SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Grace Church, and good morning to all of you who are joining us online.
SPEAKER_00: It is a joy to worship the Lord with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I could tangibly feel your love for Jesus during this morning's worship set.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just grateful for our worship team who served us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Could you just give them a ground of honor, please?
SPEAKER_00: Because they do a great job every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible or a Bible app, I encourage you to open to Proverbs chapter 31.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 31.
SPEAKER_00: We're looking at verses 10 through 31.
SPEAKER_00: We are concluding this morning our series called Wisdom for Life.
SPEAKER_00: And it's been a really fun eight weeks as we've explored the book of Proverbs, understanding God's intent on how to live rightly in His world.
SPEAKER_00: He is the creator, He's created the right way to live.
SPEAKER_00: And when we live rightly, we are living by wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've created a definition for wisdom that I've shared every single Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: It's been intentional because I really want you to know it if you learn nothing else, to know the definition of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And here it is: wisdom is knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing to do what is right.
SPEAKER_00: That's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: When we choose rightly, when we choose righteousness, we are living wisely in God's world.
SPEAKER_00: And we're concluding this morning by looking at how to use our labor wisely.
SPEAKER_00: Because according to God, there is a right way to use your labor.
SPEAKER_00: Now, labor is a unique thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the very few things that you truly own and possess.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody can take your labor from you.
SPEAKER_00: It's yours to give to the world.
SPEAKER_00: It is so important.
SPEAKER_00: It was actually established in the Declaration of Independence.
SPEAKER_00: And as we get ready to celebrate our 250th anniversary as a nation, I want to read to you the opening lines of the Declaration.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard these before, but you're going to understand them differently in light of the idea of labor.
SPEAKER_00: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas Jefferson penned those words.
SPEAKER_00: They're ratified July 4th, and then I think publicly declared actually July 7th.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality of that statement is that Thomas Jefferson did not invent it.
SPEAKER_00: Some people don't realize that.
SPEAKER_00: He actually gained that idea from John Locke, who lived about a hundred years previously, who wrote an incredible book called The Treaties of Two Governments.
SPEAKER_00: He was commenting on the government of England and what it means to truly have liberty under a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So John Locke's phrase is very familiar.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what John Locke writes: All men have natural rights given by God, including life, liberty, and property.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're both hinting at a different reality around the idea of labor.
SPEAKER_00: And it's that your labor gives you the ability to acquire things or to build a life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what your labor allows you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And so your labor is a right that you possess to pursue your life, your liberty, and your property or your pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jefferson penned it into the Declaration of Independence, he took John Locke's philosophy on government and why government exists to protect people's rights to acquire and attain property, and he elevated it into the social stratosphere of the United States ethos.
SPEAKER_00: So we live in a government primarily founded on a document written in the 17th century.
SPEAKER_00: But it says this your labor is yours.
SPEAKER_00: And in exchange for your labor, in exchange for your time and your skill and your creativity, you have the right to pursue a better life, things and stuff, opportunity, food, and establishment of day-to-day realities.
SPEAKER_00: So what you acquire with your labor is yours to better your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, from a government standpoint, I'm not going to go too deeply into this, but from the government standpoint, then, this is why we had a little revolution, you must have taxation with representation, because taxation is bartering your labor in exchange for goods and services from a government.
SPEAKER_00: That's why they created this.
SPEAKER_00: You have the right to pursue life, liberty, and property or the pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER_00: And if a government is going to reign over you, then they must, with good representation, barter on behalf of the people to exchange goods for services.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we have the Declaration of Independence.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we fought for in the American Revolution, and it's really an important concept in today's republic.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Bible echoes something very similar.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible affirms that labor is an honest way of acquiring goods.
SPEAKER_00: It is actually God's intent that mankind would use labor in the pursuit of acquisition.
SPEAKER_00: And throughout Scripture, God repeatedly strikes down evil forms of labor.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are lying or cheating or rob somebody or you oppress people or create injustice, any act of labor that is hurtful or deceitful in the terms of acquisition and the pursuit of life, God detests.
