Now why do believers work? I mean by work, the honest labor
that you do every day at your jobs. Why do believers work? We're living in a tough time
and there's been several over the course of the years here
that have lost jobs and right away you didn't waste any time.
You went looking for another job right away. What is it that
makes a believer want to have a job? What is it that makes
us want to have some kind of an income?
What is it that makes a mother want to go about all her daily
work in the home and everything that she does. What constrains
the believer? In all our various occupations,
what is it that makes us work? When we were younger, most of
us probably could have given you many different reasons that
we wanted to work, that we were seeking an occupation. I can
remember thinking, I want to make lots of money. I can remember
thinking, I want to be able to buy lots of toys, big toys. I want the kind of toys I want.
I can remember thinking, I want to go after this occupation because
I want to make a name for myself. I can remember thinking, I want
to live the dream. I want to have a house, and I
want to have land, and I want to have a picket fence, and I
want to have kids, and I want to have cars, and some kind of
pet. In a word, we start out wanting to work
for self, for me, me, me, me, me, me. That's what we start
out in everything about, me, me, me, me, me. But the child
of God who has been made to behold Christ, what he's done for us,
we got a whole new reason for everything we do, a whole new
reason for everything we do, including why we work. In Acts
20 and verse 35, Paul said, and he's speaking here primarily
to the elders, to the preachers at Ephesus, and he says, I've
showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support
the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how
he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, make the connection. He
said, I've told you how that's so laboring, working, you ought
to support the weak. Because as the Lord said, it's
more blessed to give than to receive. Look over at Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28. Here he's speaking to the brethren. at Ephesus and he says in Ephesians
4.28, let him that stole, steal no more. There's a lot of ways
to steal. Break into somebody's house,
you can go out and pretend like you can't work and sit on the
side of the street and beg money. You can go and punch a time clock
and then go find you a pallet somewhere and lay down and go
sleep. There's lots of ways you can steal. But he says, let him
that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working
with his hands the thing which is good, an honest job, honest
labor. Why? That he may have to give
to him that needeth. It's not about self anymore,
is it? It's about somebody else. It's about somebody else. Believers
work and support the weak because we know that it was by our Savior's
labor, by His work, that He provided all for us who were poor and
needy sinners. Do you know what it is to be
the poor and the weak and the needy sinner? Do you know what
that is? King David knew what it was. He said, Bow down thine
ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. You mean that
man who had all the wealth he had, and was in the kingdom he
was in, and all the things he had, and he said, bow down, down
ear to me, Lord, I am poor and needy? Yeah. The Apostle Paul
knew what it was. He said in 1 Timothy 1.15, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He knew what it was to be poor
and needy and weak. He said unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. He said I'm
less than the least of all saints. He knew what it was to be poor
and weak and needy. Poor and needy and weak sinners. No bread from heaven, no water
of life, no coat of righteousness, unable to work to achieve life
by our own hands. You see, we used to think poor
and weak and needy sinners was folks who couldn't get a meal
and folks who couldn't get a coat to put on their back. And we
know they are. They are poor and weak and needy.
No doubt about that. But now the believer who's experienced
the power and grace of God understands what a real weak and needy and
helpless sinner is. No bread from heaven, no water
of life, no coat of righteousness, unable to work to achieve life
by our hands. Paul said, steal no more. Let him that stole, steal no
more. Do you know what a shameful thing it was to be the thief? Sinners know. Real sinners know. Pretend sinners don't know it
because they've never been a thief. They've never been a robber.
Real sinners know what it is to be the thief and the robber.
