Main Idea || For our faith to be irresistible, we Christians need to operate with a sense of joy, purpose, and mission in our work. Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 (NLT) THE NATURE OF OUR WORK Our work is . Genesis 2:15 (NLT) 15The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. Our work . Revelation 21:1–2 (NLT) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.” Our work . The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship. THE GROAN OF OUR WORK Genesis 3:17–18 (NLT) 17And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. THE FRUSTRATED WORK OF JESUS The world resisted him & his work, quite literally, to the death. GOD’S FUTURE & THE HEALING OF CREATION’S GROAN Revelation 22:2 (NLT) 2It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life,… My work fits in as an essential, glorious “leaf” on God’s glorious tree. Matthew 5:16 (NLT) 16In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION 1. Do you feel that your work is meaningful? a. Can you think of anything your work has to do with your faith, and your faith has to do with your work? 2. Sauls reminds his church family that their daily work is just as much God’s work as is the work of missionaries and pastors – that the sacred and the secular must never be seen as separate. a. In what ways do you see this reflected in your own work and in the work of those around you? 3. Christians should remember that the good work they do now will go on into eternity. a. When you reflect on this, what’s your reaction?