What Do You Do?

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” - 1 Peter 2:9–10

When two people meet one another, inevitably, one of the first questions they will ask each other is, “What do you do?” The question is asking what kind of employment the person has. What is his job?

We ask that question without giving it much thought, because, in our society, our work goes right to the core of who we are. This isn’t without biblical precedent. We were made for work (Gen. 2:15). It is part of image bearing.

But so often we don’t see how it is tied to the bigger picture of God’s redemption story. Being a faithful Christian requires more than just being good at your job and having a faithful family. What is it that ties all of our work together?

It’s our identity as a unified “chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation…” Being a church, the body of Christ, is what supercharges all of our individual efforts. Church membership provides the purpose and meaning to all the other things we do.

We often ask our young children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a fun question that allows kids to dream about their potential. But the most important thing we could call them to be when they grow up is a “Royal Priest” in Christ among a people of God’s own possession.

It is our identity together in Christ and service in his temple that reminds us of what we do in our homes and workplaces. It is our work among the body that gives meaning and purpose to our work in the world.

Unlike the medieval Catholics that had a strict separation of sacred and secular, we don’t assign more value to church work than any other work. But we also don’t blur the lines and say that there is no difference. We must say that our identity as a “a chosen race,...a holy nation” as a church together is what makes our secular work sacred.

So, let us pour into each other as this uniquely holy people in Christ that we may overflow into our homes and communities. The amount of faithfulness, commitment, effort, and affection you have for your church family is directly proportional to the amount of faithfulness, commitment, effort, and affection for Christ you’ll have in your home and community.

Jesus “called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” among his people, so you could take that light out into the darkness of the world and spread his light.

May Redemption City Church be such a holy nation both when we gather together for worship and when we scatter throughout the week making him known in all we do.

Dazzled by the light shining in you,

Adam and the elders