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In this engaging and thought-provoking episode of the HeavenEarth Church Podcast, Ross Stackhouse invites listeners into a conversation about the true meaning of work, identity, and purpose. Framed by humor, vulnerability, and deep reflection, Ross Stackhouse explores the spiritual and everyday dimensions of work—whether that means flipping burgers, cleaning offices, or showing up fully in roles like parent, friend, or neighbor.
The episode kicks off with honest stories about first jobs from both Ross Stackhouse and the audience, setting an accessible, community-driven tone. From fast food to farming, listeners are reminded that meaningful work isn’t reserved for only prestigious or visible roles.
Three Key Takeaways:
- Your Identity Is Not Your Work
- One of the central themes of this episode is the distinction between what we do and who we are. Ross Stackhouse revisits his own professional history and wrestles with whether past roles were meaningful. He challenges the common misconception that our identity is built on what we achieve, instead asserting, “Our identity cannot be increased nor diminished, only realized.”
- Drawing from biblical stories, he reminds us that even Jesus spent far more time as a stonemason and a son than as a public minister. Our inherent worth as “image bearers” is unchanged by our successes or failures at work. It’s a liberating call to stop basing self-worth on job titles or productivity.
- Expanding the Definition of Work
- Throughout the episode, Ross Stackhouse pushes listeners to rethink what counts as “work.” It’s not just what we do for a paycheck, but any activity that brings light, goodness, blessing, and fruit to ourselves and others. Whether you’re a coffee shop barista, a warehouse handler, a grandparent, or a friend, your acts of kindness and service are valuable work.
- The podcast also touches on how the most important “roles” many of us serve in—such as being a parent, spouse, or neighbor—often fall outside the boundaries of paid employment, but are perhaps the most formative and essential work we’ll ever do.
- A Relationship with Work (and God) Built on Love, Not Scarcity
- Through the story of Cain and Abel, Ross Stackhouse explores how work can turn from blessing to curse when we live out of insecurity, envy, or the belief that there isn’t enough to go around. Cain’s curse is shown as a result of confusion between role, identity, and place.
- Instead, Ross Stackhouse advocates for generosity, gratitude, and collaboration—with both God and one another. He encourages practicing authenticity, wrestling with tough questions, and showing up fully to the roles in our lives. Quoting Colossians 3:23, he urges listeners: “Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people.”
Final Thoughts
This episode is a heartfelt invitation to examine the source of meaning in daily life. Ross Stackhouse leaves listeners with practical encouragement: remember who you are, recognize your inherent worth, and put your heart into each role you serve—inside or outside the workplace. If you’re seeking renewed purpose or a richer understanding of vocation beyond job titles, this is an episode you’ll want to revisit.
Remember: Your work matters—not because it defines you, but because you are already defined by something deeper and greater.
Thank you for tuning in to HeavenEarth Church Podcast. Be sure to subscribe for more conversations that encourage, challenge, and inspire!
Transcripts
Ross Stackhouse:
Lord, awaken us to your presence and to your light. Find the corners, all those nooks and crannies in the house that is our souls, and fill them with light, the stuff that we're hiding. Bring light where we're afraid. Please bring us your light. And then help us to raise up our light to help others. In Jesus name, Amen. Jamin. I'm going to need help on the slides today, brother, because this phone is at 2%, so it ain't worth a darn.
Ross Stackhouse:
Can I make it on the pew? Watch out, Jeremy. Nope, didn't make it. I've had many jobs in my time. How many people's first job was at McDonald's? Anybody else in the house? Let's go, McDonald's, people, Burger King, fast food. Anybody got a fast food first job? Other. What is it? Is that a joke or is that a real thing? It was like a rip off of Burger King. Okay, right on. Other first jobs.
Ross Stackhouse:
Let's ask real quick. What was your first job? What's that? On a farm. That's so much cooler than McDonald's. Joey. Joey. He's the most recent episode on the Heaven Earth Church podcast. He says like, 10 controversial things. You should check it out.
Ross Stackhouse:
What was your first job, Kara? Oh, okay, so cleaning up your dad's office, which included in the 80s, emptying out the ashtrays because everybody's smoking. Yeah. All right. Bobo. Delivering newspapers. Had a newspaper out. Jeff. Detasseling.