We know exactly what it is because when we couldn't get what we
wanted because we were too proud to beg, you know what we did? We oppressed. We oppressed and
we tried to rob God of His very glory and steal it from Him by
pretending some kind of righteousness in us. Paul knew what that was
like too. He said, I'm the least of the apostles that I'm not
meek to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church
of God. You know what he was doing? He
was trying to rob God's glory and press out of poor, weak,
needy sinners what they couldn't produce. That's what he was trying
to do. How many of us were poor and
needy attempting to steal from God? That's me. That's who I
was. I was the poor and needy sinner,
too proud to beg, trying to steal God's glory and clothe myself. Do you know what our Savior said
when he dwelt among us? Look at John chapter 9. I'm going
to turn to a few scriptures. John chapter 9. You know what He said when He
dwelt among us? This is the necessity that Christ
gave to His work. In John chapter 9 verse 4, He
said, I must work. Do you see that? John 9 verse
4, He said, I must work. His everlasting love for the
Father, for those giving Him of the Father, was constraining
love. He said, I must work. We have some husbands here who
love their wives. We have some fathers here who
love their children. And the constraint of love that
constrains you, just on a natural level, compels you to say, for
your bride and for your children, it compels you to say, I must
work. How much more Christ, for His
bride, He said, I must work. And for His children, Christ
said, I must work. And for the glory of His Father
and the good of His Father's house, as a son, He said, I must
work the works of Him that sent me. You see, it was the father
that sent him to work the works that the father gave to him from
eternity. He told him, here's the job,
son. Here's what I want you to do. Here is the work. I want
you to go forth and I want you to do this work for me. Don't
stop till you finish this job. He had to come forth to fulfill
all his surety ship engagements. He promised the Father he was
given this task, this occupation to go forth and to glorify the
holy name of God. You know, that's what we're given
as believers. We're given that too. He was
given the task of fulfilling the whole law of God. We're given
that task. We've got to fulfill the whole
law of God. He was given the task of coming
through and making a complete end of sins. We have to do that too. We can't
come to God in sins. We've got to come to God without
any sin whatsoever. He came to make bring in reconciliation. We got to be reconciled to God,
completely at one with God. He came to bring in everlasting
righteousness. We can't come into God's presence
unless we are completely, thoroughly righteous with God. That's why
he said, I must be about my father's business. This was his father's
business. He said, I must be about my father's
business. It was for the honor of his father
that he wouldn't rest. He would not lay down and rest
till he could say this, I've glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. I must
work the works of Him that sent me." And he said in John 17,
4, I have finished the work you gave me to do. He would not sit
down, but for the love of his bride and the love of his father's
children given to him, he would not sit down. until He had cried
out from the cross and said concerning that work, it is finished. He wouldn't stop. He just wouldn't
stop. And time was of the essence to
the Redeemer. Time was of the essence. John
9, verse 4, He said, I must work the works of Him that sent me
while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. David was a believer who had
the same Spirit of Christ indwelling in him, and this is the Spirit
God puts in His children. The Spirit of Christ, that same
Spirit of Christ that said, I must work the works of Him that sent
me while it's day. The night comes when no man can
work. David had that Spirit. He said in Psalm 71, 18, he said,
Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not. until
I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power
to everyone that is to come. He knew I've got a little bit
of time left, and the time I have left, it's not to dilly-dally
around with a bunch of wasteful, selfish junk that won't profit
anybody anything. The time I have is to show forth
God's strength to this generation, and show forth his power to everyone
that's to come. And the thing is, is David prayed
and said, Lord, by your strength and by your power, Make it so
I can show forth your strength and your power. This old gray-headed
man can show forth your strength and your power. Time's of the
essence to him. This is why we go about our day-to-day
jobs, brethren. This is why we're working. Our
own bride must be fed, and she must be clothed. And our children
must have shelter. But not only with the daily necessities. That's not the only reason. Sinners. They're sinners. And they have
a need of these unsearchable riches of Christ. And not only
in our homes, but wherever our sphere of influence is, and times
of the essence. This right now is the day of
grace. This is the day of grace. The
night is coming. It's coming. Everybody sitting
here right now, you may have yourself. The world may go on
for another 2,000 years, but you, yourself, or me, myself,
we might not have until this afternoon. And the Lord may come tomorrow. Times of the essence. Well, what
kind of position did our Savior take when He came for this work?
