Guardian

Suffering well at work points the world towards Jesus

Do you remember your first boss?

Papa Wallace was my first boss.

I was 12 and he chose me to cut his grass each week.

I say chose because he was meticulous about his yard.

He wouldn’t let me use the riding lawn mower - it didn’t cut smoothly enough.

So each week I pushed his mower around his acre and a half yard.

But I learned a lot.

My boss for my first official job was Gene Eubanks.

Gene was a good first boss - he taught me a lot about how to work for someone.

He was a fair minded Christian man - stern and tough - but a good guy.

I learned a lot from him.

I’ve had lots of bosses over my career and I’ve learned a lot from all of them.

I learned the value of loyalty by A.J. Moran’s example.

I learned how to navigate high level bureaucracy from Karen Cryan.

I learned the value of team work from my supervisor Brian, at Wilson Truck Lines while I was in seminary.

I didn’t particularly care for what some bosses taught me.

I learned what injustice looks like up close and personal from one of my bosses at IBM.

I learned what infidelity will do to the people around you from a boss at BellSouth.

And I learned what harassment looked like while I worked for satan’s spawn at BellSouth.

If you’ve ever held a job, you probably could say some of the same things.

The last time we talked about 1 Peter, Peter taught us how to be Christians in relationship to our government.

Today, he’s going to teach us how to be Christians in relationship to our employers.

And, not so strangely I suppose, he’s going to talk about how to suffer under bad bosses.

Turn with me if you will to 1 Peter chapter 2, we’ll be looking at verses 18 - 25.

And while you look, let me speak to the kids.

Kids,

Unless your parents are insanely rich - and I don’t think any of yours are or our offerings would be higher

So, since your parents aren’t insanely rich - you will end up having a job.

And if you have a job, you will have a boss.

Sometimes you will have a good boss.

And sometimes you will have a bad boss.

And since neither you nor your parents are insanely rich, you can’t just quit.

You’ll have to go to work and deal with it.

So I guess, in this case, you could say this message doesn’t speak to you yet.

But I believe it does because - you go to school.

And sometimes you get the greatest teacher in the world

And sometimes you don’t.

Sometimes you are the teachers pet and sometimes it seems you can’t do anything right for the teacher.

In effect, your teacher is your boss.

So this message does speak to you.

It’s easy to go to school when you have that wonderful teacher that thinks you walk on air.

But today we’re going to talk about how you go to school when your teacher just isn’t all of that - know what I mean.

Listen closely because, how you suffer under the teacher that you don’t like might just help someone else know Jesus.

And really, that’s what you want to do - you want to Make Jesus Known.

Listen closely and see what the Holy Spirit says to you.

So, everyone, your Bibles open, hear now the Word of the Lord from 1 Peter 2:18–25

1 Peter 2:18–25 ESV

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

Ya’ll pray with me.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Our Shepherd and the Protector of our Souls,

Lord you know those in this congregation who are suffering hardships at work

You know the trials and tribulations that are many - and the victories seem to be so few.

Dear Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, please speak Your truth into our hearts

So that we might find favor with you and lead our friends and co-workers to Jesus.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Three points - God knows, God is proud and God’s purpose

So, point number one

God knows

Look at verse 18 1 Peter 2:18 “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”

If we are going to see how this applies to us, we’ve got to understand what the 1st century person was thinking when they heard the word servant.

Your translation might use the word slaves which is accurate but unfortunate because the word slave for us has so much baggage.

In their world, the word Peter uses here isn’t a slave like we think of coming over on a slave ship.

Many of these servants were employees.

Some were skilled in the trades.

Some were teachers and musicians - even doctors and nurses

And they all earned a livable wage.

They were servants in the sense that they ‘belonged’ to one master - they couldn’t quit and apply for another job some where else.

The Roman government had extensive laws protecting the rights of these servants.

They could even save up their money and purchase their freedom - and some did.

So when Peter addresses these “servants,” he addressing “the working man” and “the working woman.”

So he tells the workers to “be subject to your masters with all respect.”

