Rooted In Our Wealth 24

Keeping The Master In View

Text: Ephesians 6:5-9

Introduction

Have you ever had a job you liked?

Work is a gift from God and we should always be thankful for work!

Have you ever had a job that you did not like?

While there are many reason why someone can grow to hate the job they currently do. That being said, in what way should a Christian approach a job that provides food on the table, God hasn’t given you the go ahead or the open door to work somewhere else, yet you wish every day was you last day there?

Another aspect is to consider exactly WHY you fulfill your daily vocation!

On one level you could say you work because people pay you. Right. No one has an addiction to cleaning septic systems or cleaning dog kennels. Often people pay others to do undesirable tasks. But something greater than money should motivate us. Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 157.

Before I dive in to that very important application, I want to take some time and unpack what was happening at this point in time and clarify who Paul’s audience was.

Main Idea: Paul gives instructions to slaves and masters, exhorting them to glorify Christ with proper attitudes, work ethic, and a deep awareness of Christ’s lordship.

Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 156.

1) Paul Undermines Slavery

American slavery was primarily racial and lifelong. In Paul’s day it was not racial, and it was not always lifelong. There were some similarities but it was different. Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 158–159.

A. Historical context for slavery

Estimated 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.

Slavery was accepted in Mediterranean economic life.

Quote: Snodgrass reports, “In the Greco-Roman world slavery was so much a part of life that hardly anyone thought about whether it might be illegitimate”

Facts/Quote: They did not merely do menial work; they did nearly all the work, including oversight and management and most professions. Some slaves were more educated than their owners. They could own property, even slaves, and were allowed to save money to buy freedom. No slave class existed, for slaves were present in all but the highest of economic and social strata. Many gained freedom by age thirty. — Snodgrass

In the first century Roman world a slave had the potential to even become his master’s heir and inherit as estate worth millions.

There were also different classes: Lionel Casson describes the white-collar slaves — “But there also fell to them much white collar work: they were clerks, cashiers, bookkeepers of Ancient Greece and Rome. And they manned not only the lower levels of such work but the upper as well. Banks were owned by wealthy Greek or Roman families, but the officers who were in charge of them could be slaves or freedmen.”

Slaves could obtain freedom!

Example: Historians claim “Felix” who was famous for throwing Paul in Prison worked his way from slavery to governorship in Judea.

Race was not a factor in first century slavery.

B. Did Paul or the Apostles endorse slavery?

NO!

Christians were insignificant in number at that point.

Many humanitarian laws were being put in place then and up to around 500,000 Romans slaves were freed around 81 B.C. & 49 B.C.

That being said, that is why Paul did not consider to write much about slavering.

Paul was spending his time providing instructions on how to conduct one’s self in household relationships and responsibilities within society.

Paul was not writing a document about changing the social structure.

C. Christians oppose slavery!

Luke 10:27 “27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Matthew 7:12 “12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Slavery is never viewed positively in scripture!

Luke 4:18 “18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

Leading believing slaves and masters by means of the Gospel was Paul’s greatest weapon toward slavery!

2) Paul’s Christ-Centered Perspective

A. “as unto Christ”

You notice this in verses 5-8

The command is very clear; LIVE ALL OF LIFE FOR CHRIST.

As tempting as it is to see the human authority, the Christian is to see DIVINE authority.

Jesus is your ultimate master!

So, what if you can’t transfer jobs?

Paul’s solution was for the Christian to transfer MASTERS.

Christ-centered perspective.

This frees you from the mundane nature of your job.

This frees you from the aggravation your job can create.

B. Paul’s words to the slaves

Notice verse 5

Obey with respect

Your employer may not very well deserve it, but CHRIST DOES.

Notice verses 5-6

Paul mentions a WHOLE-HEARTED approach.

Don’t be a hypocrite.

Common temptation: laziness and lying

Christ sees everything!

Notice verse 7

Work with a willingness to be benevolent.

Your are doing God’s will after all!

Notice verse 8

Work expecting reward from their ultimate master.

The very way of which they approached their work, they would be judged for.

C. Paul’s words to Masters (v9)

They were to treat their slaves the same way they would want to be treated.

How you treat them, you are treating Christ the same way.

They were to avoid any hostility!

Refrain from harsh threatenings

Christian masters were to be different from others.

Never to embrace bullying.

Keep their own accountability in view.

Proverbs 22:2 “2 The rich and poor meet together: The Lord is the maker of them all.”

Proverbs 29:13 “13 The poor and the deceitful man meet together: The Lord lighteneth both their eyes.”

Proverbs 15:3 “3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.”

Be impartial

Show no favorites.

On the last day, the Lord is completely impartial.

What all of this did was shorten the distance between servant and master.

3) Being Christ-Centered Changes How You Live

A. Work through Christ

Paul’s audience is the Christian church.

There are people with spiritual NEW LIFE.

The Holy Spirit indwells them.

Nothing you do you do alone.

Example: Joseph is a good example of that. Went from betrayal, to prison, to second in command to Pharoah… “the Lord was with Joseph.”

Question: How often do you pray before you go to work or start your daily responsibilities?

B. Work like Christ

Jesus is our greatest model for the work ethic we should have.

Philippians 2:7 “7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”

Luke 19:10 “10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Mark 10:45 “45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Jesus worked a job until he was 30 years old with his earthly father figure.

The same people who knew him through Joseph’s business, He would teach later about who He really was and what He actually came to do.

C. Give Your best service to Christ

Quote: Did anybody thus dream of supervising Raphael and Michelangelo to keep them to their work? No, the master artist requires no eyes to urge him on. Popes and emperors came to visit the great painters in their studios, but did they paint better because these grandees gazed upon them? Certainly not! Perhaps they did all the worse in the excitement or the worry of the visit. They had regard to something better than the eyes of pompous people. — C.H. Spurgeon

Quote: John Stott said, “It is possible for the housewife to cook a meal as if Jesus Christ were going to eat it, or to spring-clean the house as if Jesus Christ were the honored guest. It is possible for teachers to educate children, for doctors to treat patients and nurses to care for them, for shop assistants to serve customers, accountants to audit books and secretaries to type letters as if in each case they were serving Jesus Christ.”

Jesus saved you for a purpose to do good works!

Don’t focus on the nature of your job, but rather be faithful to the master you placed you in that job.

D. Give your best leadership to Christ

You can’t do this without the grace of Jesus Christ!

2 Corinthians 11:28 “28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 “9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Jesus led with the Father as His ultimate Master.

You saw this in his words, actions, and attitude.

The hammer, the towel, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection.

Conclusion

When it comes to how we relate to people, what we consider is important, should not reset on the words of our culture. Let’s make sure we allow God and God alone to shape our relationships and our value!

That being said, Jesus desires a relationship with you and let you experience how valued you are by experiencing his amazing saving grace!