Category: Serving Others

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Serving Others

Your Mission if You Choose to Accept It… Is At The Office

“”Your Mission if You Choose to Accept It… Is At The Office”
      by brian rushing

…or at the factory or school or hospital or wherever you work.

the mission impossible logo symbolizing our mission is at our office
I am about to wrap up these thoughts on being a witness in your workplace, but I think this idea is so very important for each one of us. I think that we too often believe that our work can only be considered a benefit to God’s Kingdom if we are in a church-related occupation. Nothing could be further from the truth. God has placed you where you can benefit His kingdom in the work you are presently in.

John Piper says that you should – “Stay In Your Job With God”:

The call to be a Christian was not a call to leave your secular vocation. Paul said: “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” Paul’s view was that God had sovereignly “assigned” or “called” unbelievers to positions in life where their conversion would have significant impact for his glory. “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” Paul does not mean that changing jobs is wrong in the Christian life. What Paul does mean is that when we are converted we should not jump to the conclusion: “my job must change.” Rather our thought should be, God has put me here, and I should now display his worth in this job. Therefore, the burning question for most Christians should be: How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?



Many people in the secular world enjoy their work and have spent much time learning how to be effective in their field. Why feel that you must step out of the area where you are effective and which you enjoy. You can learn to “make much of God” by how you work in your secular job. Piper says the Bible gives us at least six ways in which a person can make much of God through their secular job:

1. through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day while at work.
“In other words, we enjoy God’s being there for us as we listen to his voice, and talk to him, and cast all our burdens on him, and experience his guidance and care. Christians do not just go to work. They go to work “with God.” They do not just do a job. They do their job “with God.” God is with them.

2. by imitating God in our creativity and industry.
God is at work and God is a creating, creative God. And He created us in His image to work and to create. As we do so with joy and satisfaction, we make much of Him.

3. by enhancing the portrait of Christ that people hear in the spoken Gospel.
As we share that we are Christians, our fellow employees will be watching to see what that means. How we conduct ourselves at work shows others a glimpse of the picture of Jesus.

4. by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while also focusing on how our work helps others.
“This is paradoxical. I am saying, yes, we should earn enough money to meet our needs. But, no, we should not make that the primary focus of why we work. Don’t labor merely with a view to the things you can buy with your earnings. Work with an eye not mainly to your money, but your usefulness. Work with a view to benefiting people with what you make or do. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability, and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.”

5. by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.
God tells us to work to meet the needs of others. And here is one of my favorite lines about why we should work:
“You can steal to have. Or you can work to have. Or you can work to have to give. When the third option comes from joy in God’s goodness, it makes him look great in the world.”

6. by treating the web of relationships at work as a gift of God and to whom we share the Gospel and offer practical help.
God has placed people around you who need your love and help. Make Him look great to them by loving them and helping them as their workplace pastor.

Your place of employment is your mission field. Will you choose to accept your mission?


        (Quotes in today’s post are from Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper)


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Serving Others

Your Job Is Your Mission Field

“Your Job Is Your Mission Field”
      by brian rushing

No matter who you are, where you live, or the type of work you do, God has a mission for you.

Mission From God

The “Blues Brothers” were on a mission from God, and so are you!

And you don’t have to be ordained, licensed, or commissioned during a church service in order to complete your mission. In fact, where you work – in the secular job you have – you have a mission to complete.

John Piper reminds us:

“Please don’t hear in the phrase “secular vocation” any unspiritual or inferior comparison to “church vocation” or “mission vocation” or “spiritual vocation.” I simply mean the vocations that are not structurally connected to the church. There is such a thing as being in the world but not of the world…. Jesus’ intention is that his disciples remain in the world (which is what I mean by “secular jobs”), but that they not be “of the world” (which is why I say we are in a war).”


 So being in a secular job is a strategic place of battle for God’s kingdom work, and you have been placed there to do that work – as the workplace pastor for those around you. You are to care for them, pray for them, give them spiritual counsel, shepherd them toward the Lord – using your speech, your attitude, and your actions to point them toward God.

Martin Luther said it this way:

It is pure invention that pope, bishops, priests and monks are the only ones to be called the “spiritual estate”; while princes, lords, artisans and farmers the “temporal estate.” That is indeed a fine bit of lying and hypocrisy…. All Christians are truly of the “spiritual estate,” and there is among them no difference at all but that of office…. To make it still clearer. If a little group of pious Christian laymen were taken captive and set down in a wilderness, and had among them no priest consecrated by a bishop, and if there in the wilderness they were to agree in choosing one of themselves, married or unmarried, and were to charge him with the office of baptizing, saying mass, absolving and preaching, such a man would be as truly a priest as though all bishops and popes had consecrated him…. There is really no difference between laymen and priests, princes and bishops, “spirituals” and “temporals,” as they call them, except that of office and work…. A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and everyone by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another.”


So even back in the 1500s, this man of God realized that where you work wasn’t important. It was how and why you work. You are called to work for the Lord as a workplace pastor to those around you to “benefit and serve” them in order to help them better know Jesus Christ.

“The Bible makes it plain that God’s will is for his people to be scattered like salt and light among the whole range of secular vocations. Clusters of Christians living only with Christians and working only with Christians would not accomplish God’s whole purpose in the world. That does not mean Christian orders or ministries or mission outposts are wrong. It means they are exceptional. The vast majority of Christians are meant to live in the world and work among unbelievers. This is their “office,” their “calling,” as Luther would say.”

