September 13, 2024 • 15 mins
Did you know that when Paul encourages Timothy that Scripture equips us for every good work that the Greek word used there includes BUSINESS? Tune into this week's podcast to be encouraged by all that Scripture has to say to us as entrepreneurs and walk away feeling so SEEN by God Himself.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Rachel Tenney]A warm welcome to the Voca podcast. Thank
[Rachel Tenney]you so much for being here. The world
[Rachel Tenney]has a lot of messages for us female
[Rachel Tenney]entrepreneurs. Messages like how to motivate ourselves, what
[Rachel Tenney]our identity should be, and what success looks
[Rachel Tenney]like. Sadly, many of those messages are also
[Rachel Tenney]marked by toxicity, self aggrandizement, misaligned work life
[Rachel Tenney]balance, and mysticism. The last thing you need
(00:22):
[Rachel Tenney]as an exhausted entrepreneur hungry for motivation is
[Rachel Tenney]a minefield of messages. My name is Rachel
[Rachel Tenney]Tenney, and I'm a wife, mama, church member,
[Rachel Tenney]and small business owner that believes that the
[Rachel Tenney]gospel applies to all areas of life and
[Rachel Tenney]that keeping our eyes on Jesus changes how
[Rachel Tenney]we do business. So if you're eager to
[Rachel Tenney]explore what theology applied to your entrepreneurial life
(00:44):
[Rachel Tenney]looks like, this podcast is for you. Let's
[Rachel Tenney]chat. All scripture is breathed out by God
[Rachel Tenney]and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
[Rachel Tenney]and for training in righteousness, that the man
[Rachel Tenney]of God may be complete, equipped for every
[Rachel Tenney]good work. Second Timothy three sixteen through seventeen.
(01:06):
[Rachel Tenney]Okay. So question for you. Do you see
[Rachel Tenney]your entrepreneurial work in this passage? If you
[Rachel Tenney]don't, then there are some really encouraging insights
[Rachel Tenney]ahead for you. Most of us have been
[Rachel Tenney]taught to understand this verse as referring to
[Rachel Tenney]good works in a ministry sense only. We
[Rachel Tenney]think it's saying the Bible is profitable for
[Rachel Tenney]pastors and people who teach the Bible and
(01:27):
[Rachel Tenney]for Christians when they do ministry and outreach,
[Rachel Tenney]so that they can be equipped for counseling
[Rachel Tenney]sessions, preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and ministry to the
[Rachel Tenney]poor. But is that actually what this verse
[Rachel Tenney]is saying? Bear with me as we dive
[Rachel Tenney]into just a tiny bit of Greek, because
[Rachel Tenney]trust me, you're gonna walk away feeling so
[Rachel Tenney]seen by God himself in your role as
(01:49):
[Rachel Tenney]an entrepreneur. So the Greek word here for
[Rachel Tenney]work is ergon, and it has a very
[Rachel Tenney]comprehensive meaning. The new Thayer's Greek English lexicon
[Rachel Tenney]defines it as three things. One, business, employment,
[Rachel Tenney]that with which someone is occupied. Two, any
[Rachel Tenney]product whatsoever, anything accomplished by hand, art, industry,
(02:13):
[Rachel Tenney]or mind. And three, an act, deed, or
[Rachel Tenney]thing done. So very comprehensive. Right? But did
[Rachel Tenney]you catch that? The most basic understanding of
[Rachel Tenney]this word is actually business. And while it
[Rachel Tenney]means more than business, it does not mean
[Rachel Tenney]less than business. Now our modern Christianity has
(02:33):
[Rachel Tenney]an unbiblical dualism in it that elevates the
[Rachel Tenney]spiritual over the physical. And I've talked about
[Rachel Tenney]this in episode twenty three, the things of
[Rachel Tenney]Earth on this podcast. And what this does
[Rachel Tenney]is it creates what I call two boxes
[Rachel Tenney]Christianity, where we compartmentalize our lives into two
[Rachel Tenney]boxes the box of stuff that God cares
[Rachel Tenney]about, and the box of stuff that He
[Rachel Tenney]doesn't care about. So the box of stuff
(02:54):
[Rachel Tenney]that God cares about is stuff like reading
[Rachel Tenney]the Bible, praying, helping the poor, evangelism, discipleship,
[Rachel Tenney]all that stuff. And then the box of
[Rachel Tenney]stuff that God doesn't really care about is
[Rachel Tenney]all the rest of life. And as business
[Rachel Tenney]women, this Two Boxes Christianity puts our business
[Rachel Tenney]in the box of stuff that God doesn't
[Rachel Tenney]really care much about. And that is so
[Rachel Tenney]disheartening. I want you to think about this.
(03:18):
[Rachel Tenney]Most people spend half of their life at
[Rachel Tenney]work or in their occupation. Half. If you
[Rachel Tenney]believe deep down that God doesn't really care
[Rachel Tenney]about half of your life, you're going to
[Rachel Tenney]have a hard time seeing Jesus's relevance to
[Rachel Tenney]the rest of your life. But Jesus isn't
[Rachel Tenney]just Lord of the spiritual realm only. He's
(03:39):
[Rachel Tenney]Lord of everything. He made a physical world.
