Confessions of a Workaholic
March, 2008
Summary
 Work is good and ordained by God for His glory and our
benefit.
 Our fallen world has distorted God’s original intentions
for work.
 Our fallen natures bring a number of false perspectives and
beliefs to the area of work.
 The result is a spiritually dangerous combination of forces
 Sabbath rest, Christian Community, and stewardship of
time, talent and treasure are antidotes
Our Call
 God is a worker and we are made in His image
 The first job description: Work the earth and take care of
it (Gen. 2:15)
 God also says:
 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord,
not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the
Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Col 3:23,24
 We are earn our way and care for the poor for others (1Th.
3:12, Isa. 58:7, Mt. 25:31-46…)
 Called to stewardship of time, talent and treasure
Fallen Aspects of Work
 Christian work ethic has been separated from Christian
truth
 Working for self interest as the driver behind the economy vs.
working for a higher authority
 Have lost a sense of higher purpose for work.
 Work no longer has its intended transcendent purpose as a means
of serving and loving God
 Have come to believe that the provision depends on us and
is to our credit
Our Fallen Nature
 Seeking our worth outside of God, in our work
 One of the key messages of the fall itself. (Gen. 3:1-6)
 Ascribing idolatrous importance to goals/achievements
 Operating on ingrained belief systems
 I am what I do
 My worth is tied to my accomplishments, success
 Result
 Being driven more than called
 Loss of balance
Confession
 My self-worth and identity have been deeply rooted in
work
 Symptoms
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Achievement addiction
Approval addiction
Busyness addiction
Financial security myth
 Results
 Work as the center of life/meaning
 Work as the center of community
Signs of Misplaced Identity
 I am what I do
 I am what I have accomplished
 I am what I am good at
 I am what other people think I am
 Can you write a Bio without reference to what you do for a
living? What would it say?
Identity – God’s View
 Child of God, created in His image, for His glory (Gen 1:27,
Isa. 43:6-7)
 Created to enjoy God and do the work He has prepared for
me (Ps 16:11, Eph 2:10)
 God made us significant, wrote eternity on our hearts (Ecc
3:11)
 Search for identity is intended to draw us to Him
 Hunger for self-worth is God given and only He can satisfy
it.
Signs of Achievement Addiction
 Perfectionism
 See nothing wrong with compulsion – Just want to do a good job
 Success = Happiness
 Deception
 We must continue to measure up
 Fear of Failure
 Threatens significance
 Threatens security
 Many high achievers are driven beyond healthy limits
Achievement – God’s View
 Meeting certain standards to feel significant reflects
Satan’s distortion of the truth
 If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, God has
declared you righteous
 We have been justified, totally apart from our ability to
perform.
 Ro 3:24; Ro 5:1-2,8-9; Ro 8:1; 33-34; 2Co 5:21; Gal. 3:24 ; Titus 3:7
 Message of Ecclesiastes (3:12-14, 5:12-6:2)
Signs of Approval Addiction
 I must have the approval of certain people to feel good
about myself
 Mood determined by others response to me
 Self concept determined by others
 Fear of rejection
 All human acceptance is conditional acceptance
 Must keep earning it
 Insincere praise – manipulative, rejects us as people
Approval – God’s View
 We are fully reconciled to God through Christ’s death
(Col. 1:21-22)
 Holy, blameless, beyond reproach
 The cross has made us acceptable
 No one can bring a charge against us, God has justified us
(Ro 8:33)
 We must choose between seeking the favor of men or of
God (Gal 1:10)
Signs of Busyness Addiction
 Busy people are important people (a badge of honor)
 Important people are busy
 Accomplishment defined by busyness
 Relentless pressure => guilt when it stops
 If I am not busy, am I still important?
 Constant, destructive stress
 Tyranny of the urgent
 Tyranny of dominant people
 Inability to say NO, loyalty test
Busyness – God’s View
Jesus was not committed to what the crowd
wanted but to His mission
 He often withdrew for rest and prayer
Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:1-15)
Mary and Martha (Lk 10:38-42)
Sabbath rest vs. leisure time
Financial Security – the Myth
 Trust in the pay check
 Trust in my net worth – How much is enough?
 The need to control things that God never intended me to
be responsible for
 God can take me to any place of dependence He chooses,
for my own good
 The enemy uses our legitimate needs against us to build a
love of money and a fear of loss
Financial Security – God’s View
 The need to control the meeting of our needs is sin (Mt.
6:25-34; Jer. 29:11-13)
 We must choose between love of God and love of money
(Mt. 6 :24)
 Everything in heaven and earth belong to Him (Ps 24:1)
 We are His money managers not our own providers
 He prospers us for His glory not ours (2Co 9)
Key Lessons
 Seeking our self-worth outside of God is the root issue
 Since our justification is based entirely on the blood of
Christ it is the height of pride to think that good works
can make us acceptable to God
 If we base our self-worth on the approval of others, we are
saying their approval is worth more than Christ’s sacrifice
 If I think of myself differently than God does, who is
wrong?
Key Lessons
 Work is a means to an end, not the end. What is the end?
 God’s glory
 God’s Provision
 Service to God’s people and God’s creation
 If I seek Him first, He will provide and I will be free
 Working myself silly to provide what may not be in God’s will is a
waste of time and energy
 Building bigger barns is worse than a waste of time
 I was taught to use the fallen nature of people to motivate
 What do you think of the morality of the claim that many
companies place on the lives of their employees?
Antidote
 Work life balance is part of our life long struggle against
sin and worldliness
 What does it mean to be in the world, not of the world?
 Biblical Sabbath
 Inner spiritual walk
 Community and accountability
 Understanding Biblical stewardship
 Time, Talent, and Treasure
Success exposes a man to the pressures of people and thus
tempts him to hold on to his gains by means of fleshly methods
and practices, and to let himself be ruled wholly by the
dictatorial demands of incessant expansion. Success can go to
my head and will unless I remember that it is God who
accomplishes the work, that he can continue to do so without
my help and that he will be able to make out with other means
whenever he wants to cut me out.” Charles Spurgeon