Ross Stackhouse:
Corn man in Shelby County. That was a lot of people's first gig. Kmart Foods. Okay. Jamin. Oh, bagging at Marsh. Yeah. Okay.
Ross Stackhouse:
I know. My sister worked at Fast Eddie's, which was like a hot dog thing in Marsh. Or Kmart, something like that. Anybody else? First job. Julie. Baskin Robbins. Do you still get a discount by chance? That'd be cool if you did. Frontier Cattle Company.
Ross Stackhouse:
Is that around anymore, Charles? Southern Ohio. Okay. Jenny. Pizza spot. Which is that Casey's now? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right.
Ross Stackhouse:
Anybody else? Lucy. Dishwasher. All right. Mike. Picking up cigarette butts out of flower beds. Yeah, we've had some jobs, haven't we? We've had. I like most of my jobs. I'm lucky.
Ross Stackhouse:
I've not really had many jobs I didn't like. I didn't like being a cart boy at Menards. It was lonely. It could get really hot. And then one day, I thought I was really slick. Strong and slick. So I thought I was going to have the longest line of carts that I was going to bring into Menards. Like, I was like Driving the cattle home in a menards and people be like, woo, look at this guy.
Ross Stackhouse:
Well, what I did was drive that row straight into a brand new metallic orange Chevrolet Avalanche, which at the time was the real deal. They didn't fire me. I was kind of bummed about it. I thought I was going to get let off the hook. Burger flipper at McDonald's didn't love that. But I was thinking about that this week and I was, I was asking myself like, was my work meaningful then? Is my work only meaningful now that I'm doing this, you know? Or was my, Was my work meaningful then? I still don't know the answer to that. I think it was though. I think it had a lot of meaning.
Ross Stackhouse:
What about you? Is your work meaningful now? If you're retired, are you thinking, yeah, it used to be meaningful, but it's not if you're on the other side of it. Like you're, you're just starting in the work world. Are you like, I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing with my life. Or you're somewhere in between. Hey, Jamin, start working through those slides, bud. Let's find one that I think is the right one. Okay. They're a bunch of text, yellow text, not the scriptures.
Ross Stackhouse:
There's one that says work and rest too. There we go. You're good, man. It's not your fault, it's mine. Here's what I want to talk to you about today. We're in a series called Work and Rest. God created us and Christ restores us. So that's God's work.
Ross Stackhouse:
One of God's great works is creation. And then Christ comes and does his work to restore us. In creation, God creates us and Christ restores us so we have a secure identity and growing character that we share with others in our work. Keep going, Jamin. Next one. This is for our sake, for their sake, whoever they are, and for the glory of God. Keep going, Jamin. God creates work for us as a part of God's desire for relationship with us.
Ross Stackhouse:
There's a point where Jesus says, I didn't create man for the Sabbath, I created Sabbath for man. So we don't think about this, but God creates work for us first and foremost for the sake of connection and relationship. Our life's work. When you think about your life's work, what do you think about? What is your life's work? We're going to think more about that today. Ultimately, our life's work is about our connection with God. Last slide. In this run, I think. Jamin, keep going.
Ross Stackhouse:
What we'll see today in a story is the kind of relationship God desires is one with heart, with love given and love received, love passed on and given back. God desires relationship with partnership and collaboration in managing and prospering God's creation. Keep going, Jamin. God does not run a dictatorship. Did you know that? That might be like. Well, duh. I know that. But sometimes when you, like, dig into folks, their theology and the way their relationship plays out with God, they really see God more as this kind of tyrant.
Ross Stackhouse:
You better be obedient to the tyrant or else. No. God desires relationship with us. Everything at the end of the day is about relationship. We're going to see that in the story we look at today. I want to. I want to think with you about how work can be a blessing. And when work becomes a curse, some of you are like, I'll tell you right now, work is already a curse.
Ross Stackhouse:
You don't need to tell me, brother. I hate my job. I want to think a larger picture about work. When work is a blessing and when work can be a curse. How it becomes a curse for us. We've been looking at. First, I want to just say something really quick from last week. We're expanding our view of work together.