SPEAKER_00: But genuine, honest labor God created as a means for you to acquire goods and possessions and to live your life.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, that's not where labor stops.
SPEAKER_00: That's where most people in the United States of America and the world believes labor stops, is that labor is simply the tool that you use to acquire stuff for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible gives a qualifying factor to our labor.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read Ephesians 4.28, part two.
SPEAKER_00: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands, so that they may have something to share with those in need.
SPEAKER_00: The value of labor is not just that it produces something for you and for your family.
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of labor is that wisdom provides for others.
SPEAKER_00: The highest use of your labor is not in using it to attain and acquire goods for yourself, but using it to serve other people who need your help.
SPEAKER_00: That's the ultimate good of labor.
SPEAKER_00: This is a core factor for the church when it originally started in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Acts chapter 20, verse 35.
SPEAKER_00: And everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak.
SPEAKER_00: Remembering the Lords of Jesus Himself that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we are people of God.
SPEAKER_00: We were created by God to labor in this world, to use our labor to create things of value.
SPEAKER_00: And as we acquire goods with our labor, God's intent is that we as people of God would use it to bless those around us.
SPEAKER_00: We live with an open hand with the things that we've worked hard to attain.
SPEAKER_00: And we are going to look at the ultimate purpose of labor.
SPEAKER_00: That the purpose of labor is to live and to give.
SPEAKER_00: That's why God designed labor.
SPEAKER_00: God designed labor for you to live, but more importantly, he designed labor for you to acquire things that you give away.
SPEAKER_00: And to understand labor, we are going to look at the hardest working person in all of Scripture, the Proverbs 31 woman.
SPEAKER_00: There is nobody, and I mean nobody, who labors more purposefully or more intently than this woman, other than my wife.
SPEAKER_00: She is the one.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: She stands out.
SPEAKER_00: And I love how Proverbs 31, 10 begins to describe this hard-working and diligent woman.
SPEAKER_00: It says, an excellent wife who can find.
SPEAKER_00: She is far more precious than jewels.
SPEAKER_00: And that is true.
SPEAKER_00: If you have an excellent wife, you understand the truth in this statement.
SPEAKER_00: But what I don't like about Proverbs 31, verse 10, is that no matter what English version you use, they all use a different word for the word excellent.
SPEAKER_00: Some use the word capable, some use the word worthy, some use the word virtuous, some use this idea of excellence.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why the words in English change so often, because the Hebrew word is the word hail.
SPEAKER_00: And the word hail is simply not grasp with one English word.
SPEAKER_00: You have to kind of rewrite the phrase.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to hear how I would translate it if I had to write my own version of the Bible, because you sometimes need more words than one, that the hail woman is a capable and competent woman of exceptional ability, which means skilled labor, who possesses emotional strength, fortitude of heart, and a generous spirit in her service to others.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the good news about Proverbs 31 is that it's not actually a real woman.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are a woman in this room who's sat through Bible studies on Proverbs 31, or you've read Proverbs 31, you've had the exact same thought that my wife has had, and she shared it with me this Tuesday before I was going to preach Proverbs 31.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Dan, that's not a real woman.
SPEAKER_00: No one can do this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not possible.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, all right.
SPEAKER_00: So noted, it's a very lofty aspiration.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not meant to depict who you're supposed to become, it's really just depicting a value of what we can possess.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the only woman in all of Scripture who is referred to as the Hail woman is Ruth.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that Ruth is called that by Boaz in Ruth chapter 2, verse 2, you can read it for yourself, is that Ruth had a reputation in her town.
SPEAKER_00: A reputation of being a very hard-working woman who used her labor to serve others.
SPEAKER_00: If you know the story of Ruth, Ruth was a widow.
SPEAKER_00: And Ruth decided to dedicate her life while she was living to care for her mother-in-law, who was also a widow.
SPEAKER_00: Now, women in this room, how many of you want to dedicate your life to caring for your mother-in-law?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you do, but it's not the aspiration.
SPEAKER_00: But this woman, Ruth, said, Okay, I'm a widow, my mother-in-law is a widow, I am young, she is older, I have labor, I can care for her.