Look over at Philippians chapter 2. This is the position He took
to do this work. Verse 5, let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus. See, if we're going to
do the work the Lord's given us to do, Paul says, we've got
to have this same kind of mind, the mind of Christ. Verse 6,
here's the position our Savior took for this work, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. He possessed
all the glory of God, he's equal with God, and yet God the Son
made himself of no reputation. The glory of his divine nature,
of being God the Son, when he came, it was covered and just
kept out of sight. Peter and a few others, he carried
them up to the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw his glory. But for
the most part, wherever he went, that divine glory was covered. Nobody saw that. There was no
form, there was no comeliness in him to make anyone around
him desire him. And you note this, he made himself
this way. He made himself of no reputation. He voluntarily took, subjected
himself to take this position for this work the Father had
sent him. Look at the next part, and he took upon him the form
of a servant. and was made in the likeness
of men, a servant, made like unto his brethren, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. We're talking
about God who gave the law. We're talking about God who made
the earth. We're talking about God who gave the law to Adam
and said, if you break this law, you're going to die. And he broke
it anyway. and died, and so all the mass
of humanity that's come from his loins have been just like
Adam, born after his image, and corrupt, and ungodly, and unrighteous,
and this God comes down to this place, not in the majesty of
his glory, he comes down and fails his glory, and he comes
down and makes himself of no reputation, and he takes the
form of a servant, to serve his father, because this was the
work his father gave him to do. And he takes the form he's made
in the likeness of men, and he comes forth made under
the law he gave. We're talking about condescension
just coming down, down, down, down, down to do this for his
people. Well, here's the zeal of His
fidelity while He worked. Look at the next phrase in verse
8. And being found in fashion as
a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. You see, the position He took
to do this job was a position of no reputation. No reputation. The work He took was the form
of a servant. And the zeal and fidelity that
He carried out in this work was He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Now Paul says, verse 5, let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Let me ask you
a question. Has there ever been a more honest
work ever done? Has there ever been a more noble
position ever held by anybody on this earth? Has there ever
been anybody that's labored with their hands and been in a position
as honest and as honorable and as highly esteemed by God as
that position and that work that Christ carried out? Ever? Never. Never. And yet it was a position
of no reputation. It was a position that was leased.
It was a work that men despised and rejected. It was a labor
that men looked upon and just thought, that's the worst of
the worst right there. But that which men rejects is
what God highly esteems. That's why it says, let this
mind be in you. Does the work that we have, that
we do, does it have to exalt us before men? I'm asking some
honest questions. Does the work that we do have
to exalt us before men? Whatever I'm talking about just
occupation. I'm talking about whatever work we do in the house
of God. I'm not whatever work we do in our homes, whatever,
whatever work we do in our community. Does it have to exalt us before
me? Does it have to make us a reputation?
Does it define who we are? Does the job have to be what's
highly esteemed by men? A mother who can work and get
her house clean and get everything ready so she can have time to
sit down with her child and open up the scriptures and teach that
child the scriptures and pray with that child, teach that child
to hear her pray and how you pour out your heart to God and
teach that child. That's the most honoring, honorable,
noble work anybody could do. And most women in this world,
most mothers in this world, are running fast as they can and
would look at that and look down their nose at it and say, I despise
it. I despise it. A father having to work two of
the most low in paying jobs because they pay so low he's got to work
two of them. Or somebody that's working some job that the world
puts no importance on or working some job that just seems meaningless
and mundane and useless and worthless and of no account. So he can
put food on his children's table and sit down with his children
and teach his children the spiritual significance of what he's doing
and why he's doing the job he's doing, even though everybody
in this world looks at it as being nothing and worthless and
meaningless. He's doing it to provide for his bride, he's doing
it to provide for his children, and he can sit down and tell
his sons and his daughters and his wife and say, the reason
I'm doing this is because this is what Christ did for his bride.