My prayer is that as you go out into your workplace today, you won’t think of your work as secular, but as strategic. That you would consider where God has placed you and how He wants to use you to make a difference in the lives of those you will encounter today as their workplace pastor.


        (Quotes in today’s post are from Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper)


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Serving Others

What Attitude Will You Take To Your Workplace Today?

Your Workplace…workplace caution sign stating - caution, people working

Does it ever get stressful?
Do you ever find it frustrating?
Are the situations you experience there unfair?

Certainly your workplace has some significant challenges. And yet, it is where God has placed you right now. He might move you somewhere different tomorrow, but for today… He has you in your current situation. And wherever He has placed you, there are people there that need you to serve them.

That isn’t always a cheerful thought, because we would prefer that someone serve us. But as a follower of Christ, you are called to be a servant… even to those rascals you work with!

“In the Workplace, believers are given an opportunity through the gospel to serve in several different directions—upward, downward, and laterally.”

“Serving upward means consistently working hard, knowing you ultimately work for the Lord. Believers should be the best employees on the job because they realize their work is truly done for God’s glory. Serving one’s supervisor well is a means of serving Christ Well. And if a believer works for another believer, he should serve that person even better.” (see 1 Tim. 6:1—2 & Col. 3:23-24).

“Believers Who are supervising others are given the opportunity to serve downward. By treating employees well and fairly, calling out the best of their gifts, the supervisor honors his or her ultimate Boss in heaven, who sees everything that’s done on the job…and who is not impressed with the lines and boxes on the org chart.” (see Col. 4:1).

“Most believers are also given the opportunity to serve laterally, assisting the colleagues who work alongside them. Because of the gospel, believers should encourage and serve these who are equal to them in responsibility, without being a burden to them, without being the slouch at the office who must continually be bailed out by others. One of the best ways a believer serves those who work alongside him is just to do his job well. That alone is more spiritual and gospel-centric than many people realize.” (see 1 Thess. 4:11-12).

You have the opportunity today to be a Workplace Pastor to the people who serve above you, below you, and beside you. How will you use that opportunity?

Why do we find it so hard to embrace this role of Workplace Pastor to serve those around us?

(Quotes from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)

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Serving Others

The Cold Water Challenge!

three people taking the cold water challenge of having ice cold water poured on them for charitySo Facebook and social media are presently filled with people pouring ice cold water on themselves and asking others to do the same – all in the name of charity… “Pour cold water on yourself to serve others.” Sadly, we are finding out that several people may have died from the challenge, and warnings are popping up asking people to “not rise to the challenge.” So maybe it is time to take a different twist on it and engage in the “cold water challenge” that Jesus provided… “Give a cup of cold water to someone else to serve them with hospitality.”

As I mentioned in my previous post, to give someone a cup of cold water in Jesus’ day required effort – it meant doing a little extra to serve someone else through your hospitality. It meant more than just taking care of their thirst by pouring them a glass of room-temperature water from the water urn. Instead, it meant taking another trip to the well or the stream to get a fresh cup of cold water.

But another aspect regarding this idea of a cup of cold water is that anyone could provide this cold water to someone else. It didn’t require wealth. It only required effort. A cup of cold water was a blessing that even the poorest person could give to another. It would simply take the effort of going to the well and drawing the water.

This helps to teach us that kindnesses and hospitality are valued in Christ’s kingdom, not according to the cost of the gift, but according to the love and affection of the giver. This takes us back to the idea that God desires mercy & compassion for others to exist in us more than He wants us bringing an offering to the altar.

So the idea is that if you are truly full of the grace of God, you can also be truly rich in good works, even if you are poor according to the world’s standards. God desires us to sacrifice our own desires to care for others, and no matter who we are we have the ability to provide care for others. And we are to do it with the right heart.

So take Jesus’ “Cold Water Challenge” today and richly serve someone else.

How have you seen people show hospitality to others without having to use the world’s “wealth” to do so?

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Serving Others

How To Properly Give A Cup Of Cold Water

How to Properly Give a Cup of Cold Water

“…if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” –Jesus

cold water coming out of kitchen faucetFor us to give someone this cup of cold water, it takes a lot of effort. First, we have to fight against gravity to get off of the couch. After completing that task, we then have to make the looooong journey into the kitchen to get a glass. Next, we are required to strain against a button on the fridge and patiently listen to the small rumble that tells us that the ice is on its way. The ice then magically pops into our glass. Then we strain against a second button to make the water to fill the glass (or you may have to choose option 2 and endure the arduous journey over to the faucet and laboriously turn the handle). Done. In less than 30 seconds, we have our glass of ice water ready to give to someone who is thirsty. And We never had to leave the comfort of our air conditioned home.

But what was actually involved in providing a “cup of cold water” for someone in Jesus’ day? They didn’t have our magical ice dispensers nor clean tap water from the faucet. Giving someone a “cup of cold water” meant taking the trouble to walk to the well or to the stream to draw a bucket of fresh cold water, perhaps even in the heat of the day. To “provide someone with a cup of cold water” meant engaging in an act of hospitality – not something that could be done in 30 seconds without any real effort.

The principle seems to be that God asks us to go out of our way to show hospitality to others. When we do so, we are imitating Him and showing His compassion and kindness.

Unfortunately, many of us (myself included) have forgotten how to provide generous hospitality. We are too focused on our own wants to take the time to serve others in humility. What sacrifices do I need to make today to bless someone else through my hospitality?

When have you been blessed by someone else’s “unlooked for” hospitality?
Any good examples you have encountered that could spur us on in this direction?