The Third Strand at Work

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord..." — Colossians 3:23
​Your workplace is where you spend the majority of your week. Are you making the most of this mission field? Last Sunday, we looked at how to make our professional lives reflect our faith in Jesus.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Hey, good morning. It's Blaine Crane, the Preacher Man here. Welcome to the Preacher Man's Podcast, Sermons and Lessons. We are going to have a back-to-back podcast posting this week simply because I had the opportunity to uh speak uh and worship with another congregation here in Mahaya and it was a wonderful, wonderful time. And um, of course, I'll get into that with the next podcast as soon as I get this one uh uh uh done and posted. But last Sunday we are continuing a themed lesson on what it means to understand the core to three strands. We have been looking at fixing our relationships. And when uh because of the main theme for the year is fix in twenty-six. And so we took a time to uh and uh and I say this and and and not necessarily tongue in cheek or in jest, but it's just a a statement of fact. Sometimes sermons are not are not as theological as some would like. And instead they are more of a practical uh sermon. And I would say that uh the one that you're uh are going to listen to today from last Sunday is more of the practical side of things. When it comes to relationship repair, um we have an obligation to show who else is involved in this court of three strands when we are at work or we are at school. Now the majority of my lesson was focused to really address what is a Christian's attitude, what is a Christian's work ethic, what is uh the Christian supposed to be like? How can how can he turn his the job that he works at, his nine to five, or even if he is a a supervisor, manager, CEO, what what is his attitude toward the work that he is involved with? How does he supposed to see that? And I believe they are and I believe we are called to view our jobs and view our school our schools that we go to for our young people who might be listening to this, and whether it be college or high school or trade school. Um it is a mission field in itself. And there is, in some ways, do you say you look at this way, there is a strategy here. There's a strategy on how you do your work in your mission field that is also called your job or your school that you go to or the classes that you take. So the the title of this lesson that involves workplace school place Christianity, if you will, is called The Third Strand at Work. And when I put this title in, I didn't realize that I kind of did a a kind of a word play on that. The Third Strand at Work but also the third the third strand at work. And and and how it it you know when you're at work, you know, how the third strand works. Kind of an interesting little thing. Um the main text was Colossians 3, 22 through uh chapter 4, verse 1. And um we're gonna take a listen to it. I hope you enjoy it. And we'll be back afterwards for some closing thoughts. So hope you have your Bibles turned on and open to Colossians 3. That's where we'll be getting our start this morning. Before we do, though, I'd like to need uh feel the need to take care of some housekeeping uh things that have uh we want to make you aware of. Um the young man who was leading singing this morning, but that is uh Joe Squires' favorite nephew. And uh his name is Corbin. Corbin Squires is recently moved to Mahaya. He is going to start taking classes at TSTC. Um and uh I believe he's uh electric electricity, you know, electrical work? HVAC? Oh, HVAC, okay. So uh he's the we he's that and while he is here uh we're going to TSTC. He also wants to be recognized as a member here of this congregation, and so we are very happy to have Corbin before we applaud. I also want to make you aware of the the the Yerby family. Uh James and his daughter Devin Yerby waving at him in the back of the waving at us. They've been worshiping us for a couple of weeks now. They also, too, would like to uh ask if they could be added to our list and be a part of our little family here at Northcrest. And so to the three of those who are new here, we are glad to have you. We look forward to working with you, and we hope that you can work with us as we uh love God and love our neighbors and all that we do and everything here. So uh welcome and thanks for being here. I don't want to um I don't want to mislead anybody when it comes to uh this lesson this morning. Uh the reason why I say that is because I I want to acknowledge and I think it's important for us to have reminders um in our lives about why we are here on a day called Sunday. We you know we we we come here early, we we have Bible classes uh in in the mornings, and then when we come in here to the auditorium, we come in here to do one thing and one thing only, and that is to glorify God, to worship him as a family, to sing praises, to uh commune not only with him, but with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to have scripture being read, to edify, build up, encourage, to have a message, uh hopefully uh a message will be delivered that is also of the same avenue. But our what we do right now is important. And I don't want us to ever to forget that. In fact, it would be encouraging, I would say, to, as you are preparing, hopefully, uh the the day before, the night before, you are preparing yourself for what you are going to be able to contribute, not just in the collection plate, but