God In My 9-5 (the Believer And Work): The Believer & Money 5 by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What to Know About Work

We're continuing our conversation on the believer and money. This one is titled God in My 9-5 — what to know about work. There are six points.

1. Work Is Not a Product of the Fall

Genesis 2:15 — The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to tend and keep it. The fall happens in Genesis 3, but work is already here in Genesis 2:15. Work even came before marriage — marriage came in Genesis 2:18.

The Hebrew words for tend and keep — abad and shamar — are the same words later used for priestly service in the temple. So before sin, before the curse, there was already work. Work is not punishment. Adam had to work before the fall. Work predates the fall.

In the new Jerusalem, we are still going to work. Revelation 22:3 — there will be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. That word serve is the word latreuo — used for priestly worship and ministration. Eternity is structured to be active, not passive.

If Adam worked before the fall, and what God is reestablishing in the new earth is a return to how he ordained things to be, then we are going to work there. Luke 19:17 — Well done, good servant. Because you were faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities. That is administration. We are going to come back to this earth to work.

Now look at Genesis 3:17–19. After the fall, God addresses Adam and gives the consequence of disobedience. He says: Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Notice — God did not curse the man. What God cursed was the ground.

Verse 19: In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.

There are two explanations for this passage.

1. The direct contextual approach: Man will experience resistance from the ground and painful toil as he works. He will sweat — hard labour — which all boils down to the working of death he had just chosen. God had said if you eat of this thing, you will die. That work is part of what enacts that death. The ground is cursed, and if you are going to receive anything meaningful from it, you now have to work — but not working from rest. Hard labour.
2. The christological approach — reading through typology. Adam's mandate was to guard and tend, as seen in Genesis 2:15. The same Hebrew words are later used for priestly service. The ground was under his dominion. When the head fell, all that was under his headship fell with him. The curse was more of a consequence of his choice.

1 Corinthians 15:45 — The first Adam was a living soul. The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. In God's view, there are only two men. He did not call Jesus the second Adam — he called him the last Adam. So there are just two men. If you are not in that last Adam, you are not alive. That is why Jesus said, I have come that you may have life — he was speaking to people who were already physically living. He was talking about the life-giving spirit.

Jesus is the last Adam and he came to reclaim what the first Adam lost. Look at the types in what he did with that cursed ground:

• Mary mistakes the resurrected Jesus for a gardener in John 20:15. This is not an accident in John's gospel. The last Adam rises in a garden — the same setting where the first Adam failed. That same place he begins the restoration of all things.
• When Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head in John 19:2, they were unknowingly fulfilling prophecy. Jesus wore the curse of the ground on his head. The very symbol of creation's brokenness was pressed into the skull of the one who came to reverse it.
• The ground did not sin. It bore the consequence of Adam's sin. This is exactly what the cross is about — he takes the curse of another to himself.

Galatians 3:13 — Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse. He became that ground — the very ground God cursed, from which man had to eat by sweat. Jesus became that ground so that we are no longer working from a place of curse. We are now working from his blessedness.

There is one more component in Genesis 3:19 — in sweat you shall eat. Jesus is in a garden called Gethsemane, and he is also sweating. Everything in Genesis 3:17–19 — Jesus dealt with it all.

We are no longer walking as a fallen man. We don't hustle. We are now walking from the blessedness of what Christ has done.

John 4:34 — Jesus said it is my food to do the will of the Father and to finish his work. God works.

John 5:17 — My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.

We are not walking as the fallen Adam walked. We are walking how God intended us to walk — the way he works. Therefore, we don't work from sweat anymore. We work from rest.

When did God work in Genesis 1 and 2? He worked for six days and then on the seventh day — the Sabbath — he rested. The best place to experience God's creative power is in your 9-to-5. That is the six days. If you exclude God from that Monday to Saturday where you are actively working, you are not getting half the best of God.

The first person recorded in the Old Testament of whom God said I have filled him with my Spirit was Bezalel — a craftsman, in Exodus 31. It was to do work. If God works and not from curse, we can also work not from curse.

Work is also a reflection of the image of God in man. Genesis 1:26–27 — to be made in God's image includes the capacity and calling to create, manage, and build. Man was made for work. That is why extended joblessness becomes restlessness. Rest for two years and that rest becomes restless — because you were wired to work.

If your mindset is that you are looking forward to vacation, you are going to live a miserable life. And that thing you do on Sunday — dreading the coming Monday — will damage your mind in such a way that it cannot receive the insight needed to make you exceptional at that job.

2. Work and Rest Can Meet

Adam was made in rest and given work to do. Rest therefore is not inactivity — it is activity God's way.

Adam was made on the seventh day — the day of rest — and inside rest, God gave him work.

Matthew 11:28–30 — Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

When he says come to him and he will give rest, the rest he gives is the revelation of God as father. The burden he refers to is the burden of the law — the yoke is the association. You enter rest when God is source and men are resources. This is the only way you will be able to stand in integrity.

When someone says: sleep with me for promotion — the person living from rest can walk away, because the job is not the source. God is. I will not compromise at my job. Because after all, this was a resource.

This only makes sense if you have eternal life. John 17:3 — This is life eternal, that they may know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Someone who has eternal life has a different valuation of things. In the context of the knowledge of eternal life, my dignity is worth more than money.

