As we encounter and experience Jesus through worship and go deeper into relationship with him through his living and active Word, we find that he wants to work in us and show us our purpose.

1: We were designed to fulfil a purpose

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

God created mankind in his own image (Genesis 1:27)

We see from these two verses that God is creative and that we are made in his image – we were built to create something too!

And it’s also true that he made us all unique, which means we have a unique role in our families, workplaces, church and society.

We have work to do that it bespoke to us, exciting, satisfying and fruit-bearing!

2: Work is not a punishment / result of the Fall:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15)

As part of a perfect world with no sin, no weeds, no earthquakes or disease, God gave Adam a responsibility. I imagine he could prune, discover, learn about herbs (but not for healing!), tree types, begin to use wood, build, expand, create musical instruments, machinery, bridges, and as humanity grew in a perfect world, things would have looked very different.

In this unfallen world that God had made, work could not have been a punishment or a burden. If we are to reflect the Kingdom that is in God’s nature and not our own we will find work that is satisfying and enjoyable, just made for us to do.

3: God hasn’t stopped working

He made you and saved you (if you’ve accepted Jesus as your saviour)!

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

God did the initial work of creating us but he also came to earth to save us so he could do the work of salvation. We played no part in our redemption except to receive it. We are his handiwork.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

So the first thing to do is stop trying too hard, go back to values 1 and 2 and worship Jesus, get into his word and receive the finished work that He has already done for us. You cannot save yourself and you cannot self-improve to the heights that God has destined for you.

4: There is work for us to do that has been prepared in advance

¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

There are good works for us to do and they were prepared in advance for us.

Whenever you take a new job on, you were appointed because there was something that needed doing. The work needed doing before you were called upon.

When I took my first job as a teacher, my boss met up with me before the first term and handed over lesson plans, worksheets, programmes of study and soon afterwards I received my timetable. The work was prepared in advance for me to do it, I was brought into the school and only I was appointed to teach those classes.

I was not brought into the school because I was bored or needed the money and the school took pity on me or saw it as their role to keep me occupied until retirement. They wanted me and they needed me! I was selected where other candidates were not, because the governors thought I was the man for the job.

In the same way, God does not create jobs to keep people busy while they are waiting for heaven.

He also does not put anyone on earth to do nothing. He creates people because there is work to be done. He crafted you purposefully and carefully so that you might do the works prepared in advance for you to do. He placed you on earth on the day you were born so you could be alive today. He has a plan, and we don’t know the half of it! His plan is bigger than us – we just have to play our part. We must surrender to him and do as he says, or live an unfulfilled life.

5: It’s time to run your race!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)

The problem I have found is that so many of us, myself included, try to run somebody else’s race.

Why do we do this? Probably due to comparison. If someone else has received praise for what they have done and you are not receiving praise, you might switch lanes. If someone else is more successful (however you measure success) you may try to emulate them. Maybe you just don’t know anybody else who has done what you want to do or you’ve never seen it done the way you want to do it, so you feel silly. But nothing was invented by people who stuck to what was done before. Maybe God has put in you the desire to branch out and do something different. But the key is, you have to be you.

What happens if we run in someone else’s lane? First we might get in their way, but we might not, if they are running with perseverance, they’re probably somewhere out front. Second, you miss out on the joys of your own lane. You’ll run faster, further and with the wind of the Spirit behind you. You’ll feel you were born for this.

Running the race marked out for you brings glory to God. Just by being you, people will see God in you. As Thomas Merton put it, “A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying Him.”

We need to run our race in order to fulfil the purpose that God made us for. Stop looking at other people. Seek his will. Go for it!

6: Playing your part builds up the Church

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:16)

This is a key value at BCC, so we’re not just talking about your job that pays the bills. We’re talking about your whole life.

It’s funny that we think of church as an add-on to our life, something we do at the weekend or evenings. And we think of our job, or what we do in the week as the main part of our life. It’s funny because the church will outlast the business you work for, your family and your home. The church of Jesus is the most important thing in your life, even if you don’t recognise it as such.

And you have a role to play in building up the church. A unique role. No one else can do it the way you could.

We believe that God has gathered us so that we can support one another in our ‘work’ for him. As we let him work through us and in us, as we become the people he wishes us to be, without striving to be someone else, we will need the support of one another, and we will also bear much fruit.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS