All passages from the NASB
Is Work God?
PASSAGE ONE
Genesis 11:1-9
1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land
of Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.''
And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top
will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise
we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.''
5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had
built.
6 The LORD said, ""Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same
language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose
to do will be impossible for them.
7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will
not understand one another's speech.''
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole
earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the
language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad
over the face of the whole earth.
Work and Pride
We desire to:
1) Make a name for ourselves
We all desire to do extremely well in our favourite field, or by building great things.
2) Dodgy motives
- Claim to become independant from God (v4). Look to human skill and technology to control their lives.
- Attempt to usurp God's place (v4)
The tower was a monument to human pride and achievement.
3) Real greatness
God came DOWN, ie the tower was SO SMALL compared to God.
They failed in their stance of autonomy, being above God.
God was great and scattered them.
Whose name is great?
Abraham - was nothing, then God made him great
Jesus - God made His name the greatest (Php 2)
Us? - Revelation - The Bible finishes with cities made by God where everyone is gathered
- All those who call on God - This is how to be made great in eternity, name in book of life.Greatness comes from God, not us.
Note:
Babel/Babylon means 'confused'.
For interesting historical information on the Tower of Babel visit Christian
Answers:
It's connection with Easter
Archealogical evidence
Confusion of the Languages - external evidence?
PASSAGE TWO
Mark 4:1-9,18,19
1 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large
crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and
the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.
2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them
in His teaching,
3 "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and
ate it up.
5 "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and
immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.
6 "And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root,
it withered away.
7 "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it,
and it yielded no crop.
8 "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased,
they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.''
9 And He was saying, " He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'' ...
...18 "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these
are the ones who have heard the word,
19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the
desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Work and Priorities
Keep listening to God's Word and bear fruit!
People lose faith because it's too hard, or they're distracted - other priorities (vv18-19)
Trust in God, don't trust in making yourself great.
Watch out for the thorns and don't get choked!
- the worries of life
Worries about jobs, what people will think - worries about the WAYS OF THIS LIFE, not ETERNAL TINGS.- the deceitfulness of wealth
Greed, delighting in money, self-sufficiency.
Trust in money- the desires for other things
Anything that distracts us from God's Kingdom.
Lot's of God's good gifts can become evil when we seek, worship etc THEM AND NOT THE GIVER.
God is to have the central part of our lives.
PASSAGE THREE
Exodus 20:8-11
8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall
not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female
servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all
that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed
the sabbath day and made it holy.
Work and Play
As our work is a reflection of God's work, so our rest is a reflection of God's rest.
Don't be a workaholic and overwork.
Take a day off to rest and honour God mett Christians etc - Good for your health!!
PASSAGE FOUR
Matthew 22:34-39
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the
Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?'' 37 And He said to
him, 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR
SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38 "This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'"
Work in its PLace
Keep the fundamentals in mind: loving God and others
Be motivated by love for God and others
Promotion?
Ask yourself if it will affect your other commitments and relationships, and how it will.
Will you still be able to love God and others in it?
Ask what your motivations are for doing it? Will you honour God in it or not?
Is
Work Good?
