Skip to content A Man's Life is Better When He Works to Glorify God Apr 22 · 30 min ...more
A Man's Life is Better When He Works to Glorify God
April 22, 2025 · 30 min
John Mark encourages men to consider their jobs not just for personal fulfillment but also as opportunities to positively influence others and further God's kingdom.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton April 22, 2025 · 30 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
John Mark encourages men to consider their jobs not just for personal fulfillment but also as opportunities to positively influence others and further God's kingdom. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark encourages men to consider their jobs not just for personal fulfillment but also as opportunities to positively influence others and further God's kingdom.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Vocational Success and Spiritual Purpose 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is Men's Breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:23 The first week we looked at the idea that a man's life is better, when we are relationally healthy, when we have others in our lives that breathe into our lives and encourage us along the way. And that was week0:35 1. If you missed it, go to our men's bible study podcast, you can hear that. Last week we said a man's life is better when we model our life and our ministry after Jesus. And we just looked at some important words to0:46 apply. Today in part 3 of man's life is better, a man's life is better when we are vocationally successful. That that that our life's work really matters,0:57 Alright. And the work that we do matters not just for me, but also for my family, for my community, and my church. And so let me just ask a question, survey. How many of you are retired?1:11 Awesome. Alright. How many of you, wish you were retired? Alright. How many of you are gainfully employed? Alright. How many of you are happily1:22 employed? That's most of you. Alright. How many of you would be open to another job right now? I like okay. Alright. Very good. Especially if you're1:34 paid more. Alright. So there's some headhunters out here, so no. I'm kidding. You know here is the reality, we don't always love our jobs. We don't always love what we do. I read a survey recently,1:46 that they surveyed the American workers and they said 85 percent of the American workers said they could be more successful and they could do more at work if they wanted1:58 to. That's the And I thought the other 15 percent are liars. Right? How many of you, be honest going back to work, how many of you could always be more effective at work? You could do more.2:09 Alright? If if you're afraid to your boss isn't in the room, you can raise your hand. Alright? Because I can tell you, I worked pretty hard as your pastor, but I could do better. I could do more and that is a reality.2:21 And so as we think about it, man, you know, we could all do more at the office. Some of you are in a job that you just love. That means you're the boss. Right? But some of us are in a job that,2:33 are we just good at it, are we like it? But today I want to talk to us about being vocationally successful at the office or at home, because if you look in God's word, I love retirement, we are blessed in this,2:45 and if you work a long time, and and you have the opportunity to retire, great. But if you look in God's word, there's no category for the retired Christian man. We don't2:57 retire, we also retire from something, but we also retire to something. So my question for you, if you raise your hand and said I am retired, what have you retired to in ministry for God? Because that's3:08 ultimately our call. People ask me all the time, pastor when do you think you'll retire? I said I don't know what that means. I really don't. First of all, I would drive my wife nuts, alright. If I sat around the house3:20 all the time, she would say, well listen, I want you to go do something, serve something. So if you are at a place when you're gonna retire, I wanna encourage you, think about what am I retiring to so I can continue to3:31 build the kingdom of God. Man, more freedom, more opportunity to serve at the church, to do this, to help out, to go to Dave and say listen, what can I do for a fall festival or or children's ministry or3:43 something? But listen, we can always be more effective. You know, I read a read a we ran across a little quote, you know, he was a farmer and I've how many of you are agrarian? You grew up on a farm? For 1 farmer said,3:55 you know, the biggest problem with milking cows is that cows never stay milked. Right? There's always something to do when you show up at the office and work. I ran across this when we think about our4:07 jobs, A career journal, it's a journal that is out there, said there are there