Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 01/31/24

Appreciating the eternal value of work. I’ve previously spoken with entrepreneur and Mere Christians podcaster Jordan Raynor about his previous books, including Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present & Wildly Productive and The Creator in You, in which he respectively called on adults and kids to embrace productivity, creativity and that thing so much of society seems intent on avoiding. Namely, work. In his new book, The Sacredness of Secular Work: 4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You’re Not Sharing the Gospel, he tackles the four-letter word head on as something to embraced and celebrated.

JWK: Your new book is The Sacredness of Secular Work. What do you hope people take from it?

Jordan Raynor: I think many Christians today understand that their work has instrumental value. They understand that they can leverage their jobs – maybe (by) sharing the Gospel with those they work with or maybe (by) writing a check to their church. My prayer is that they will, after reading this book, see the intrinsic value that their work has in addition to the instrumental value.

In my experience most Christians only see instrumental value. They only see how those moments of evangelism are eternally significant. If that’s true then only about one percent of their time at work matters for eternity. That’s deeply depressing, I know, for a lot of Christians. More importantly, it’s deeply unbiblical. So, I wrote The Sacredness of Secular Work to help believers see how 100 percent of their time at work can matter for eternity – every Zoom meeting they lead, every Uber they drive, every spreadsheet they build, even when they’re not sharing the Gospel as good and eternally significant as that action is.

JWK: You talk about our culture’s obsession with the idea that some jobs are more important than others. For instance, prosecuting human traffickers is more important than selling selling insurance. You say that’s a fallacy.

JR: I think it is. In Scripture, I think we see God showing that He himself works and values work beyond its usefulness. In Revelation 21 John describes the foundation of the New Jerusalem as being decorated with “every kind of precious stone.” When we do the math – based on the numbers we see in Revelation 21 – we know that that’s about 5600 miles of emeralds, rubies and other gems lining the foundation of the New Jerusalem. What in the world is the purpose of 5600 miles of jewels? My guess is none. That’s precisely the point because, as one theologian who I quote in the book says, “Utility is not the primary reason for God’s action.”

God doesn’t limit His work to the useful and the functional. He doesn’t only spend time fixing what’s broken in the world. Sometimes it will be just to bring glory and pleasure to Himself. I think we see, even in the example of John 12, Jesus encouraging His followers to do the same. In John 12 we’re told that Mary takes about a pint of expensive perfume and pours it out all over Jesus’ feet. Judas objects like a lot of people would today saying “This is useless! Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?!” But Jesus says “Hey, leave her alone” because whatever Mary did brought a smile to Jesus’ face and that was enough – because, at the end of the day, to quote Rick Warren, “The smile of God is the goal of our lives.”

God doesn’t just delight in watching his children fix the world’s problems. Psalm 37:23 says He delights in “every detail” of the life of the godly which means that every time that we do work that the world views as useless – like writing a song, planting a garden or cutting hair – as long as we’re doing those things in a godly way, our work can be an ingredient to our Heavenly Father‘s eternal joy.

JWK: And I guess almost any legitimate job helps somebody in some way, right?

JR: That’s exactly right! On the first page of the book I kinda right off the bat take on the term “secular.” That word literally mean with “with no regard to religion” or “without God” – but we believers believe the Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go, that God is Himself is literally with us wherever we go.

To your point, John, so long as that job is genuinely contributing to the good of others, there’s no such thing as a secular job for a believer! The only thing we have to do to make a secular workplace sacred is walk through the front door or log onto Zoom. That’s it! There’s no question about the sacredness of seemingly secular work. I think the more interesting question – I think the more transformative question – is how does that sacred work matter beyond the present? How does it matter on the other side of the veil currently separating Heaven and Earth? That’s the question I’m trying to help readers understand and answer in The Sacredness of Secular Work.

JWK: So, how does it matter?

JR: I think it matters in a bunch of different ways. I unpack four ways in the book. Number One, our work matters for eternity because it’s a vehicle for bringing God eternal pleasure. I already (mentioned) Psalm 37:23 but I love this verse: The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. It doesn’t say that He only delights in watching us…stroke a check to our church. He delights in every single thing we do in our lives in a godly way. So, that’s the first way our work matters for eternity.

