Work the Ground of Your Life
Message Summary:
In today’s message in our series, Kingdom Economics, Pastor John Carter taught us God made us to flourish by the work of our hands. Genesis 1 tells us that God commanded us to be fruitful and multiply and to have dominion over the land of our own lives. God is not going to hold you accountable to someone else’s ability or skill. He is going to hold you accountable to use the gifts, skills, and abilities that he has put in you. God just wants you to be fruitful and multiply. You have to do more with your life than take up space and air. You need to put something out there that improves the quality of the world around you. Fullness will come from what you choose to do with what God has given to you to cultivate with the work of your hands.
Your life ought to be decent and in order. Take care of yourself and your things. You are an image bearer of God. You are a representative of the kingdom. God brings excellence to the game of your life every day. That means you should bring your best game to your life. Like an ant, she should not need someone to tell us to get up, get moving, and make things happen. You must be self-directed and self-motivated to improve the quality of your life. God does not expect you to be able to do everything perfectly, but he does expect you to give your best to do your part. God will make up the difference, but he will not do the work for you.
What the Wheel of Wellness reminds us is that we must abad (work/cultivate) our life if we want to experience shamar (peace/order/blessing) in our life. We must put in the effort of abad to experience shamar. If we do not work the ground of our life, our life will quickly slip out shamar and descend into tohuw (loss of order) and ultimately Bohuw (chaos/destruction). The easiest way for your life to slip out of shamar (blessing) into Bohuw (chaos) is to do…nothing. A lack of work and order will invite chaos into your life. And until you deal with it, you are entertaining destruction. This is true for every area of your life – your relationships, your mind, your body, your skills, and even your finances. You have to abad (work) your life if you want to maintain a blessed and prosperous life!
Start by applying these eight principles to your work life:
Decide to embrace the gift of work as a blessing from God.
Work to build your own wealth, not for your creditors.
Create boundaries for work, rest, worship, family, and play.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. (Work with a full effort.)
Commit to excellence.
Continuously sharpen your ax. (Keep your mind, body, and skills sharp.)
Gain wisdom by asking for help.
Leverage your relationships.
Scriptures:
[Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV] 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
[Proverbs 6:6-11 NKJV] 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, 8 provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep -- 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.
[Psalm 128:2 NKJV] 2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
[Ecclesiastes 2:24 NKJV] 24 Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.
Discussion Questions:
What does it mean to abad or to work the ground of your like?
Why is God interested in how you steward the gifts, skills, and abilities that he deposited in you?
What will happen to your life if you do nothing? What does chaos look like to you?
What is the difference between making changes based on fear versus vision?
Of the eight principles Pastor listed, which one do you need to focus on right now?
Life Application:
Over the next week, as you study the key scriptures, ask yourself the following question: Are you being motivated by fear or vision? These are the only two ways that we make a change in our lives. We are either navigating from fear, running away from our problems, or we are navigating from vision, making moves to reach a goal for change. Together with God, make a vision plan for change in your life. Ask God what he wants to see change, and ask him to download the plan for how to get there.