Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work

205 Pages·2012·1.05 MB·English

by  Timothy Keller

Every Good Endeavor
ALSO BY TIMOTHY KELLER
THE REASON FOR GOD: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
THE PRODIGAL GOD: Recovering the Heart
of the Christian Faith
COUNTERFEIT GODS: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex,
and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters
GENEROUS JUSTICE: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just
KING’S CROSS: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus
THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE: Facing the Complexities
of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
Every Good
Endeavor
Connecting Your Work
to God’s Work
TIMOTHY KELLER
with Katherine Leary Alsdorf
DUTTON
DUTTON
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First printing, November 2012
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © 2012 by Redeemer City to City, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and Timothy Keller
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of
copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of the
individuals involved.
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV), except where noted.
Figure on page 250 copyright © Redeemer Presbyterian Church
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ISBN: 978-1-101-60033-7
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While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses,
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ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON
To the staff and volunteer leaders of Redeemer’s Center for
Faith & Work, who have helped our congregation see that
the gospel really does change everything.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Katherine Leary Alsdorf
Introduction
P O
ART NE
God’s Plan for Work
ONE
The Design of Work
TWO
The Dignity of Work
THREE
Work as Cultivation
FOUR
Work as Service
P T
ART WO
Our Problems with Work
FIVE
Work Becomes Fruitless
SIX
Work Becomes Pointless
SEVEN
Work Becomes Selfish
EIGHT
Work Reveals Our Idols
P T
ART HREE
The Gospel and Work
NINE
A New Story for Work
TEN
A New Conception of Work
ELEVEN
A New Compass for Work
TWELVE
New Power for Work
Epilogue: Leading People to Integrate Faith and Work
Notes
Acknowledgments
During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual
awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.
At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and
privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been
granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD. . . .
This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say “THANK
YOU GOD” through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our
tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.
—John Coltrane, excerpt, liner notes to A Love Supreme
FOREWORD
n 1989 a colleague prodded me to come to her church—a start-up in Manhattan
I
called Redeemer Presbyterian Church. I had been thoroughly inoculated against
church years before, having determined that the religion of my family’s church was
more form than substance and that any leanings I might have had in that direction
were easily overcome by enlightened thinking. But Redeemer caught my attention in a
few ways: The pastor was intelligent and talked like a normal person, he seemed to take
the Bible seriously, and he tried to apply it to parts of life that were important to me—
like my work.
A few years later I decided it was time to commit to faith and “give my life” to the
truth and promises of the Bible. I was worried, I admit, that this commitment might put
an end to my career ambitions and material comforts because, in fact, two of my
brothers who had become Christians had been “called” to be missionaries overseas. One
lived in rural Africa without running water or electricity. If I was going to really put
God first I had to be open to him calling me to serve him anywhere. And he did. A few
weeks after my decision, I was stunned by the sudden illness of my boss, the CEO—
and his request that I take over leadership of the company. Given the circumstances, I
took it as an indication from God that he wanted me to play my part not in the third
world but in the world of business.
For the next decade, I served in executive leadership in several entrepreneurial tech
companies in New York City, Europe, and Silicon Valley. In each job and each day I
wrestled with what it means to be “called to serve God” as a leader in business.
Redeemer and its senior pastor, Tim Keller, had given me good grounding. I’d learned
that I was supposed to be changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore be “used
by God” in my relationships with others, and maybe even be distinctive in the way I led
companies. Nice concepts, but what did they look like in practice?
The models were few and often seemed remnants of an age when most of America
went to church. One CEO would share that he kept a Bible on his desk and that
occasionally someone in the company would ask about it. Another prayed and the
company thrived. Many viewed their corporate jobs primarily as a means to make lots
of money to give away to charities and organizations they cared about. When I asked
pastors and businesspeople how their faith related to their work, they often answered
that a Christian’s primary, if not sole, mission in the workplace was to evangelize those
with whom they worked. But most businesspeople would quickly add that evangelism