SPEAKER_00: She had every right to go back to her mother and father, to go back to her family, but she chose to use her labor and sacrifice to serve her mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_00: Her reputation, therefore, in the town was that of a high woman, a woman of incredible competence who sacrificed everything for somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you read through Proverbs 31, 10, that's what we see in terms of our labor being best used for.
SPEAKER_00: That value for a woman and value for humanity is not found in our beauty or even motherhood or in romance, but the value of our labor is found through this woman and how it blesses others.
SPEAKER_00: So she's an incredible woman.
SPEAKER_00: She manages resources, she produces goods, she invests capital, she plans ahead, she leads people, and she does all of that for the sake of giving it away and blessing to other people.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look through the rest of Proverbs 31, we will see the various ways that God intended labor to be a blessing to people.
SPEAKER_00: First is this wisdom uses labor to live by creating value.
SPEAKER_00: If labor is to live and to give, let's look at live first.
SPEAKER_00: Live uh uh we use wisdom to live by creating value.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 31, 16.
SPEAKER_00: She considers a field and buys it.
SPEAKER_00: With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is value creation.
SPEAKER_00: It's seeing an opportunity and using labor to create profits from the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: This happens in marketplaces all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Go to any business, venture capital firm, what are they looking for?
SPEAKER_00: They're looking for an opportunity where they can labor and then increase their profits.
SPEAKER_00: It's a life principle.
SPEAKER_00: When you find opportunity and you work the opportunity, there's value on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: So it works in large things, but it also works in small things.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what humans do.
SPEAKER_00: We use small ordinary means as well.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that uh we've realized in our family since Amy has become a full-time working mom is that there are certain tasks around the house that we really hate more than others.
SPEAKER_00: I hate more than others.
SPEAKER_00: And she has decided that in this season, one of the things she will still try to do is plan the weekly meals.
SPEAKER_00: And so she has to really labor in order to understand what's in our cupboards and our refrigerator, make the meal plan for the week, go to the grocery store and buy all the goods.
SPEAKER_00: She creates through her labor the blessing of a family dinner for all of us, Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_00: That's an opportunity to feed and bless your family, but requires real labor to bring about the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: So when there's opportunity to be had, a field to be purchased, a business to be acquired, or a way to serve somebody else, your labor is going to be used to create the value that other people and yourself experience.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 31, 24 says this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, friends, our labor is one of God's primary means of what, of taking what actually exists and making it better.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you here in this room are farmers or have worked with farmers.
SPEAKER_00: The farmer understands this passage intuitively.
SPEAKER_00: There is a field, and when you work the field, it creates value.
SPEAKER_00: But what is the value created?
SPEAKER_00: All of us benefit from eating the food the farmer creates.
SPEAKER_00: We're blessed by their labor.
SPEAKER_00: And soon, very soon, we'll be able to go out to all of these farm stands and buy some really great homegrown Lancaster County produce.
SPEAKER_00: How about the auto mechanic?
SPEAKER_00: The auto mechanic takes broken things, a car that doesn't run, and he makes it work.
SPEAKER_00: And as a result, now the doctor who owned that car can go to the hospital and save somebody's life.
SPEAKER_00: His work created value that blessed somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: Teachers, educators, community servants, they take ignorance in a child or in a young adult who's in college, they take that ignorance and they create understanding.
SPEAKER_00: And from that understanding comes all the inventions that you're blessed by from other people and the labor of your coworkers.
SPEAKER_00: So every time we take something that is an opportunity and create value with it, it has an overflow of blessing to everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we learn about every single kind of honest vocation.
SPEAKER_00: Every honest vocation creates real value.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what you do for labor.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in this world, especially if you're young and you look at the future, you're like, oh, what am I going to do?
SPEAKER_00: What's my purpose?
SPEAKER_00: What's my identity?
SPEAKER_00: All those things are well and good to ask, but at the end of the day, whatever you end up doing, your labor, when you use it to create value, is part of how you were designed.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why you can find satisfaction in the work of flipping burgers at McDonald's as much as you can being the corporate CEO of a large hedge fund.
