One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is to glorify God.

Have a look at the first blog entry on this site for a discussion of the centrality of glorifying God, not only for ObeyGC² but for all of life and history. Learning how to do this in all of life is a life-time process, but there are some basics that are “givens” in any situation. First, one needs to live a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. No one can live a life pleasing to God without doing that. This requires a continual filling of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, unity among believers is essential for the Lord to be glorified. There are several passages which teach this. Thirdly, credit needs to go to Jesus for any good thing which is done. He is the head of the body, His church, and God will not share His glory with anyone.

Eph 1:13b-14
Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory.

Rom 15:5-6

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Phil 2:9-11
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is intentional.

In other words, it’s more than random acts of kindness. Random acts of kindness are wonderful and we need to do them. But we mustn’t stop there. We have a purpose for our lives and so we need to live it purposefully and minister purposefully.

1 Cor 3:7-9a
7 Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers.

Gal 4:18
18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.

Phil 2:2-4
2 Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Phil 2:12-13

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

2 Thess 1:11

11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is coordinated.

This implies that it is cooperative. For some odd reason, God has equated our love of others with our love of Him. He has chosen to tie our status as His children with our status as siblings of His other children and seems to think that our getting along with them is pretty important. This actually means we need to work together with them. In fact, He goes so far as to actually say we are actually part of one body. This is a major point in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. If we are one body, let’s be a coordinated body and not a clumsy one.

Rom 12:3-5

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

1 Cor 12:27

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Eph 4:1-6
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is efficient.

This is a matter of stewardship. The Lord wants us to make wise use of whatever He gives us. In the parable of the talents we see that He will reward those who make good use of what He gives them. One of the up-sides of this is that He will give more to whomever makes wise use of what He has already given them. God is not a foolish investor. He invests more in people who are consistently giving Him a good return on His investments in them. If our goal is to bring maximum glory to God, we want to be one of those people.

Eph 5:15-16

15 Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Matt 25:23, 29-30

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

…
29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is wholistic.

Yes, I am aware that the word is properly spelled “holistic.” I’m trying to start a trend so bear with me. No one (who understands reality) has any doubt that spiritual welfare is more important than physical welfare. As Jesus said in Mark 8:36-37, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” If we feed and heal and educate a person and give him a utopian existence but fail to meet his spiritual need we have done him no good at all in the long run. For some reason, however, God seems to care a great deal about the physical welfare of people as well, and in fact, He ties our love for Him to our practical expressions of love for our fellow-man in the physical realm. Only God knows why He chooses to emphasize these temporary issues as a necessary supplement to meeting the more important eternal needs, but He does. We need to pay attention to that fact.

James 1:27
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Mic 6:8
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is scaling.

Similar to the value of “reproducing,” “scaling” implies not only that it is scalable (able to be scaled) but that it actually does scale. Jesus loved to use agricultural illustrations, partly because God uses similar principles in nature that He does in spiritual life. Seeds are a great illustration of scaling. Not only can they multiply themselves, but each of the resulting seeds can also multiply, resulting in true scaling. Again, the actual scaling implies some sort of accountability structure in practice. What is measured/inspected is what actually gets done. I think of scaling as reproducing on steroids. To me it implies continuing reproduction, most likely with more than one offspring per generation.

Mark 4:20
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

2 Cor 9:8-10
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is reproducing.

This is a more emphatic way to say reproducible. If it is reproducing then it can be reproduced and it is being reproduced. Actually the same thing should have been said about the value of being “sustainable”…it should actually be “sustaining.” In my mind, being reproducible has two major components. First, it can be reproduced. This means that whatever is being done can be repeated with local resources and abilities. This might require capacity building within the community. This often requires that training approaches be adjusted for local context. For example, if the community has mostly oral-preference learners then training should be put into an oral-friendly format. The second aspect requires that there be accountability structures within the community for the reproduction of the benefits connected with the work. What gets measured or inspected gets done.

1 Cor 9:19-23

19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Heb 13:17

17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is sustainable.

The point of this value is that something can be carried on after the initiator has left the scene. Often, this requires capacity-building to take place rather than simply doing things for people. Sustainability ensures that the benefits of the work will be continuing and durable.

What is not sustainable? Providing a pump which the recipients cannot repair if it breaks. Building a structure which cannot be properly maintained. Doing a task for someone which they cannot duplicate or train others to do.

John 15:16a
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is strategic.

Being strategic means that it is an intentional part of a larger coherent plan. Another way of looking at it is that it employs system thinking, recognizing and incorporating plans to deal with unintended consequences and the constellation of issues which will be affected by one’s actions. The larger strategy is ultimately God’s plan to glorify Himself and establish His Kingdom. A subset of that larger strategy is the blessing of all peoples and the restoration of mankind and indeed all creation. In this regard, it might be helpful to ask this question before acting: “How can this best bring glory to God?”

Gen 12:3
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

Rom 8:19-21
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

2 Cor 5:17-19
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

One of the ObeyGC² values is that work is high-leverage.

This is just another way to say working smart. The point is that the outcomes are large when compared to the inputs. This can be achieved in any number of ways, but it will nearly always include the involvement of as many people as possible downline. In other words any time I am doing something, I should involve those I am doing it with and those I am doing it for in doing it for someone else later. Leverage can also be achieved through engaging idle resources.

Phil 3:17-18

17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

2 Tim 2:1-3
2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.