Ok guys, here’s the deal - in our participation trophy culture, many new hires come into their companies thinking that they should have a voice in how the company runs

They should be able to name their hours and working conditions

And even how much they think they should be paid.

But guys, here’s a hard reality - see the word masters?

Yeah, replace that with the word “bosses”

You might think you deserve all of that, but the boss is the boss and the boss gets to decide.

“Be subject to” means to be submissive.

That word means the same thing everywhere you read it - it means to think of the other person more highly than you think of yourself.

So, employees, think of your bosses as more highly than yourselves “with all respect.”

The word respect is the word “fear,” and it’s the same word we use when we say fear God.

The difference here is, in the context of human relationships, this fear means “a healthy desire to avoid their displeasure.” (Grudem)

So I had not been working long at IBM.

I worked in the mailroom and after a few months worked my way up to running a satellite mailroom off campus from headquarters.

Long story short, one day a vice president asked me to do something that was against our policy, so I said no.

I didn’t quite understand corporate hierarchy at the time, so the more she fussed at me, the deeper I dug in my heals

Until she basically chewed me out and left.

When I got back to headquarters that day, my boss called me into his office and told me she had called him.

He told me that I understood the rules correctly and that he told her that, going forward, if she had any problems with my performance, she was to talk to him and not me.

He gently put her in her place.

But then he said, “If you ever have something like this happen and I don’t hear it from your lips first, I’ll fire you myself.”

Needless to say, from then on, anytime anything went sideways, I’d call AJ and let him know because

I had “a healthy desire to avoid [his] displeasure.”

I was submissive to my boss with all respect.

I suspect that every one of us who has ever worked for anyone has experienced this

And if you haven’t had a job yet, well, suit up - it’s going to happen.

But then Peter says something I don’t think we particularly care to hear - 1 Peter 2:18 “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”

Now, we all know good and gentle, right?

But unjust - the word Peter uses is the root word for our word skoliosis.

Skoliosis is when your backbone gets crooked.

The word unjust means crooked.

We don’t submit only to the good bosses - we submit to the crooked ones as well.

Now, we never submit to unGodly directions.

If the crooked boss tells you to do something that is unGodly - you submit to God there, not the boss.

But if your boss is rude, or arrogant, or abrasive, or - as in my case at BellSouth - harassing - submit with all respect.

Meet their crooked with God’s straight.

Now, here’s what we need to see here - in all of this - when you have a great boss and when you have a jerk - what is the common denominator.

God knows.

Peter wouldn’t be talking about this if God wasn’t involved in our work lives.

When you have a great boss, God knows.

When you have a jerk for a boss, God knows.

When you act towards your boss with Godliness, God knows.

If you are a great boss, God knows.

And if you are a jerk boss, listen, the Lord knows.

The Lord is involved in every aspect of our lives including our work life

And - listen - in our work lives we have the opportunity for the Lord to be proud of us.

I want you to hear that again - you and I can make the Lord proud of us.

Point number 2,

God is proud

So what is this saying?

If you have ever worked, at some point you’ve had a really hard time - boss, job itself, both - just hard.

You feel beat down, depressed, trapped - maybe even hopeless.

I know that feeling.

So how do you live in the middle of that that makes God proud?

Look at verses 19 & 20 1 Peter 2:19–20 “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

I know we are doing a lot of words here, but I don’t want us to miss this

Listen real closely, I’m going to use some different words and change the order just a little, so here goes:

When you keep taking the abuse while suffering under the hands of a bad boss and you do it because you know how you are acting as the Lord would want you to , this is a real good thing.

See, this is the key to dealing with a bad boss - quit focusing on the bad boss - the boss is bad

Bad bosses do bad things - why are we surprised every time the bad boss does something bad.

They are bad - bad people do bad things - it’s a given.

So instead of hoping today will be different, focus instead of the what you are getting out of your rotten situation.

Listen, the Lord sees you and - listen, listen - the Lord is proud of you.

If you are doing good - if you are acting Godly in an unGodly situation, “this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

The word gracious there is literally the word grace which means a gift.

What you are doing - how you are enduring well - when you keep taking the abuse graciously because you know God is honored by how you are behaving

This is a gift in the sight of God.

