(M005) Leadership and Submission 05_In the Workplace
Mid-Week Teaching
Leadership, Respect, & Submission
Part V: In the Workplace
Ephesians 6:5-9
May 2, 2013
(6:30) ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Starting at 6:30.
* Pay for dinner.
* Buy book (link online).
(6:40) PRAYER
(6:45) OPENING
Q What was your worst job? Why?
(6:50) HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES
1. Does the Bible support slavery?
* Slavery was different.
* Danger of speaking against.
2. Is this the same as employer/employee relations?
Key hermeneutical principle is making sure the application fits the original context.
* This is not an exact match, the way “husbands and wives” is.
However, these still have many very relevant applications: If this is how you should act if you are a slave, how much more if you are paid? How much more if you do not own the other person?
(7:00) EMPLOYEES
Let’s read:
Ephesians 6:5-8 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
There are several key points to bring out:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart,
Two key points:
1. Do your job.
My brother-in-law had a bumper sticker, “You can’t fire me, slaves have to be sold.”
Slaves had a reputation for laziness because they could not be fired. They tended to work only under threat of punishment.
* Christians should have been (and still should be) the prime example of hard work.
EG: Skipping chapel in order to contradict image.
2. Be respectful
Christians should be the most respectful employees, because of what is inside of us, that we have been changed.
* It is not enough to fake it, “sincerity of heart.”
Q How can you show genuine respect even when your boss doesn’t merit respect?
Q How can we show sincere respect when we don’t feel it?
Ultimately, it is for the same reason we do our job really well:
3. Lordship extends to your job.
just as you would obey Christ.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad your boss is, ultimately you work for God.
Q How does “Christ is Lord” affect how you work?
* Hard work: Laziness is as unthinkable as theft.
* Theft (even of petty items) is off limits.
Q What are some good and bad examples you have seen?
* Quality: Work as worship.
Q Has your hard work and quality ever been noticed?
4. No brown-nosing.
Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Literally “eye-service as people-pleasers.”
Doing the right thing for self-promotion fails when we don’t get noticed.
5. You will be rewarded.
because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
Q How do you think we are rewarded?
In some way, your work ethic is one of the things that we are judged/evaluated on in Heaven.
6. Witness to your boss and fellow employees
Titus 2:9-10 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Q Is your boss more or less likely to seek God because of you?
(7:15) BOSSES
Ephesians 6:9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
While not as applicable to us today, this was some pretty progressive stuff: All the dividing lines between classes were gone.
1. Act like Jesus
* I think the key to being a Biblical leader is summed up in WWJD – being a master like Jesus.
That can be best expressed in this passage:
Mark 10:42-45 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Q How do we serve those under us?
You are there to serve them and serve your boss. You should be more concerned about their wellbeing than your own.
Q What do you employees need?
a. Money
b. Work
c. Respect
Q What are the barriers in your place of work to be “Servant boss”?
2. Be a witness to your employees
Q Are those under you more or less likely to want to know Jesus?
(7:40) GROUP ACTIVITY
Divide into 2 groups: Employee (John or Gordon?) and boss (Josh)
B/E: What is your biggest struggle as an employee/boss?
B: Best leadership advice?
E: How to lead from below?
B/E: Are those in your workplace more or less likely to follow God because you are there?
B/E: What can you do different to change that?
(7:50) PRAYER
CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENTS:
* Pick up kids quickly.
* Take survey.
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