with your person, with your attitude, with your with your with your abilities. What are you bringing into the sanctuary, the auditorium, in order for you to be able to worship the Lord and how we do this? Our worship to the Lord is important. Now, I say that because I know that it because but I want to also stress that what we do on Monday through Saturday is as equally important. You you you it it's it's uh it's been referred, it's been referenced to saying that what we do on Sunday is is in many ways like a recharging of our batteries. We come here, we worship, we encourage, we we we we tell God, thank you for all the blessings, and and and thank you for Jesus, and we get that charge, that buildup, so that we can go out into the world on Monday and do whatever it is we are called to do, whether it be going to work, going to school, uh helping, volunteering in many, many ways. I had when I was when I was going to um when I was in Abilene and living in Abilene, uh one of the churches that I would visit on Sunday simply because I was a student and um I liked the church, and I didn't always go back home to my home congregation 36 because I was just you know it was 15 miles away. When and and and of course in Abilene uh there's plenty of places to worship in Abilene. And so I would go to Southern Hills, Church of Christ, and uh this was in the 90s, and in the and and when uh when the minister there was a very, very uh uh well he he really impressed me. I I really did like the preacher at North at uh at Northcrest. I do like the preacher at Northcrest. I liked the preacher at Southern Hills, his name was John Rissey. And I don't know if you if if if if you know about John Rissey, but his background, John Rissey was was uh was a lot like his his journey to becoming a preacher wasn't just like mine, but it was very, very similar in the fact that he started out, he he was a supervisor for a uh John Deere manufacturing plant. So they built the tractors and the lawnmowers and all the things that he worked for John Deere. And while he was a supervisor there, he he he did not he did not become a Christian until later in life. And John Rizzi tells a uh part of his testimony is the fact that while he was a supervisor there, he noticed that there was uh an employee, he was uh he was a he was on the maintenance crew, and this man had a perfect attendance record. He showed up earlier than what he was scheduled to come in. He was always um his his his uh his clothes and and his uniform was always in good shape. He he his his tools were organized. He he could solve the problem quick, move on to the next task. He didn't take a 20-minute break when you were scheduled a 15-minute break. He didn't take a 45-minute lunch when you were only scheduled a 30. He he if he was asked to stay over and work, he would work until the job got done. He worked his he worked his eight, got his 40, and on month, and would go home on the weekends, but and while while everybody else was dragging in on Monday morning, some some sometimes, and depending on if you know where the John Deere plant was, some of them they were a little, they they worked, they partied too hard on the weekends, and but he no, he showed up on time, clean shaven, ready to go, ready to work. John Rizzy also noticed that this man never had any foul language in his voice. Well, this made, like I said, this is before John became a Christian. And it got John a little suspicious. Surely that guy has got something in his closet. Surely, that guy ain't that perfect. And so he watched him. Watched him for weeks, read and always made sure to uh read his reports to make sure that what he wrote down in his reports was what at what was actually done. And the man never missed a lick. Was honest about his work, was honest about his abilities. Oh, sure, he had hard times, and sure, there was some times where things were kind of challenging, but you would never see it in his face or in his temper. So finally, John had enough. He was just this guy was too perfect. There, there's no way this guy was always this consistent about his abilities and how he did his life how he how he worked at his factory. So he called him in the office. He he just product and said, I want to know what your deal is. And then says, What do you mean? He says, I've been watching you for three weeks now. You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't cuss, nor do you or and and you don't date women that do. You you your your uniform is always in good shape. Your tools are always organized and in good shape. You respond to a call for a maintenance repair and you get the job done faster than anybody else. You're you're 20 minutes early for work, and if you're asked to stay, you stay past the overtime till the job gets done. You everybody can there's not one employee here that I've talked to about you who has something bad or negative to say about you. I want to know what your deal is. You can't be this perfect. I don't know what to tell you. What do you do on the weekend? Surely you must do like everybody else, and and you know, you get off work, you clock out, you get your paycheck, you go and you you you celebrate. Oh, well, yeah, you know, I I'll take the wife out to eat every once in a while, or or you know, but most times we just stay at home and enjoy our Saturday, and then of course on Sunday, I uh I'm gonna I get up and I and I I go to worship at my at my church, and uh we you know, and then he goes, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You go you