SPEAKER_00: You can find equal value in those things because as long as your labor creates value and the value matches what you believe you're worthy of creating in the world, that's meaningful contribution to the world.
SPEAKER_00: I love my McDonald's workers.
SPEAKER_00: They feed me well.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of you is a valuable person in the eyes of God because you have real contribution to this world.
SPEAKER_00: Contribution to this church, contribution to your families, contributions to society.
SPEAKER_00: You are valuable because God has created you to use your labor to create value for other people.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand that there's many people here and watching online, you feel like your work is insignificant.
SPEAKER_00: You feel like you're not adding a whole lot of value to the world around you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a homemaker, your mom, your homaker, and you just feel completely unseen by your husband and by your kids, and you're like, I just serve and I serve and I do all this work, and I don't feel like anybody acknowledges my labor.
SPEAKER_00: I know it can seem like your labor is unseen, but I promise you that that labor is significant and valuable, and the fruit of it comes in the years to come.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a provider, you're a worker, whether you're a man or a woman, and your work of provision, whether you bring it home and it gets used, your kids don't say thank you, your grandchildren don't say thank you, and you give them a birthday gift, and you're using all your labor to produce and provide for others, and everybody just seems to overlook the fact that by the fruit of your hand, they've experienced a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, being unseen does not make you insignificant, it makes other people selfish.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's what that means.
SPEAKER_00: But your significance and your value come by the fact that God's giving you the ability to produce labor that blesses.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just a regular employee at work and you don't feel like your boss values you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't feel like your company sees you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the reality of your labor: every email you send, or every faucet you replace, or every deck plank you pull out and put back in, all of those things that create value is meaningful labor in the eyes of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Scripture says, we work as if we work unto the Lord, not unto other people.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot find our significance in labor from the people around us or their world in which we live, because they will never give you the value that God will give you.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says, listen, use your labor and use it to live by creating value in the world because you're doing it for me.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing is, use your labor to enjoy life.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody got summer vacation plans?
SPEAKER_00: I hope you got some plans, even if you're just doing a staycation.
SPEAKER_00: You're to use your labor to enjoy the life that God has given you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Proverbs 31, 18.
SPEAKER_00: She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
SPEAKER_00: You know that God is not against profits, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is 100% okay with you earning as much money as you possibly can in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If your labor produces enormous amounts of revenue for you, or even just small amounts of revenue for you, the Bible celebrates diligent, honest labor that produces profits.
SPEAKER_00: This woman, she experiences profits, she has security, she has provision, and there is nothing sinful about enjoying the fruit of your labor.
SPEAKER_00: You can use it to acquire a nice home.
SPEAKER_00: You can take your family on a wonderful vacation, you can save for retirement, you can own properties, you can even buy a Rolex, and God is like, hey man, good for you.
SPEAKER_00: That honest labor that you use to acquire those goods is a value thing to God, and you're welcome to enjoy the fruit of your labor.
SPEAKER_00: He's not against profits, he's not against allowing you to live the life you want to live from those profits.
SPEAKER_00: The issue is this whether or not the gift of your labor becomes the God of your life.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are workaholics.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people find their purpose and their identity from the labor and value that they bring to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, wisdom understands that labor is a tool.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an identity.
SPEAKER_00: Labor is something that serves you and you don't serve it.
SPEAKER_00: But I get it.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that's very obsessed with the grind, obsessed with work culture.
SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody's got to have a side hustle.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a side hustle, then you're really not really working in this life.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to work to earn, and our culture will drive you and tell you you've got to work to earn more and more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand why this is.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does labor create money, but labor also creates purpose.
SPEAKER_00: People like telling you what they do for work, especially when it's something they're proud of.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, what do you do for work?
SPEAKER_00: How many times do you ask somebody that question in a given week?
SPEAKER_00: Hi, what's your name?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you from?
SPEAKER_00: What's your job?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, let me tell you about my job.
SPEAKER_00: I got the best job in the world.
SPEAKER_00: I teach people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: That's the labor, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has a labor.
SPEAKER_00: We all talk about our labor, and it gives us a sense of purpose.
