Why Your Work Matters to God

Main Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Don’t stop here; keep the conversation going on The Breakdown. Each week, we take this message further, talk through real-life applications, and wrestle with the questions you’re already asking. Just search “Journey Church with James Hilton” wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube.

  1. If you could get paid to do nothing, would you take that deal?  Why or why not?
  2. Pastor James describes how we tend to divide life into “the part God cares about” and “the part he doesn’t.” Have you ever felt that tension — like Sunday belongs to God but Monday is just yours to survive? What does that divide look like in your own life?
  1. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:11. The word “ambition” is one of the strongest, most status-hungry words available in that language. What’s striking about Paul using that word in this context? What do you think he’s trying to do with our drive and our desire?
  2. In Genesis 2:15, God places the man in the garden “to work it and take care of it.”The sermon points out that the Hebrew words used are the same words used later to describe what priests do in the presence of God (Numbers 3:7-8). What does it mean that the first job in human history was described in priestly, worshipful language? How does that change the way you think about your own work?
  3. The sermon draws a connection between work and love, pointing out that in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-11, Paul answers the question of how to love people more and more with the instruction to go work with your hands. In your own words, how does working well become an act of love for the people around you?
  4. Pastor James talks about how God answers the prayer “give us this day our daily bread”(Matt. 6:11) through ordinary people doing ordinary jobs — farmers, drivers, shelf stockers, cashiers. Has it ever hit you that you might be the answer to someone’s prayer through the work you do? What would it look like to carry that awareness into your week?
  5. Jesus spent roughly thirty years working as a carpenter and only three years in public ministry. If ordinary labor were the lesser thing, what does it mean that the Son of God spent ninety percent of the incarnation doing it? How does that reframe the work you do that feels invisible or unremarkable?
  6. Is there a problem you keep naming that God might be calling you to creatively work out with your hands?

Prayer

God, thank you for helping me reframe my work as worship.  I know that’s what you intended.  I pray that you would allow me to see your goodness and be your witness in my workplace, home, and everywhere I go this week.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.