This is what God has done for his children and his son. This
is what he's done. We can have a house to worship
in where we can spread this feast out right here and we can call
the poor, outcasts, we can call the lame and the blind and the
maimed and the poor who can't recompense us a dime. Outcasts that religions cast
out and they can't afford to pay the entrance fee to worship
God. Can't give you a dime. To have
a place where you can bring and spread this feast before them,
Let the world look down on it, let them disregard you, let them
think lowly of you. This is honorable to God and
it's highly esteemed of God. It's the work that's done for
His glory and the salvation of poor and needy sinners from a
heart that's been made new by the Spirit of God, from a heart
that wants to serve Him because you see what great things He's
done for you. Now, we've seen the necessity
of Christ's work. He said, I must work the works
of him that sent me. We saw the position he took.
It was not a job of reputation. And I bring that up, too, because
we live in a day where we're brainwashed. That's just
all there is to it. We're brainwashed. We've done
this so long, and it's working so well, isn't it? Boy, our economy's
soaring, and we're top of the heap, and it's working well.
It's broke. Broke. And we don't think we can just
do. It don't have to be something
that everybody's gonna write a paper. I had a woman tell me
one time, she said, she said, Clay, if you have to go out and
dig sewer ditches, she said, your mama's gonna want to put
it in the paper. It don't have to be something
that this whole world, if you think I'm gonna have to do this
or that to impress somebody. No reputation was his work. The
work he took was the form of a servant, the form of a servant. And the zeal with which he worked,
he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now Paul
said, this is the fourth thing, Paul said, work that we might
have to give to the needy. What did Christ give? How much
did our Savior give? Look at Matthew 20, verse 28. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give, how much
did Christ give? How much did He give? And to
give His life. A ransom for many. He gave His
life. How much is too much to give?
You know, my message is really not about giving. My message
is about working. My message is about work. Why
work is honorable. Why work is, why, why, why we
shouldn't go after work that this world says go after. Go
after. But, but giving's not based on
how much you give. That's not what, it's based on
what you got left over. That's what it's based on. That's
where God counts what's been given. Not on how much you give,
but how much you got left over. Christ gave His life. He didn't
have anything left over to give. Nothing left over to give. His
body, He gave to be broken. He gave His body to be broken
under the weight and shame of the cross. He gave His body to
be broken by the cruel, wicked hands of men. He gave His body
to be crushed under the fierceness of God's wrath. He gave His body
to be broken. He gave His life. His visage
was so marred, more than any man in His form, more than the
sons of men. They looked upon Him and after
everything they had done to Him, they looked at Him and they said,
we didn't do this. They sat down at Centurion, sat
down and looked at him just like Job's friends sat down and looked
at him, and they said the same thing about Christ that Job's
friends said about him. He's been submitted to God. God
did this to him. And they thought just like Job's
friends thought, and he did it to him because of something he
did. And he says, but he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And it took that bruising, it
took those stripes, it took his body being broken like that to
heal every child for whom he died. Day and night, he said,
thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. You ever seen a real dry summer?
I grew up in South Arkansas, as far as South Arkansas as you
can go, four miles from the Louisiana line. And I've seen some dry
summers, dry summers, the drought of summer. You ever seen an old
creek bed or a pond bed that all the water dried up out of
it and it cracks and it just becomes brittle? and begins to
just break and split apart and break apart. He said, thy hand
was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. He gave his blood to be shed. He gave his life. He gave his
blood to be shed. To be pressed out of him like
juice is pressed out of a grape. He sweat blood. like it was great
drops of sweat coming out of his pore. The blood was beaten
out of his back. Blood was pierced out of his
hands and out of his side. But it was the blood of his life,
that's the blood, the blood of his life that sealed his testament
in his own blood. that washed and purged His people
of our sins. It was that blood that He provided
for His redeemed, that propitiation, that seat of mercy where we can
come with faith in His blood and know we'll be received of
God and He'll receive us. You know why? Because He gave
that life as a ransom for many. Paul said, here's why we work.