[Rachel Tenney]He made us physical creatures. He became physical
[Rachel Tenney]to save us, and he will remain in
[Rachel Tenney]a physical body for eternity. He did a
[Rachel Tenney]physical job of carpentry for over eighty percent
[Rachel Tenney]of his life. He came to redeem the
[Rachel Tenney]physical world. If you don't believe me, read
[Rachel Tenney]Romans eight twenty one. And we will live
(04:02):
[Rachel Tenney]in a renewed physical Earth, where we will
[Rachel Tenney]build houses, live in them, plant vineyards and
[Rachel Tenney]eat their fruit. See Isaiah sixty five verses
[Rachel Tenney]seventeen, twenty one and twenty three. So this
[Rachel Tenney]two boxes, Christianity does not come from Scripture.
[Rachel Tenney]Elevating the spiritual over the physical is not
[Rachel Tenney]biblical. It comes from ancient Greek philosophy, and
(04:22):
[Rachel Tenney]I talk more about that in that episode,
[Rachel Tenney]number twenty three, the things of Earth. So
[Rachel Tenney]go listen to that if you're interested in
[Rachel Tenney]more on that. But the Bible has a
[Rachel Tenney]much more holistic understanding of our world, of
[Rachel Tenney]us, and of our lives that sees our
[Rachel Tenney]work as a fully embodied thing. So going
[Rachel Tenney]back to our Greek word, ergon, and this
(04:43):
[Rachel Tenney]is a definition I found online. It says,
[Rachel Tenney]Eragon encompasses a wide range of activities from
[Rachel Tenney]mundane tasks like farming and building to more
[Rachel Tenney]abstract notions such as moral achievements and spiritual
[Rachel Tenney]contributions. This flexibility allows Eragon to convey a
[Rachel Tenney]holistic view of human activity. And for the
(05:03):
[Rachel Tenney]source on that, go find the show notes
[Rachel Tenney]and all of my sources will be linked
[Rachel Tenney]in there. So in other words, our verse
[Rachel Tenney]two Timothy three seventeen encompasses a holistic view
[Rachel Tenney]of human activity. All the work that you
[Rachel Tenney]do is the good work that Scripture equips
[Rachel Tenney]you for, not just for spiritual ministry activities.
(05:23):
[Rachel Tenney]Another verse that uses this Greek word ergon
[Rachel Tenney]is one that I reference all the time
[Rachel Tenney]here in the Voca Society, Ephesians two eight
[Rachel Tenney]through ten. Starting in verse eight, for by
[Rachel Tenney]grace you have been saved through faith. And
[Rachel Tenney]this is not your own doing. It is
[Rachel Tenney]the gift of God, not as a result
[Rachel Tenney]of works, ergon, so that no one may
(05:45):
[Rachel Tenney]boast. For we are his workmanship, created in
[Rachel Tenney]Christ Jesus for good works, ergois, which is
[Rachel Tenney]a related word to ergon, just a different
[Rachel Tenney]form of the Greek, which God prepared beforehand
[Rachel Tenney]that we should walk in them. So this
[Rachel Tenney]verse perfectly teaches us how to work from
(06:05):
[Rachel Tenney]a place of gospel fueled motivation. It says
[Rachel Tenney]that we're saved through faith, not our works.
[Rachel Tenney]So this frees us up emotionally from the
[Rachel Tenney]bondage of trying to earn God's approval through
[Rachel Tenney]our works. But we are God's workmanship. God
[Rachel Tenney]is the one who's doing the work of
[Rachel Tenney]sanctification in us, Philippians two thirteen. And He's
[Rachel Tenney]the one that's accomplishing His work through our
(06:28):
[Rachel Tenney]efforts, First Corinthians three six, where Paul talks
[Rachel Tenney]about I planted in Apollo's water, but God
[Rachel Tenney]gave the growth. So God is the master
[Rachel Tenney]craftsman. And one of the primary things He
[Rachel Tenney]created us to do is work like He
[Rachel Tenney]does. It's one of the ways that we
[Rachel Tenney]reflect His image in us. He created us
[Rachel Tenney]to take dominion in the world, and He
(06:48):
[Rachel Tenney]even planned out all of the work, ergon,
[Rachel Tenney]that we would do in our lifetimes before
[Rachel Tenney]he made the world. I will never get
[Rachel Tenney]over how cool that is. This means that
[Rachel Tenney]as you clean your house, prepare meals, brush
[Rachel Tenney]your teeth, create landing pages, build your email
[Rachel Tenney]lists, and serve your clients, you are doing
(07:09):
[Rachel Tenney]the good works that God prepared for you
[Rachel Tenney]to do even before he made the world.
[Rachel Tenney]And like I like to say, God knows
[Rachel Tenney]your to do list better than you do.
