"CHRISTIANS AND THEIR WORK" INTRODUCTION There is an old story about a cobbler who, on being asked what his business was, replied, "M;y business is saving souls, but I mend shoes to pay P. D. Armour, who developed the meat packing business in Chicago, familiar perhaps with this remark of the cobbler, made a comment to the same effect: "I work for God and pack meat to help pay the bill" A SOUND EMPHASIS Basically, for Christians, the emDhasis is quite sound. It stems directly from the New Testa- ment which is not so much interested in the work by which Christians earn their living as in the work they do for Christ and for· the promotion of the Gospel. Christ himself was a carpenter for the greater part of his life and a preacher and teacher for at most only three years. The years spent in the workshop at Nazareth go practically unstressed; all the emphasis is on the preaching, teaching and healing. Paul was a tent-maker, but the tent-making was incidental to his work as an evangelist and missionary. As with Paul, so with all Christians. are called into membershiD in the church of Christ and thereafter our business is to help save souls. or to put it this way -.to help advance the cause of Christ. DANGERS ATTENDING THIS The basic emuhasis is sound though there are dangers attending it. A christian cobbler, intent on saving souls, must not be careless in mending shoes. I had a professor in the theological seminary who was often out of patience with students for the Christian ministry who were quite fervent :lin prayer the night before an exam, but who were rather careless in their studies the rest of the semester. Dr. McCracken of Riverside Church tells about a man who for years had the attention of a competent chiropodist. The chiropodist was planning to retire on account of age and she recommended a doctor friend to this man, but her testomonial, "She is a fine Christian worker" impressed the man as irrelevant. He said that he nreferred any day of the week the help of an agnostic who knew something of chiropody to that of the finest Christian worker who bled his toes. Christ, you mal be sure, was a good carpenter. While Paul was making a tent, he put everything he had into the job. He did it to the glory of God. There is another danger, namely that of dividing life into two compartments, the one sacred and the other secular - the preacher thought of as engaged in a holy task, the business man in a mundane task. This distinction is not valid for Christians. The meat packer is as much ax a servant of God as his minister. He serves God faithfully when he serves his fellows faithfully. The di vi s1on of Christians into "professionals" and "non-urofessionals" is a distortion of New Testament A "layman 11 1n the early church was one who had responded to God's call, who had been bautized and admitted to fellowship in the church, and who was then ' commissioned to the ministry of furthering the Gospel. Today a l .... yman is all too frequently one who takes li+tle active ·part in the :turtheranc·e of the Gospel bey:ond attend \n.s_chur_c_h___e,nd - to church funds and thus maintaining a professional ministry which relieves _the personal duty of' actively promoti_!!e; the Gospel.
Transcript
"CHRISTIANS AND THEIR WORK"
INTRODUCTION There is an old story about a cobbler who, on being asked what his business was, replied, "M;y
business is saving souls, but I mend shoes to pay expense~"· P. D. Armour, who developed the meat packing business in Chicago, familiar perhaps with this remark of the cobbler, made a comment to the same effect: "I work for God and pack meat to help pay the bill"
A SOUND EMPHASIS Basically, for Christians, the emDhasis is quite sound. It stems directly from the New Testa
ment which is not so much interested in the work by which Christians earn their living as in the work they do for Christ and for· the promotion of the Gospel. Christ himself was a carpenter for the greater part of his life and a preacher and teacher for at most only three years. The years spent in the workshop at Nazareth go practically unstressed; all the emphasis is on the preaching, teaching and healing. Paul was a tent-maker, but the tent-making was incidental to his work as an evangelist and missionary. As with Paul, so with all Christians. ~e are called into membershiD in the church of Christ and thereafter our business is to help save souls. or to put it this way -.to help advance the cause of Christ.
DANGERS ATTENDING THIS The basic emuhasis is sound though there are dangers attending it. A christian
cobbler, intent on saving souls, must not be careless in mending shoes. I had a professor in the theological seminary who was often out of patience with students for the Christian ministry who were quite fervent :lin prayer the night before an exam, but who were rather careless in their studies the rest of the semester. Dr. McCracken of Riverside Church tells about a man who for years had the attention of a competent chiropodist. The chiropodist was planning to retire on account of age and she recommended a doctor friend to this man, but her testomonial, "She is a fine Christian worker" impressed the man as irrelevant. He said that he nreferred any day of the week the help of an agnostic who knew something of chiropody to that of the finest Christian worker who bled his toes. Christ, you mal be sure, was a good carpenter. While Paul was making a tent, he put everything he had into the job. He did it to the glory of God.
