When Has My Career Become My Idol?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Well, last time we talked about Christians

00:00:05.680 | who work on Sundays in episode number 1389.

00:00:08.680 | Today, in episode 1390,

00:00:10.980 | we talk about Christians who work every day.

00:00:13.400 | The question comes from Samantha.

00:00:15.120 | Hello, Pastor John.

00:00:16.460 | I'm honored to work in a very demanding field in DC

00:00:19.020 | alongside a number of other young Christians

00:00:20.500 | who also work very hard.

00:00:21.920 | I think it's safe to say we are overworking.

00:00:23.980 | It would be pretty normal for me and other young associates

00:00:26.160 | to put in seven-day work weeks.

00:00:28.360 | The phone is never off, text never stopped,

00:00:30.160 | the work never ends.

00:00:31.440 | It's immersive.

00:00:32.400 | Work is life.

00:00:33.640 | And as much as we bemoan it,

00:00:34.980 | we struggle to know what to do in the moments

00:00:36.920 | when we are not working.

00:00:38.660 | Work gives us our cues for action in life

00:00:40.800 | of what to do next,

00:00:41.800 | and thus our work can undermine relationships

00:00:44.520 | and meaningful church involvement.

00:00:46.900 | Everything that is not work.

00:00:49.080 | Even if we are not officially forced to work every day,

00:00:51.420 | the desire for advancement and for future success

00:00:53.640 | and for achieving financial security

00:00:55.560 | are such strong draws that to stop working

00:00:58.840 | feels like losing momentum to others

00:01:00.740 | in a very competitive career field.

00:01:03.720 | That's my world right now,

00:01:05.340 | and it doesn't feel healthy.

00:01:06.840 | At what point does vocational diligence

00:01:09.040 | become corrupting idolatry?

00:01:12.240 | - Seems to me that Samantha already has

00:01:17.200 | such an amazing grasp of the telltale signs of idolatry

00:01:23.480 | in the way she describes her situation.

00:01:25.720 | Maybe the best thing I can do

00:01:28.760 | is to give her perhaps a fresh set of categories

00:01:33.760 | for how to think about this.

00:01:35.320 | Not at all contradicting what she's already seen,

00:01:38.680 | but just coming at it a new way.

00:01:40.800 | So let's begin like this.

00:01:43.120 | Here are four words which in Greek,

00:01:48.040 | yes, this is gonna be relevant,

00:01:50.680 | which in Greek have a positive meaning

00:01:55.400 | and a sinful meaning, and yet they're the same word.

00:01:59.520 | Sometimes a virtue, sometimes a sin.

00:02:03.680 | And in trying to figure out

00:02:05.920 | when the positive meaning should describe something

00:02:10.160 | and when the sinful meaning should describe something

00:02:14.100 | is a very fruitful exercise

00:02:16.200 | precisely for Samantha's concern.

00:02:20.000 | So here are the four words.

00:02:21.420 | The word epithumia can mean desire in a positive sense

00:02:26.360 | or covetousness in a negative sense.

00:02:29.360 | The word perosmos can mean test or trial

00:02:34.360 | in a positive sense or temptation in a negative sense.

00:02:39.740 | The word zealos can mean zeal in a positive sense

00:02:45.000 | or jealousy in a negative sense.

00:02:47.840 | And the word, and this gets really close,

00:02:50.040 | the word ergon can mean work in a positive sense

00:02:55.040 | and works in a negative sense

00:02:58.920 | as it relates to justification.

00:03:01.560 | All of these seem to me, as you try to get at

00:03:05.680 | why does the positive become negative,

00:03:08.520 | get very close to Samantha's issue.

00:03:10.900 | So let me just do it real quick.

00:03:12.840 | Let's take them one at a time.

00:03:14.160 | When does desire become covetousness?

00:03:18.160 | And the clue for me that set the stage

00:03:21.040 | for all of these words and her position,

00:03:24.160 | her question in particular is the 10 commandments.