[Rachel Tenney]He's been thinking about it before He even
[Rachel Tenney]created the planet. The motivation that you have
[Rachel Tenney]in marking stuff off your to do list
[Rachel Tenney]is not that you would earn favor with
[Rachel Tenney]God through your work. Right? That's what verse
(07:30):
[Rachel Tenney]eight talks about. We don't earn God's favor
[Rachel Tenney]through our work. We are saved by grace,
[Rachel Tenney]not by our works. But rather we are
[Rachel Tenney]motivated by gratitude because of what He's done
[Rachel Tenney]in our life. And our response to His
[Rachel Tenney]work is to want to join Him in
[Rachel Tenney]His work that He's doing in the world.
[Rachel Tenney]Yesterday, I was brought to tears as I
(07:51):
[Rachel Tenney]watched my almost two year old trying to
[Rachel Tenney]vacuum just like mommy. He's so little, he
[Rachel Tenney]can barely hold the cordless vacuum. But he
[Rachel Tenney]wants to emulate me. He's not earning my
[Rachel Tenney]favor by vacuuming. I mean, let's be honest,
[Rachel Tenney]kids helping out often makes more work, not
[Rachel Tenney]less in the beginning, right? But he's working
(08:12):
[Rachel Tenney]because it's part of the identity that he's
[Rachel Tenney]growing into as a child of mine and
[Rachel Tenney]as a human made in the image of
[Rachel Tenney]God. So he's working out of his identity,
[Rachel Tenney]not to earn his identity. That's how it
[Rachel Tenney]is for us with God. We are saved
[Rachel Tenney]by faith, not our works, but we are
[Rachel Tenney]saved to our works, to dominion, to go
(08:34):
[Rachel Tenney]do the things that God planned for us
[Rachel Tenney]to do. We are given the immense privilege
[Rachel Tenney]of joining God in His work of dominion.
[Rachel Tenney]Okay, but but if you're like me, you're
[Rachel Tenney]thinking, that's so cool, but also I have
[Rachel Tenney]no idea how to go about doing this.
[Rachel Tenney]I don't even know where to begin. And
[Rachel Tenney]that's where we circle all the way back
[Rachel Tenney]to the first verse we started with. All
(08:56):
[Rachel Tenney]scripture is breathed out by God and profitable
[Rachel Tenney]for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
[Rachel Tenney]training in righteousness, that the man of God
[Rachel Tenney]may be complete, equipped for every good work.
[Rachel Tenney]Do you see it now? You were created
[Rachel Tenney]by God to do good work, to image
[Rachel Tenney]how your Father works, and you aren't left
[Rachel Tenney]to figure out how to do that on
(09:17):
[Rachel Tenney]your own. Your Father, the master craftsman, the
[Rachel Tenney]one who created this whole world and everything
[Rachel Tenney]in it, is here to teach you through
[Rachel Tenney]His Word, how to do that. You aren't
[Rachel Tenney]on your own. As entrepreneurs, we deal with
[Rachel Tenney]a lot of loneliness and overwhelm. Oftentimes, we
(09:38):
[Rachel Tenney]have so few people in our life who
[Rachel Tenney]really understand the highs and lows of entrepreneurship,
[Rachel Tenney]and who understand how much work running a
[Rachel Tenney]business really is. We look to coaches and
[Rachel Tenney]to business gurus to try to figure out
[Rachel Tenney]how to build this thing. And we do
[Rachel Tenney]what they tell us with mixed success. We
[Rachel Tenney]just wish someone would tell us, here's exactly
(09:59):
[Rachel Tenney]how to do this entrepreneurship thing. Right? Our
[Rachel Tenney]master craftsman, God does not give us a
[Rachel Tenney]playbook of exact business instructions, because then we
[Rachel Tenney]would go off and we would do it
[Rachel Tenney]without Him. Instead, He invites us into a
[Rachel Tenney]relationship, just like He had with Adam and
[Rachel Tenney]Eve in the garden, where He walks with
[Rachel Tenney]us and He counsels us in wisdom as
(10:21):
[Rachel Tenney]we grow into the work that he's laid
[Rachel Tenney]before us. He doesn't give us a step
[Rachel Tenney]by step because he's giving us something better,
[Rachel Tenney]wisdom. And as we learn in the book
[Rachel Tenney]of Proverbs, wisdom isn't a commodity to acquire.