are 6 factors that determine a good job or a bad job. Factor number 1, somebody give me a guess.4:19 In Income. Income. Believe it or not, a lot of people say I don't put I don't work for the money, but when they say what gives me the most satisfaction about my job, if they rank it high, guess what, they like their4:30 income. If they rank it low, they don't like their income. Number 2 is work related stress. How stressed out am I every time I go to the office? Work related factor, whether it's a good job or bad4:41 job, number 3, the physical demands of the job. The physical demands, I mean do you just find yourself burnout, worn out each and every day when you go to the office? Number4:53 4 is outlook. Do I see a clear career path? Can I work my way up, right? If I work well here, will I get promoted here, will I5:05 work is there a clear career path? And what they found, if if employees don't see an opportunity to move up and to improve themselves, they're not gonna be as satisfied in their office and at their job.5:17 Here's number 5, job security. That if they feel like, listen, we also all understand if the economy totally falls apart, things change, but in general, people wanna work at a place5:29 where they have some job security, that they can go home, they can put their head on the pillow. Then number 6, all the way down at the bottom, is the workplace environment. That do they enjoy the5:41 people they're working around? And so those are the top 6, according to career journal, things that make us either enjoy or not enjoy our work. I will add another 1. Here would be my number5:52 7. Am I gonna die doing this? How many of you know that's a big issue? You know, we always talk about the gender gap. Let me give you a gender gap, all right. Every year, you can go look this up in the census6:04 data, every year there are people who die at work. How many of you know that? It is 10 to 1 men to women. Why is that? A lot of it6:16 has to do with the jobs that we do. Alright? There are not a lot of ladies that are skyscraper still workers. There aren't a lot of ladies, number wise,6:28 that are in law enforcement comparatively. Right? If men have a tendency to do jobs, then we could diet. And I'm not sure how many people in this room that you feel like, man, I could6:40 die today at the office. I think that, but it's primarily because 1 of the Justins are gonna kill me. It's gonna be personal harm. But I don't know if you feel like you're gonna die. Let me just give you6:52 a list, the most recent, same career journal. 10 of the best jobs that always come up with the highest satisfaction, an accountant, an actuary. How many of you know what an actuary is? He's the guy that knows when you're7:04 gonna die. Bank officer, biologist, I don't I don't know what a biologist does, teach biology I guess. Computer science, financial planner, parole officer, I don't know why, I guess that's just helping people,7:15 software engineer, statistician, website manager. Some of the worst jobs, construction worker. Thought it was interesting that this is a a cowboy, listed as 1 of the worst7:27 jobs. A cowboy, I guess that's it, true blue cowboy, a dancer made the list. I guess it's hard on your toes or something, I don't know what it is, probably money, job related, stress, I don't7:39 know, a fisherman. How many of you can imagine, how many of you would want to be a commercial fisherman? Boy, that that is a tough job, I cannot even imagine that. Garbage collector, ironworker,7:51 lumberjack, roofer, seaman, and a welder. Man, those are some of the worst jobs. And I don't know where you fit in your category, if yours was 1 of the ones on the good side or the bad side.8:03 But what we do matters, but I also want you to understand when we think about a man's life is better, when we are vocationally healthy, we also need to see our career, our career path,8:15 and our work ethic as an opportunity to build the kingdom of God. Does that make sense? R. C. Spruill, love him, here's what he said about a work. He says, if8:27 you look back, the cradle of the church, talking about in Acts, the cradle of the church was the marketplace. He says listen, if you go back and you look where the new testament church8:38 exploded, it was the marketplace. It wasn't necessarily in the synagogue, it wasn't in the church, it wasn't in the temple, it was in the marketplace. From the preaching and public ministry of Jesus to the8:50 daily acts of the apostles, the central scene of the New Testament church was always the marketplace. In other words, you may leave here today9:02 and you may be more on the front lines of the gospel than any of us that work here at church. Does that make sense? That your marketplace matters. It matters for the kingdom, it matters for the gospel, and so I9:14 want you to know when you leave here today, man, you