Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're asking the question, can you glorify God by skipping college?

Now, this is based on an article I read in the New York Times recently about a new YouTube reality competition called Clash of Trades.

Now, Clash of Trades is your typical competition show with contestants competing based on their talent and ability on various projects to win a prize.

But what's interesting about this is they're not singing or really doing anything white collar or intellectual.

They're machinists. They're working in a shop to produce particular items, and the prize is $100,000. Clash of Trades is is attempting to show the beauty and value of working with your hands.

In fact, it's really intended and part of a national effort to elevate the trades as a viable career option for young people, encouraging them to consider foregoing the traditional four-year college in favor of jumping right into a trade or going to a community or tech college for a couple years to learn a trade.

It's a really interesting concept because overwhelmingly our country has rejected blue collar work.

Most of the trades are constantly looking for people. And that rejection is based in part into the cultural idea that we've all bought into that if you want a life of meaning and value, if you want a life of financial success, you have to go to a four-year college.

And if you go to a four-year college, they're not teaching you how to weld. And so you don't end up becoming a welder. But Clash of Trades, along with other things, is attempting to say, hey, there's a great life out there and even a lot of money to make if you are willing to work in a trade in a blue-collar job.

Now, the reason I want to talk about this is because I actually think Christians, maybe more than anybody, have bought into this idea that a life of meaning and value always or mostly includes work.

college. And I don't think the Bible affirms that at all. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul says, whether you eat or drink, do all that you do to the glory of God.

What he's saying is that the Christians are looking to glorify God in even menial tasks, regular things like eating or drinking or sleeping or whatever it is.

When you're making your breakfast in the morning, you do it to the glory of God. The Bible does not have this idea that working in an office or wearing a white coat or working on a computer is inherently more glorifying to God than working with your hands.

I mean, one of the ways we know that is that Jesus wasn't an accountant. He was a carpenter. He himself was a tradesman. So I want to just sketch out a biblical argument for why pursuing the trades or foregoing college is perfectly viable for a Christian.

Here's the first one. God honors purposeful and excellent work. The psalmist in Psalm 90 verse 17 says, asking God to establish the work of our hands.

And by the way, he's writing in an agrarian society. So he means that literally. He means the work of a shepherd, the work of a farmer. But the idea when we work is that we're exercising the talent and ability that God has given us, that we're stewarding the resources he's given us.

There's no more glory in exercising your talent as a CPA than there is as a plumber. In fact, if your toilet is clogged, there's far more glory in the latter than there is in the former.

The second thing here is that calling is greater than credentials. The Apostle Paul, again, writing to a society that was doing way more work with their hands than their brains.

the Lord. What God cares about is that you approach each day asking him what he's up to and how you can join him.

What God cares about is that you work in an excellent way that is honoring to him and loving to your neighbors.

No question. You can do that as a carpenter or a car mechanic. There's incredible value in that work. The third thing is that cultural renewal starts small.

In Zechariah 4, God says, don't despise small beginnings. Look, if you study the history of the church, what you'll find is that many of the men and women at the forefront of great movements of God were regular people doing regular jobs.

I mean, the apostle Paul made tents for crying out loud. He's one of the most brilliant intellectual minds in human history, but he found value in paying the bills by working hard.

So we don't want to tell our children or imply that their lives have more meaning or more value if they're going to an office versus getting in a work van.

You can glorify God in either context. Here's the fourth thing. The church must sing and hold out the value of all work. When Ephesians 4 says that my job as a pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the church, it means all work.

the saints, white collar and blue collar, college educated and trades people. Listen, your value to God is in what Christ has done. It's in the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.

It's in the talents and abilities he has given every one of us. It is not in what is on your business card or on the side of your business van.

Perhaps if we sketched out true value in Christ for the upcoming generation, more of them would pursue the work they're actually excited to do, talented to do, instead of trying to meet the expectations of a culture or a family that could never ultimately fulfill them.

Hey, if you're listening to this on your way to a blue-collar job, crush today for the glory of God and know this, there's no one in the kingdom of God that's more valuable than you.

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