[Rachel Tenney]It's a doorway to a relationship with a
(10:41):
[Rachel Tenney]person, Jesus, who is wisdom personified. Jesus is
[Rachel Tenney]the wisdom of God, as John one fourteen
[Rachel Tenney]and Colossians two three talk about. And Proverbs
[Rachel Tenney]nine ten points to this. The fear of
[Rachel Tenney]the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and
[Rachel Tenney]the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
[Rachel Tenney]We grow in our wisdom by growing in
(11:02):
[Rachel Tenney]our relationship with Jesus. And that's the beautiful
[Rachel Tenney]journey that we have ahead of us. As
[Rachel Tenney]we learn to live out the calling that
[Rachel Tenney]God has called us to in our entrepreneurial
[Rachel Tenney]endeavors, it presses us into our Savior. We
[Rachel Tenney]run to Him for guidance, wisdom, strength, and
[Rachel Tenney]confidence. Okay, there's one last insight that I
(11:24):
[Rachel Tenney]have from this beautiful word, Eragon. Part of
[Rachel Tenney]the commentary I found on Eragon is this
[Rachel Tenney]little quote here. Eragon describes the performance of
[Rachel Tenney]a process that arose from an already established
[Rachel Tenney]larger economy. Okay. So the cool thing about
[Rachel Tenney]that is that the very word Eragon has
(11:44):
[Rachel Tenney]a sense of community built into it. We
[Rachel Tenney]don't do our work in isolation. We're part
[Rachel Tenney]of something bigger. We are joining God in
[Rachel Tenney]the redemption of the entirety of reality, physical
[Rachel Tenney]and spiritual aspects alike. And our businesses are
[Rachel Tenney]not in a vacuum. Our businesses are part
[Rachel Tenney]of the redemptive work God is accomplishing and
[Rachel Tenney]part of the work that God's people are
(12:05):
[Rachel Tenney]accomplishing. That means we need each other to
[Rachel Tenney]do this work faithfully. The world tells you
[Rachel Tenney]that you can be a self made woman,
[Rachel Tenney]but do not settle for that shallow vision.
[Rachel Tenney]We are made to be communal humans doing
[Rachel Tenney]work together with God, and together with each
[Rachel Tenney]other. And that's what the Voca Society is
(12:25):
[Rachel Tenney]here to help you do. We were never
[Rachel Tenney]designed to walk this entrepreneurial path on our
[Rachel Tenney]own. We need Jesus. We need the word
[Rachel Tenney]to equip us, and we need his people
[Rachel Tenney]beside us. So I hope that you walk
[Rachel Tenney]away from this verse and from this beautiful
[Rachel Tenney]Greek word, ergon, feeling so seen. You are
(12:47):
[Rachel Tenney]not in this on your own. The Bible
[Rachel Tenney]is rich with teaching, and reproof and correction
[Rachel Tenney]and training in righteousness, so that you can
[Rachel Tenney]be equipped for every good work. Yes, your
[Rachel Tenney]business included. PS, if you get hung up
[Rachel Tenney]on the man of God language in Second
[Rachel Tenney]Timothy three seventeen, I just wanna break this
[Rachel Tenney]down for you really quick. Man is the
(13:09):
[Rachel Tenney]Greek word anthropos, which is where we get
[Rachel Tenney]our English word anthropology. It means mankind, and
[Rachel Tenney]it includes both men and women. So it's
[Rachel Tenney]not excluding women when it uses that term.
[Rachel Tenney]I hope that you walk away, and I
[Rachel Tenney]pray that you walk away from this episode,
[Rachel Tenney]so encouraged to see that everything you need
(13:31):
[Rachel Tenney]is in scripture. Everything you need is in
[Rachel Tenney]God Himself. And He's giving you, He's equipping
[Rachel Tenney]you to do the work that He's laid
[Rachel Tenney]before you to do. There is so much
[Rachel Tenney]in scripture to equip us in our businesses.
[Rachel Tenney]We just need to learn how to find
[Rachel Tenney]it. And that's what I want to help
[Rachel Tenney]you do in the Voca Society. A big
[Rachel Tenney]part of my calling is to help you
(13:54):
[Rachel Tenney]see how much scripture actually has to say
[Rachel Tenney]about business, and to feel so equipped through
[Rachel Tenney]scripture like this verse talks about. But I
[Rachel Tenney]don't want you to just hear my insights
[Rachel Tenney]here on the podcast. I want you to
[Rachel Tenney]come into our community, the Voca Society, and
[Rachel Tenney]I want you to hear from a whole
[Rachel Tenney]community of women who are doing this together
[Rachel Tenney]because you need more than my perspective. So
(14:15):
[Rachel Tenney]check the show notes for a link to
[Rachel Tenney]where you can join. And if you want
[Rachel Tenney]to use the code welcome, you can get
[Rachel Tenney]two free months. I truly want you to
[Rachel Tenney]experience this because I think it will change
[Rachel Tenney]your business life. I'm giving you two months
[Rachel Tenney]free because I want to make this a
[Rachel Tenney]no brainer for you. I believe that this
[Rachel Tenney]will change your business life. So come join
[Rachel Tenney]us in the VOCO society. I cannot wait
(14:36):
[Rachel Tenney]to meet you, to hear about your business,
[Rachel Tenney]and to encourage you along this journey. If
[Rachel Tenney]you've received value from this podcast, cast your
[Rachel Tenney]vote by taking a minute to rate it