Ross Stackhouse:
Okay? I said last week, our job does not equal. What our work. Our job does not equal. All right, I know. You should have more sleep today. She should be a little bit more with it. Okay? Our job does not equal. When I said that last week, I saw a few people go, huh? Then, like, what is my work? Exactly.
Ross Stackhouse:
We're expanding our view of work. If we look at Genesis 1, what God's work produces, that's what we're thinking about work as. So if we go back, work is any activity, like God, that brings light to us and to others. It's something that sheds light, brings light to people, us and other people in their darkness. God creates light. It's something that produces goodness. It's an activity that produces goodness, especially up and against evil. Any activity that produces goodness, it's something that comes with blessing.
Ross Stackhouse:
It's something that reminds people of the blessed presence of God. Any activity that brings blessing with it is good work. Anything that produces fruit, like the literal stuff, if you put bread on the table for your people, that's work. And it's darn good work. But also the spiritual fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Any activity that produces that spiritual fruit or little fruit, that's Good work. And we see that God's work comes with boundaries. How many of you need a little bit more work with your boundaries? Hmm? Bobo and I will raise our hands.
Ross Stackhouse:
Okay. All right. Anybody got a problem with codependency? Huh? I'm looking at you, Bobo. I love you. And we're. We learn on that together, right? So you can only do that work at your job, right? No. Everywhere is pretty much an opportunity to do that work. We're going to talk about that today.
Ross Stackhouse:
We're going to talk about the various roles in which we do work and what it looks like to show up fully to the roles in which we do work. Most of our important work, the most important work we will do, will be outside of our job. The most important work I will do in my life will be, as anybody want to guess my two roles as a husband and a father. If I show up in my role as a pastor and do good work, I bring light to others, I bring life to others. I bring goodness to others, I bring blessing and fruit. If I show up fully to that role and do good work in it, but I don't show up fully to my role as a father and a husband, good Lord, help me. Have mercy on me. Those roles.
Ross Stackhouse:
And guess what I need help with from the Holy Spirit. Ross. Remember Job one, The first Church of Stackhouse. The first Church of Hagerman, Stackhouse. It's my wife's maiden name. Job one. So I want to get your feedback for just a second. What are the roles in which you do work? Or you can do work activities that produce light and life and goodness and blessing.
Ross Stackhouse:
They put fruit, bread on the table, but also produce spiritual fruit. What are the roles in which you do work? Lucy Coffee shop. Okay. What are the roles? Are you working, Bobo? Juveniles are my jam. So that is your job. But I also know that you see it as more than a job. Yeah. What else? What are the roles where you do work, Dina? A warehouse material handler.
Ross Stackhouse:
What other roles, Dina? So you embrace your role as a friend and a neighbor. You do work as a friend and a neighbor to others. Okay, Ralph? I like to learn new things, and I like to help people. So that is kind of a version of a little of like a mission statement that will help you to develop on Friday if you show up. That was an unapologetic plug for the Rule of life workshop. Okay. But you see how that helps Ralph. He has a really simple mission statement that helps him.
Ross Stackhouse:
I kind of understand what his wife's work is about. What about you? What are the roles in which you do work, Kara? Relationship builder. That's a role that you embrace. You try to show up to that role, make connections, steward relationships. Well, that's where you bring light, life, fruit, blessing, goodness. Right on. Retired guy, grandpa. Any grandpa's in the house? Huh? Can we do good work as grandparents? I don't know yet, but.
Ross Stackhouse:
Well, Angela says I'm technically a grandparent to a couple of our cats because Francis is the mom and. Anyways, never mind. Go ahead. Other roles, roles where you do work. Connect the daughter. Daughter connector of dots, something like that. Yeah. Jeff.
Ross Stackhouse:
Somebody called Jeff last night broke down on the side of the road. He fully showed up to the role of friend and neighbor. Like the story of the Good Samaritan. In that story, you're like, who is my neighbor? And you think it's the person who's beat up on the side of the road? No. Jesus says there are two people who passed the guy on the side of the road. They were religious types. And then there was a Samaritan, our rival, who stopped and helped him out, who was a neighbor. In this story, Jesus flips the script.