It's no more for ourselves. It's no more, we're not, believer
has been given a whole new direction. We're doing what we do now for
God and His glory and His people. And for poor and needy sinners,
that's what we're doing, what we do in this earth. And he said,
he gave his life a ransom. You know what that means? It
means for every poor and needy child that God gave to him, entrusted
into his hand and gave him the charge over to work for and provide
for and to put the shelter over their head and put the clothes
on their back and to put the bread on their table and to take
care of them for every one of them. You know what he did? He
paid everything necessary. He gave his life a ransom to
pay the debt that each and every one of his poor and needy bankrupt
children owe. Scripture says God loves a cheerful
giver, a cheerful giver. Paul said remember the words
of the Lord Jesus how he said it's more blessed to give than
to receive. This is the amazing thing. That
whole life we just looked at and we just saw that was broken
and it was shed and to give that ransom. When he did that for
his people, Christ Jesus our Lord did it with a holy, pure
heart saying, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Thursday, I got out of here kind
of early on Thursday because I was feeling crummy. I really
was. And I got up that morning, and
the more the day went on, the worse I felt, and the worse I
felt, and the worse I felt. And I kept thinking of the pain,
and I kept thinking of the shame, and I kept thinking of the ransom
that Christ paid for me is what I kept thinking about all day
Thursday. And without doing Due in harm
to his own words, this is what I kept thinking. I must work
the work of him that sent me. It's day right now. I've got
to work the work. The night's coming. The darkness
is coming. There's coming a dark night season. I've got to work the works right
now while it's day. Well, how much did our Savior
enrich you who were so weak and so needy by that? Look at 2 Corinthians
8 chapter 9. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, all that we just talked
about and all that we just... That's the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? That
though He was rich, equal with God, He is God. Though He was rich, yet for your
sakes, He became poor. Poor. He gave everything. He became poor that you, through
His poverty, might be rich. Look over at Psalm 112. I read
that to you. If you want to get a double blessing
out of this, before you read this as it applies to a believer,
read it as it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ. It starts
out and it says, Praise ye the Lord. He's that righteous servant,
that man that feared the Lord and delighted greatly in His
commandments. Look down at verse 9. This is what He's done. He
hath dispersed. He hath given to the poor. His
righteousness endureth forever. His horn shall be exalted with
honor. Proverbs says, he that followeth
after righteousness and mercy findeth life and righteousness
and honor. You know what happened after
he did all this? After he gave everything he could give. Everything
that he could possibly give. I love the widow that had the
two mites. That's all she had. And she gave it. And she gave
a lot. Christ gave more than that. He
did. He gave everything that He had. He gave His life for His sheep. And the scripture says, He that
followeth after righteousness, that's why He did it, and mercy,
that's why He did it. He did it for righteousness and
mercy. He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth
life and righteousness and honor. You know what happened after
He laid down His life? God has highly exalted Christ,
our great worker. He's exalted Christ, our great
provider. He's exalted Christ, our great
husband, our great father, our great friend. And He's given
Him a name which is above every name. He found life and righteousness
and honor. God set Him above everyone there
is. And as that righteous man who's
dispersed abroad, He's provided everything for His children.
Look there in verse 3. wealth and riches shall be in
his house, and his righteousness endureth forever." This is so
of the one who's the head of the house, that dispersed abroad. Riches and honor with me, he
said, yea, durable riches and righteousness, he said. What are these riches? Bread,
everlasting. There'll never be a time when
his children will not have this Bread, everlasting. Water, eternal. Don't you love how God gives
us what we need? Bread is what we need. Water
is what we need. Bread and water. Righteousness
immaculate. Life eternal. Inheritance with
Him. You see the riches that are unsearchable? They're our Lord. They're our
God. They're Him. He's the pearl of
great price. They're Him. Now go back to our
original question. Why do we work? Why do we labor? Why do we work with our hands,
the thing which is good? Paul said that we may have to
give to him that needeth. Because the Lord said it's more
blessed to give than to receive. You know, there's only one thing.