[Rachel Tenney]on Apple Podcasts. It seriously helps the podcast
[Rachel Tenney]so much and helps get this message into
[Rachel Tenney]the hands of other women like you. Also,
[Rachel Tenney]if you're tired of walking the entrepreneurial path
(14:57):
[Rachel Tenney]alone, come on and join us in the
[Rachel Tenney]Voca Society, a community of like minded women
[Rachel Tenney]who want to experience a gospel centered culture
[Rachel Tenney]of female entrepreneurship. You can learn more about
[Rachel Tenney]the Voca Society at voca society dot com
[Rachel Tenney]forward slash join. Can't wait to see you
[Rachel Tenney]A warm welcome to the Voca podcast. Thank
[Rachel Tenney]you so much for being here. The world
[Rachel Tenney]has a lot of messages for us female
[Rachel Tenney]entrepreneurs. Messages like how to motivate ourselves, what
[Rachel Tenney]our identity should be, and what success looks
[Rachel Tenney]like. Sadly, many of those messages are also
[Rachel Tenney]marked by toxicity, self aggrandizement, misaligned work life
[Rachel Tenney]balance, and mysticism. The last thing you need
(00:22):
[Rachel Tenney]as an exhausted entrepreneur hungry for motivation is
[Rachel Tenney]a minefield of messages. My name is Rachel
[Rachel Tenney]Tenney, and I'm a wife, mama, church member,
[Rachel Tenney]and small business owner that believes that the
[Rachel Tenney]gospel applies to all areas of life and
[Rachel Tenney]that keeping our eyes on Jesus changes how
[Rachel Tenney]we do business. So if you're eager to
[Rachel Tenney]explore what theology applied to your entrepreneurial life
(00:44):
[Rachel Tenney]looks like, this podcast is for you. Let's
[Rachel Tenney]chat. All scripture is breathed out by God
[Rachel Tenney]and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
[Rachel Tenney]and for training in righteousness, that the man
[Rachel Tenney]of God may be complete, equipped for every
[Rachel Tenney]good work. Second Timothy three sixteen through seventeen.
(01:06):
[Rachel Tenney]Okay. So question for you. Do you see
[Rachel Tenney]your entrepreneurial work in this passage? If you
[Rachel Tenney]don't, then there are some really encouraging insights
[Rachel Tenney]ahead for you. Most of us have been
[Rachel Tenney]taught to understand this verse as referring to
[Rachel Tenney]good works in a ministry sense only. We
[Rachel Tenney]think it's saying the Bible is profitable for
[Rachel Tenney]pastors and people who teach the Bible and
(01:27):
[Rachel Tenney]for Christians when they do ministry and outreach,
[Rachel Tenney]so that they can be equipped for counseling
[Rachel Tenney]sessions, preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and ministry to the
[Rachel Tenney]poor. But is that actually what this verse
[Rachel Tenney]is saying? Bear with me as we dive
[Rachel Tenney]into just a tiny bit of Greek, because
[Rachel Tenney]trust me, you're gonna walk away feeling so
[Rachel Tenney]seen by God himself in your role as
(01:49):
[Rachel Tenney]an entrepreneur. So the Greek word here for
[Rachel Tenney]work is ergon, and it has a very
[Rachel Tenney]comprehensive meaning. The new Thayer's Greek English lexicon
[Rachel Tenney]defines it as three things. One, business, employment,
[Rachel Tenney]that with which someone is occupied. Two, any
[Rachel Tenney]product whatsoever, anything accomplished by hand, art, industry,
(02:13):
[Rachel Tenney]or mind. And three, an act, deed, or
[Rachel Tenney]thing done. So very comprehensive. Right? But did
[Rachel Tenney]you catch that? The most basic understanding of
[Rachel Tenney]this word is actually business. And while it
[Rachel Tenney]means more than business, it does not mean
[Rachel Tenney]less than business. Now our modern Christianity has
(02:33):
[Rachel Tenney]an unbiblical dualism in it that elevates the
[Rachel Tenney]spiritual over the physical. And I've talked about
[Rachel Tenney]this in episode twenty three, the things of
[Rachel Tenney]Earth on this podcast. And what this does
[Rachel Tenney]is it creates what I call two boxes
[Rachel Tenney]Christianity, where we compartmentalize our lives into two
[Rachel Tenney]boxes the box of stuff that God cares
[Rachel Tenney]about, and the box of stuff that He
[Rachel Tenney]doesn't care about. So the box of stuff
(02:54):
[Rachel Tenney]that God cares about is stuff like reading
[Rachel Tenney]the Bible, praying, helping the poor, evangelism, discipleship,
[Rachel Tenney]all that stuff. And then the box of
[Rachel Tenney]stuff that God doesn't really care about is
[Rachel Tenney]all the rest of life. And as business
[Rachel Tenney]women, this Two Boxes Christianity puts our business
[Rachel Tenney]in the box of stuff that God doesn't
[Rachel Tenney]really care much about. And that is so
[Rachel Tenney]disheartening. I want you to think about this.
(03:18):
[Rachel Tenney]Most people spend half of their life at
[Rachel Tenney]work or in their occupation. Half. If you
[Rachel Tenney]believe deep down that God doesn't really care
[Rachel Tenney]about half of your life, you're going to
[Rachel Tenney]have a hard time seeing Jesus's relevance to
[Rachel Tenney]the rest of your life. But Jesus isn't
[Rachel Tenney]just Lord of the spiritual realm only. He's
(03:39):
[Rachel Tenney]Lord of everything. He made a physical world.