are the cradle of the church that don't look back and say, you know, the pastor, I really hope he reaches someone today, or this, that. Can I tell you, I've been9:25 witnessing to Frasier for years and it has not helped? He couldn't have been dead. I'm credit.9:45 Oh, and Sanford over there, he's talking about Beyond Repair. But here's the deal, guys, when you leave here, probably your gospel opportunity9:57 is far greater than my gospel opportunity. Why? Because you're gonna walk into an office, you're gonna meet clients, you're gonna be around people, that man, they need the Lord. And my prayer is to encourage you10:09 today, say man, whether I'm retired or whether I'm working, I can't wait to hit the doors of the office. Whether I like it or not, because there's an opportunity for me to share the gospel. And10:21 sometimes it's not I'm going to blow the doors open, I'm going to start preaching, repent and be baptized, repent and be baptized. Probably you wouldn't be well liked unless you're in work for an evangelistic10:30 association. I feel that. But she what you can do is you can be that quiet witness, that you do your job, you do it well, you're not bad mouthing everybody, and when the opportunity10:42 happens and you're praying for opportunities, when the opportunities, then you open your mouth. So he says the cradle of the church is the marketplace, the marketplace is where we belong. I love that, RC10:54 Sproul, the marketplace is where we belong. Whether you're in education, whether you're a plumber, whether you're electrician, whether you're in construction, whether you're in sales, or in your accountant, man, that's11:06 where we belong. The gospel is not reserved for the walls of this church. It's not reserved for us on Sunday morning. It's not reserved for the pastor and the staff and even the deacons. It is for all of11:17 us and our call ought to be to take the gospel to the marketplace. Because that's where lost people are. As you read on, he says, the marketplace is where we belong. It is where needy11:29 people are found. It is where lost people are found. It is not enough for the church to hang a welcome sign on our door. We dare not wait for the world to come to us, but11:41 we get the opportunity to go to them. Guys, I pray that you see, whether you love your job today, or don't like your job, or somewhere in the middle, that you see this as an opportunity when we hit those doors here in a11:52 few minutes, you get the opportunity to take the gospel to some people who may not don the doors of this church, and that's an incredible opportunity to be willing to share your faith. So, now when you think about12:04 vocation, none of us like to work, and especially if you don't like to work, you don't like if you don't like your work, you really don't like to work. But let me always remind you that work is biblical. If you go all12:13 the way back to creation, all the way back to the beginning, God set work in motion prior to sin. Look at Genesis chapter 2 for 2 verse 15. It says,12:25 then the Lord God took the man, this is Genesis 2, sin comes in Genesis chapter 3, put him in the garden, Garden of the Man, and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate12:36 it, to work at it, and to keep it. Guys, work came before sin. Work was not a result of sin. God wants us to work, He12:48 created us to work, and so don't ever wonder, if you ever wonder, is work Biblical? Absolutely. The idea of retiring to nothing is not Biblical. We want to retire13:00 to something and to something else. Hey, how many of you know this? If you didn't know that, how many of you know Jesus had a job? Yep. Alright, Mark chapter 6, they looked at him and they said, is this not the13:11 carpenter, the son of Mary? See, Jesus before he was known as Jesus the Messiah, he was Jesus the what? The carpenter, he had a job. Guess what Paul did, and13:22 then Timothy did. He says listen, he Timothy Paul and Timothy would say, hey when we were among you, we didn't leach off you. You remember how hard we worked and toiled and we built tents and we built this and we built13:34 that? Man, work is biblical. We love this. And so here's the idea, even in church, in the New Testament church, the idea of someone only taking and not giving.13:46 Man, Paul said we're not going to be that way. