God at Work on Me at Work
Did you know that you are a very special individual? When God created you, he made you unique. You are special, loved by God, and what He is doing in this world through you and what he is doing in you is very important.
You may or may not be in the perfect job, you may or may not be in paid employment. You are still firmly in God’s line of sight. He created you, he knows you, he loves you enough to redeem you, and he has something individual and special for you. He is at work on you at work. Even if your current circumstance is not what you want: he can still be at work on you at work.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
That is a description of
some of the different gifts of the Spirit given by God. In the rest of the chapter Paul goes on to say that we all have a different part to play –we are different but part of the same body.
Often we think about these gifts as being just for use in house group or here on a Sunday. But actually they spill over into the rest of our lives and into our work and our studies. If God gives you the gift of wisdom, there is an obvious use for it in ministry but an equally obvious use for it in many forms of work and study.
Aside: I don’t believe the bible teaches that we have a gift which becomes our identity. E.g. I have the gift of prophecy and therefore I am a prophet. I believe that God releases gifts to us continually on a need-to-use basis. So you don’t have the gift of healing carefully tucked away in your pocket ready to bring out when you go to pray for someone. No, when you take a step of faith and go to pray for someone, God releases the gift of healing to you.
God has made you all completely different from one another – not just finger prints and face-shape but personality and gift & skill mix.
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Good with people, caring, otherly, know what to say in awkward situations. Good at talking perhaps!
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Great with numbers. Nothing better than a spreadsheet to play with and extrapolate information from – or maybe make into graphs.
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Good with hands. You can make things and mend things. Building, crafting, maintaining. Seeing what could be and then making it.
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Think in binary. You live in a different, digital universe but because of your work, the rest of us can use little boxes to make telephone calls and check the cricket results or listen to music on headphones.
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Creatives, artists – you can paint, write, sculpt and form a new reality which opens our eyes to new ways of seeing the world and explaining life.
Turn to the person next to you and say, “I am glad God made me different from you!”
God equips me for work, he fills us with his Holy Spirit.
Our abilities and skills are enhanced by the gifts he releases to us.
Let’s look at another way in which he is at work on us.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
God works on me at work, through his Holy Spirit, to grow in me the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said “By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). Of course we hope to see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in church. But that is relatively easy, isn't it?!
It is in the challenges and stresses and strains of life and work and study that these fruit are grown. It’s when life is hard and when work puts us under pressure that we find that Jesus, through the presence of his Holy Spirit in our lives, doesn’t just equip us with gifts but can also change us to become more like him and grow in these fruit day by day and more and more.
On the podcast of this talk you will hear interviews with three people about their experiences at work - experiences of seeing God's Holy Spirit equip them and the fruit of the Spirit grow in them.
Qu.1: Which spiritual gifts have you identified are given to you in life & work?
Qu.2: Can you think of an example where you have faced a difficult situation in work which has given the opportunity for God to grow spiritual fruit in you?
God at work in me at work
There is no hierarchy, God is not more present in the missionary than the electrician or in the doctor than the unemployed. He still releases his gifts to you and he still grows his fruit in you.
We are all different and we are all differently equipped with God-given skills and gifts for God to use in us at work. We are also all inspired by the presence of Jesus in our lives to become more like him as he takes us through different situations in life and work.
God is at work on you at work.