[Rachel Tenney]He made us physical creatures. He became physical
[Rachel Tenney]to save us, and he will remain in
[Rachel Tenney]a physical body for eternity. He did a
[Rachel Tenney]physical job of carpentry for over eighty percent
[Rachel Tenney]of his life. He came to redeem the
[Rachel Tenney]physical world. If you don't believe me, read
[Rachel Tenney]Romans eight twenty one. And we will live
(04:02):
[Rachel Tenney]in a renewed physical Earth, where we will
[Rachel Tenney]build houses, live in them, plant vineyards and
[Rachel Tenney]eat their fruit. See Isaiah sixty five verses
[Rachel Tenney]seventeen, twenty one and twenty three. So this
[Rachel Tenney]two boxes, Christianity does not come from Scripture.
[Rachel Tenney]Elevating the spiritual over the physical is not
[Rachel Tenney]biblical. It comes from ancient Greek philosophy, and
(04:22):
[Rachel Tenney]I talk more about that in that episode,
[Rachel Tenney]number twenty three, the things of Earth. So
[Rachel Tenney]go listen to that if you're interested in
[Rachel Tenney]more on that. But the Bible has a
[Rachel Tenney]much more holistic understanding of our world, of
[Rachel Tenney]us, and of our lives that sees our
[Rachel Tenney]work as a fully embodied thing. So going
[Rachel Tenney]back to our Greek word, ergon, and this
(04:43):
[Rachel Tenney]is a definition I found online. It says,
[Rachel Tenney]Eragon encompasses a wide range of activities from
[Rachel Tenney]mundane tasks like farming and building to more
[Rachel Tenney]abstract notions such as moral achievements and spiritual
[Rachel Tenney]contributions. This flexibility allows Eragon to convey a
[Rachel Tenney]holistic view of human activity. And for the
(05:03):
[Rachel Tenney]source on that, go find the show notes
[Rachel Tenney]and all of my sources will be linked
[Rachel Tenney]in there. So in other words, our verse
[Rachel Tenney]two Timothy three seventeen encompasses a holistic view
[Rachel Tenney]of human activity. All the work that you
[Rachel Tenney]do is the good work that Scripture equips
[Rachel Tenney]you for, not just for spiritual ministry activities.
(05:23):
[Rachel Tenney]Another verse that uses this Greek word ergon
[Rachel Tenney]is one that I reference all the time
[Rachel Tenney]here in the Voca Society, Ephesians two eight
[Rachel Tenney]through ten. Starting in verse eight, for by
[Rachel Tenney]grace you have been saved through faith. And
[Rachel Tenney]this is not your own doing. It is
[Rachel Tenney]the gift of God, not as a result
[Rachel Tenney]of works, ergon, so that no one may
(05:45):
[Rachel Tenney]boast. For we are his workmanship, created in
[Rachel Tenney]Christ Jesus for good works, ergois, which is
[Rachel Tenney]a related word to ergon, just a different
[Rachel Tenney]form of the Greek, which God prepared beforehand
[Rachel Tenney]that we should walk in them. So this
[Rachel Tenney]verse perfectly teaches us how to work from
(06:05):
[Rachel Tenney]a place of gospel fueled motivation. It says
[Rachel Tenney]that we're saved through faith, not our works.
[Rachel Tenney]So this frees us up emotionally from the
[Rachel Tenney]bondage of trying to earn God's approval through
[Rachel Tenney]our works. But we are God's workmanship. God
[Rachel Tenney]is the one who's doing the work of
[Rachel Tenney]sanctification in us, Philippians two thirteen. And He's
[Rachel Tenney]the one that's accomplishing His work through our
(06:28):
[Rachel Tenney]efforts, First Corinthians three six, where Paul talks
[Rachel Tenney]about I planted in Apollo's water, but God
[Rachel Tenney]gave the growth. So God is the master
[Rachel Tenney]craftsman. And one of the primary things He
[Rachel Tenney]created us to do is work like He
[Rachel Tenney]does. It's one of the ways that we
[Rachel Tenney]reflect His image in us. He created us
[Rachel Tenney]to take dominion in the world, and He
(06:48):
[Rachel Tenney]even planned out all of the work, ergon,
[Rachel Tenney]that we would do in our lifetimes before
[Rachel Tenney]he made the world. I will never get
[Rachel Tenney]over how cool that is. This means that
[Rachel Tenney]as you clean your house, prepare meals, brush
[Rachel Tenney]your teeth, create landing pages, build your email
[Rachel Tenney]lists, and serve your clients, you are doing
(07:09):
[Rachel Tenney]the good works that God prepared for you
[Rachel Tenney]to do even before he made the world.
[Rachel Tenney]And like I like to say, God knows
[Rachel Tenney]your to do list better than you do.
