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The Holy Spirit’s involvement in our lives isn’t reserved for just the “big” things, but He wants us to be aware of and tuned in to His voice and His thoughts all the time. There shouldn’t be a secular-sacred divide in our activities, but we should make every place holy ground and every moment a divine opportunity for God to be glorified. Or said another way, we shouldn’t have times of work and times of worship, but our worship should be seen in every single thing we do.
I think everyone of us has experienced at one time or another a poor employer or manager. Maybe it’s an employer that demands results but doesn’t give you the training or the tools to do the job. Or maybe you have the training and tools but you don’t know exactly how much you are able to use these things without crossing a line.
Maybe you have known a boss that is barely present, but when they do stop by the worksite, they aren’t happy with the work that has been done. On the opposite side, maybe it’s a boss who does everything and then gets mad that you aren’t keeping up or working as hard as them. It’s drudgery working for someone like this!
But, somewhat surprisingly, Jesus used more work examples to talk about the Kingdom of God than He did worship examples. He talked about farmers, bakers, builders, employers, managers, and employees way more than about worshiping, singing, or preaching.
One of the few glimpses we have of the early life of Jesus shows Him talking about His mission while on earth. Consider the story of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-49). The phrase in the NIV where Jesus says that He must be “in My Father’s house” can be translated…
- about My Father’s business (NKJV)
- dealing with the things of My Father (MSG)
- occupied about My Father’s business (AMPC)
(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)
Jesus was consistent about this idea of working while He was on earth (John 5:17, 36; 9:4; 17:4). For Jesus, His work was a delight because it was directed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22; 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38).
Remember that I mentioned the unreasonable employer that gives us no training, no tools, no goals for which to aim, but expects us to work for his benefit alone. This was not the case with Jesus! He trained us, provided us with the Holy Spirit to guide us, told us the goal for which we were to aim, and said that both His Father would be glorified and we would be rewarded by our Kingdom work done on earth.
Jesus wants us to work as He did, and He promised that the Holy Spirit would help us in this (John 14:10-12, 24:49; Mark 16:19-20).
We saw that Luke 2:49 in the AMPC has Jesus saying, “occupied about My Father’s business.” In Luke 19:13 Jesus tells us to “occupy till I come” (KJV). This word is also translated into phrases like:
- put this money to work (NIV)
- do business (NKJV)
- invest this (NLT)
Jesus is talking about the “talents” given to His stewards (Luke 19:11-13, 16-23). Every servant received the same thing: one mina. We all have been given one life to live; we all have been given 24 hours in a day; we all have been given opportunities to be occupied about our Father’s business.
The Holy Spirit as our Counselor is there at every moment, every conversation, every decision to help us hear His voice, think His thoughts, and sanctify every experience. Jesus says that He will reward our occupying until He returns. Just doing things like feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, taking care of those in need. This sounds a lot like the work of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:38. This Spirit-empowered work earns the commendation from our Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness!”
Be baptized in the Holy Spirit and let Him help you be about your Father’s business until Jesus returns.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in our We Are: Pentecostal series, you can check them all out here.
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Craig T. Owens 