Glorifying God in Your Work
You are Richer than You Think • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsChristians should use their earthly jobs as an opporunity to accomplish their Kingdom work.
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As we continue in this section of Ephesians, Paul has been teaching us how we are suppose to glorify God within the family. The key is to understand that God has set the family unit up with order and has assigned each person in the family roles they are to function in. The heartbeat of it all is an understanding of submission. He introduces this whole concept in
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The husband submits to Christ by giving sacrificial, loving leadership to his wife. He should model himself after Christ’s love for the church. The wife submits to Christ by supporting her husband, loving him, encouraging him. She models herself after the church’s love for Christ. Children submit to Christ by submitting to their parents authority through obedience. Parents submit to Christ by cherishing their children and bringing them up to love the Lord and obeying him.
If he was talking about the modern day family, that would pretty much be it. But, there was another component to the first century family that he had to speak to. Slaves.
Slaves were a major part of first century society. They served the home and the society in integral. Slaves would have made up around one-third of the population in a city like Ephesus that Paul was writing to . Slavery no matter how you slice is horrible. One person should never own another no matter what. Paul never condoned slavery. But to understand the direction that I am going to apply this, you need to understand something about the type of slavery that Paul was addressing.
First century slavery were different from the institution of slavery in North America during the 17th-19th centuries. First century slaves generally were permitted to work for pay and to save enough to buy their freedom. The type of slavery seen in North America were humans are trafficked is seen as sin in the New Testament.
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
Now, thankfully, we don’t have slave owners and slaves a members of the church. Unfortunately, sex trafficking in America is far worse than it should be. But, no form of slavery is condoned in society or in the church. So, how does this apply to us? When we look at what Paul says to the slaves and the masters, we begin to see how it applies. He teaches each of them how to related to each other in a way glorifies God.
Remember that he is talking to believing slaves. You can imagine that in their flesh they want to resent and rebel against their masters. And, the Masters are believing slave owners. You can imagine that in their flesh they want to take advantage of their authority and abuse it. But, Paul calls both of that out and teaches them to honor God as they relate to each other.
That’s a similar kind of authority and submission to authority that we experience in the workplace today. Bosses in their flesh will take advantage of employees as it serves their purposes. And, employees often resent their bosses and resent their work. They do it because they have to pay the mortgage, but not because they really believe in their jobs and want to help the boss or business prosper.
So, I’m going to apply this by asking of it, “How do we glorify God in our jobs?”
He first starts by speaking to believing slaves, so let’s think about that as it applies to believing employees.
I. Employee, approach your earthly job as a means to accomplish your Kingdom work. (vv.5-8)
I. Employee, approach your earthly job as a means to accomplish your Kingdom work. (vv.5-8)
If you are a believer, God has a job for you to accomplish in his Kingdom. You first and foremost have a Heavenly boss. You have been saved to serve him. As a matter of fact, the NT calls us now, not slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God.
The same type of authority
God did not
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
Why don’t we become bondservants of men? It’s because we no longer work first and foremost for any man. We work for God to accomplish is work for us. And he has work for us. In , if you remember, just as soon as Paul was finished explaining that we are saved by grace he tells us that God has prepared work for us to accomplish.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Eph. 2
We all have work to do. People ask me all the time, I just don’t know what that work is God wants me to do or I would do it. Just like you should use your earthly role as a Father, Mother, Husband, Wife, or child to accomplish what God wants you to accomplish. You can use your earthly work as a means to accomplish your heavenly assignments.
Paul called himself a bondservant
How do you do that?
A. Respect your boss in a way that marks you as a follower of Christ. (v.5)
A. Respect your boss in a way that marks you as a follower of Christ. (v.5)
Eph.
5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
When you are working for your boss, you are to be mindful of your responsibilities to Christ. You are ambassadors of Christ. Your should serve your boss in a way that you look different than unbelieving employees. You work different than unbelieving employees. You work in a way that would cause your boss to notice that your faith makes you different than everyone else. That glorifies God to your boss and in your profession.
What is the thing that makes the difference?
B. Work with a redeemed attitude. (v.6)
B. Work with a redeemed attitude. (v.6)
5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
Eph.
