Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Should You Retire or Not? Try Asking a Different Question. Judy Allen writes “The three-stage life, consisting of education, work, and retirement, is changing to a multiple stage life.”
• Three Marks of a Mentor Leader. Nathan Whitaker shares three invaluable lessons that every leader—whether in business, sports, or life—can apply.
• Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).
• Fatal Flaws of a Leader. Dave Kraft writes “Are there certain kinds of flaws that Christian leaders may develop which could spell the end of their leadership effectiveness, their leadership altogether or, worse yet, the downward spiral of their walk with  Jesus? I believe there are.”

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• Faith and Work Book Review ~ Leadership in the Church by R.C. Sproul
• Quotes from the book Working Blessedly Forever, Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology by R. Paul Stevens

• Appreciating the God-Given Gift of Work. Lee Truax writes “Integration of faith and work allows and provides for a purpose-driven view of work. Work is to be done to the glory of God and celebrated as an endeavor that provides joy to the worker and blessings to the beneficiary.”
• The Sacred Mundane. Vanessa Doughty writes “What we do—day in and day out—doesmatter! And when we look to and depend on and trust in our Creator God to establish the work of our hands, it will matter for eternity.”
• Faithful Presence in the Public Sphere. On this episode of the How to Reach the West Again podcast, Tim Keller explains why Christians living out their faith in vocations and other public spaces is crucial for a missionary encounter. Missy Wallace casts a vision for viewing our jobs as one of the primary venues for putting our faith into practice. Artist Makoto Fujimura invites us to see artists as bridgebuilders between the church and the world.
• A Leader Worth Following. My new book A Leader Work Following: 40 Key Leadership Attributes and Applications to Masteris available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. Read a sample of the book (found under the book cover).
• Remembering Jesus in Your Work. Rob Pacienza writes “Work can be hard, it can be boring, it can seem pointless. However, when it is seen as a calling, work has purpose, and God’s power and grace saturate our lives as we do it.”
• Four Reminders of Biblical Truths from Recent College Grads. Jacqueline Isaacs writes “In the midst of our daily routines—especially during seasons of stress or monotony—it’s easy to lose sight of what makes our work meaningful, and even beautiful.”
• Building Up Your Team by Showing Dignity and Respect. Russ Gehrlein writes “How do we treat those who are different than us with dignity and respect? We notice them. We smile and greet everyone in the morning and say goodbye when we head home in the afternoon. We praise them in public and correct them in private. We engage with all. We ask questions to get to know our teammates and listen to their answers.”
• Trauma in Marriage: A Conversation with Dan Allender. On this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast, Dan Allender, a therapist and writer on a variety of topics, joins Dan to discuss topics from Allender’s new book, The Deeply-Rooted Marriage, drawing on examples from their own stories and marriages.

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• Work done in the belief it is all up to us becomes a joyless, deadly grind. Only those who know that salvation comes by sheer grace, not our efforts, have the inner dynamic of grateful joy that empowers the greatest efforts. So, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Tim Keller
• As Christians, we serve others through our work because God has loved us and commanded us to love him and to love our neighbor. Meryl Herr
• In creation, God did all the work and rested. In redemption, God did all the work so we could rest. Tim Keller
• God is happy in his work, and we are made in his image. No wonder there is nothing more humanizing than good work, and no wonder God rewards it. Tim Keller
• Calling tells us why we work, for whom we work, how we are to work, and what our work should be. Paul Stevens
• Your home, your church, and this world need leaders who are mature and sober-minded, filled with gravity and gladness, and grounded in the glory of Jesus. Joe Rigney
• Your daily work is one of the most profound ways you can serve using God’s power for his glory and others’ good. Joanna Meyer
• Truly teachable leaders will not only allow, but also welcome others speaking into their lives—exhorting them, rebuking them, reproving them. Dave Kraft
• Our understanding of work is based upon what the scriptures tell us about who God is, what He has done, and what He will ultimately do. Russ Gehrlein

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:
Leadership in the Church by R.C. Sproul. Ligonier Ministries. 56 pages. 2023
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In this short book, compiled from the teaching from R.C. Sproul, the author looks at four basic offices that are discussed in the New Testament to better understand the nature, origin, and function of these particular offices. The four offices are apostle, bishop/elder, deacon, and teacher. He concludes the book with a chapter on Christian leaders.
Below, I’ve listed a few helpful quotes from the book about each office:

