Mission Impossible

Transcript of the segment on Living/Working in a Secular Environment: Whoever you are, woman or man, young or old, you must never, ever think that serving God falls into this exclusive category, this hyper-spiritual category, of being only for the super-saints among you. Now I may have given you that impression. I don’t want you to get that impression, that it’s only for the super-saints, that it’s only for those who are in (quote) “full-time Christian work.” That would be the most egregious failure on the part of anybody teaching from this pulpit, to let you go away with that idea in your head. Christian work is good. It serves its purpose in encouraging the people of God. But let’s face it, God is most served in the world by people who are not in any kind of spiritual work or Christian work. Let’s be honest. God is served by this congregation in the places where God is pleased to place you. Here is Esther and she is in this stunningly secular situation, in the sense that this situation she is in has no place for the recognition of the God of Israel; no place for the worship of the God of Israel. And she has been placed in this situation which she would never have chosen for herself. She had not entered some competition, some beauty competition in order to make it into the king’s harem. She would not have chosen the life that she has. Yet in the midst of this life, she has not lost her identity, even in the plush, lavish world of the royal court. She has maintained her integrity as one of God’s people.