EMPLOYEES OF GOD

Upon reading or studying the Bible can you tell me Jesus’s career choice? Did He study or work on one area or field? Can
we say that He was just a Teacher or just a Builder? Of course no, right?

The Bible accounts that all throughout Jesus’s life He had various jobs. He dabbled on many profession, sort of a jack of all
trades but also a Master of everything.

Let’s see a few of the work He did as recorded in the Bible:

1. Builder - Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, the only verses in the Bible that record as to what Jesus did before He started
His ministry. He was recognized by His neighbors in Nazareth as a builder, some Bible version says carpenter but since He
laboured with His hands it would be more proper to say he worked as a builder, a laborer.

2. Preacher - Jesus Himself, in the book of Luke, said: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other
towns also, because that is why I was sent.’ And he kept on preaching in the cities of Galilee.” “Jesus came into Galilee
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.” Mark 1:14

3. Teacher - Jesus was addressed in the Bible majority of the time as Teacher. This was how the multitudes addressed
Him. This was how the disciples referred to Him. Because He explained and clarified, with exhortation His message by
giving parables and showing how it was done by applying it and living it.

4. Manager - Don’t you know that Jesus spearheaded the concept of “servant leadership?” He taught that to be a leader
you have to be a servant. Jesus recruited, trained, and motivated disciples to become apostles, ordinary men to become
extraordinary. He is the greatest manager and developer of people ever. And from only 3 years of His ministry Christianity
was organized. That makes Him the most effective executive this world has ever known.

5. Healer (Medical Professional) - We are familiar with the accounts of Jesus healing the sick, blind, lame, dumb and even
raised the dead.

6. Lawyer - He defended Mary Magdalene from being stoned. He defended the world by dying on the cross. And until
now He is still lawyering for us to God. Pleading for our case, for forgiveness of our sins when we come to Him in prayer.

These identified professions are just a few of the works that He has done. What is clear though and more interesting is
how varied and diverse Jesus did His ministry. He conveyed His message in so many ways. In fact He didn’t put any
distinction to the kind of work He did. All were equally important.

And now that He has commissioned us to do the work do we even have the qualities that He needs? Are we employable
by God?

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, listed down 5 purposes God had in making you. I will only share 3 that I have found
to be helpful in finding out some of the qualities we need in doing God’s work. He shares that we were: a.) Created to be
like Christ, b.) Shaped for Service, and c.) Made for a Mission.

A. Created to be like Christ - If we are to be like Christ then that means we will also have to go through the pain and
suffering that He went through in order for us to develop the character that He had. Jesus was able to fulfill His mission
because of His character.

How else would we learn to empathize if we never experience pain as Jesus did? How would we learn obedience if we
never experience suffering as Jesus did? How would we learn to courageously stand up for what is right and be
uncompromising in our faith if all we know is a life of ease. Or patience if we were never sent to school in MVC and thus
experience the long lines everywhere, during enrolment, the caf, etc. :) I have always maintained that studying in MVC is
character building. From the time you leave the concrete road in bagontaas when you first arrived here to the time you
pass that road for the last time, your character is being toughened and developed along with your hide/skin. If Jesus
worked as CEO, a doctor, a carpenter and a laborer, then who are we to discriminate and judge?
B. Shaped for service - In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible says, "God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to
do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing." God has promised to enable us for the task
to which He has called us.

Every Christian is created to serve - called to ministry, created for ministry, saved for ministry, gifted for ministry. The
Bible makes it very clear that every Christian is a minister. Not every Christian is a pastor, but every Christian is a minister
because to be Christ-like is to be a minister. You can't be like Jesus Christ without serving others.

And that brings me to, what I think is the most important “job, work, profession” Jesus had, that of a servant. It seems to
also be the most difficult trait for us to develop because nobody wants to be a servant! Now no need to panic. You can
still choose whatever work you want to do, but do it with the attitude of a servant of God. Service to others and service to
God.

C. Made for a mission - Jesus said, in John 17:18, "[Father,] in the same way you gave me a mission in the world, I give
them a mission in the world." This is why we are all employees of God. Because God Himself gave us our mission, our
work. Not our parents, our friends or our neighbbors but God. It is our work to bring lost children back to Jesus. And for
this God needs our wholehearted commitment. When we are wholly committed to doing God’s work we become diligent
and hard-working laborers of God.

Paul passionately says in Acts 20:24, "The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord
Jesus Christ gave me." Wholehearted commitment to God’s work because we are required, (ordered even because of the
use of the word “shall”) “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with
all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

Central then in doing God’s work is love for Him.

It does not matter then what classification of work, or job, or profession you choose to have. What matters is that you
know God’s work for you, you know are God’s worker and you do it courageously and with wholehearted commitment
and dedication, with empathy, patience, and i’m sure along the way, as you continue to study God’s Word you will find
more qualities of Christ that you should emulate, but you do it for service to others and service to God and most of all to
glorify God.