00:03:27.800 | The 10 commandments end with thou shalt not covet.

00:03:32.800 | And that word covet, same word as in Psalm 19 10

00:03:37.960 | where it says that the scriptures

00:03:39.960 | are more to be desire than gold.

00:03:42.480 | So sometimes the word desire, very positive

00:03:45.120 | and sometimes it's covetousness.

00:03:46.680 | So same in Hebrew as in Greek.

00:03:49.560 | And the clue to what turns desire into coveting,

00:03:54.360 | I think is the first commandment.

00:03:56.700 | They are very mutually explanatory.

00:04:01.920 | The brackets you might say,

00:04:03.260 | the first and the last commandment of the 10 commandments.

00:04:07.000 | You shall have no other gods before me.

00:04:11.000 | That is don't desire anyone or anything above me.

00:04:16.000 | Find me to be your greatest treasure and desire.

00:04:24.120 | So here's my answer.

00:04:25.920 | A desire becomes covetousness

00:04:28.920 | when it begins to displace God as your chief desire.

00:04:33.920 | So in our workplace,

00:04:36.940 | we always have a measuring rod for idolatry.

00:04:40.800 | Is what I am desiring starting to feel more precious to me

00:04:45.800 | and more satisfying, more valuable than God?

00:04:51.280 | Number two, when does the word test,

00:04:54.540 | testing our faith become temptation or lure into sin?

00:05:00.520 | And we see the answer when we notice what tests are for.

00:05:06.440 | God sends tests to strengthen our faith,

00:05:11.440 | to make us more gladly and confidently reliant,

00:05:17.080 | dependent on him.

00:05:20.480 | But a test becomes a temptation, a lure into sin

00:05:25.480 | when it starts to do just the opposite.

00:05:30.480 | Namely, not to strengthen our faith, but to undermine it.

00:05:35.820 | The test is not putting firmness

00:05:40.820 | into our resolve to depend on God,

00:05:43.600 | but it's drawing us into dependence on ourselves.

00:05:46.960 | That we, not God, know what's best.

00:05:51.480 | We can taste the difference.

00:05:54.160 | We know, we can taste when this is happening.

00:05:57.040 | This test is making me stronger

00:06:03.520 | and happier in my dependence on God,

00:06:05.920 | or it is in fact weakening my dependence on God

00:06:10.920 | and starting to make me more likely to depend on myself.

00:06:15.960 | And we can test it in the workplace.

00:06:18.220 | As pressures are coming, is the effect on me,

00:06:23.220 | I'm staying up later, I'm doing more,

00:06:25.540 | I'm depending more on me, I'm showing my gifts,

00:06:28.500 | or is our faith growing with a kind of restful,

00:06:31.700 | God is enough and he will help me.

00:06:33.680 | We can tell the difference, it's a test.

00:06:35.820 | Here's the third one.

00:06:37.020 | When does zeal become jealousy?

00:06:40.760 | It happens when we shift from a passion

00:06:44.140 | for God's name being above other names

00:06:48.020 | to a passion for our name being above other names.

00:06:53.520 | Jealousy is a resentful desire

00:06:56.680 | that someone else got some glory or some reward.

00:07:01.760 | That I wanted for myself.

00:07:05.040 | It's driven not by a mere sense of achievement.

00:07:10.040 | It's driven by desire for recognition above others,

00:07:15.800 | for superior achievement recognized above others.

00:07:23.760 | So we can tell it's starting to happen

00:07:27.160 | when we don't rejoice at other people's successes

00:07:31.480 | and rewards, but feel a niggling resentment

00:07:35.400 | and we know, okay, my zeal is becoming jealousy.

00:07:40.400 | Now here's the last one.

00:07:42.040 | What's the difference between work and works?

00:07:46.560 | When does that word become evil?

00:07:49.200 | And the key text is Ephesians 2, 8, following,

00:07:54.400 | here's what it says.

