Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 9 - A New Story for Work

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter nine (pages 155-182) of Keller's Work Monday evening. In this case, the best discussion questions are likely those found at near the end of the chapter (page 181):

• What's the story line of the culture in which I live and the field where I work? Who are the protagonists and antagonists?
• What are the underlying assumptions about meaning, morality, origin, and destiny?
• What are the idols? The hopes? The fears?
• How does my particular profession retell this story line, and what part does the profession itself play in the story?
• What parts of the dominant worldview are basically in line with the gospel, so that I can agree with and align with them?
• What parts of the dominant worldviews are irresolvable without Christ? Where, in other words, must I challenge my culture? How can Christ complete the story in a different way?
• How do these stories affect both the form and the content of my work personally? How can I work not just with excellence but also with Christian distinctiveness in my work?
• What opportunities are there in my profession for
• serving individual people,
• serving society at large,
• serving my field of work,
• modeling competence and excellence, and
• witnessing to Christ?
  
   

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 8 - Work Reveals Our Idols

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter eight (pages 129-152) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. Keller defines idolatry as "imagining and trusting anything to deliver the control, security, significance, satisfaction, and beauty that only the real God can give. It means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing." Do you see parallels to our Sunday-morning series in 1 Corinthians? What might they be?
     
2. Keller expands from mere individual or personal idols to cultural and corporate idols. What idols might easily ensnare our subculture in our Church?
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 7 - Work Becomes Selfish

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter seven (pages 113-128) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

One of the reasons work is both fruitless and pointless is the powerful inclination of the human heart to make work, and its attendant benefits, the main basis of one's meaning and identity. [113]

1. Keller opens the chapter with a focus on Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel), stating that we "make a name for ourselves" with our work both individually and as groups. When it comes to making a name for yourself, where do you turn? Individually or a group? What role(s) or group(s)?
     
2. Keller then moves to Esther, talking about the "power of the palace" and the compromises that often come with palace residence [118]. Did any of those stories resonate? Are there examples you can share in which you need to navigate "gray areas"?
      
3. How do you get a new name based on something other than the palace? [123]
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 6 - Work Becomes Pointless

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter six (pages 98-112) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. The chapter is largely based on the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, starting with a reference to Ecclesiastes 2:17, "So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." When do you find your work most meaningless? When do you find your work most meaningful?
      
2. Keller says, "One of the reasons so many people find work to be unsatisfying is, ironically, that people today have more power to choose their line of work than did people in the past." Do you agree, disagree, why? What are important lessons learned from your choices?
       
3. Keller closes the chapter with another reference to Ecclesiastes (4:5,6):
   
   "Fools fold their hands
       and ruin themselves.
    Better one handful with tranquility
       than two handfuls with toil
       and chasing after the wind."
   
   What are some useful strategies to attain what many people today refer to as work/life balance?
   
    

Redefining Work Panel Discussion

This panel discussion on redefining work is a lot like the discussions several of us have been having around the book Every Good Endeavor... except in our groups I'm the "theologian" and in this one Tim Keller is the theologian. So... I guess this discussion might be a bit more rich :-)

Not Just Wheat and Grapes

I was talking with my friend Merlin a few weeks ago when he said something along the lines of, “I think it is significant that when Jesus instituted Communion, he used bread and wine; it requires a great deal of skillful work to make bread and wine.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since, and I think Merlin is right; there is something really significant there.

I suppose Jesus could have chosen wheat and grapes, or maybe even something found in the wild. He could have made his point without any objects at all, or He could have miraculously produced the bread and wine Himself, like He had with other miracles in other circumstances before. But Jesus picked up the bread and the wine from the table that was prepared before Him, the work of the hands of others.

While this certainly isn’t the main point of Communion, I’m glad that Jesus ordained this rich practice of the Gospel with these objects produced by human hands. In doing so, Jesus made a profound statement about the dignity of our work. 

Apart from the miraculous, I doubt Jesus could make bread or wine. He could probably apply the skills of a carpenter when needed, but the skills of a winemaker or baker were outside of His experience. In order for this Holy moment to take place, Jesus had to rely on the skill and labor of others. Skilled farmers had to produce the wheat and the grapes. Others had to prepare the raw ingredients, skillfully storing them and perhaps transporting them. And yet others had to apply the crafts they had learned, likely passed down through generations and practiced for years before perfected. Countless skilled hands, and hours of labor, were represented as Jesus took the bread and the cup in His hands. The work of hands like ours, then in the hands of Jesus, all present as Jesus taught His Disciples, as well as us followers through the ages, the glorious Gospel.  

And so it continues today. While I believe there is still room for the spectacularly miraculous, Jesus usually operates the same way, picking up the result of our work from the table prepared before Him. He takes it into His hands, and puts it into the work of the Gospel. We ought to consider all of our work like this. Whatever it is we work at, we should think of it as something that will ultimately be placed in the hands of Jesus for His good purpose.

Keller on Redefining Work

Tim Keller recently led a post conference that followed The Gospel Coalition conference. Here is his opening talk that wonderfully summarizes his work in Every Good Endeavor.



Other media from both the conference and the post conference is available here.