At Work
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Eph 6: 5-9
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
It’s important to note the
cultural difference between slaves/bondservants of that time (roughly 60AD) and what our perception of slavery is in America today. When looking at passages like these we can tend to look at things in the incorrect lens due to us placing our cultural views into the scripture when things were vastly diffrent back then.
Anywhere between 30-50% of the grecko-roman culture were slaves, in many of the Asia-minor citys slaves out numbered freemen.
Not race/cultural based. They were either prisoners of war or due to being in debuted to someone.
You were able to work off your debt and gain your freedom which took roughly 7-14 years.
Slaves were a normal part of the average household even viewed to be on the same level as children.
there were a few cultures where Slaves could even have there own slaves.
With that being said Paul is not focusing on issue of slavery but instead focusing on how we as Christians can change the way things are done in a way to glorify God.
While doing so we are creating a culture where slavery can’t survive because we are all treating one another as equals (just the way Christ sees us)
What: Do all things for the glory of God.
We spend a large majority of our lives at work, Our families and our work are going to be our greatest mission field
What should we being doing with that time? Col 3:23
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
If you are struggling to feel fulfilled with your work or as if what you are doing does not have a purpose I would first examine yourself and ask ourselves are we doing everything to the best of our abilities for God?
“In the eyes of the Lord, the role of a shopkeeper or house wife are just as important as the role of the priest” - Martin Luther
For me this has naturally opened up the door for so many more conversations about God in my work than anything else.
How do we do this? Let us look at scripture.
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
This word fear in the greek can be translated to a feeling of profound respect for someone/something (reverence)
We are not to be petrified of our “earthly masters” or bosses but we are called to have respect for them
This does not just pertain to that great and amazing boss that is easy to follow. We are called to do this to ALL of our leaders even the ones that we don’t necessarily like.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
Now this doesn't mean that we should do anything sinful or something that goes against the Bible but what this verse is telling us is that we are to give the same respect and effort to that lousy boss/supervisor that we would the great one.
not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
We all know the guy that works a good bit harder when the boss is around and as soon as he leaves he goes back to doing what he isn’t supposed to be doing.
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Understanding that we are serving God with every aspect of our life including work should make us want to work harder to honor and glorify God.
Let this be a way we show the fruit of the spirit a way to show the world Christ is working in us.
rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.
It is all about the intentions of the heart
We must also understand that we may not see the rewards or be given praise for our hard work. But we can rest in the comfort knowing that we will receive those rewards from God and he does not play favorites. Whether you are of the highest social standing or the lowest God treats and most importantly sees us all the same.
We have all heard the saying how you do one thing is how you do everything. We must show it with our actions that we are children of Christ by always giving our best effort
Why: Gods calling, purpose in work, unity as a body
From the beginning we have been called to work Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Work is were we spend the majority of our time. Why wouldn’t we strive to gain unity there as well?
In the second half of Ephesians Paul takes a primary focus on creating unity in the home and shaping a culture of servitude creating unity in the body of Christ and he decides to cap it all off with talking about the working relationship.
When Paul directly addresses Slaves in this text He is repeating a theme throughout the book of Ephesians addressing not only the head of the household but everyone included in the household first. Showing there importance, and the fact that they are just as able to change the culture and atmosphere as the master/boss.
How:
We do this by changing the way we view things, not as one just to please our boss or those around us but one that is about pleasing and working for God.
We look at this scripture Eph 6:5-9 there are 4 mentions of our working being for God and not man.
This view point is the key to gaining that unity in the body. Model our work to be similar to the way of Christ and that can be summed up in one word: Service.
Conclusion
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.
We must do everything for the glory of God. Not with the intention to gain the favor of others but to simply serve and please God.
Our goal should be to create unity in every aspect of our lives and by serving is truly the only way we will be able to accomplish that
In order to find purpose and meaning in our work we must change or view point to be serving God and to also put our best foot forward day after day working for the glory of God.
