We Never Learned to Be the Employee, But We Want to Be the Boss

Sermon outline

A thriver must take off the survivor's distorted lenses and recognise the four devourers of Joel, distraction, fear, secret sin and apathy, because God does not just stop the pests; He restores sevenfold what they have eaten.

1. Do the Bible, and be one person

   Not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" enters the kingdom, but the one who does the Father's will. Do good without needing to be known as the one who fixed it. The real work is doing the Bible, which builds godly character on the rock, so you are not a yo-yo, high one day and flat the next. You cannot serve two masters or be one person on Sunday and another on the boys' or girls' night out.

   “The work is actually doing the Bible.”

   • Matthew 7:21-27
   • Matthew 6:3
   • Matthew 6:22-24

2. Recap: the survivor's lenses

   Moving from survivor to thriver requires metanoia, a complete transformation of the mind, because a lens clouded by past trauma makes us sabotage what God is doing. He recaps the lenses from the week before: the cracked windscreen, the rear-view mirror of past failure, the polarised lens of betrayal that trusts no one, the infrared lens of anger that sees everyone as an opponent, the old prescription that tries to do in 2026 what worked in 1965, and the dark tint of grief and depression.

   “What worked back in 1965 is definitely not gonna work in 2026.”

   • Isaiah 43:19

3. The telescope: the lens of escapism

   Hurt people look to the horizon, saying one day it will change, and miss the blessing right in front of them. The survivor says "I will thrive when I finally get there"; the thriver has a vision for tomorrow and the wisdom and patience to work with today.

   “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it.”

   • Psalm 118:24

4. The frosted lens of confusion

   Trauma leaves a mental fog, like frosted glass in a bathroom, where you see only an outline. Many young people want to trade online from a beach in Bali with a Ferrari at home, without the knowledge or character to sustain it, when only a handful of traders make it. God is not the author of confusion but of peace, and His peace is worth more than complete clarity.

   “We never knew how to be the employee, but we wanna be the boss.”

   • 1 Corinthians 14:33
   • Romans 8:28

5. The periscope: the lens of comparison

   Comparing your behind-the-scenes with other people's highlight reels poisons a Christian. Couples keep score of who took out the trash and who did the homework, and siblings of who looked after the parents, carrying a chip on the shoulder like a parrot saying "me, mine". Husband and wife do not have to agree on everything, but they must be in unity, each in their God-given place, or the blessing comes only in drips. Stay in your lane and celebrate others.

   Illustration: If someone else drives a BMW and you drive a Toyota Corolla, or takes an Uber while you take the train, thank God for what you have; it is for a season.

   “You don't have to agree about anything, but you have to be in unity.”

   • 1 Peter 3:7
   • Genesis 2:24
   • John 21:22

6. The thief must repay sevenfold

   Restoration means returning something to its owner and former condition. When the thief is caught he must repay sevenfold, so take your eyes off what you lost and look at how the Lord will turn it around. To thrive, you must understand what consumes your growth: Joel names the palmerworm, the cankerworm, the caterpillar and the locust, stages that together wipe everything out, and promises to restore the years they have eaten.

   “Whatever the enemy has stolen, the promise to you is to pay back seven times.”

   • Joel 2:25-27
   • Proverbs 6:30-31
   • Joel 1:4

7. The palmerworm: distraction and discouragement

   The palmerworm shears like a sheep shearer, cutting off your covering piece by piece without killing you at once. Scrolling Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok steals hours you should have spent being sensitive to God, and discouragement follows. It cuts away your greenery, your enthusiasm and your praise until you look barren to others and start comparing.

   Illustration: Two men lose their hair. One panics about transplants and wigs and thinks no one will respect him; the other says he is exactly who God made him. The same event, two experiences, because of the lens.

   “You are still alive, but you have no beauty. There's no shade to offer.”

8. The cankerworm: fear and insecurity

   The cankerworm, the licker, eats the tender new growth: every new word, step and open door. It is the spirit of fear and insecurity. It attacks your resolve on the first morning of a fast, whispers at work that the boss does not see you, and tells a wife she is not loved and will be left. It is the lens through which Moses made excuses at a burning bush that should have been his surge. But you are adequate, because God has given you all things for life and godliness.

   Illustration: You start a fast with the church and by ten o'clock you are eating McDonald's.

   “You are adequate and you are who God has called you to be.”

   • Exodus 3:2-3
   • Exodus 4:10
   • Daniel 3:25-27
   • 2 Peter 1:3
   • 1 Corinthians 12:11

9. The caterpillar and the locust: secret sin and apathy

   The caterpillar, the finisher, eats the bark and the very substance: character, finances and health, until secret sin becomes the coping mechanism for everything lost, hidden even from a spouse, until you cannot lift your hands in church. The locust devours your prayer life, integrity and passion, leaving a tree that one storm can knock over: the eleventh lens, apathy, that says "I don't care". Yet God restores, and what would have taken twenty years He can do in two.

   Illustration: Climbers on the Himalayas adapt to thinner and thinner air to survive; a Christian disconnected from the Father adapts to loss the same way, through a secret coping mechanism.

   “God doesn't just stop the pests. He restores everything that it stole seven times.”

   • John 10:10

In this message