Work and Faith - The River Church of the South Bay

Restoring the Garden Through the Well at the Table - A Biblical View of Work

April 21, 2024 • Todd Wendorff • John 4, Matthew 9, Genesis 1, Genesis 2

Here’s an interesting question. So what’s the difference between the Christ follower and the non Christ follower as it relates to our work? Is there such a difference as a Christian baker, a non Christian lawyer, a Christian plumber, and a non Christian surgeon? I hope not. Especially when it comes to law and medicine. John Wesley said, do good, and do no harm along the way. Maybe the one mark that someone is a Christ follower? Martin Luther believed that God’s loving care comes to us largely through the labor of others. Work in other words is a major instrument of God’s providence. Someone tried to make his own sandwich, literally. It took him six months and $1,500. Think about the implications of that. In creation, we were given the honor to perfect what God has made. For what ends? That’s what I want to look at.

LIFE Work

May 6, 2024 • Brooke Andrews • Deuteronomy 6:1–9

This work series has been one of my all time favorites, but it felt like something was missing for me. What about the work I do that takes my greatest focus, the most patience, the longest time, all of the energy, and has the highest stakes? RAISING KIDS. For many of us, there's a big old chunk of life that (has been, is, or will be) spent waking up in the middle of the night, making lunches, mediating arguments, managing drop offs and pick ups, teaching babies and kids and teenagers and adult children how to live... and this is work too. If you’re a parent, this. is. for. you. If you’re not a parent but you’re a part of our church community, this is also for you! What does it look like to dedicate our lives to the work of raising the next generation to know and love Jesus?

Two Trees

April 28, 2024 • Bill MacPhee • Revelation 22:1–5, Revelation 21:1–6

I love trees. Their grandeur as they reach for the sky paints a beautiful picture of how we, and the whole creation, were made to worship the Creator. Two trees stand out among the many described in our Scriptures. They are both called “the tree of life,” and one starts the Bible story, and the other emerges at the very end, both in a Garden. We can tell and begin to understand the big arc of our story by learning from these two trees. They anchor our place in the future unfolding drama of what the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John in the Revelation called a “new heaven and a new earth.” What will life be like for those who follow Jesus in the renewed creation? Specifically, what will our work be like after Jesus returns to make all things new? We might wish the Bible were more specific, but it chooses to give us tantalizing sign-posts along the trail that call for us to exercise a communal sacred imagination. Let’s do that together as we consider our calling in work in light of the declaration, “No longer will there be any curse.” [Revelation 22:3]

The Sacred Art of Work

April 7, 2024 • James Petitfils • 1 Thessalonians 4:9–12, Ephesians 4:22–28

Often, one of the biggest chasms in the life of a modern follower of Jesus is the great canyon between Sunday and Monday. Sunday, you gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ, do Christian things like sing worship songs, pray, or hear from scripture, and maybe you go home with a little more spiritual fuel in your tank and some inspiration to listen to the Holy Spirit more attentively in the week to come. Then comes Monday. Work or school, errands and emails, homework and housework. Our default setting can sometimes be to see the school/work week as something through which we hold our breath, try to not sin so much, and squeeze in those “Christian” moments like a bible study or an on-the-way-to-work sermon podcast. What if, however, that all-too-familiar workweek is actually sacred time? What if being a “Christian” at work is not so much about putting a cross up at your desk or hosting that lunch-hour bible study with your Christian colleagues? What if representing Jesus at work has everything to do with the actual work you are doing? Join us as we take flight in a new series exploring the relationship between work and faith. This week, let’s begin to consider how we might bridge the gaping Sunday-Monday gap!

A "Why" of Work

April 14, 2024 • James Petitfils • Acts 4:32–37

Whether we're conscious of it or not, each of us lives from a story on the nature of things--a story of what is true and good and worth living for. Which begs the questions: What story am I really living from? Is that story true? The 66 books of the Bible form a unified true story of creation, fall, redemption and coming new creation all centered on Jesus and the process of following Jesus is a lifelong journey of internalizing that true story more and more. Each Sunday this summer, we'll be taking a look at each chapter of that unfolding story and learning how each section of the Bible fits together to tell a story centered on Jesus. And along the way we'll learn some tools from The Bible Project to help us navigate Scripture and read it more confidently ourselves so that over a lifetime, the freeing story of Scripture becomes the story we truly live from.