Apostle

• An Apostle of Jesus Christ carried more authority than one who was simply acting in the role of the representative or the commissioned worker of the church.
• At the heart of the enterprise of Apostleship was the concern for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom.
• The technical meaning of Apostle in the official sense in the New Testament has to do with those men who were commissioned by the resurrected Christ for a special task, and that commission ended with their deaths.
• The basic criteria for an Apostle were:

1. discipleship under the tutelage of Jesus.
2. being an eyewitness of the resurrection
3. being directly and immediately commissioned by Christ to this office.

• There is no other foundation that can be laid except the one that was laid by Christ – the foundation of the Apostolic office. An assault on the Apostolic office of the church is an assault on the one who commissioned it, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishops and Elders

• The primary task that God has laid on pastors and elders is the task of preparing the people of God for the day of visitation.
• Pastors and elders are delegated by God to watch over His people with careful scrutiny, to see to it that they are prepared for the coming of the King.

Deacons

• The primary role of the deacon in Christ’s understanding is ministering to the elementary needs of mankind: providing clothing, shelter, and drink and visiting the sick, the widow, the orphan, and the imprisoned.
• The role of deacon became a separate office because it was such an important task that demanded special attention in the early church.
• The office of deacon plays an indispensable role in caring for God’s people in the way that He desires and commands, and as such, every church that seeks to honor Christ must seek to have a biblical diaconate ministry.

Teachers

• The primary task of the teacher is a task of nurture for the people of God.
• The teacher’s job is to expound the Word of God with a degree of technical expertise so that the people may move from milk to meat and grow in knowledge and understanding of the things of God.

Leaders

• A Christian leader is willing to pay the price of entering the life of another person.
• If we have the Holy Spirit, then we have the power to be effective ministers and Christian leaders. That is the primary ingredient for a fruitful ministry – the power of God the Holy Spirit.
• If we’re going to be responsible Christian leaders, we must be conversant with the Scriptures because the Scriptures are radically different in their perspective concerning the meaning and significance of mankind.
• The most solemn responsibility for those in a position of Christian leadership is to accurately speak the truth of God.
• To be a Christian leader means that we lead in the name of Christ.
• Christian leadership means ministering by the power of the Spirit, by the mind of Christ, and with the wisdom of God.

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Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

We are reading through Working Blessedly Forever, Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology by R. Paul Stevens. In this volume, the first of three, Stevens explores the shape of marketplace theology, its posture and methodology. Marketplace theology is the science of working blessedly forever.

This week we look at Chapter 6: Working with the Trinity. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• The great themes of God’s work as revealed in Scripture include creating, sustaining creation and human life, redeeming, transforming, and consummating.
• The Bible makes it clear that we are vice-regents over creation and therefore are commanded to act as stewards of God’s created world.
• When we are stewards of matter, creation, history, human talents, and giftedness in a company, a church, or an organization, we are doing Father work.
• When we are doing protective work, like the police, the military, and security officers do, we are doing Father work.
• When we are doing steward work, protective work, and provision work we are working with the Father, doing Father work.
• If the Father’s and Son’s work appeal to the mind, the Spirit’s work is known through experience, prayer, and worship (the heart).
• The Spirit confirms in our hearts that we belong to God wherever we are in the workplace.
• The Spirit leads in vocational discernment, in making decisions, planning, and the execution of our plans.
• The Spirit anoints our creational talents and enables us to work with excellence.
• The Spirit anoints the creational talents that we use in work, bringing them to a higher level of excellence and fruitfulness.
• Through the Spirit’s work we can make good and beautiful things as workers.
• The Holy Spirit brings joy even while we work.
• Workers do the Father’s work when they design and envision a task, when they are engaged in protection and provision.
• Workers do the Son’s work when they “incarnate” the plan, execute it, and serve in humility and with downward mobility (Phil 2; John 20:21).
• The Son provides a model of how we are to work.
• And workers do the Spirit’s work when they evaluate, express the creativity inspired by the Spirit, and enjoy their work (Exodus 31; Isa 58:14).