It is your gift to Him - that you are acting as He would act so people will see Him.

I never thought of my time enduring the abuse at the hand of satan’s spawn as a gift to God

But right here, God is telling us in His Word, that when we follow Him in the very hard times - not accidentally but because we are determined to follow Jesus

God counts our actions as a gift.

To the brother or sister in here who is getting absolutely pummeled right now while you are doing your best to be like Jesus

Listen to me - God is Proud of you.

God sees your suffering and He sees your desire to follow Him and He sees how hard you are struggling and He is so very proud of you.

Imagine that - the almighty God of the universe is proud of you.

God is proud of you.

Point number 3

God has a purpose for our suffering

Verses 21 - 25 1 Peter 2:21–25 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

This kind of lays it out plainly, right - “For to this you have been called…”

I know we all ask at some time, why does God allow suffering?

It’s a fair question but it’s been answered already - again, go back to Genesis 3.

Our ancestors didn’t follow the Lord and they set us up to have hard lives.

I think the words are, “by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.”

Listen, if you are sweating, what you are doing is hard.

And if it is hard because what you are doing is sinful, well, you’re getting what you deserve.

Look back at verse 20 - that’s exactly what Peter is saying.

But, if life is hard because you are enduring through suffering - well, you were called for that

And, and you were given an example of how you are supposed to bear up under the abuse.

The end of verse 21 literally says, “so that you might follow in [Jesus’] footsteps.”

Now, now, I want us to think.

Peter goes into detail about Jesus suffering - and he pulls his examples from Isaiah 53.

Peter reminds us that Jesus did nothing wrong, yet He did not deceive, he did not revile, he did not threaten

Instead Jesus “entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

Entrusted Himself - I love that word - it means Jesus - listen - for those of us who have never trusted Jesus as Savior - here is what the Lord is asking you to do

Entrusted literally means Jesus handed Himself over to the Father for the Father to do as He pleased

Because Jesus knew the Father would judge justly.

It wasn’t fair for Someone who was sinless to pick up our sins and carry them in his body to the cross.

It wasn’t fair that Jesus would suffer for things He never did .

Jesus paid the penalty for our sins - because what did verse 20 say, if you are beaten for the sins you commit, what fame is there in that?

Our sins had to be punished - a just God could not simply walk away and ignore our open rebellion against Him.

That would not have been right - that would have been injust.

So our punishment was poured out on our brother Jesus - and He graciously endured and made the Father proud.

There is credit in doing that - in verse 20 the word credit means fame or glory.

And Jesus deserves the glory for what He did.

Now for us - here is the purpose in our noble suffering - there are two parts and you’ve heard one already.

Your noble suffering makes God proud of you.

That’s kind of amazing and it makes me feel real good.

The Lord is proud of us when we bear up under unjust abuse.

But there is an even bigger purpose.

Why did Jesus suffer?

Look at verse 25 - 1 Peter 2:25 “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

When you suffer like Jesus did, people are drawn to Jesus.

Maybe not your abuser, but maybe.

But those around you who are watching you - who see you suffer nobly and honorably

Bearing up under abuse without turning into an abuser yourself.

People see you.

People realize that there is something different about you and then they find -

What does the verse say - the Shepherd and Overseer - there is a word I like better - the NASB uses it

The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

They find Jesus.

Last word - how do you know the Lord will give you the power to endure?

Look at the end of verse 24 1 Peter 2:24 “By his wounds you have been healed.”

For the word healed, substitute the word “cured.”

“By his wounds you have been cured.”

Cured of what?

Cured of sin

Cured of the inability to do the right thing.

Cured of being self centered

Cured of telling yourself you just aren’t capable.

You are capable.

You can walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

You have been cured.

Brothers and sisters, let that marinade in your heart until you can’t sit still anymore.

We are able because we have been cured.

And friend, if you aren’t a Christ follower - why would you reject so great a salvation?

You too can be cured.

Turn yourself over to the Father - tell the Lord you want to follow Him and never go back to your past.

Tell the Lord you want to be cured.

Ask Him to cure you - and you will be cured.

Let us pray.