There is another danger, namely that of dividing life into two compartments, the one sacred and the other secular - the preacher thought of as engaged in a holy task, the business man in a mundane task. This distinction is not valid for Christians. The meat packer is as much ax a servant of God as his minister. He serves God faithfully when he serves his fellows faithfully. The di vi s1on of Christians into "professionals" and "non-urofessionals" is a distortion of New Testament teachi~. A "layman 11 1n the early church was one who had responded to God's call, who had been bautized and admitted to fellowship in the church, and who was then ' commissioned to the ministry of furthering the Gospel. Today a l .... yman is all too frequently one who takes li+tle active ·part in the :turtheranc·e of the Gospel bey:ond attend \n.s_chur_c_h___e,nd -suhs,C~ibing to church funds and thus maintaining a professional ministry which relieves ht~--~f _the personal duty of' actively promoti_!!e; the Gospel.
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APOSTLESHIP OF THE LAITY What needs to be stressed is the Apostleshin of the latty. It is vital,
absolutely vital, if the Church of Christ is to fulfill its mission. It is not enough to ask people to come out of the world and into the church. Christians must go back into the world to serve in offices and shops, in labor unions and in management, in vivic life and domestic life. In our work, whatever it is, the world meets the church through us. What you and I do from Monday until Friday, the way in which we do it, the motivation behind it, effects not only our lives but the lives of many others. Our Christian faith should make a difference both as regards our choice of a d!l.ily occupation and what we hope to achieve by means of it. The preacher is not alone in having a divine call. We are all called to glorify God wherever we are employed. Almost without excention we can serve and glorify God more fully and effectively where we work than anywhere else.
CHOICE OF WORK Think for example about the choice of work. For a. Christian this is most important. If he
te to serve God in an through hie job he must select his job carefully and prayerfully. At once we are up against a difficulty, not just the d1fficul ty of finding a way of making a living that does not conflict with one's Christian profession but something else -the fact that for a great numbers of young people the choice is limited. We preachers talk about Christian vocation in terms of leader'ship, and our minds run to the ministry - missionary work -social service - teaching - medicine. Yet the business of keening the world going involves a vast amount of labor of a different kind. The life of the world could not go on if everybody did not chose, or was at liberty to choose, the job which appealed to him the most, or a job of markedly uplifting character. Avocations are necessary because complete satisfaction is not to be found in the majority of vocations. What we ought to stress more is not leadership but the obligation for the Christian of doing work, often ordinary and unexciting, which is essential to the good estate of the nation and world. We plac'e too little value on the obscure but necessary jobs which, if they are not well done, leave the whole of society impoversihed. A Christian finds hi.s vocation in doin as well and as cheerfull as he can he ver beet wor available to him.
THE WAY THE WORK GETS DONE The way in which the work is done, whatever the work - that is what
also needs to be emphasized. Dorothy Sayers rightly rebuked the church for failing to emphasize it. Taking as her thee's that work must be good work before it can be called God's work, she wrote:
"The church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in hie leisurely hours and to come to church every Sunday. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes on him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly- but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry. No crooked tablea legs or ill fitting draws ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. Nor, if
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they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same' hand that made heavena and earth. No piety in the worker will comDensate for work that is not true, to itself; for any work that is untrue to its own technique is a living lien
Notice where the principle emphasis is ~ut. The choice of work is important. The way in which it is done is important. What matters most of all is the motivation. Is it the pay check? Is it a place at the top of the ladder- status, kudos, one's name in the headlines, one's face on television. Is work a necessary drudgery to be undel"'[5:>ne fJr +,he sake of what it yields, something to be got through, the hours as short as poasible •••• in order to do something else at the end of the day, in years of retirement. Or is ~ t sorre thing done for more th<:m bread and butter reasons, as a contftbution to the common good and therefore a service rendered to God.
What gives dignity to work is the reason for which it is performed. It is pathetic to see peopil;e wearing themselves out with exacting toil, and all of the time conveying the impression of being so utterly immersed in their occupation as to have quite forgotten what it is for, its ultimate purpose and meaning. Along that road a man becomes hard, unspiritual, soulless. Paul's great ~n unction to the Corinthians, familiar to so many of you, especially to those o you w o wor n e Inter-church Center - "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" embodies a permanent truth concerning the Christian attitude toe ward work. Like the rest of
·mankind a Christian must work to earn his daily bread and maintain his family. But he works also from a higher motive and under different pressures than those of greed, insecurity and striving ambition. He works both for the good of men and the glory of God and in doing so he finds a satisfaction not to be dervied of God inom earthly rewards or diminished by earthly hardships. And about work so motivated Jesus says that the final verdict will be: "Well d·one good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord".
Elbert Hubbard - writer, editor, printer, w was a brilliant eccentric·. On the front page of his magazine the Philistine, he once printed a single sentence: "Remember the Weekday to Keep it Holy". In other words, life ought not to be divided into compartments labelled sacred and secular. Monday can be as significant and as sacred as Sunday.
A Vermont news editor once said of Warren Austin as he struggled ~ith the heavy and perplexing of problems of the United Nations,
He ain"tt no hero. Warren's i·ust a good Vermonter doing the job that God laid out for him".
"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" - this, I think, is the thought which ought to undergird Christians in their work.
