October 2 | Everyday Spirituality Part 7: Work, Pt.2
Discussion Guide
💡 For the Leaders
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I hope that over time this allows us to learn and develop better guides and groups—ultimately for our discipleship and transformation in Jesus.
Thanks! -David
About the Series
Most of us have a spirituality of the gaps. “Life with God” is what we do on Sunday mornings and perhaps before dinner or early in the morning before the kids walk up. But what about breakfast itself? What does it mean to live with God in the stuff of everyday life? That’s what this series is about.
Sermon Summary (5 min)
Recap of Part 1:
In the Bible work is a gift: an opportunity to bring life, beauty, and abundance—it is priestly service (Genesis 1-2). But it is also a troubled gift: it’s painful, it’s hard, it’s endless. It’s an opportunity for rebellion, oppression, and slavery (Genesis 3, 11, Exodus 1, etc.).
Part 2:
1) Work is an occasion for love - Our work is not just for the work itself. If you are privileged to find work that is at the intersection of your passions and the world’s needs, great! But if you’re not able to do what you love, your work is still an occasion for love. That kind of work matters too.
2) Work is an occasion for joy - In Ecclesiastes we are invited to see that one reason work isn’t enjoyable is because we load it with a burden it was never meant to bear: providing to us lasting fulfillment & significance. We all want our work to be significant and fulfilling, but none of that is guaranteed. Perhaps if we can realize that, then we can let go and find joy in it.
Good news: Our identity and future is not in our hands or in our work, it’s in Gods hands and Gods work… “so all should stand in awe before him.“ Our real significance is in the name we have “written in heaven.” Our real significance comes not because the world knows us but because we are known by Jesus.
Ice Breaker Question (15 min)
Last week you were invited to discover a word/phrase/prayer from the Psalms to take with you into your work week. How did it go? What was your experience like? Reflect on your past week of work and prayer.
If your group didn’t do this, use the alternate icebreaker.
Alternate: What is the main “work thing” that has been on your mind recently? Go around in a circle and share: explain the project/situation, talk about your role, share what about it is capturing your time and attention. (Remember: work is more than the stuff people do for money.)
Discussion & Exercise (20 min)
Setup: Words have power. They can shape our imagination, our memory and feeling of the past, and how we see and experience the world. Have you ever noticed or thought about how we tend to introduce ourselves:
“Hi. My name is ____. I am a (insert job title).”
Notice the phrase I am—an identity statement. Is it possible that through this small phrase we create and then reinforce a view of ourselves that ultimately leads to a lack of life/joy/fulfillment?
Goal: Take some time to discuss as a group the ingrained way we often introduce ourselves: “Hi. My name is ____. I am a (insert job title).” Then explore a possible (not-cheesy, not-cliche) alternate way of introducing ourselves in light of the Bible’s claim that “our identity is not in our hands or in our work.”
Note: This is not a silver bullet, or a magic formula. This is just an invitation to explore and experiment. It is an invitation to discover any potential intersection between the language we use and how we end up seeing or feeling about ourselves.
Discuss: How do you introduce yourself? What is the particular language you use? Why do you think you or we use this type of language? What could it say about how we see ourselves? How might it reinforce a way of seeing ourselves that ultimately sucks the life & joy out of us and our work?
After discussing, read Romans 8:14-17 (CEB)
14 All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. 15 You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. 17 But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.
Discuss: What does this passage say about who we are (our identity)? What else does scripture say about our identity?
Explore: What are some possible ways you could introduce yourself that reflects a biblical perspective on identity?
Note: There are probably ways that would make you laugh or roll your eyes. Things you would never actually want to say when introducing yourself. Can you, as a group, discover a way of introducing yourself that you would actually be open to trying?
Reflect: What did you think of this exercise? Did you discover anything about yourself? Share any final thoughts.
Close in Prayer (10 min)
Leader: Before you close in prayer, remind the group that the purpose of this exercise was just to explore/experiment/discover. We give thanks that just as our identity is not found in our work, neither is it found in the words we speak to our about ourselves. Our identity is found in the Word God speaks to/about/over us.
Take some time to share work-related prayer requests (paid & unpaid). Pray for one another to close the time.