said you're a churchgoer? He goes, Yeah, boss, I'm a Christian. And that conversation is what got John Rissey started into looking into why this particular maintenance man was the way he was. As we go through this next lesson on relationships, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna dip into first of all, this lesson is not gonna be very, very deep in theology, but it's a very practical one that I hope that you will all pay attention to and be able to understand and appreciate. Because this is the question that I want you to think about as we go through this lesson. And the question is this if Jesus were physically sitting in the desk next to you, or if he were the one who was reviewing your work at the end of the day, would your work ethic, would your attitude, would your conversations remain exactly the same? The main point of this lesson is this is that in any workplace relationship, any school yard relationship, any board, you're uh if you sit on a board, if you're a part of a council, if you're working in whatever. Any workplace relationship, whether it's uh being a boss to an employee, or a peer-to-peer, or company to client, there is always going to be a third party present if you're there. We've been last Sunday, we looked at this idea of what it means to be a new you. Like we discussed last week, we realized that we are never working alone. We're never by ourselves if we call ourselves children of God. We are constantly in a cord of three, a cord of three strands. One of those now, we can see one of those is going to be our colleagues, and the other one is going to be with Christ. Have you ever thought about your mission field? Or what your mission field might look like? Your mission field could look like the construction site that you're on, or the classroom that you're sitting in, or teaching in. Your mission field could look like a catalog, or a farm, or a ball field, or a courtroom. Your mission field could look like a kitchen, a living room, even a bedroom. Mark Twain said this. This is uh the secret to getting to getting ahead is getting started. I don't know how you see your mission field. Maybe it's a little intimidating. But you're not going to get anything accomplished if you don't get started. So in Colossians chapter 3, Paul is talking about this exact same thing. He says in verse 22, he says, Slaves obey those who are your human masters and everything, not with eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord. What we have here is an understanding of how important it is to be consistent. I'm sure you could probably get on Google right now or get a dictionary out and look up the word integrity. But quite simply, this integrity is doing the right thing even when no one else is watching. Integrity is doing the right thing when your boss isn't looking. Because as Christians, we know the boss is always watching. And so your co-workers should notice your strand at work. Your coworkers should notice when we don't cut corners, when we don't wiggle or jiggle the reports. Your co workers should notice when a decision is made, it's the right decision, it's a fair decision, and it's the one that's going to not only help the company, but help those who are working in the company. Your co workers are going to notice when you don't participate in office. Politics, when you don't participate in office gossip, and your employee and your coworkers are going to notice how you react when you, and it's going to happen, when you make a mistake. Integrity makes us all a more reliable strand in that cord of three strands. And so when others see that your word is your bond, that you are a faithful employee, not because you enjoy the paycheck, but because you know who you're really working for, you create an environment. You create an environment where trust can be built. You create an environment where there is a high energy, where there is uh where it is where there's productivity, all to the glory of God. It is no secret that there are Fortune 500 companies who discovered this a long time ago, that there are things in the Bible that they could incorporate into their businesses. Shocker. Now, I don't know how successful some of those Fortune 500 companies are because they are incorporating biblical morality into their business plans, but I will say, I'm glad they're doing it. I'm glad they're recognizing just how important God's word is. Because what if if a business is trying to uh emulate a church, they're gonna have a hard time. But they can sure, definitely use some of the practices, and I'm all for that. Integrity makes you that reliable strand. And whenever they see that, they see that your word, your attitude, and everything that you do is all for something bigger and better. Now we've been we've been circling around this idea about who's the boss for a while now. Now we're gonna get to that. Look at verse 23. It says, Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord and not for people. Knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Whatever you do, that's before nine o'clock and after five o'clock, obviously. But it's also that time in between. Whatever you do. It's one thing to be able to put muscle behind your work, especially if you are working in a situation where it requires a lot of physical things. But heart involves many other organs that we all take a part of. I mean, you know, you got to have a clear mind and a clear head to do some of the things that you're working working with and working at and working for. You got