The Employee and the Boss

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

eph 6.9

How do we treat each other?

Does our testimony at work really matter?

What does the bible say about work?

Can we get direction on this matter ?

illustration

bad - complaining spirit, gossip, stealing time etc...

good - working under hard circumstances, not participating in the negative culture

Boss

Treating employees and individuals and compensating them as such

vacation

time off

helping the family

firing not holding on

I Attitude Toward Authority

Ephesians 6:5–6 KJV 1900

5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

eph 6.5-

Be Obedient (6:5a)

“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh.”

The Greek word translated “servants” here is usually translated “slave.”

Slavery was the blight of the age in Roman times. Vast numbers of people—including many members of the early Gentile church—were bought and sold like cattle.

These slaves had no civil rights and were subject to the whims of their masters—for better or for worse. They were considered pieces of property of varying value. In danger of the scourge, the cross, or worse, they were held in the iron grip of relentless laws. The slave revolt led by Spartacus only reinforced the resolve of slave owners to keep their whips in hand.

Many slaves were highly skilled. Some were highly educated.

Some enjoyed, within limits set by entrenched customs, the friendship of their masters. But all slaves lived with the peril of a change of ownership hanging over their heads.

The death of a benevolent master, or his displeasure, could bring a swift change of circumstances.

Often slaves harbored deep resentments.

The Holy Spirit, however, told the enslaved Christians to have a great testimony.

Happily the days of slavery are gone from most of the world. Men are no longer bought and sold like so many pieces of furniture.

Happily the days of slavery are gone from most of the world. Men are no longer bought and sold like so many pieces of furniture. In the workaday world, however, men sell their talents and their time, and the same principles of servanthood apply.

In the workaday world men sell their talents and their time, and the same principles of servanthood apply.

When we accept employment we put our skills at the disposal of our employers for so many hours a day.

We expect certain remuneration for performing certain functions. To that extent, our time and talents are not our own. We have bargained them away.

Thus our employers have every right to expect that we will be industrious, conscientious, and cooperative.

We live in an age of labor strife, but the Holy Spirit does not make exceptions for us.

As Christians we are to be different from other people in the marketplace. We are to be obedient, cheerful, and loyal servants.

We are to be the most willing and diligent people on the payroll. We are to do our best and be dutiful, polite, and dependable. That is the law of Christ.

Joseph followed this law when he worked for Potipher, when he was in prison, and when he moved into the palace.

Genesis 39:3 KJV 1900

3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

God expects the same of us. Others may waste their employer’s time. Others may perform their tasks in a slovenly way. Others may criticize and complain. But we Christians are to obey our masters. It is God’s command.

Joseph followed this law when he worked for Potipher, when he was in prison, and when he moved into the palace. God expects the same of us. Others may waste their employer’s time. Others may perform their tasks in a slovenly way. Others may criticize and complain. But we Christians are to obey our masters. It is God’s command.

Be Subservient (6:5b)

“With fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.”

Subservience is not a quality we admire. Obedience yes, but not subservience. We should not have to stand in fear and trembling before anyone but God.

The subservience demanded in is absolute yieldedness to Christ. The Christian employee must be afraid—not afraid of his superiors in the marketplace, but afraid of disobeying his Lord. If he does not show wholehearted respect to his employer, he is disobeying the Lord.

The word singleness in means wholehearted dedication to the task at hand, the determination to give it all diligence and expedition.

Be dedicated .......

Joe at Ponderosa the dish man .......

Be dedicated and loyal

That kind of dedication sounds like nonsense to many employees today. Today slacking on the job is considered

I was with friends in a fine restaurant in England some years ago. The waiter first asked if we wanted drinks. We declined, and thereafter we were subjected to the most insolent and careless service I have ever experienced in a restaurant. The waiter was barely civil. He practically threw things on the table and took our orders with sneering contempt. We all noticed his behavior. I said to my brother-in-law, “Should we not complain to the management?”

A Christian employee cannot afford to project an image like a slacker . He is to be on the job for Jesus. He should do his work as though the Lord Himself were doing it. He is the only Bible some people will read.

He may not fear his boss. He may find it difficult to like his boss and even more difficult to respect him. But ultimately he is not serving his boss. He is serving the Lord, and he should certainly serve Him with singleness of heart.

Be Diligent (6:6a)

“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers.”

We are not to do our best only when we are being watched, only when we are looking for human approval, or only when the boss is around.

We should disprove that old English proverb: “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” The slave was not to do his best only because he was afraid of being whipped, and we should not do good work only because we are afraid of being demoted or fired.

The Christian employee is to be diligent. He is not to call in sick when he is healthy.

Sarah work on Wednesday ----- let her go home ....

He is not to waste his boss’s time in idle conversation or conduct personal business when he should be working. He is not to drag his feet, pad his break times, arrive late, leave early, or demand that two people do a job he could do alone. Those are the world’s ways, not the Christian’s.