The second is that it’s largely through our work that we earn eternal rewards – which we almost never talk about in the church today. We’re not talking about earning salvation but Jesus frequently commanded His followers to chase after eternal rewards by sacrificing our own gratification in the present. It’s largely through work that we’re earning those rewards.

Number Three, our work matters for eternity because through it, I believe, we can scratch off glimpses of something eternal in the present – scratch off previews of the Kingdom of God, if you will.

Finally, Number Four, yeah, our work matters for eternity because we can leverage it to be instrumental in sharing the Gospel with those that we work with…I argue in the book that it’s not gonna be full-time missionaries and religious professionals who will be most effective at the Great Commission…It will be the Mere Christians going to work Monday through Friday as entrepreneurs, baristas and teachers because non-Christians are less likely than at any time in recent history to step inside to step inside of a church…So, where are they gonna hear the Good News of the Gospel? They’re gonna hear it by rubbing shoulders in the cubicles next to Mere Christians going into a regular old J-O-B Monday through Friday.

JWK: Given the way people do look at some jobs being more important than others, do you think people put too much pressure on themselves by thinking things like “Oh, I’m only an office worker. I should be out there saving the world.”?

JR: Oh, yeah. I think we put way too much pressure on ourselves. We gotta remember this. God doesn’t need us to finish any work in this life. He doesn’t need us. His purposes will not be thwarted, Job 42. He wants us. He calls us first and foremost to be with Him (as His) children. We can do that in any job. We don’t have to be prosecuting human traffickers, as important as that work is, to be with God. I can be with God making Legos or working as a barista, whatever it is.  So, when we (realize that), it starts to free us up to see all sorts of different vocations as sacred because, again, God is with us wherever we go in those jobs.

JWK: You suggest in the book that some people are obsessed with the End Times, thinking that they’re just kinda called to sit around and wait for the end of the world. You say that that’s not the case and that we should be optimistically working to create good things.

JR: That’s exactly right. That’s my interpretation of what Jesus hands down in the Parable of the Talents. A lot of the End Times, frankly, propaganda that I see running around on Facebook all the time is all done in the name of keeping watch for Christ’s return. Jesus did tell us to keep watch for His return. That’s really, really clear. We see this in Matthew 25:13 – Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. What’s interesting is that, as soon as He commands His followers to keep watch, He launches into the Parable of the Talents – about the Master, representing Jesus, who puts His disciples to work while they wait for His return.

I think when you take that parable and the rest of the Gospels into account it’s clear that Jesus has called us to keep watch for His return not by sitting on our hands but by working with them – because while it was perfectly within Christ’s power to reveal His Kingdom in full at the Resurrection…He didn’t! He chose to reveal His Kingdom in partnership with human beings after Easter which is exactly how God has been working since the very beginning of this drama.

See Genesis 1. God did not need us to help Him create, work and cultivate this Earth in the beginning but He chose to work in partnership with His children in Genesis 1. Jesus is doing the same thing today. Contrary to popular belief, we’re not just waiting for the New Jerusalem to drop from the clouds. We are called – in the present – to cultivate Heaven on Earth until Christ returns to finish that job that we are actively engaged in.

JWK: And that can be through any legitimate work. You create goodness just through the act of working.

JR: That’s exactly right – when we work in line with the character of our King. The Kingdom…is marked by intangible attributes that Jesus handed down. The Sermon on the Mount, right?  It’s marked by love, selflessness, justice and humility. When we walk in these ways I think we are offering people a preview, a foretaste, a glimpse of the Kingdom – and, hopefully, lead them to want to meet our King.
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When Superman is helpless. Actor George Newbern is known to TV fans for his seven-season role on the prime-time soap Scandal but may have even more fans as the voice of Superman over several animated TV series (beginning in 2001 with Cartoon Network’s Justice League) and video projects. Now, in a two-hour  second-season premiere arc on Going Home (currently streaming on Great American Pure Flix), he portrays a brilliant oncologist unused to losing patients who is utterly powerless in preventing his wife (ER‘s Gloria Reuben) from dying of cancer.