to be able to have the right attitude dealing with those customers who may not are not always happy about having to show up or be there. Let's face it, there's some times where, you know, I'm sure many of you have probably prayed, oh, here comes so-and-so, Lord help me. But we have this on we have this, we need to have this understanding about when you start to have those moments of maybe feeling underappreciated, undervalued. Maybe you're just flat out frustrated with how some of the things are going at the plant or in the feedlot, or in wherever it is you're working. Maybe there's sometimes there's a coworker who just is just really, really hard to work with and deal with. And it is we're working for the Lord, it should have us change our mindset as to why we're doing what we're doing. It's the one because who are you actually answering to? You're not answering to a boss or a supervisor, you're answering to the Lord. After all, who do you think really got you that job in the first place? Let that sit there for a little bit because I want you to think about that. You know, the Lord does answer prayers. And sometimes he answers prayers, you know, like, you know, Lord, please give me more patience. And so he's going to put you in situations where patience is learned. But when it comes time to, you know, Lord, I I need a place to work, I need a job. I need, oh, Lord, I need a new job. Lord, I need a switch, or I need an I I want to, I really want to go for this position. And then the Lord gives it to you. Well, man, who do you think you're working for now? It should have a transformation into everything that encompasses the place where we spend a lot of our time. When you uh it transforms us, when you realize that the Lord is your ultimate supervisor, when you realize that the that the Lord is your ultimate boss, and it is a privilege to be able to serve under him and work under him because his requirements are not hard. It should change your motivation, it should change your attitude to the point where you are no longer working for a paycheck, although paychecks are good. I'm not saying that. You're working more than you're doing more than just working for a paycheck. You're doing more than just working for the attaboys and the gold stars you get when you achieve all your tasks and meet all of your goals. You your and this is gonna sound way out there, so I haven't trust me, I haven't hurt myself and fallen and hit my head, but your work will actually turn into your attitude and your worship. So tomorrow morning when you show up at your job, you're showing up to worship. Lord may our actions, Lord may our abilities, may our talents all be to the glory of you. Which is the same attitude that we should have on every Sunday. Or am I wrong about that? Now we're gonna shift yours a little bit. Because we've been talking about the the the worker, the co-worker, the woman who clocks in every day and clocks out. Paul doesn't pull no punches when it comes to the other person in this job. Now, normally I would tell you that I would think that well, no, I I do believe this, that the beginning of chapter four should have been the ending of chapter three. I think when they put the Bible together in chapter and verses, they just got that a little thrown off. But verse one of chapter four has quite a few things to unpack. Masters grant your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. What is your definition of a standard of a standard of fairness? A Christian boss does not treat employees as a means to an end. They are people. Some of them are children of the Most High God. And even if they weren't that, they are still created in the image of God. Leading in that strand of three chords means you are to demonstrate righteousness in your decision making. So if you are a supervisor or a boss or a manager or any kind of where you are over a crew, over a company, over a section of a group, then you need to ask yourself these questions. Are your expectations fair? Are you leading by example? Are you interested in the well-being, not just the of others, of your employees? Are you interested in their well-being and not just concerned about if they completed their task or they reached the bottom line? Are you fair? Are you fair and just in how you delegate responsibilities? Do you treat your employees with the same dignity that you would want if you were in their shoes? I don't see this, verse one of chapter four. I don't see this as a suggestion. Paul is saying, look, if you are responsible for people, then there is a necessary attitude that you ought to have. Because you are your master is someone else who's way more powerful and has way more pull than what you got down here on earth. You lead the best, I would say. Leadership is found best when you remember that you are also accountable to a higher authority. And so that's why it's important for Christian bosses to maintain an attitude, a right mindset, and to demonstrate Christ's love, knowing that it is from a it's coming from a servant's heart. So what's the takeaway this morning? We've been looking at this cord of three strands thing for a while now. And in this situation, the cord of three strands is you, your co-workers in Christ. And in many ways, what we're doing, seeing is that it's the way that you turn a secular workplace into a mission field. And in this mission field, people are watching not what you necessarily be uh preaching and trying to teach from God's word, but what they tell you what if they are watching, they're