SPEAKER_00: But your labor and your fruits cannot be your source of purpose, identity, peace, and joy because there will never be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, one day, your body is going to fail you.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to happen to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: And your capacity to produce value-creating work, whatever it is, will diminish.
SPEAKER_00: And as you get older, your value output actually goes down.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to start to feel purposelessness.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a lot of uh retirees that move into Lancaster County.
SPEAKER_00: And when retirees move to Lancaster County, or if you're somebody who's retired, one of the things that I've seen and had conversations with many people in this stage of life is that if they don't know what they're going to do in retirement, they don't know what kind of activity or work they're going to do, whether it's volunteering somewhere or some leisure and hobbies, they get pretty scared of retirement.
SPEAKER_00: They're pretty fearful of giving up work.
SPEAKER_00: Because if I give up work and I don't know what I'm going to do next to create value in the world, what good am I?
SPEAKER_00: And so retirement is being delayed longer and longer, not just because things are more expensive, but because there's many people saying, What is my purpose beyond this job?
SPEAKER_00: Friends, if you're in that season of life, I would encourage you and I would remind you that your purpose is to create value in whatever labor you put your hand to, not just the career that God has given you.
SPEAKER_00: And so whether it's serving inside the church community or volunteering in social clubs or just being an active part of the body of Christ, this is what God has for you to use labor to create value in any circumstance, and in that you will find great meaning in peace and joy.
SPEAKER_00: But peace can't be sound found solely in your ability to provide for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where wisdom and foolishness really part ways.
SPEAKER_00: Because the foolish person will say, Through my work, I have security.
SPEAKER_00: Through my work, I have peace.
SPEAKER_00: Through my work, I have identity.
SPEAKER_00: Through my work, I have purpose.
SPEAKER_00: That's what a foolish person says.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom would say the opposite: that your security, your safety, your provision, your purpose are never found inside of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: They're only found in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Only.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Proverbs 15, 16 says this better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasures and the trouble that come with it.
SPEAKER_00: First are talking about the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of God means to hear the word of God and obey the word of God, believing that God knows more than you do.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Go back to week one of this series.
SPEAKER_00: That's where I began this whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe God knows more than you?
SPEAKER_00: Yes or no?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: If God really knows more than you, then wisdom is putting that knowledge, God's knowledge, to work on your behalf.
SPEAKER_00: And God says it is far better for you to use your labor to acquire things that bless people than to use your labor to acquire things that bless you alone.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you use your labor to give things away, yes, you will have little.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have less.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's going to argue that.
SPEAKER_00: You can't have$100, give away$50, and still have a hundred.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to have$50.
SPEAKER_00: You will have less, but you will also know that you're living in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And when you're living in wisdom, you then receive the blessing of God.
SPEAKER_00: So better to have little and be living in the fear of God than to have much and be completely arrogant in the face of what God's instruction tells us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom uses labor to give blessing.
SPEAKER_00: This is why labor exists, to live and to give.
SPEAKER_00: Now a blessing is anything, and I mean anything, that lifts the soul of another person by meeting their needs.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Proverbs 31.20.
SPEAKER_00: This is the end of the near the end here.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 31.20 says this.
SPEAKER_00: She opens her hand to the poor and she reaches out her hands to the needy.
SPEAKER_00: I would tell you that based on all of biblical theology, from Genesis to Revelation, this is the most important verse in Proverbs 31.
SPEAKER_00: She reaches out her hand to the needy and she gives to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: Why does God give her the skills he gives her to buy a field, plant a vineyard, to buy wool, make fabrics, sell it for profit?
SPEAKER_00: Why does she get all of these gifts that many people yearn for?
SPEAKER_00: Why does she have it?
SPEAKER_00: Because with her hands, not only does she create good for the world, but with those hand with those same hands, she meets the needs of those around her.
SPEAKER_00: And so wisdom understands that labor creates opportunity to give generous blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom knows that labor creates opportunities for generous blessings.
SPEAKER_00: It is difficult, especially right now, to want to be generous with our resources.
SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we live in a world, there's real economic realities, the pressure is high.
