The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered" (Isaiah 56:8).

In Deuteronomy, Moses prepares Israel to enter the land of promise. As they settle in, they will finally be able to develop the habits enabling them to be God's holy people. Part of the preparation is defining who is in and who is out. Access to this holy people, and consequently to their God, is quite limited. All folks with mutilated genitalia and many foreigners are excluded (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1-8). Interactions with non-Israelites were strongly regulated to minimize the temptation to worship other gods.

This history lies in the background of our text dealing with Israel settling back into the land after the Babylonian exile. Isaiah 56 has to do with who is in and who is out. It reads very differently than Deuteronomy.

Here are a few verses, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths…And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him…all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain" (4,6,7).

Wow. God specifically mentions those kept out in Deuteronomy. There is only one condition spelled out…keep Sabbath! This is the mark of membership, an act of generous incorporation that was previously unheard of. It allows the life of God's Israel to spill over among those who have been excluded but are now to be welcomed.

Sabbath becomes the requirement for membership because it represents a disengagement from the producer-consumer rat race of the empire, then and now. It demonstrates a visible trust in God rather than self. Members of any race or nation, any gender or social condition are welcomed so long as that person is defined by justice, mercy, and compassion, and not by competition, achievement, production or acquisition. Sabbath keeping is the link between loving God with our whole beings and loving our neighbours as ourselves.

Jesus' cousin, John, worked this out with those who thought they had an automatic in because of their heritage. He told them not to count on their lineage, instead they ought to concern themselves with fruit that comes from repentance (Matthew 3:8-10).

What kind of fences do we put around church membership? How far are we willing to invite people in? Do we keep certain people at arms length? How long do people need to show up before they are no longer newcomers? Isaiah 56 prompts these kinds of questions.

Further, John's comment about fruit leads us to Galatians 5 where Paul gives an extensive list of sour grapes. These things, wrath, violence, lusts, envy are the product of the rat race. This is what grows in those who refuse Sabbath.

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit has room to grow in Sabbath keepers. What practices and habits do you have that enable you to step out of the rat race for the sake of Sabbath? There is great pressure to ignore Sabbath, even in the church. Isaiah calls us back to rest not as a burden but as a gift, as a means to joy in the Lord (7).

As you journey on, hear Jesus' invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Don't pay back evil with evil…Don't let evil overcome you. Overcome evil by doing good (Romans 12:14, 17, 21).

What do we do in the face of evil? This is the question that ends Romans 12. Its not theoretical; its personal. "How should Christians respond when evil is done to us"? The answer is: "Don't let evil overcome you. Overcome evil by doing good."

Evil is insidious. It begins small, a trickle, which, if not stopped, becomes a flood that fills us. In the end, it will overcome us. Evil works that way. It grows. It begins with a thought, a flash of anger and builds until it bursts out of us.

It will grow and poison everything it touches. It is said that Eric and Dylan, perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre, were motivated by revenge. They felt mistreated, rejected, and abused, and this was a way of taking revenge and getting back—evil responding to evil, hate responding to hate. It was reported that, as they entered the building, they shouted, "This is for all the people who made fun of us all these years," and then they laughed and opened fire. They allowed hate to take root in their hearts, and it grew until the fruit of it erupted in violence.

This idea lies at the heart of the epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Both stories also contain the Biblical antidote: love. How do we counter evil? By overcoming it with good.

Paul has written about love, the agape of God towards us. We don't deserve it, yet he gives it to us. God comes to us in the blood of Jesus and forgives all the evil we have done. He overcomes our evil with his goodness.

This is God's master plan of salvation. His purpose is to reclaim His creation from the control of evil, transform it, and bring it back under the sway of His righteousness. In other words, He will overcome the world's evil with His good. In following the command of Christ to "bless and not curse" (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28) and by returning good for evil, we do as God does, and we become active participants in His great plan for the world.

Jesus experienced all the hatred and injustice and violence that the leaders of this world could pour out on him. He was victim of the mindless hate and the violence of the crowd and the Roman soldiers, who used him as an excuse to vent the hatred in their hearts.

But Jesus did not take on and return their hate, and He did not let it change Him from His course of revealing the Father's love, His love even for God's enemies. Love is stronger than hate because hate enslaves, while love brings freedom. He forgave His enemies.

Christ, when he died by submitting himself to the hatred of his accusers, offered us a solution to the hatred and injustice of the world. Without him, it is eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. But now there is a new way. This does not mean that justice has been abolished. But it means that we are relieved of the burden of justice. We can leave that to God. And we can love our enemies because God loves us.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

"May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

For in [Christ] all things were created…all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:16-17, 19-20)

Again, I want to address the question, "Why produce a weekly podcast on the subject of work?" Work must be understood here as more than what we do to earn a paycheck. It includes that, of course, but also other regular things we do to live in this world. Things like the laundry, the dishes, mowing the grass or shoveling snow. It includes driving our children or grandchildren to school or dance lessons. Often, we preachers make it sound like these are irrelevant to the mission of God in the world. That is wrong.

Dorothy Sayers once advised preachers,

When you find a [person] who is a Christian praising God by the excellence of their work—do not distract them and take them away from their proper vocation to address religious meetings... Let them serve God in the way to which God has called them... [Do] not take them away from it, so that they may do ecclesiastical work for you. But, if you have any power, see that [they] are set free to do their own work as well as it may be done. They are not there to serve you; they are there to serve God by serving their work (Creed or Chaos?).

In these weekly podcasts addressing work, I hope to "set you free to do your work as well as it may be done…to serve God by serving your work". I hope you come to understand more deeply that the mission of God includes your whole life.

This mission includes the Great commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) and the Great Commandment to love God and neighbour (Matthew 22:36-40). But it also includes the Cultural Mandate to explore, name, develop and cultivate the creation (Genesis 1:28). Neither the arrival of sin, nor the arrival of Jesus to redeem creation nullified that mandate. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment do not lessen the value of our work.

What better way to participate in this mandate then to do our everyday, mundane, ordinary work well, offering it to God for his glory and for the good of humanity? When you are at work you are in a context where pastors and missionaries rarely if ever show up. It is in that place that God has called you to cultivate creation, love your neighbour and bear witness to the goodness of the gospel.

The mission of God includes the renewal, restoration, and reformation of all things. All Christian, in all industries, are invited to participate in this comprehensive mission. Our workplaces are the critical spaces where we will either learn to follow Christ faithfully or walk away from him. Our workspaces are integral to the mission of God, no sideshow. There, you are at the leading edge of God's reconciling work.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.