watching for integrity. They're watching for you using your God-given talents, and they're watching your leadership to become, and that becomes the most powerful testimony that you will ever share. I sound like a broken record, and I know, but I apologize. But just so you know, you may be the only Bible someone's going to read this week. What events are you going to show them? What message are you going to leave? Especially in the workplace, in the school place, where we spend the majority of our time trying to make a living so we can serve God more. And maybe there needs to be some um some some time to pause and think about just what kind of boss, what kind of employee are we um trying to emulate when we go back to work on Monday. Some of you might be working right now and listening to your podcast. I know that the that there are a lot of people who are, you know, self-employed. Um they work weekends, and so, you know, there's there's so many different avenues where you can think that some of the things that that were spoken about may or may not apply to you. Which is one of the reasons why I wanted to really highlight this biblical concept of integrity. And why it's so important for not only for us to have the ability to demonstrate it, but to know what it means and why it's so important for other people to see. Another story that um comes to mind is and some of some of you who are uh Northcrest church going uh members might have heard this story before too when it comes to this kind of thing. Um my brother, my oldest brother Terry, um when he was still in high school, um a a church member who ran had his own business uh called my dad up. And uh Terry was a senior, he was about to graduate, he was um gonna go out into the workforce, he wasn't gonna go to college, and uh th this uh gentleman uh wound up uh calling my dad one one afternoon and asked my father if he thought uh Terry would want to come and work for him. And he my the this gentleman um ran an R V shop. He had an R V shop and it was he sold RVs, he sold trailers, he sold campers, but he also repaired them and and and and did uh maintenance work on those. They would bring in they'd bring in their camper trailer and they would need to replace a water line or work on something to that extent. And he did it all. So he asked my dad if he thought that Terry might would want to come and and work for him, and and of course my dad was like, Well, you know, um Terry Terry's a grown man now, he's about to graduate, he's about to be on his own. Um you know, um I I I can say that you know it it it wouldn't you know, you can a you should ask him, but he doesn't know anything about RVs or or working on RVs or anything like that and to which the gentleman said, Well, I can train him. I can show him everything he needs to know about working on RVs and uh repairing them, um just the ins and outs I can sh that I can show. And so my dad says, Well, why do you want why do you think it's why do you want him? Why do you w you know why don't you you know I'm sure you have other guys there who can who would be who have far more experience who would come and work for you. And he said uh the reason why I'm I'm calling you Frank is because um that's my dad's name. My dad's name is Frank. The reason why I'm calling you is because I know that your son won't steal from me. Which was a really a compliment to both my family, my father, and my brother. And uh it was um a a really huge thing for him as the owner of a small business to say, you know, there are things that you can teach and there are things that you can show people how to do to be successful, but then there are some things that are that that only time and r raising by good Christian families and and people like that can can show you as well. So just remember the definition of integrity. And that is it's doing the right thing even when no one else is watching. And just by doing that, you are planting so many seeds and you are showing Christ, and you are demonstrating that you are not necessarily working for a paycheck or working for a company, no, you're working for the Lord. And you know that the Lord is always a part of your life because he is in that third strand. Like I always want to say thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. I would love to hear from you. If you have a question or a comment about any of the shows that we've done in the past, if there's anything that you can uh you would like to find out about or ask me, um I'm on Facebook. I know I don't talk about this a lot. I talk about it on Facebook a lot, but I don't talk about it on the podcast. I am on Facebook. You can uh do a search on your Facebook for uh the Preacher Man podcast, you'll find it. And you can follow it, and I'll try to post things on there to let you know when the next episode's coming up, etc. etc. But uh maybe you if you want to send me a message through that area, you can you can use Facebook on the Preacher Man Podcast. Um like I said, do a search and you'll find it. Um also I have uh you can contact me through email, which is uh preacherman1178 at gmail.com. That's preacherman1178 at gmail.com. Uh this is the Preacher Man. Hope you have a great day. I'm going to uh save this, get this uploaded, and then turn right around and uh post another podcast. Um be ready and be watching for episode 25, which is going to be titled, which is titled, excuse me, the danger the most dangerous phrase said in the church today. Y'all be blessed and always remember who you are and whose you are.