SPEAKER_00: Everything about summertime, there's increased expenses.
SPEAKER_00: There's vacations I'm gonna do, my kids are home all summer, I've got to find activities to them to be involved in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be working as much because I'll be on vacation, and some of us have unpaid vacations, so we're gonna take budget cuts to not be at work.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel the pinch of your financial reality, our immediate instinct is to shore up, not open up.
SPEAKER_00: That's the human response.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna shore up my giving, short my finances, get my budget back in touch.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna spend less instead of going to sheets here in uh Liddis to get my gas, I'm gonna go down to Costco once a week, where's 30 cents cheaper?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: But that mindset, while it can be frugal in one sense and good, prevents us from being open-handed in the blessing of others.
SPEAKER_00: So we have got to use our labor as a means of generous blessing because that's what the people of God do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, wisdom uses labor to do something else.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom uses labor to build others up.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Proverbs 31, verses 12 and 28.
SPEAKER_00: She does him good.
SPEAKER_00: This is her husband.
SPEAKER_00: She does her husband good and not harm all the days of her life.
SPEAKER_00: I wish that were true.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
SPEAKER_00: It's just hard, man.
SPEAKER_00: Being married is hard, good, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Wives are good, husbands are good, but it ain't easy.
SPEAKER_00: But she does him good and not harm all the days of her life.
SPEAKER_00: And her children will rise up and call her blessed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when I was younger, my mom would tell me to do this.
SPEAKER_00: It's a true story.
SPEAKER_00: We'd be growing up and she'd be like, one day, you're gonna rise up and you're gonna call me blessed.
SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, whatever, mom, you don't know anything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take this opportunity because I didn't preach Mother's Day.
SPEAKER_00: I want to let you know that my mother is an incredible woman who skillfully worked with her hands to produce labor that created value for my brothers and my father.
SPEAKER_00: She served us tirelessly her whole life.
SPEAKER_00: She's a very diligent worker.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, mother, this is me calling you blessed.
SPEAKER_00: She's right over there, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you crap her.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person who is around a laborer who uses their labor to live and to give is built up.
SPEAKER_00: They're emotionally built up.
SPEAKER_00: They experience psychological and emotional security inside of their lives.
SPEAKER_00: The children of this person benefit.
SPEAKER_00: The servants of that person's household.
SPEAKER_00: 21st century uh correlation.
SPEAKER_00: If you own a business and you use your labor to bless your employees, to really bless them, not just with fair wages, but in other ways, your servants will benefit from your generosity and your blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Your workers, not servants.
SPEAKER_00: The poor will benefit, the community will benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Because those in our immediate vicinity who have need, we have the eyes to see them because we live a life that says what I have is meant to be given to others, not to be entirely consumed by me.
SPEAKER_00: And so the poor in our community benefit.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of your life, when this is all said and done and you're with Jesus, and people are looking at all the things you've done and remembering you, I promise you, no one's gonna care about your assets.
SPEAKER_00: You might have five houses, three boats, two dogs, and a bunch of china stuck up in a closet somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that is for the people that you left behind?
SPEAKER_00: That's just work.
SPEAKER_00: They gotta liquidate the assets, they gotta clean it out, they're just looking for the cash.
SPEAKER_00: They'll take the cash and they'll be on their way.
SPEAKER_00: But nobody talks about your assets in a meaningful positive way.
SPEAKER_00: But they will talk about your investment in their life.
SPEAKER_00: I love my dad because he always said he was proud of me.
SPEAKER_00: I love my mom because she always came home.
SPEAKER_00: When I came home from school every day, there was a plate of cookies.
SPEAKER_00: Now, those are hypotheticals, but it's the idea of what is it that people care about.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not your things, it's not your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's how you've used your things and stuff to bless them, how you've used your labor to build them up and encourage them and establish a safe haven for them, how you've loved them and served them and helped them.
SPEAKER_00: And I will argue, friends, that the church, the church is the primary place where we are to use our labor to invest and enrich the lives of people.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Acts chapter 2, verses 44 through 47.
SPEAKER_00: This is the picture of the early church.