Ross Stackhouse:
He's asking us to fully embrace the role of neighbor as something we act out alongside others. Joey, coach or a teammate? Yeah, man. John Smoltz said, I wish more Little League coaches had guts to just teach fundamentals and not care about winning. Thanks, John. I need to hear that a little bit. A little bit. Jason, It's a lifelong struggle. I don't know if I need to say much else today.
Ross Stackhouse:
I'm just kidding. Hey, I want to show you how work can become a curse, though. Go ahead and go to that jamin. I like where your head's at. That next slide right there. The original sin might be an unwillingness to stay in our lane. A refusal to be right sized. That should be one L on that roll.
Ross Stackhouse:
Not like we're rolled up. Right rolled. Like our role in life, not right rolled up. You get the point. So Alcoholics Anonymous talks about being right sized. I've heard our man Charles talk about this. How we can be wrong sized in two different directions. We can puff ourselves up so we lean on the ego, or we can hide in shame.
Ross Stackhouse:
So Jesus is trying to make us whole. So we are right sized. We know who we are, and that is unshakable. We start to gather a sense of what our role and our calling is in life. And we start to gather a sense of the places and in which we do the role. That's what we're talking about in this series is identity, role and place. Say it with me. Identity, role and place.
Ross Stackhouse:
Your identity does not equal your work. Anybody struggle with that one? Am I the only one, man? I'm always using my work to make my identity. But, Ross, you're a man of God. You shouldn't be struggling with that anymore. Well, I wish that were true. I think that work is a blessing when we, like we realize we've been awakened to this unshakable identity that we have from God that has that it doesn't change based on our work. Our work may refine our identity. Like it may wake us up to who we are, but our work doesn't, like, construct our identity.
Ross Stackhouse:
We already have an identity we can only realize can't be increased or diminished. We can only wake up to it. Amen. I'm not looking for amens, but I mean that one. Angela, get in here. She's American Baptist. Come on. Our identity cannot be increased nor diminished, only realized.
Ross Stackhouse:
God has already proclaimed something about your Identity that's true 100% today. It'll be true 100% tomorrow, and true like 50 years from now. I would say there's nothing you can do about it, but there's everything you can do about can change the way you live and work. Every single person sitting in this room is an image bearer. You have written on your DNA code the image of the creating God. The God who says, let there be light and the big bang happens. There's something like it. I'm not a physicist.
Ross Stackhouse:
I don't know how it happened. Jim, you're made in God's image. There's nothing you can do about it. Well, there's everything you can do about it, Bobo. Hey, you and me, doggone it. We don't need to go helping and saving everybody to get our worth. We don't everybody in here. I'd make it real awkward in a minute.
Ross Stackhouse:
I'd ask you to look to the person next to you and say, you're made in God's image. Wouldn't that be awkward? Hey. Look to the person next to you and say, you're made in God's image. Come on, do it. Show up today. Embrace the awkwardness. We've gone through this, folks. When Jesus gets baptized and he comes up out of the water and that thundering voice says, this is mine.
Ross Stackhouse:
This one's mine. This is my son. I'm so happy with who he is, so joyful about who he is. How much ministry has he done? How much work has Jesus done? He's done a ton. But, like, the ministry time, has he done any of the Lord's work yet? No. No. He spent way, way, way more time as a stonemason as an apprentice to his daddy. Was Joseph one of the Bible's heroes? No.
Ross Stackhouse:
He's so boring. Jesus, dad is so boring. Oh, God, to be so boring. All he does is fully embrace the good work of being a husband and the precious, sacred work of being a dad. He shows up for that, and he's a stonemason. He puts bread on the table. He teaches his son his trade. I think so much of what Jesus learned about how to love people, he learned from his dad.
Ross Stackhouse:
And in this case, I don't mean God our father, I mean Joseph, that boring fella. So our identity is not our work. Amen. I'll just ask you for the amens now. Our identity is not our work. When I asked if your work was meaningful a few minutes ago, I know somebody who's retired in the room. And they whispered under their breath, it used to be your work is not your job. What time is it, Emily? I don't have my phone.