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10. He says, for even when we were with you, we used to we used to give you this order, if anyone is not willing to work, that's the key13:58 word, underline that word willing to work, he is not to eat either. You know what Paul was saying, the idea of welfare and a handout, that ought to be the exception, not the rule.14:12 Why, because at the end of the day if all you ever do is take take take in your life, you will never fulfill your ultimate purpose in your14:23 life. Man, because let me tell you what there's built in us, there is something in our DNA that a man loves to work, a man loves to put something together. We may not love all14:35 of work. I mean, you can even break it down. When it comes just yard work, I love to mow, I love to edge, I love to kill things, I love to clip14:47 things, but I hate weeding. How many of you know that, Right? So guess what, you come to my house, there'll be pretty flowers, there'll be wonderful line, there'll be some straight lines, some wonderful edges, I'll weed14:58 eat things, I I will do all that, but then you walk around and say, who's gonna weed this? Well, I don't know. And my guess is your job's the same way. There's some things you love about your job,15:10 there's some things you hate about your job. Now, I would be terrible if I applied for a job that the only thing I did was weeded flower beds? Why, because I hate15:21 that. I wouldn't find any fulfillment in that. And so guys, if you're in a job where you're doing that 1 thing that you hate all the time, then you probably need to change careers. But we wanna be in a mindset that, man,15:33 when I leave these doors, man, what I'm about to do is biblical. Now, I also want you to know you're supposed to enjoy it. I I love what, Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter15:44 5. He says, this is what I observe, verse 18, this is what I've observed to be good, that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink, and to find satisfaction in their toilsome15:56 labor. In other words, even in the hard work that we find some enjoyment under the sun during the few days of life that God has given them. For this is their lot. Look at verse 19. Moreover, when God16:08 gives someone wealth and possessions, alright, first thing he says, hey listen, enjoy your work, even if it's toilsome, even if it's hard, even if it's difficult labor, you want to enjoy it all the days of your life.16:20 And then he says, and if you get rich at it, here's what he says verse 19, moreover when God gives you some gives someone wealth and possessions and their ability to enjoy them, to accept16:32 their lot and be happy in their tool, for this is a gift of God. So we want to enjoy our work. There are some of you that you will work hard all your life and you will never be rich. Enjoy the work.16:45 There are some of you that will work hard all your life and become rich. Enjoy both. And then you get the opportunity to share with the kingdom. Does that make sense? So when you head off to the office today,16:56 understand you are taking the cradle of the gospel out of these doors into the workplace where you're gonna encounter lost people. Be ready to share and to to celebrate the goodness of God. Work hard. My17:08 prayer is if you find something in the office today that you feel like you're doing a little weeding, just stuff you don't like, Say, Listen, I'm gonna enjoy this because I know this is what allows me to get to what I17:18 really love. And if you're getting rich at doing what you're doing, enjoy that as well. But if you're not, enjoy the work that you're impacting17:30 someone else, that you're providing for others, you're providing for the kingdom, you're providing for your family. That is a good thing. You say, alright pastor, what kind of work is most Biblical? I hear people from17:42 time to time will say something like you know I'd really only work for a Christian company, until they work for a Christian company. Anybody ever heard that? I know I always get, get a17:53 little nervous when someone's been through 3 or 4 jobs and they tell me, oh I got this next job and you know all the people at the office are Christians. And then they tell me a couple months later, well I couldn't leave18:05 that because it it just wasn't a good work environment for me. I'm like, A lot of people will say, well, I only work for a Christian company. Listen, if you can work for a Christian company and find fulfillment in what18:16 you're doing and, pay the bills, God bless you, but most people won't. Right? So you say, pastor, what is a good occupation for me? Well let let's let Paul answer that18:28 question. Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 17. He says, whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, guys, whatever you do, it18:39 doesn't matter what you do, as long as it's not illegal or immoral. Those would be the 2 things I would say. Don't apply for those jobs. If you go on, job hunt screen and they18:51 say, listen, this is an illegal job but it pays really well. Just choose no, alright? If it says listen, this really pays well but it's going to require a lot of immorality, I'm going to19:03 say pass on that job, alright? But if it's not immoral and if it's not illegal, be open to it. And whatever you do, whatever you do, man,19:15 love it, and make a living off of it, because that's where the blessing comes in. Here's Paul said, whatever you do, whether word or deed, it doesn't matter, do it in the name of the Lord, give you thanks to the Lord God19:25 forever. So there are a thousand vocational choices, just choose 1. Choose 1 and be happy at it, and then when you choose it, man I want to encourage you, do it right. That19:37 means work hard at it, but also I wanna encourage you not only do it right, but do it well. That's your accuracy. The idea of doing it right, that's whatever I do, I'm gonna go in, I'm19:48 gonna do the right thing all the time at my office. But I'm also gonna do it well. I'm not gonna do it sloppy, I'm gonna be accurate, I'm gonna make good things. I love what Martin Luther said, the great reformer, years19:59 ago. He said this, I'd rather work for a wise Turk, and that day that meant a pagan. I would rather work for a wise Turk than a foolish Christian.20:11 Did you get that? I would rather work for a wise pagan than a foolish Christian. It's kinda weird. Now think about that's the reformer. He's talking in his day of of what he20:23 would He was talking about theology of work. He had a whole theology of work, but that statement just jumped out to me. So whatever you choose to do, if it's not illegal and it's not immoral, then I wanna20:35 encourage you, work at it hard, but also work at it well. Give it all your energy and then do it with accuracy because that's gonna bring God's greatest blessings on our20:47 life. I love what, you know, Solomon said in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 29. He says, do you see a man that is skilled in his work? He will serve before kings, he will not serve be20:58 before obscure men. Let me ask you a question, are you more skilled at what you're doing today than you were 6 months ago, or a year ago, or 2 years ago?21:11 When you think about your job, and what you do, when you look forward, what skills are you going to need to stay ahead of the21:23 curve? Does that make sense? I love when we look in God's word, it's always talking about us. Us, we let's be skilled, let's be skilled, let's be skilled. Let's don't be behind the wave, let's be in front of the wave.21:33 Does that make sense? How many of you just just quick question, how many of you use artificial intelligence at your work? K? I want you to know if you're working somehow, someway,21:44 everybody should. Now I know a lot of people think it's the demon. I will tell you, listen, be careful with it. But if you read study after study, go read Forbes Magazine, go read a business21:56 magazine, the reality of it is those who are going to succeed are gonna use AI, they're gonna learn AI. Why? Because if you need to write a letter instead of spending an hour writing it, you write in about 222:08 minutes. Guess what, you've just become more efficient. If you need to know how to respond to an email or do something or I'm I'm just telling you guys, get on the leading edge. I want you in front of the wave, not22:20 behind the wave. Do you see a man that is skilled in his work? Man, we wanna ask ourselves the question, what are you wanna ask yourself the question, what skill do I need to learn22:32 to stay in front of the wave in my occupation for the next 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 36 months, I wanna stay ahead of the wave, because if y'all fall behind the22:44 wave, you gotta work way harder to get back in front. Does that make sense? Man, are you skilled? That's when you're gonna get promoted, that's when you're gonna go up. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 9 and 10,22:56 says whoever quarries stones may be injured by them. What is he saying? He says, man if you're a construction worker, you could get injured by them, but be careful. He says whoever splits logs may be endangered by23:07 them, lumberjack. Alright. Look at 10, if the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success. There it is. What skill do23:19 you need? What what what is your acts at the office? Write that down. What is my acts at the office? For some of you, your acts is your vocabulary, how you23:31 talk. Does it need to be sharpened? Some of you it's your mind, some of you it's your pen, some of you it's your computer, some of you it's this, some of you it's that. Some of you it's a wrench. There's law, if you're23:43 in law enforcement, it's your gun. Right? And so what is your act at the office and how can I sharpen it so that I can put less effort23:55 in and get more work out? Does that simply make sense to y'all? How many of you have ever truly, now some of you, you know, hey, we're gonna go out and I'm gonna cut some firewood and I ask them when they've gone to24:07 Home Depot and they've rented all these really expensive chainsaws and wood splitters, that's not what I'm talking about. How