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We’re in the third week of a series that I’m calling Practical Christianity, looking at how believing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, shapes our day to day life. The general idea of the series is found in Paul’s words in Philippians 2:12-13 - work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. We do not work for our salvation, but once we have been saved and come into a relationship with God, we spend the rest of our lives learning to work out the implications of our salvation, of the gospel, into every aspect of our life, as God works in us. We’ve looked at your love life and parenting so far, and today we will be looking at how the gospel shapes our work life.

Let me begin by reviewing the three elements of the gospel on which I have been focusing:

1) Salvation and justification by grace – Although we have been created in the image of God, we have all been separated from God by sin, and all around the world people are trying to connect with God. But the gospel teaches us that our acceptance before God is not on the basis of what we have or have not done, but only by repenting of our sin and trusting in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Key passages we looked at included Romans 3:20-24 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Essentially, this means that you are accepted; therefore you obey, as opposed to you obey in order to be accepted.

2) New life – The gospel means that we have been born again (see Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3), and the rest of our life is about learning to live into this new nature. When we are born again, we are given God’s Holy Spirit in us, the power we need to overcome the struggles of this world.

3) A certain hope – Our deepest desires and needs are met not in anything or person in this world but in Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life. We have been adopted into His family and are now heirs of all that is His.

This morning the focus is on the intersection of the gospel and work. How do you work out the implications of the gospel into your vocation? This is much more challenging than love life or parenting for a couple of reasons. The first is that I work in a job where the implications are obvious. I have never had the challenge of trying to integrate the gospel with computer programming or selling insurance or working retail. The second reason is that the connections are less obvious. What difference does it make for a mechanical engineer if you believe the gospel or not? If you born again, how does it change you if you work in the stockroom, or work with children, or own a small business? Certainly you can be successful with or without Christ, and sometimes even more successful in this world without Him. Most successful actors, musicians, etc. are not believers. Many successful businessmen and women and medical professionals did not get that way because they believed the gospel. So where is the intersection of faith and work, if it is not in the realm of success? The third reason this is difficult is because each vocation is so different – I know that I am preaching to CEO’s, teachers, nurses, machinists, and people who are out of work. So in the end, take what I say, let it challenge you to think, and work out how to apply it to your specific situation.

Of the three elements of the gospel, the one that has the most implications for our work life is the certain hope we have in Christ. We are adopted into His family, heirs of all that is His, and we are given the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing eternal life. I think that one of the keys to understanding the intersection of the gospel and work is to look ahead to what is to come. What are we working towards?