II Attributes of the Christian

Ephesians 6:6–8 KJV 1900

6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

eph 6.6

The Higher Plane (6:6b–7)

b. The Heavenly Master’s Claims (6:6b–8)

(1) The Higher Plane (6:6b–7)

“As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.”

The Lord is always present. We serve Him, not men.

All service is on a higher plane for believers.

We are in God’s will when we do “secular” work, just as much as when we do “sacred” work.

The Holy Spirit in abolishes the distinction between those of us in secular employment and those of us in full time Christian service.

All of us are in the ministry. All of us are in fulltime service—the plumber as much as the preacher, the economist as much as the evangelist, the policeman as much as the pastor, and the miner as much as the missionary.

All these vocations are in God’s will, and God’s will must be done from the heart.

Genesis 39:3 KJV 1900

3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

God’s will for every employee is that he serve his human master with all his heart—with wholehearted commitment to his employer’s gain and advantage. His commitment should be like Joseph’s when he served Potipher. T

When we Christians serve our human masters, we are serving the One who loved us enough to die for us and who gave us an example of service.

Mark 10:45 KJV 1900

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.

Mark 10:5 KJV 1900

5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

Mark 10:45 KJV 1900

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.

mark 10.

That kind of service took Jesus all the way to Calvary.

(2) The Heavenly Plan (6:8)

“Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.”

In the millennial kingdom we will rule cities, counties, provinces, countries, and continents. In eternity we might well manage worlds and galaxies in God’s vast, new empires in space. We are in training for tasks of great honor in eternity as we handle mundane details down here. We may be experiencing scorn and disappointment now, but we will be crowned with glory and honor then.

III Administering of Authority

Ephesians 6:9 KJV 1900

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

“Masters, do the same things.”

The employer expects a fair day’s work; he must give a fair day’s pay. The employer wants the employee to be diligent and promote the best interests of the company; the employer must be diligent and promote the welfare of the employee. Trade unions would never have formed if had been the cornerstone of all employee-management relations.

Trade unions grew out of the “dark Satanic mills” of newly industrialized Europe. The Victorians had their qualms, but largely ignored them in the interests of big business and moneymaking.

Do the same things - expand ....

A horde of ragged women and children swarm about, as filthy as the swine that thrive upon the garbage heaps and in the puddles.… The race that lives in these ruinous cottages behind broken windows mended with oilskin, sprung doors and rotten doorposts, or in dark wet cellars in measureless filth and stench … must really have reached the lowest stage of humanity.

Engels justifiably asked how people who were compelled to live in such pigsties and who were dependent for their water supply on a pestilential stream could live natural lives and bring up children to be anything but savages. What kind of posterity, Engels asked, was England breeding in its feverish search for wealth? The economists of his day gave him no answers. Instead, disease answered. Asiatic cholera in 1831 and typhus in 1837 and 1843 marched out of their strongholds in the industrial towns, defied every effort to halt their spread, and threatened to devastate the entire country.

There were other warnings too. A sullen, savage, and ever-increasing working class was turning against the rest of the nation’s traditions and taboos. Smoldering resentment and discontent were building. Class hatred was growing. Marx and Engels began urging workers to unite. Revolution was in the air. Ever-expanding multitudes felt that this world was nothing but a dingy prison. Rebellion, rancor, and indignation were taking root. In such a soil, orators of social revolution and agitators could thrive.

The world’s answer to this sick society was communism. God’s answer is Christ.

Word about Managerial Restraint (6:9b–c)

The Abuse of Power (6:9b)

“Forbearing threatening.”

The use of the whip hand to keep subordinates in line has been the problem with power from the beginning.

Love, not force or fear, is the best way to encourage people to work.

Force and fear, the weapons most often used by masters and employers, are counterproductive in the end because they breed resentment and rage.

Fear of loosing your job is a terrible way to motivate people

Employers do have the right to use their authority to get things done.

There is a legitimate use of power. All society is based on that premise.

As long as sin reigns on this earth, laws must be enforced. An employee can be punished or dismissed if his behavior warrants such action.

But God forbids browbeating and bullying.

Power has a tendency to erode character. Lord Acton said it well: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Those in power need to watch themselves and be careful not to abuse their power. Giving orders to people feeds the ego and inflates pride. Power is a heady draught. Power intoxicates and calls for more until people with power begin to want power for power’s sake.

The almost unlimited power of slave owners led to fearful abuses. The tyranny of the Nazi concentration camps and the horrors of totalitarian governments also warn of where abuse of power leads.

Paul told us to refrain from threatening. It is contrary to Christian character and violates the law of Christ.

The Abuse of Position (6:9c)

“Knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.”

God is not impressed with a person’s position, but He is keenly interested in what the person does in that position.

There will be abuses of position. Injustices will be done. But there is One who is watching. The Lord has His eye on what is happening, and He has His own way of squaring accounts—sometimes down here, certainly in Heaven.

The day is coming when He will right wrongs and review all lives. Master or slave, it will make no difference then.

According to , God will have the last word, and with this verse Paul ended another segment of his letter.