[Rachel Tenney]He's been thinking about it before He even
[Rachel Tenney]created the planet. The motivation that you have
[Rachel Tenney]in marking stuff off your to do list
[Rachel Tenney]is not that you would earn favor with
[Rachel Tenney]God through your work. Right? That's what verse
(07:30):
[Rachel Tenney]eight talks about. We don't earn God's favor
[Rachel Tenney]through our work. We are saved by grace,
[Rachel Tenney]not by our works. But rather we are
[Rachel Tenney]motivated by gratitude because of what He's done
[Rachel Tenney]in our life. And our response to His
[Rachel Tenney]work is to want to join Him in
[Rachel Tenney]His work that He's doing in the world.
[Rachel Tenney]Yesterday, I was brought to tears as I
(07:51):
[Rachel Tenney]watched my almost two year old trying to
[Rachel Tenney]vacuum just like mommy. He's so little, he
[Rachel Tenney]can barely hold the cordless vacuum. But he
[Rachel Tenney]wants to emulate me. He's not earning my
[Rachel Tenney]favor by vacuuming. I mean, let's be honest,
[Rachel Tenney]kids helping out often makes more work, not
[Rachel Tenney]less in the beginning, right? But he's working
(08:12):
[Rachel Tenney]because it's part of the identity that he's
[Rachel Tenney]growing into as a child of mine and
[Rachel Tenney]as a human made in the image of
[Rachel Tenney]God. So he's working out of his identity,
[Rachel Tenney]not to earn his identity. That's how it
[Rachel Tenney]is for us with God. We are saved
[Rachel Tenney]by faith, not our works, but we are
[Rachel Tenney]saved to our works, to dominion, to go
(08:34):
[Rachel Tenney]do the things that God planned for us
[Rachel Tenney]to do. We are given the immense privilege
[Rachel Tenney]of joining God in His work of dominion.
[Rachel Tenney]Okay, but but if you're like me, you're
[Rachel Tenney]thinking, that's so cool, but also I have
[Rachel Tenney]no idea how to go about doing this.
[Rachel Tenney]I don't even know where to begin. And
[Rachel Tenney]that's where we circle all the way back
[Rachel Tenney]to the first verse we started with. All
(08:56):
[Rachel Tenney]scripture is breathed out by God and profitable
[Rachel Tenney]for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
[Rachel Tenney]training in righteousness, that the man of God
[Rachel Tenney]may be complete, equipped for every good work.
[Rachel Tenney]Do you see it now? You were created
[Rachel Tenney]by God to do good work, to image
[Rachel Tenney]how your Father works, and you aren't left
[Rachel Tenney]to figure out how to do that on
(09:17):
[Rachel Tenney]your own. Your Father, the master craftsman, the
[Rachel Tenney]one who created this whole world and everything
[Rachel Tenney]in it, is here to teach you through
[Rachel Tenney]His Word, how to do that. You aren't
[Rachel Tenney]on your own. As entrepreneurs, we deal with
[Rachel Tenney]a lot of loneliness and overwhelm. Oftentimes, we
(09:38):
[Rachel Tenney]have so few people in our life who
[Rachel Tenney]really understand the highs and lows of entrepreneurship,
[Rachel Tenney]and who understand how much work running a
[Rachel Tenney]business really is. We look to coaches and
[Rachel Tenney]to business gurus to try to figure out
[Rachel Tenney]how to build this thing. And we do
[Rachel Tenney]what they tell us with mixed success. We
[Rachel Tenney]just wish someone would tell us, here's exactly
(09:59):
[Rachel Tenney]how to do this entrepreneurship thing. Right? Our
[Rachel Tenney]master craftsman, God does not give us a
[Rachel Tenney]playbook of exact business instructions, because then we
[Rachel Tenney]would go off and we would do it
[Rachel Tenney]without Him. Instead, He invites us into a
[Rachel Tenney]relationship, just like He had with Adam and
[Rachel Tenney]Eve in the garden, where He walks with
[Rachel Tenney]us and He counsels us in wisdom as
(10:21):
[Rachel Tenney]we grow into the work that he's laid
[Rachel Tenney]before us. He doesn't give us a step
[Rachel Tenney]by step because he's giving us something better,
[Rachel Tenney]wisdom. And as we learn in the book
[Rachel Tenney]of Proverbs, wisdom isn't a commodity to acquire.