00:07:55.320 | By grace you have been saved through faith.

00:07:58.280 | This is not your own doing.

00:08:00.400 | It is a gift of God, not as a result of works.

00:08:05.400 | So works is negative in that sentence.

00:08:09.600 | You must not work for this.

00:08:12.440 | You must not view your standing with God

00:08:16.280 | as a result of these efforts so that no one may boast.

00:08:21.240 | And then he continues, verse 10.

00:08:23.480 | For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus

00:08:29.320 | for good works.

00:08:33.400 | Those are good.

00:08:34.600 | The first ones are bad, same word.

00:08:36.920 | Second one, good, which God prepared before him

00:08:40.560 | that we should walk in them.

00:08:42.400 | The difference between damning works and delightful work.

00:08:47.400 | What's the difference?

00:08:49.480 | Works are sinful.

00:08:51.560 | It's talking about good works there.

00:08:53.640 | It's not talking about hitting people or hurting people.

00:08:57.200 | It's talking about good works.

00:08:58.640 | Those good works are sinful when we think

00:09:03.080 | that our salvation, our acceptance with God,

00:09:05.680 | our great status as the children of God,

00:09:08.120 | our great riches as fellow heirs with Christ,

00:09:11.440 | we think that all that acceptance, that great status,

00:09:14.680 | those great riches is the result of our works.

00:09:19.640 | It's not.

00:09:21.080 | It's free grace.

00:09:23.080 | It's a gift of God through faith, not works.

00:09:26.760 | And then, verse 10, we are his workmanship.

00:09:31.400 | We are created.

00:09:33.120 | We are now for good works.

00:09:37.000 | So when is your work becoming works?

00:09:40.880 | Your work is becoming works.

00:09:43.360 | When you begin to feel that your work

00:09:47.120 | is earning your acceptance with God,

00:09:50.360 | when you feel that it is earning your greatest status,

00:09:55.840 | when you begin to feel that it is earning

00:09:58.320 | your greatest riches,

00:10:00.760 | your godly work is becoming ungodly works

00:10:05.760 | when your greatest sense of acceptance,

00:10:08.920 | your greatest status, your greatest riches,

00:10:12.560 | your greatest meaning and identity

00:10:15.200 | are the product of your work.

00:10:18.920 | Or to say it one other way,

00:10:21.480 | your work has become idolatry

00:10:25.720 | when it's the root and not the fruit

00:10:30.000 | of your acceptance, your status, your riches,

00:10:32.920 | your identity, which are all free in Christ.

00:10:36.600 | The glory of God's grace is at stake here.

00:10:40.280 | By grace, he has freely given in Christ

00:10:44.080 | the greatest acceptance, the greatest status,

00:10:46.280 | the greatest wealth, the greatest identity.

00:10:49.640 | If we shift from seeing our work

00:10:53.920 | as the overflow of that and start seeing our work

00:10:58.640 | as the basis of that,

00:11:00.880 | we have turned our work into grace-belittling idolatry.

00:11:05.880 | - Wow, that is a potent word for all of us.

00:11:09.280 | Thank you, Pastor John,

00:11:10.420 | and thanks for the excellent question, Samantha.

00:11:12.320 | I really appreciate it.

00:11:13.880 | And thank you for listening along

00:11:15.080 | and for subscribing to Ask Pastor John

00:11:16.840 | in your favorite podcast app or on YouTube.

00:11:19.680 | Next time we hear from a non-Christian

00:11:21.520 | who wants to know why coming to Christ

00:11:23.560 | and believing the gospel are so difficult.

00:11:26.720 | Shouldn't salvation be easier?

00:11:29.200 | That question will be put to Pastor John next time.

00:11:31.200 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:11:32.640 | See you on Wednesday.

00:11:33.680 | (upbeat music)

00:11:36.260 | (upbeat music)

00:11:38.840 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

When Has My Career Become My Idol?

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