Maxwell was there and he was going to give them some advice. And so he said, “No offense, I completely disagree with this man's opinion and his synopsis.” He said, “Here's what I think needs to happen. Charlie Love and Charlie Money need to be introduced to one another and they need to live in the same skin.”
And he said, You need to go to work with the shoes of faith and you need to go ahead and wear the business suit that you have. In other words, you need to take your Christianity with you and you need to take all of your business acumen and all of your talents and abilities and skill in leadership and those need to coalesce. It's not the kingdom against the commercial world. It's both of them working together. I believe in a theology of Old Macdonald. Old Mcdonald had a Yeah, e I e i o, and on his farm he had a duck. E i e i o. And so what did he have? He had a duck. He had a quack, quack, quack, quack here, there everywhere. Man. You didn't know what you're going to get to do in church today, did you? This is heavy stuff. I hope you can hang with me.
Old Mcdonald Theology says you're a Christian when you're here. You're a Christian when you're in the parking lot, some of you. Some of you challenge—you like, lose your salvation. Let me tell you how a pastor looks at a line of cars outside of church. Glory to God. That's what we say. More people. Praise Jesus, right? We don't get upset at all, but you're a Christian when you're in the parking lot. You're a Christian when you're on the job, you're a Christian when you're at Walmart.
Hmm?
You're a Christian when you're alone. You're a Christian when you're at home. Here a Christian, there a Christian, everywhere a Christian, Christian. This is old Macdonald theology. And this is why we're talking about the fact that we have this ministry called OneLife. We have one life that we are living and we're living it all for God. God is involved in every area of your life, and if your work life consumes a third of your waking hours—and some of you, it takes up some of your sleeping hours too—then how much is God involved in your work? If you look in your program, which I just happened to bring with me today, there on the back says God at Work and it's perforated.
Here's why we did it, for business owners and business leaders, we want you to get involved in OneLife ministry. If you're a business owner or business leader, can I have your attention for just a moment as your pastor? I want every business owner and every business leader to get involved in OneLife. There's two reasons. Number one, you may not be aware of how many people are in the same situation that you're in as you go to work every single day, making the hard decisions and trying to live this Christian life. There are people, men and women who will gather around you, pray for you, encourage you, hold you accountable and help you, and you need that. The second reason is the church needs you. This place is filled with leaders, but I know how a leader thinks. You kind of sneak into church. You've been working hard all week long and you kind of sneak into church.
Are we okay right now? You're like, I don't want to do anything man. I've been working and then you kind of sneak out. Well, I'm putting you on alert right now. I want you to be involved in this ministry because we need your leadership gifts. And then the second thing is this, for everyone in the workplace, you can check to be connected to a six week God at Work Life Group. We have Life Group leaders who are ready right now to lead a group. The cool thing about the six week part, it's only six weeks, and even if you don't really care for the people in your small group that much, it's okay. They're going to be gone after six weeks. They might say the same about you. Also, resources to pursue the idea of living my faith out at work.
Some of you've been praying and asking God and seeking God about your job, about your work, about your employment. Where are you at? And God has answered you in the form of a perforated piece of paper in your program. Glory to God. So get involved in where we left off. Last week we said God started the Bible. You want to know what God thinks about work? God started in scripture by working, and he had to rest from all the work that he did. We said work is not a four letter word. Work is not the curse, although we are. We do have this earth cursed and the work that we do offers resistance, but the work in and of itself is not a curse. Work is a blessing from God and then he took pleasure in that work. How many of you are just thankful you have a job, amen? I mean in work is good and when you do something well and you have that satisfaction of a job well done and maybe you've been able to use your skills and your abilities and you look back on it and you can take satisfaction in that and that is a gift from Almighty God.