many of you have ever really taken an ax to a tree and24:19 cut it up into firewood? A couple of you, alright. How many of you will never, of those who just raised your hand, how many of you will never do that again? Yeah, 100 percent of the hands, right? Why,24:31 because it's hard. And it's even harder still if the ax is dulled. Does that make sense? So guys, I wanna encourage you, man, God's word says, listen, don't be shocked when the most skilled24:43 person in the office gets the promotion. And then the Bible also says, be that skilled person in the office so you get the promotion. And let me tell you,24:55 I want you to know, there is nothing wrong with that, guys. Man, when you roll into the office today, I I want you to say and think in your mind, man, the next opportunity for me to25:06 advance, I wanna be the best dude in the office. I wanna be the most skilled worker in the office. I wanna be ready for that next place because listen, God's word says you can do whatever you want as long as it's not25:17 immoral, illegal, but when you go there, be awesome. But we also want to balance faith and work, and you said pastor, you're telling me to work a hundred hours a week, absolutely not. Look at25:29 Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 6. Better as 1 full, 1 handful with tranquility, than 2 handfuls chasing after the wind. Guys, I'm not telling you when you go25:41 to the office to spend a hundred hours at the office every week, to blow your family up, to wear yourself out. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is when you are at the office, be at the25:53 office. When you're doing some work, do it well. Do it with the right actions and activity. Be skilled at the office. Work in such a way that your26:05 acts or your skills are so sharp that you don't have to spend a hundred hours in the office to get the same productivity. Does that make sense? So I'm not telling you that your work26:17 should be your entire life. 1 handful with tranquility is better than 2 handfuls chasing after the wind. We all know people, we read about them, we hear about them from time to time, people that26:29 are always chasing after the wind, I'm never gonna encourage you to do that. So there's anything you can do, number 1. Number 2, here's the overarching value. Whatever you do, be grateful for26:40 it. Go back to Colossians chapter 3 verse 17. Remember this, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to26:52 God through him. So whatever God has called you to do, whether you're a plumber, construction worker, whether you're a welder, whether you're this or whether you're that, do it27:04 with gratefulness. Man, just constantly sit here and say, God, thank you that you have allowed me to have this job, to work with these people, so that I27:16 can not only be productive at the office, I can share the gospel at the office. When's When's the last time you've walked into your office and said, God, make me productive.27:29 Help me be productive. I will tell you, I don't think that's a bad prayer. Guys, I don't think that's a bad prayer. Then also, have you walked in the office your second prayer? It27:41 ought to be, God, put someone in my path today that I could share the gospel with. Guys, I want you to know, man, what you do when you leave here27:53 may well be more important than what we've done right here because the cradle of the gospel is gonna leave the doors, and it's gonna leave it in your heart,28:05 and it's going to come out of your mouth throughout the day. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to pray for productivity. You're going to pray for opportunity. Opportunity28:17 starts with just being a loyal employee. Not bad mouthing the boss, not bad mouthing somebody else, just someone that goes in and does the job and does it well. If you28:29 can't support your boss, I would encourage you instead of bad mouthing them, get a different job. Go to a place where you can truly be salt and light. So it starts with you being a loyal28:41 employee. Number 2, then you pray for opportunities. You haven't said a word yet. I'm just gonna be a good worker, and I'm gonna pray for opportunities. The opportunities28:53 might be, man, someone just says my wife is sick, my so and so is hey, I'll pray for you. Number 3, when the opportunity becomes a gospel opportunity, understand that's why29:06 God put you there. Guys, we are all healthier when we are vocationally healthy, so let's go get them. Them.29:19 Thank you for tuning in to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Caton. For more information on John Mark's ministry and resources, please visit johnmarkcaton dot com. Until next time, remember, we're on29:31 this journey of life together.In this video 0:00 Vocational Success and Spiritual Purpose
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