Slides: Vocational Fitness

By David Feddes

Realities of work

• Creation
: Work is good and glorious.
• Fall
: Work is hard and frustrating.
• Redemption
: Work is transformed in Christ.

Cultural mandate

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion… The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 1:28; 2:15)

God appoints humans to cultivate creation and develop culture.

Glorious work

• Our Maker is a worker.
• Humans worked in Eden.
• Work is a calling from God.
• Talents are abilities from God.
• Scripture praises hard work.
• Work helps others and builds our ties with each other.

Work under a curse

Cursed is the ground because of you; 
through painful toil you will eat of it 
all the days of your life… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food. (Genesis 3:17-19)

Humanity’s sin brought a curse on the creation and made work painful.

What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23)

Nightmare job: You feel like a slave!

• Boss treats you like property.
• Tasks are tiresome and useless.
• Pay is low; you’re always broke.
• Promotions are unavailable.
• Stuck with no other choice.

Dream job: You feel like royalty!

• Boss is perfect and loves you.
• Tasks are exciting and important.
• Pay leads to share of everything.
• Promotions are unlimited.
• Secure in any situation.

Your nightmare job can 
become your dream job.

• A new view of your work can turn a nightmare job into a dream job.
• This new view comes when you get a new boss and a new you.
• If your new boss is Jesus, work heartily and count on His reward.

Working for Christ

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus … Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Christ working in us

• The same Christ lives and reigns in all  believers by the same Spirit.
• Christ is so richly glorious that he cannot be fully expressed in any one of us.
• Christ displays himself in believers with different personalities and different domains, showing different facets of the one Christ’s glory and reign.

Masks of God

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. (Ps 145:16)

God milks cows through the vocation of the milk maids… These are the masks of God, behind which he wants to remain concealed and do all things. (Luther)

Priesthood of 
all believers

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. (1 Peter 2:9)

Jesus has made us a kingdom of priests for God his Father. (Revelation 1:6)

It is pure invention that pope, bishop, priests and monks are called the spiritual estate… All Christians are truly of the spiritual estate… We are all consecrated priests through baptism. (Martin Luther)

God in all of life

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)

The whole world could be filled with the service of God—not just the churches, but the home, the kitchen, the cellar, the workshop and the fields. (Luther)

Make truth attractive

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands ... so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (Titus 2:9-10)

Purposes to pursue

• Be godly and share gospel.
• Do skillful, excellent work.
• Glorify God and shape culture.
• Help society flourish and be fair.
• Be joyful amid ups and downs.
• Pursue your heart’s passions.

• Earn your own living and share.

Find your calling(s)

• What are your abilities and resources?
• What are your preferences & personality?
• What are your domains for impact?
• How can you provide for self & others?
• What can you do that others want?
• What is your present situation?

Bloom where planted

Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. (1 Corinthians 7:20-21)

Seize better opportunities if they come, but first excel in your present situation.

Realities of work

• Creation
: Work is good and glorious.
• Fall
: Work is hard and frustrating.
• Redemption
: Work is transformed in Christ.