JWK: How would you describe your character and what he’s going through?

George Newbern: My father was a physician and my brother is currently a surgeon. So, I was aware of the life of a doctor and what they deal with every day. (My character) being an oncologist…is grappling with his wife who has cancer. He knows how bad (her condition) is so I think his struggle is that he can’t help her. The character is used to being in charge. He’s not necessarily a person of faith. He comes to be but he was sort of ambivalent about his faith. I think he’s struggling with being able to actually help the person that he loves the most. He’s defined by that.

JWK: Have you experienced any encounters with hospice care in your own life?

GN: I have. My father was 92. He passed away a little over a year ago. He had dementia and he was in hospice probably for the last four months of his life. I wouldn’t say it was a good experience but it was nice to have someone who was a professional walk us through all that.

JWK: I’m sorry to hear about your father.

GN: Thank you.

JWK: Did you bring that experience into your role here?

GN: I did. I was aware of it but the situation on the television show is pretty different in the sense that my dad had dementia and my wife (on the show) is fully cognizant. So, those are two very different hospice situations – but yes.

JWK: Gloria Reuben plays your wife. What was like working opposite her?

GN: Gloria was just fantastic. Actors really get excited when they work with people who they respect and think are really, really good. Everything I had was just with her. It was just sort of a two-hander. We barely had anything with anyone else – a little bit with (series star) Cynthia Geary, which was lovely. It was just great to know I was in good hands with her and (series creator) Dan (Merchant) was so helpful as the director. Just playing off Gloria was (wonderful). She’s skilled. She kept me on my toes, that’s for sure.

JWK: From your experience, do you think the show captures what it’s like for a family dealing with hospice care?

GN: Yeah, I believe it does. What I think is kind of unique about the show is that, if you hear the logline about what the TV show’s about, you know, this is a show set in a hospice. To me my first response was “Whoa! That’s a downer! I don’t know if anyone will want to watch a TV show about that.” That was my first response. Then I watched a couple of episodes and I went “Okay, what a minute. There’s something interesting here.” I think Dan – and the writers and the producers of the show – have a managed to thread the needle of the theme. (It’s not) a maudlin, obtuse or precious show. It’s really a hopeful sort of scenario where people are going through the next passage of life – which is death. Life and death, they go together. It’s full of drama. Obviously, it’s a dramatic point in everyone’s life. The definition of drama is this show. They do it wit a lot of heart. It’s treated sensitively – but without beating you over the head. I think they do a good job. ‘

JWK: Besides appearing in movies like Father of the Bride and TV shows like Scandal, you’re also a successful voice actor. You’re particularly well known as the voice of Superman.

GN: Yeah. I’ve been doing the voice of Superman for the last 17 or 18 years for Warner Brothers…and then I’ve narrated – I don’t know – over 500 books at this point. I have a voice-over studio. I do probably half voice over and half on camera, depending upon who’s asking. Put the word out. I’m available, John.

JWK: I’m involved with a group developing scripted podcasts – so I definitely will. How would you compare the experience of voice work with acting on camera?

GN: At the core of it, acting is acting…I don’t know if I prefer one over the other. They’re both great. It’s good to switch it up.

JWK: So, you said you’ve been the voice Superman for 17 years or so. You must know everything there is to know about that character.

GN:  I don’t know everything but I know a fair amount…The fans know the episodes way better than I do.

JWK: Bringing it back to Going Home, as Superman your playing a character with fantastic superpowers who can do virtually anything and here you’re playing a man who is powerless in the face of his wife’s cancer.

GN: Superman is totally in control and this doctor in Going Home is completely not in control. His wife teaches him, at a certain point, to let go and let her go home, as it were, and be at peace with that, to enjoy the time they have together and be in the moment. Her faith, I think, inspires him to sort of zero in on what it is that he really believes. He comes to terms with his own faith – although I think he’s still struggling with what it actually means to him. I think he’s…coming to a good peace about it all.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.