Rest also means not seeking validation from people. Some of us buy things not because we like them — it is the name, the brand, the status. You enter rest knowing that God is my Father. That means I am provided for.

Convenience is not rest. The two components of rest in this teaching are:

• The revelation that God is Father — source and not men
• Not working from fear, covetousness, or the need to outdo others

We don't want more. We just want more than others. That is the issue. That is covetousness.

The Danger of Working for Money Alone

There was a woman who had multiple properties, money, all going well — but she was tired of her work. She did not know why. She had what is called leanness in the soul. She was advised to go to Nigeria, visit people in need, and let the Lord minister to her. She went to Makoko, saw the children, and came back transformed. She was no longer seeing the task — she was seeing the children.

If you are doing any work for money alone, you are already a slave of money. Money is your master. And that means you cannot even see vision correctly, because money will colour every decision.

There was a friend during COVID who had two job offers — $120 an hour versus $100,000 a year. When asked what God told him, he said God told him to take the $120 an hour. He took the job. Three months later, they let him go. It was not necessarily a wrong hearing — but the pull of money can colour what you think you hear.

You can be so under the power of money that you miss God.

Peter caught a massive net of fish and left it all to follow Jesus. That fish was not the destination — it was an open door, a sign. If I can make the fish come, I can feed you if you walk with me.

Prosperity Is Not for Status

When we speak of prospering, it is not about having more money or validating a calling. The Bible tells us to seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and prosperity is a function of kingdom advancement — not status.

You have a loved one needing a transplant costing 35 million naira. Having 50 million naira in your account is not luxury — it is a miracle. Because if you cannot pray, at least you can pay. That is what prosperity is for — to advance the kingdom.

The kingdom is not just the church building. Kingdom means people. Where there is darkness, you go there and colonise that place with God's love and generosity — that is establishing kingdom. Forgiving people who curse you is supernatural because it is not the natural response. They slapped you, you blessed them. That is not normal — that is supernatural.

Matthew 11:25 — Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from the wise and prudent and revealing them to babes. The rest Jesus gives includes the revelation of God as Father. When you come to him and learn of him, you learn that God is Father. In other words, you enter rest when God is source and men are resources.

Working with Excellence

Dorothy Sayers wrote: What is happening today is nobody works for the sake of the thing they do. The result of the work is only a byproduct of their real aim. The real aim of work is money or status. So doctors practice medicine not primarily to relieve suffering but to make a living. The patient is something that happens along the way. Lawyers accept briefs not because of their passion for justice but because it is the profession that enables them to survive. What a sad life — where people are not people, they are means.

You cannot be in this church and be doing the bare minimum at work. That work is worship.

As an IT auditor, the manager gave 100 controls with a Friday deadline. Everything was delivered by Wednesday. In two different teams, when layoffs came, everyone else was let go. He remained. When he resigned, the manager refused to accept it. They did not know he was a pastor. It was not anointing in some mystical sense — it was the fruit of excellence.

You cannot give me something to do and I do it shabbily. Don't you understand that you are representing a kingdom?

Check people in the Bible:

• Daniel — Daniel 1:4 — young men in whom there was no blemish, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, skilled in all learning and science
• Joseph
• David

Jesus put Peter in charge of the church but picked an educated man — Paul — to go to the Gentiles. He picked Moses, who was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. How would Moses have written the law otherwise? There is a technology behind favour. If God is no respecter of persons, it means there are proclivities he looks for in a man's life before lifting. You cannot be dull and be increased — it is not possible.

Listen: if you change your disposition towards work and give it one year, you will see that favour will come upon your work.

Own the Vision Wherever You Work

Who had the vision of farming in Egypt? Pharaoh. The vision was to ensure Egyptians were fine. Joseph was not the one with the vision — he was employed to interpret it. But he owned that vision and used it to save the whole world.

Genesis 45 — Joseph said God made me a father to Pharaoh. His boss was sitting on the CEO's chair, but everything that boss did came from Joseph's spirit.

You can be working in an organisation, own that vision and make it bigger, such that you are fulfilling purpose with another man's vision.

When a leader has a vision, the people who quickly come to mind for the task are those who can build it — those who take the vision and return it to you fully formed, complete, without being asked twice. Someone like that will always be valuable. You cannot push them aside.

Change Your Disposition Towards Work

You prayed for this job. God gave it to you. Now you are complaining? He that is faithful in little, much shall be given unto him. He that has none — even that which he has shall be taken from him.

Do not curse the king, for the birds of the air will carry it. Ecclesiastes 10:20. You will not be promoted if you are bitter towards your boss. They will perceive it.

Lord, I receive this evening the spirit of excellence. I take back every negative word I have said about my job. I work well. I do it excellently as unto the Lord. I serve from my heart. I give my best — in the name of Jesus.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this word. We thank you for testimonies of promotions and increase that will come as a result of this conversation. For this month, we thank you. We refuse strange gods and idols. We don't serve money — money serves your purpose in our hands. We surrender all to you, Jesus. We thank you for turnaround. We thank you for prospering the works of our hands. We thank you for insight on how to invest — in Jesus' mighty name.