It's ok not to be ok - Work "ok ok"

by Pastor lee meng cham

Big idea:
God desires us to thrive vocationally in what we do, not vacationally

A great mental issue in our society is Work, anxiety and stress

Cold sweat, tightness on chest:
A classic panic attack

Lifelong perfectionistic expectancy can cause negative mental issue

Look at work in three angles:
1. Fall & work
Genesis 1:27-29
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.


Genesis 2:9
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.


Yahweh is the original gardener

Men suppose to work originally. Work was meaningful, fruitful and enjoyable, work was good

But came the fall, before the fall, Adams work was in the garden. After the fall his work was outside the gardens, filled with pest, diseases, thorns. .. etc

Genesis 3:17-19
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”


Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.


Israel economy was dependent on relationship with Yahweh. Whenever they serve idols Yahweh will send no harvest, enemies....

In those days in Israel, No harvest equals no food

For us today is no work equals no food

Stress after the fall also comes from the environment that our work is from

# We are to image Him in our work

Work itself is not cursed but it was placed under a curse

God desires us to look to Him as our sole provider

2. Faith & work
Matthew 6:24-34
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Do Not Worry 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


Observe the Sabbath day and every Sabbath year

Yahweh will always provides more on the sixth day... Similarly also have more on the sixth year...

The Sabbath is a stop work order

Working non stop is idolatrous... Because we don't trust God enough

If we see work that can see us to latch a return, for providing us the only necessities of life, then we have made work an idol

It will cause us unnecessary stress to no end

We want to show that we are very cultured

"Ripped what you sewn"

How will my faith in God help me as I move into retirement. Remember the lilies and the birds. God will supply, do you have the faith?

Seek the kingdom and to pray the kingdom of God will come

To freely give so that we will reap in God's will

We are to Live in a way that he live in the earth

3. Frame our work today

"Work-wealth- wellbeing-Worth"

OR

"Worth-wellbeing-work-wealth"

# Work is not what we do apart from God but as a partnership with God

Income stops when work stops

We work to serve our Heavenly boss through our earthly vocation

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a]


Pleasing God should be our aim, whether salaried or not, if our heart is centred on the fruit of our labour, it will cause us untolled stress

Four things how to learn to thrive vocationally and how to have good mental health at work
1. Learn to be content in any and every situation, practise to say "no" to your wants

2. Celebrate what God has gifted you to do, not what he hasn't

3. Embrace your limits, it's there for a purpose because you can't do everything. It's good to excel in one or two and be very good

4. Observe the Sabbath, once a week, stop work, assess, recharge, relive routinely. It reminds you that God is in charge, not you! Feeling up your spiritual and emotional tank, do something free, watch the sun, go for walk. Instead of exhautsion

Work is not your security