a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site<\/a>.<\/p>\nEsther, is divided into seven acts and the first act gives us my first key point of the sermon. We can title the first portion of the book, \u201cA new queen is chosen.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nVashti says, \u201cI\u2019m not going in to see the King,\u201d and she\u2019s deposed. Esther is instead chosen to be queen. We see here a contrast between two attitudes. Some have said that the book of Esther is all about power, getting power and what people do with power once they\u2019ve got it.<\/strong> So it\u2019s pretty much like the modern workplace<\/strong> then isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n1:12 says, \u201cQueen Vashti refused to come at the King\u2019s command.\u201d In contrast to that we see Esther, of whom it says, \u201cEsther obeyed Mordecai, just as she had when she was brought up by him\u201d<\/strong>(1:20). Esther was an orphan and he\u2019d taken her in.<\/p>\nThere is a sharp contrast between two approaches<\/strong>. Vashti would have probably said she was just \u2018asserting my rights.\u2019 Some people talk about her as a feminist icon<\/strong>. We could instead conceive of this as rebellion.\u2019\u00a0 There second approach could be defined as \u201cknowing my place<\/strong>\u201d or, perhaps, what might be a better way of putting it \u00a0is \u2018humble submission<\/strong>\u2019. This is an attitude much needed in all workplaces<\/strong> and should be displayed by both genders.<\/p>\nThe old queen stubbornly refuses to fulfil the role that she has<\/strong> whereas the future queen learns at the feet of a wise old bird. And despite being an orphan \u2013 so hard things had happened to her \u2013 she had been well-trained, she had been discipled for obedience<\/strong>, she had been taught how to live. She was in a difficult situation \u2013 I don\u2019t think she had any choice, she was taken to the palace.\u00a0 But once she was there, she wanted to do the best she could. It\u2019s important that whatever your situation, you\u2019re willing to turn it around and make the best of it<\/strong>.<\/p>\nEsther had been discipled. It\u2019s not enough to be a convert. It really isn\u2019t! We MUST be a disciple. No doubt many of you attend churches like Jubilee where they have a discipleship course, and that would no doubt help. But more importantly than attending a course, there needs to be an openness of heart, a submissiveness of heart that says, \u201cTeach me, I want people to speak into my life<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of your workplace, who is your Mordecai?<\/strong> Who has brought you up and trained you? Who has taught you how to be submissive, how to be winsome? Who has given you advice, who has helped you to succeed? We all need a Mordecai. They don\u2019t necessarily have to be in the same field although that can help. The lawyers can help each other. The doctors can help each other. The teachers can help each other. But often the lessons we\u2019ve learned in one field can help and apply across other fields.<\/p>\nEsther could have said to Mordecai \u201cWhat do you <\/em>know? You\u2019re an old man! You know nothing about success as a beauty-queen!\u201d But Esther played her role and Mordecai played his. Esther could do things that Mordecai never did and yet they needed each other. God wants to place us in community. We\u2019re meant to be part of a team, we\u2019re meant to be inter-dependent on each other. The strengths of different team members will balance each other out and cover the weaknesses. But Mordecai is directing Esther throughout this book.<\/p>\nSome of us don\u2019t like the thought of submission. Yet do you know who was the best model of godly submission? Jesus. He submitted to his parents. He submitted to his Father. He did what he saw his Father doing. And he had a submissive attitude. Do you have a submissive attitude? I want to say to you: If you want to succeed at work \u2013 get your attitude right.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt is not about \u2018what can the job do for me?\u2019 It\u2019s not about my rights. It\u2019s about my responsibilities<\/strong>. You know the human rights movement is great in some ways, but we should really talk about human responsibilities. What\u2019s your responsibility? How should you be? We should be working in such a way that we make a difference in the work place \u2013 that we fulfil the call of God on our life to be different.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s very easy to think, \u201cIf only my work was better. If only I had a different job. If only I had a better boss.\u201d God doesn\u2019t call you to think like that.\u00a0 Esther was in the midst of a very difficult situation \u2013 it is not easy to be taken from your home and brought into the palace and told you have to perform and look beautiful. Yet she chose to make the best of it. We should also choose to make the best of our situations at work.<\/p>\n
All this applies whether your job is to be at home looking after children, or to be a businessman, or whether your job is to be a cleaner as I once was. Do it all for the glory of God<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do it with a godly attitude, not clock-watching<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the first act gives us my first key point of the sermon. We can title the first portion of the book, \u201cA new queen is chosen.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[686,449,516],"class_list":["post-14573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-serving-jesus-at-work","tag-messages","tag-sermon-ideas","tag-sermons"],"yoast_head":"\n
Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-09T17:10:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-13T09:12:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/\",\"name\":\"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-09T17:10:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-13T09:12:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"description\":\"Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Warnock\"},\"description\":\"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes","description":"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes","og_description":"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/","og_site_name":"Adrian Warnock","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","article_published_time":"2011-06-09T17:10:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-13T09:12:47+00:00","author":"Adrian Warnock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adrianwarnock","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrian Warnock","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/","name":"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-06-09T17:10:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-13T09:12:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa"},"description":"This series of posts is an edited transcript of \u00a0a sermon you can watch or listen to right here on my site. Esther, is divided into seven acts and the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/06\/serving-jesus-at-work-a-contrast-of-attitudes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Serving Jesus at Work \u2013 A contrast of attitudes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/","name":"Adrian Warnock","description":"Patheos Evangelical","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa","name":"Adrian Warnock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adrian Warnock"},"description":"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}