[Rachel Tenney]It's a doorway to a relationship with a
(10:41):
[Rachel Tenney]person, Jesus, who is wisdom personified. Jesus is
[Rachel Tenney]the wisdom of God, as John one fourteen
[Rachel Tenney]and Colossians two three talk about. And Proverbs
[Rachel Tenney]nine ten points to this. The fear of
[Rachel Tenney]the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and
[Rachel Tenney]the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
[Rachel Tenney]We grow in our wisdom by growing in
(11:02):
[Rachel Tenney]our relationship with Jesus. And that's the beautiful
[Rachel Tenney]journey that we have ahead of us. As
[Rachel Tenney]we learn to live out the calling that
[Rachel Tenney]God has called us to in our entrepreneurial
[Rachel Tenney]endeavors, it presses us into our Savior. We
[Rachel Tenney]run to Him for guidance, wisdom, strength, and
[Rachel Tenney]confidence. Okay, there's one last insight that I
(11:24):
[Rachel Tenney]have from this beautiful word, Eragon. Part of
[Rachel Tenney]the commentary I found on Eragon is this
[Rachel Tenney]little quote here. Eragon describes the performance of
[Rachel Tenney]a process that arose from an already established
[Rachel Tenney]larger economy. Okay. So the cool thing about
[Rachel Tenney]that is that the very word Eragon has
(11:44):
[Rachel Tenney]a sense of community built into it. We
[Rachel Tenney]don't do our work in isolation. We're part
[Rachel Tenney]of something bigger. We are joining God in
[Rachel Tenney]the redemption of the entirety of reality, physical
[Rachel Tenney]and spiritual aspects alike. And our businesses are
[Rachel Tenney]not in a vacuum. Our businesses are part
[Rachel Tenney]of the redemptive work God is accomplishing and
[Rachel Tenney]part of the work that God's people are
(12:05):
[Rachel Tenney]accomplishing. That means we need each other to
[Rachel Tenney]do this work faithfully. The world tells you
[Rachel Tenney]that you can be a self made woman,
[Rachel Tenney]but do not settle for that shallow vision.
[Rachel Tenney]We are made to be communal humans doing
[Rachel Tenney]work together with God, and together with each
[Rachel Tenney]other. And that's what the Voca Society is
(12:25):
[Rachel Tenney]here to help you do. We were never
[Rachel Tenney]designed to walk this entrepreneurial path on our
[Rachel Tenney]own. We need Jesus. We need the word
[Rachel Tenney]to equip us, and we need his people
[Rachel Tenney]beside us. So I hope that you walk
[Rachel Tenney]away from this verse and from this beautiful
[Rachel Tenney]Greek word, ergon, feeling so seen. You are
(12:47):
[Rachel Tenney]not in this on your own. The Bible
[Rachel Tenney]is rich with teaching, and reproof and correction
[Rachel Tenney]and training in righteousness, so that you can
[Rachel Tenney]be equipped for every good work. Yes, your
[Rachel Tenney]business included. PS, if you get hung up
[Rachel Tenney]on the man of God language in Second
[Rachel Tenney]Timothy three seventeen, I just wanna break this
[Rachel Tenney]down for you really quick. Man is the
(13:09):
[Rachel Tenney]Greek word anthropos, which is where we get
[Rachel Tenney]our English word anthropology. It means mankind, and
[Rachel Tenney]it includes both men and women. So it's
[Rachel Tenney]not excluding women when it uses that term.
[Rachel Tenney]I hope that you walk away, and I
[Rachel Tenney]pray that you walk away from this episode,
[Rachel Tenney]so encouraged to see that everything you need
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[Rachel Tenney]is in scripture. Everything you need is in
[Rachel Tenney]God Himself. And He's giving you, He's equipping
[Rachel Tenney]you to do the work that He's laid
[Rachel Tenney]before you to do. There is so much
[Rachel Tenney]in scripture to equip us in our businesses.
[Rachel Tenney]We just need to learn how to find
[Rachel Tenney]it. And that's what I want to help
[Rachel Tenney]you do in the Voca Society. A big
[Rachel Tenney]part of my calling is to help you
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[Rachel Tenney]see how much scripture actually has to say
[Rachel Tenney]about business, and to feel so equipped through
[Rachel Tenney]scripture like this verse talks about. But I
[Rachel Tenney]don't want you to just hear my insights
[Rachel Tenney]here on the podcast. I want you to
[Rachel Tenney]come into our community, the Voca Society, and
[Rachel Tenney]I want you to hear from a whole
[Rachel Tenney]community of women who are doing this together
[Rachel Tenney]because you need more than my perspective. So
(14:15):
[Rachel Tenney]check the show notes for a link to
[Rachel Tenney]where you can join. And if you want
[Rachel Tenney]to use the code welcome, you can get
[Rachel Tenney]two free months. I truly want you to
[Rachel Tenney]experience this because I think it will change
[Rachel Tenney]your business life. I'm giving you two months
[Rachel Tenney]free because I want to make this a
[Rachel Tenney]no brainer for you. I believe that this
[Rachel Tenney]will change your business life. So come join
[Rachel Tenney]us in the VOCO society. I cannot wait
(14:36):
[Rachel Tenney]to meet you, to hear about your business,
[Rachel Tenney]and to encourage you along this journey. If
[Rachel Tenney]you've received value from this podcast, cast your
[Rachel Tenney]vote by taking a minute to rate it
[Rachel Tenney]on Apple Podcasts. It seriously helps the podcast
[Rachel Tenney]so much and helps get this message into
[Rachel Tenney]the hands of other women like you. Also,
[Rachel Tenney]if you're tired of walking the entrepreneurial path
(14:57):
[Rachel Tenney]alone, come on and join us in the
[Rachel Tenney]Voca Society, a community of like minded women
[Rachel Tenney]who want to experience a gospel centered culture
[Rachel Tenney]of female entrepreneurship. You can learn more about
[Rachel Tenney]the Voca Society at voca society dot com
[Rachel Tenney]forward slash join. Can't wait to see you
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