Ross Stackhouse:
Yeah, we have no time to go through these stories. I'll show them to you real quick. All right, we're going to skip Genesis 3. Go to Genesis 4. I want to show you what cursed work looks like. Go to Genesis 4. So this is after the fall. The fall in Genesis 3.
Ross Stackhouse:
I told you that the original sin is like. Is not. Is like not knowing your role, and you go outside your lane. So it basically be like, if Kara in her job on tomorrow, she went into the CEO's office. I don't know if y' all have a CEO, Kara. And you just said hi. And you sat down in the CEO's chair and you said, hi, we don't need you anymore. I got it.
Ross Stackhouse:
Go home. You don't think it would go well? Okay, that's kind of the original sin. I've told you. I think it's more envy than pride. We want what we don't have. So the first two humans they see, like, they've got everything. They've got the garden, they've got the Tree of Life. They've got so much, so much abundance.
Ross Stackhouse:
There's one thing that God's like, that's mine. Don't touch it. And humans, for whatever reason, when you tell a human, don't touch it, they're like, that's all they think about now. I want that they see this serpent, which is a symbol of wisdom. Jesus says, Be as wise as a serpent, as gentle as a dove. They want some wisdom, man. They want to have knowledge of good and evil so they don't stay in their lane. We want more.
Ross Stackhouse:
How many of you have looked at other people in other roles and said, like, man, I wish I could be like them. If I were doing what they were doing, my life would mean something then. If I weren't doing this stupid job I'm doing now, my work would be meaningful. I would be meaningful. Well, sometimes the sins of the mother and the father become the sins of the sons. Did you know Genesis 4? Let's go, quick. This is a weird story. The man Adam knew his wife Eve intimately.
Ross Stackhouse:
She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain and said, I've given life to a man with the Lord's help. In Hebrew, when everyone has an. When you see a name and then there's a statement, the name and the statement, like the Hebrew word means the statement. She gave. Most of the time. She gave birth to a second Cain's brother. His name was. All right, everybody's heard this, right? There's always problems with brothers in the Bible.
Ross Stackhouse:
Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau. David and his brothers James and John are jockeying for position with Jesus. Always problems with brothers. The prodigal son, the younger brother goes to Vegas. The older brother's mad when he comes back from Vegas. It's all always. Did you know that families have problems? Basically, the Bible is just a commentary on family dysfunction and how to work it out. So, look, they've got two different roles.
Ross Stackhouse:
What is Abel? He's a shepherd. And what is Cain? They're both fine jobs, right? Is a shepherd better than a farmer? What do you think, Jeff? I think it's. I think it's about. It's a wash. If anything, Shepherds smell a little worse. All right? Pope Francis said, like, if you care, like, if you're going to do your job while as a pastor, you need to smell like your sheep. Well, in this case, if you smelled like your sheep. Literally not a good smell.
Ross Stackhouse:
Okay, keep going. Sometime later, Cain presented an offering to the Lord from the crops. The land's crops. Go back for a minute, Adam, if you would. Or Jamin. I can't. Is Jamin hiding back there? No, it's Adam. Okay, this is subtle this way.
Ross Stackhouse:
You got to read the Bible slow. Sometime later, Cain presented. What does it say? Is there anything special about it? Next verse. While Abel presented his flock's oldest offspring with their fat. Why didn't any of you bring that today? To church. Come on. This next verse is troubling, but I'm going to say I'm not going to dig deep into it, but I want to think about it. Like, I want to kind of just read it somewhat.
Ross Stackhouse:
Just, like, take it for what it says a little bit. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his sacrifice. Is God playing favorites here, Charles, what do you think? Okay. Hey, if you do that when you read the Bible, man, so much good stuff can happen. I don't know yet. I got verses that I've been reading for years, and I'm like, I don't know yet about that one. Well, when I'm 85, God willing, I'll be like, I don't know yet. Deuteronomy 28.
Ross Stackhouse:
I don't know, man. Weird. The Lord looked favorably on Abelness, sacrifice. Tough. Keep going, please. Oh, gosh. But didn't look favorably on Cain and his sacrifice. Cain became very.