SPEAKER_00: All of the believers were together, they had everything in common.
SPEAKER_00: They sold property, possessions, they gave to anyone who had need, and every day they continued to meet together in temple courts.
SPEAKER_00: They broke their bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: They took their property, they sold it.
SPEAKER_00: They took the fruit of that property, they dispersed it among one another.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody ate, everybody was blessed, everybody had a benefit.
SPEAKER_00: But in order to have property, there had to be labor.
SPEAKER_00: In order for people to share at a common meal, people had to labor to produce food in advance.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way of God.
SPEAKER_00: Our labor produces what we need to give to others.
SPEAKER_00: And what happened in the church?
SPEAKER_00: The church grew, the church had fellowship, the church had favor, the church worshiped God, all because people were using their labor to be generous to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: The power of labor being used to bless other people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Sunday, June 21st is Father's Day, and I want to take a moment to invite everybody here to come to church that day, whether you're here or watching online, because that's also our Forward Together Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: You heard Kenton mention it in our announcements.
SPEAKER_00: Forward Together Sunday is a chance to remember how everybody here worked to bless the church in the last year.
SPEAKER_00: How your labor increased the fruit of the gospel here at the Body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So we got this great booklet we've made, and we're gonna celebrate how your generous contributions and your labor built up the body of Christ and allowed us to complete the mission of God.
SPEAKER_00: So be here June 21st.
SPEAKER_00: Dad's is Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have root beer floats for you.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else will have some kind of snack.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good reason to come.
SPEAKER_00: Now, ultimately, why was the church this generous?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus was generous with his labor.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus knew what it meant to work hard.
SPEAKER_00: He was a laborer after all.
SPEAKER_00: Read the text.
SPEAKER_00: He was a carpenter, he was a builder.
SPEAKER_00: He understood how to use labor, physical labor, and create value.
SPEAKER_00: And his ministry was filled with labor, miracles, sermons, and it's a lot of work to labor over sermon.
SPEAKER_00: He walked miles to be with people, acts of compassion, conversations.
SPEAKER_00: He had to endure criticism.
SPEAKER_00: He did all of that work to bless his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And all of that work led him to his greatest work of all, which was his death on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus labored on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He suffered on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: The cross was a work that Jesus had set before him by the Father, that through his death and through his suffering you would be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to John 19, 30.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus received the sour wine, he said, It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: When do you say it is finished?
SPEAKER_00: When your work is done.
SPEAKER_00: That his labor, that his suffering produced life for you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was blessed in the suffering on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And through that, he gave you the blessing of not having to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: That's labor.
SPEAKER_00: A labor of love, truly.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we preached the gospel message both in kids' ministry and in Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: And through the preaching of the gospel message, because Christ labored on the cross and through his death, burial, and resurrection created a way for all people to have life.
SPEAKER_00: We have three young people give their life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's the cruise kids.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have them come on out.
SPEAKER_00: Should be back to come on out, guys.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to watch what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: If this is your first Sunday here, what we do is when we have people who give their life to Jesus, we say that they have gone from death to life, from darkness to light.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is our Jesus sign.
SPEAKER_00: And every time someone says yes to Jesus, we plug a light bulb in for them.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice there's one light bulb, because a couple weeks ago we had to clear it since we filled it up, but we are continuing our mission.
SPEAKER_00: And our mission is to help lost people become found people and found people follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, these three kids who gave their life to Jesus last week are gonna sell, we're gonna celebrate and cheer like crazy as they plug in their light bulb as a symbol of moving from death to life.
SPEAKER_00: So kids, go ahead and why don't you plug in your bulb for us, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Church Christ's labor and your labor produces fruit.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: You need to see it.
SPEAKER_00: What we do as a church matters and is valuable.
SPEAKER_00: We're creating real value in the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we come before you recognizing that you've given us all skill and talent.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, that skill and talent was never meant to be used just for our own living.
SPEAKER_00: It was meant to be used for enriching the lives of other people.
SPEAKER_00: Father, would you let Grace Church become a people known for our generosity, not just our generosity of money, but our generosity of time and skill.