1. There is something we should do.
1. There is something we should do.
Work “with a sincere heart”- That means we are to work with a purity of intention. We actually love doing our jobs. We are not faking it.
He goes on to say in v.6
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
Eph.
We shouldn’t just look like we care about our job, or for the business that we work for. We should genuinely care about it. When a believer has a job, they should give their very best to it all the time. We should not put on facads that are there to please our boss, but secretly we are looking to do as little as possible and still keep our job. Don’t be the person who rides the coat tales of other workers. Certainly don’t be the employee who takes credit for other people’s work because it makes you look good in front of the boss. That’s what Paul means when he calls us not to be people pleasers. But, do your work “as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” (v.6) *There’s a saying that is used of employees when the boss is out, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” We don’t want to just look like we care about our work. We want to really care about it.
Why? because we realize that the big boss, the one we really care about pleasing is never is never away.
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
should not put on facads that are there to please our boss, but secretly we are looking to do as little as possible and still keep our job. Don’t be the person who rides the coat tales of other workers. Certainly don’t be the employee who takes credit for other people’s work because it makes you look good in front of the boss. That’s what Paul means when he calls us not to be people pleasers. But, do your work “as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” (v.6) *There’s a saying that is used of employees when the boss is out, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”
+If you think about it, Christians should be the very best employees any boss or business could hire.
+If you think about it, Christians should be the very best employees any boss or business could hire.
-Some of you are saying, “Bradley, I hear what you are saying, but you don’t know my boss. You don’t know how miserable they make it for me at work. You work for a church where everyone are believers and never get upset about anything!” Yeah, ok! You can function in that environment when you understand you are not there simply to do a job for a boss. You are there to do a job for your King. Maybe it’s to make a difference in the life of your boss or the people beside you at work.
Believers have unique motivations for work. Everyone else has lower motives for hard work than we do. One person may need to make a paycheck. They motivates their work. Another person has grand goals of greater success and climbing the corporate latter. That motives their work. Anther person has dreams of untold wealth through the company. That motivates their work.
What motivates our work? Well that brings up the thing we should know.
2. There is something that we should know. v.8
2. There is something that we should know. v.8
What do we know that motivates our work? First, we work out of gratitude that God has given us this job to provide for our needs and glorify him. And glorify him by working with integrity , sincerity, and making a difference. V.7. But, we also know that God rewards those who work for him a lot better than any boss could.
Eph.
8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.
Jesus actually said one time that he thought people of this world worked harder to make money on earth than believers did at the work God has for them in the Kingdom.
8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
We should not let a lost world work harder for money, than believers do to please God. Spiritual riches are more valuable than earthly riches. But, here’s the thing. The best workers usually excel. So when we work to please God in our jobs here, it puts us in the best position to prosper, if that what God wants.
II. Bosses, approach your position as an opportunity to accomplish your Kingdom work.
II. Bosses, approach your position as an opportunity to accomplish your Kingdom work.
Eph.
9 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.
A. There is something that we should do.
A. There is something that we should do.
“Do the same to them” (v.9) So you are to use your position as an opportunity not simply to work up the corporate ladder, or even simply to earn living, or simply to benefit the company. You should use your position to accomplish the Kingdom work God has for you.
Employees should look to you and know that there is something different about you. And that your difference is because of your faith in Christ. Paul says, “Stop threatening.” (v.9) That’s what unbelieving bosses do with their authority.
Believing employers should be the best bosses to work for. They should care about their employees. They should pay them fairly and treat them fairly. And believers work for them that should be working hard. So practicing biblical principles is not only glorifying to God, but good for the people, and good for the business.
What motivates this?
So practicing biblical principles is not only glorifying to God, but good for the people, and good for the business.
B. There is something that we should know.
B. There is something that we should know.
9 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.
When it comes to our relationship with God, we are all equal. The only reason that one person is a boss and another is an employee is because God chose it to be that way.
God doesn’t see one as more important than the other. And the point is to do our earthly work to accomplish our Kingdom work.
David Brainerd, the 18th century missionary to the American Indian once said,
“We should always look upon ourselves as God's servants, placed in God's world, to do his work; and accordingly labour faithfully for him; not with a design to grow rich and great, but to glorify God, and do all the good we possibly can.”-David Brainerd