Ross Stackhouse:
And looked. Ooh, ooh. Right now Cain's work has become a curse. It happens that quickly. Keep going. Verse 6. We're gonna come back to it. The Lord said, why are you angry? And why do you look so resentful? Verse 7.
Ross Stackhouse:
Keep going there, jamin. If you do the right thing, won't you be accepted? Oh. Oh, man. That makes my skin crawl. Isn't our whole thing in Christianity about how, like, God accepts us because of who God is, not because of the right things we do? Yikes. That's why we got to read the whole library of scriptures right before we make any conclusions. But if you don't do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike. It will entice you, but you must rule over it.
Ross Stackhouse:
Keep going. We're going to make it through. Then I'm going to make a quick commentary on this. Listen, if your brother looks really mad and resentful and there's evil in his eyes, and he says, let's go out to the field, don't. Hey, come on outside with me, brother. Keep going. Where is your brother Abel? Are you hearing. If you know the stories, how much Genesis 4 sounds like Genesis 3? I don't know.
Ross Stackhouse:
Am I my brother's guardian? Or it could sound like, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? Like, I'm not sure. Keep going. What did you do? I want you to read the sentence after the question mark. What did you do? And I think one more verse. I think that's it. You're now cursed from the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand. Whoo.
Ross Stackhouse:
How does this story make you feel? What time is it, Emily? Okay, I better do a good job with my role here toward the end. How does this story make you feel? Get a couple comments, and then I'm going to say something that I'm with. Charles. I don't know yet about this chapter, but there is something I want to offer up to you as a possibility for this chapter as it relates to identity, role, and place. But how does this make you feel reading this story? Tell the truth. We practice authenticity in here. How does it make you feel, Debbie? So Debbie is like God. Honestly, the actions seem unfair to me.
Ross Stackhouse:
But also, if that is true, even if it were true, it doesn't justify you doing whatever you want to do. Okay, what else? Anybody? What's this make you feel reading this? Could these verses be written with the human element, with out of Cain's perspective? I don't know. It's a good thought. Thank you. What else? This is how you read the Bible. Well, folks, you wrestle with it. Go ahead, Mandy. Sad that in the beginning we had a hard time raising each other up.
Ross Stackhouse:
I think a lot of these stories, and then I'm going to take, like two to three minutes to close the gap. Well, no, I won't. I'll offer you my opinion about it, but then I want this to sit with you. My job is not to tell you what to think, in spite of what your experience of church may have been in the past. My job is not to tell you what you think. Tell you what to think. Go back, Jamin, if you would, to those slides with the yellow text on it and the slides about relationship, if you would, please, sir. God creates work for us as a part of God's desire for relationship with us.
Ross Stackhouse:
Our life's work is ultimately about our connection with God. Keep going, Jamin. The kind of relationship God desires is one with heart, with love given and received, love passed on and given back. God desires relationship with partnership and collaboration in managing and prospering God's creation. Keep going. Read that one. I've said the other ones. You read that one.
Ross Stackhouse:
Look, there's a lot going on to that Cain and Abel story. A lot. I don't know yet. That's the one thing for today. Thank you, Charles. I didn't tell him to say that. This story's too rich. We could have 18 sermons about it and not get there.
Ross Stackhouse:
But I do think maybe a part of this story is Cain. It looks like to me, a piece of it could be that Cain doesn't really know who he is. He looks like a guy to me who's, like, struggling with his sense of who he is and what makes him who he is. And so he's a guy who doesn't show Lee full up in his role. It's all mixed up. His identity, his role, his work, his place. It's all just jumbled up. And so, like, he doesn't understand that, first and foremost, without any work or activity he ever does, he is God's son.
Ross Stackhouse:
And so he goes into his work with a scarcity mindset. He's insecure, he's afraid. He's not generous. He doesn't have gratitude, and he's hoarding. When you know who you are, you trust who you are. You understand your role. You're generous with your fruit, you're generous with what you do. How does he show up to his relationship with God? Hey, God, here's my offering.
