Palm Sunday sermon

Part 3 in a series on developing a biblical conscience as opposed to a social or tradition based conscience.

Not only has God designed man to work, He has designed man to worship. And, work and worship are inextricably linked. In fact, work is a means through which we worship. Honest work is pleasing to God. Eric Liddell makes this point when he says, “God made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.” When we work in the callings that God has for us, we too can feel his pleasure. This truth is highlighted by the very fact that when God came to Earth he worked as a carpenter. He spent the majority of his life in gainful honest employment so much so that when he returned to his hometown to teach the people knew him as the carpenter. His hometown identity was that of the carpenter. (Mark 6:1-6) There are several truths which can be deducted from this. Townspeople • We can grow in the favor of God while being employed in honest work. (Luke 2:40) • God is pleased when we work unto him. God is pleased when we engage in work heartily and unto him. We must remember that when God decreed Jesus to be his pleasing son, Jesus had not yet done anything but carpentry. • There is no divide between sacred and secular employment. We are all in full time Christian ministry. • The Christian is to work for an audience of one. Finally, we must ask why Jesus spent so much time in the carpenter’s shop? Was their any salvific purpose for his labors. The answer is yes. Jesus worked as unto God and in his work he served his neighbor as himself. In doing this he fulfilled God’s holy mandate to work earlier given to Adam in Genesis 2 and repeated in Exodus 20:9.