There's only one thing that brings a believer as much happiness
as receiving these riches from our Redeemer. You know that? You know what it is? It's giving
these riches to another poor, needy sinner. That's what grace
does. Grace makes you stop being a
taker and makes you be a giver. And here's the thing about it.
Is it possible to lose by doing that which pleases God? Is it
possible to lose by doing that which pleases God? I only have
one question to answer that. Did our Savior? Did He? He gave everything. He gave everything. He gave Himself away. Listen to this statement. Believers
never lose. We are made all the more happy
Because the needs of many are met, and they glorify God, and
they give thanks to Him. And anything that results in
needy sinners giving glory and praise to our great Redeemer,
that makes us happy. That makes us happy. How is it
that we do these things? This is so. True Christianity
is submission to the Gospel of Christ. That's first thing, submission
to the gospel of Christ. You can't enter into this great
and grand ballroom until you come through the door. You can't
get in any other way. You gotta come in through Christ
the door. It's bowing to him and submitting
to him and trusting all into his hand. Rejoicing in his truth,
rejoicing in the way of salvation, rejoicing in exactly how God
does it. You'll do that when this word
comes to you in power. You'll stop hearing the words
of a man and you will rejoice that this is God's way. This
is how God saved. Bow to Christ. And Christianity,
the fruit of it, the fruit of the grace that God works in our
hearts, is He makes our works, all the work we do, Whatever
it is, wherever he's put us, what he's put us to do. We saw
this a few weeks ago, whatsoever you do, wherever he's put us
to do, in our workplace, in our home, whether we're the boss,
we're the working under the boss, whatever it is. And in the church
and amongst our brethren, wherever we are, he makes all the work
that he's given us to do, to be a labor of love. There's no
work too low. We're never too high that we
can't pick up a broom. Never that way, never got that
high yet. If we're that high, we haven't
been brought low enough yet. That's the reason we're that
high. No job out in the workforce. You may have went to college
to be a rocket scientist. Are rocket scientists really
all that smart? They're always the ones that get all, you know,
that's the ones we use. I have some friends who are janitors,
and they say, we're always the ones people use for the bottom. But if it's, you may have went
to school to be a rocket scientist, and you may have to take a job
being a janitor. That's okay. Whatever you do,
do it as unto the Lord. If He's given you a new heart,
maybe you see what He's done for you, do it. It doesn't matter.
You may have to take two jobs, janitor jobs, whatever. May get
sick and not feel like getting up and going, but it's necessary
that you got a pressing need that people are depending on
you and they're desiring for you to come and feed them and
clothe them and give them this great riches. And you just remember
what he suffered. Remember what he did. Get up,
go and do it. Because he did it. He did it
for us. And it makes stuff, but it makes
it a labor of love. And this is what Paul said to
us over in 2 Corinthians 9. He said, thanks be unto God for
his unspeakable gift. This gift is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's given us Christ and in him he's given us all spiritual blessings.
He's given us the gift of eternal life. And the fountain of all
blessings and our only savior for sinners is Christ. He's given
him to, we have everything brethren. We have everything. You know,
I guarantee you, if we walk through the door that God has opened
for us, he'll open the next one. And if we keep walking in the
light he's given, we'll watch that light get brighter and brighter
and brighter. That's just so. That's just how it is. He's promised.
I'm not going to leave the righteous begging bread. He's promised
that. He's going to feed his people.
But he's going to make us Take a step. It's gonna make us put
something in our hand. It's gonna make us get up and,
you know, I've tried it. I have tried it. I'm ashamed
to say I have, but I have really tried before to hold this book
closed and just beg God to give me a message. And it ain't happened
yet. It has not happened yet. You
got to open this thing up and dig in it like you're digging
for gold. You gotta do it. Together with the prayer. You
gotta sweat. You gotta sweat. It's just how
it is. Amen.