Ross Stackhouse:
Like, God is this distant tyrant that you have to, like, give tribute to. Here, God, take it. Abel looks like a guy who's like, I know who I am. I know what my role is. I'm not trying to build up who I am with what I do. Everything I am and everything I do ultimately comes from God and belongs to God anyway. So, God, here is a generous offering back to you for what you have given me. Perhaps God is reflecting back to these two boys the kind of relationship that God ultimately desires.
Ross Stackhouse:
I don't want a relationship that's like a dictatorship where you just show up and pay me tribute because you got to. I want you to know who you are for me. I want you to receive fully the work that I've created for you to do. I want you to receive my love. Give it back. Pass it out to other people. Don't live your life in insecurity and scarcity and a lack of generosity, envy and resentment and anger. I don't like that.
Ross Stackhouse:
I don't even like my own interpretation of this story. But I do ask myself this. What time is it, Emily? Okay, last point. You made it to the end. I don't know what to make of this story, but it does lead me to ask myself, number one, do I know who I am outside of my work? Do I know who made me who I am? Do I believe that because God looked upon me as his precious son, he sent his son to restore me, even as I was carrying anger and resentment in my heart? Do I know who I am? Do I know whose I am? And then go to Colossians 3:23. Thank you, Clayton Kershaw. Everybody know who that is? Pitcher for the Dodgers. How many people were sad to see the Dodgers win again? How many people were happy to see the Dodgers win again? How many of you don't care? Right on.
Ross Stackhouse:
Okay. One thing I love about Clayton Kershaw, from day one, you can tell he does not think his work is his identity. You know how I know that? He got to pitch next to none in the World Series. Like, none. He looked like an eight year old cheering on his teammates. Do you know why he said it? I know who I am. I know whose I am. My work doesn't make me who I am.
Ross Stackhouse:
So I can live my life with freedom, with generosity if the coach decides to bench me because it's better for the team. Okay. And you know what he quoted, what he quotes when he's given press conferences? Colossians 3:23. It's not in here. Of course it's not. It says, basically, I need a Bible. Help me out, somebody. What a poor preacher.
Ross Stackhouse:
I'm failing in my role today. Someone help me out. And then I need you to come read it up here into this microphone. This is a race. This is a competition. Come on. Competitive people. There it is, right there.
Ross Stackhouse:
Did I have it in there? Because you are a saint of God, Adam, but it's not your work that makes you a saint of God. Okay? Read this with me. Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people. This is talking about a flow like our identity and our growing character in Christ are things we express in our work. Are you with me? Our identity in Christ and our growing character in Christ are things we express in our work. Can our work be one venue where we build up our character? Y. Yes. But one thing that work doesn't change is our identity.
Ross Stackhouse:
I don't know what was going on with Cain. I don't. I don't know ultimately how to read that story. But I wonder if he's a guy who had no clue who he really is. He didn't show up fully to his role. He carried scarcity, insecurity, fear, resentment, anger in his heart to the point that he murdered his brother. And what does God say? When you got one sin, it has a way of opening the door to a bunch of other ones. So cure it with a full understanding of who you are, whose you are, and express it in your work.
Ross Stackhouse:
Don't rely on your work to make you who you are. So this week, when I took my son to his hitting lesson, last story. I swear I'm talking way too much. I didn't have my phone because my phone was dead. Do you see I have a problem. Thank God. Thank God I didn't have my phone because we would have been listening to music in the car, which we love to do together. We love that.
Ross Stackhouse:
But on the way to hitting lessons, about 25 minutes there, 25 minutes back, I was thinking about us in this series, and there was a little voice saying, ross, show up fully to the work. Your work as a father. Show up fully to the role. And so we talked, and guess what we talked about. He's got a kid at school that's kind of mean to him. Said some things to make him feel sad, made fun of his work. He's drawn comics and because that stupid thing was dead. And I thought about our series about like, hey, show up fully to the work, Ross.
Ross Stackhouse:
The work of being a dad. So to you I say, remember who you are, whose you are, and show up to the work. Based on that already established, express who you are, your growing character in Christ in your various roles of work. Let's pray, God, thank you that you have proclaimed about us that we are people made in your image in Christ. You have made us sons and daughters. And so I ask that you help us to believe that and you help us to abide in you and produce fruit out of our abiding in you, in all of our work. In Jesus name, amen.