LET US PRAY: Grant, Our Father, that every man, according to the business which he hath undertaken among the sons of
men, may know that he is thy servant therein; and that whatsoever his hand findeth to do, he may do 1t to hy service·, to the best of his ability, and to thy glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
PARK AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH
106 East 86th Street New York 28, N. Y.
AT 9-6997
CHURCH DIRECTORY
Rev. Philip A. C. Clarke ....... ............... Minister Dr. Harold C. Metzner ......... Associate Minister Miss Mary C. Hedman ... ..... ................ Deaconess Mr. Mark A. Else ...... ............. ..... Choir Directo r Mr. Earl Weatherford ................ ... ...... ... Organist Mrs. George Leech ........ Nursery School Director
GENERAL OFFICERS
Lay Member, Annual Conference. .Mr. Paul R. Russell Lay Leader, The Church ... .. .. ..... ............ Mr. Giles Robinson President, Trustees .................................. Mr. Paul R. Russe ll President, Woman's Society ......... ..... .... Mrs. Paul R. Russell President, Young Adults .... ....... ........... ... ....... Mr. Paul Scott President, Choir. ....................... ........... .Dr. Charles W . Kim Education Commission Chairman ...... ... .. ... Miss Allene Ford Finance Commission Chairman ...... ........ Mr. Paul R. Russell Membership Commission Chairman ........ Mr. Giles Robinson Missions Commission Chairman ........ .. Dr. Charles W. K1m Social Concerns Commission Chr. ... . Mrs . James McDonald Worship Commission Chairman ..... . Miss Dorothy McCleary
(2nd and 4th Sundays) Commission Meetings ........... .. ....... First Tuesday, 7:15 p.m. Official Board ..................... .. .... ....... First Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. Woman's Society ....... ... ... ....... ... . Second Monday, 8:00 p.m. Fisherman's Club ........................ Second Tuesday, 6:15 p.m. Choir Rehearsal... ....... .......... .... Every Wednesday, 7:00p.m. Weekday Nursery School... .......... .... . Every morning (9-12)
PARK AVENUE
METHODIST CHURCH
ORGAN
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY September 3, 1961
ORDER OF \rJORSHIP 11 A. M.
"Andante Religiose and Allegretto" (4th Sonata) Mendelssohn
"Adagio from 1st Sonata•• Nendelssohn CALL TO WORSHIP HY1JiN NO. 25 "Jesus, 11re look to Thee" PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Almi~hty and eternal God, who searches the hearts of men; we acknowledge and confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed; that l.Ve have not loved thee with all our heart and soul, with all our m nd and strength; and that we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Forgive us our transgressions, and hel,o us to amend our ways, and of thine eternal goodness direct what we shall be, so that we may henceforth 1r.ralk in the way of thy commandments, and do those things which are worthy in thy sight; we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Master. Amen.
R:SSPONSIVE READING "Enduring Praise" GLORIA PATRI APOSTLES ' CREED
SCRIPTURE LESSON PASTORAL PRAYER OFFERTORY SOLO
Philippians 4:4 - 13
"Come Unto r1e 11
(Niss Maureen Smith, Soprano) PRESENTATION OF OFFERINGS l-JITH THE DOXOLOOY HYMN NO. 259 11 0 Master, let me v.ralk with Thee"
Page 604
Scarlatti
SERMON "Christians And Their 1rJork11 Rev. Hr. Clarke HYMN NO. 293 11\rJork, for the night is coming" BENEDICTION ORGAN "Postlude in 'A' Flat Hajor" Frost
ASSISTING IN THE SFRVICE TODAY
Organist: Soloist: Ushers:
Greeter: Nursery Care:
Hr, Earl i.ieatherford Niss Haureen Smith Nr, Joe Bowater, Hr. Julius Herget, l"!r. G. T. Hontaneli. :i'Iiss Theressa Hoover Hiss Marion Hosmer, Miss Betty Grether, Hiss Yvonne Fulger.
V.JELCm1E TO OUR VISITORS
As a Christian Fellowship we extend a Helcome to all visiting friends and invite them to sign our Guest Books located in the narthex of the Church. \rJe hope you will come and worship with us on future occasions.
CONCERNING THE CHURCH STM'F
The Rev. Dr. Metzner, Associate lVIinister, is preaching today in the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn. He returns offic.ially to our church on Homecoming Sunday, September l?th. Miss Hedman, our faithful Deaconess, is spending the Labor Day Weekend in Ocean Grove, N. J •• She returns to her duties on Tuesday morning of this coming week. iir. Else, Choir Director, will be on hand vJednesday evening for the first choir rehearsal of the Fall Season.
SEPTE~'ffiER CALENDAR
The Official Board meets Tuesday evening at 8:15 to transact several items of church business. Several of the Commissicns v1ill be holding important meetings prior to the Official Board meeting on the same evening. (7:15) An Ushers' Supper Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday evening, September the 14th, Those involved are asked to keep this date in mind. And remember H011ECOMING .SUNDAY is September 17th.
