Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Spirit Filled at Work*
*Ephesians 6:5-9*
There is a tendency for us to compartmentalize our lives.
We have our church life, our work life, our home life, our school life, our leisure life, our financial life, etc.
We have a tendency to separate these aspects into compartments and keep them from mingling.
Jesus fits nicely into our church life.
We are all about Jesus while we are at church.
But we don’t want Him showing up at home or on the lake or in the classroom, or at the bank.
We certainly don’t want him showing up at our workplace.
I would say that the easiest and most frequent place to compartmentalize is our work life.
Think about this.
Now just counting the hours you are awake, the average person will spend about 35% of his or her life at work between ages 20 and 65.
That is an average of 90,000 hours.
Some people will spend more than that.
Now compare that with how much time you will spend at church.
Again, this is built on the assumption that you are awake, if you spend four hours a week at church, that is only 3.5% or 9000 hours of your life during the same time frame.
The average person will spend 10 times the amount of hours at work than they will at church.
If you compartmentalize your relationship with Christ to your “church life” you are basically saying that 35% of your adult life is off limits to Jesus.
This causes me to ask an important question.
Is Christ transforming your work or is your work transforming you?
The section of Ephesians which we have been studying explodes the idea of compartmentalization.
We are told to be filled with the Spirit and to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
So far so good.
Sounds churchy.
I can do that.
But then Paul starts telling us that being filled with the Spirit has implications for our marriages.
He tells us being filled with the Spirit has implications for our parenting.
Now, to top it off, we are told that being filled with the Spirit has implications for our work.
What is going on here?
You see what all this means is that knowing Jesus as Lord means putting our whole life under His Lordship, including our work.
Being filled with the Spirit means demonstrating the influence of the Spirit at work.
*Slaves and Masters*
You will notice that this paragraph is addressed to slaves and masters.
Slavery was everywhere throughout the Roman Empire in Paul’s day.
However, it was not the same as the slavery we think of in this country during the 18th and 19th centuries.
It was not racially driven.
It was economically and politically driven.
People could become slaves by being taken captive in war.
They could indenture themselves into slavery to pay a debt.
They could be born as children of slaves.
During the early Christian period it is estimated that 50% of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves.
Slaves made up the majority of the labor force in ancient Rome.
Slaves were also sometimes professional people like doctors, administrators, and household managers.
The Bible in both OT and NT recognizes and regulates the institution of slavery.
However, it never condones it.
In fact, it is historically true that wherever the gospel is carried to its logical conclusions, slavery disappears.
Now, thank God we do not have slavery in this nation any longer.
But the principles addressed by Paul to slaves and masters translate nicely into our modern-day employer~/employee framework.
So, let’s notice what Scripture teaches us about being Spirit-filled at work.
*For Whom Do You Work?*
The instruction in this passage is predicated on an ultimate principle.
That principle is this: If you are a Christian, you work for Jesus Christ.
You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker that says, “My boss is a Jewish Carpenter.”
I’m not big on bumper sticker theology, but that one has a ring of truth to it.
Whether you are the employee or the employer, the business owner or the independent contractor, as a Christian you are ultimately accountable for your work to Jesus Christ the Lord.
Note the phrases addressed to employees in vv. 5, 6, 7.
· As to Christ
· As slaves of Christ
· As to the Lord
Note the way employers are addressed in v. 9.
* Their Master and yours is in heaven
The significance of these phrases is that you work for the Lord Jesus Christ.
If someone says, “who do you work for?”
You may say, Spirit or Boeing, or Cessna, or Dillons, or Wal Mart.
You may say “I own my own business.”
You may say, “I work for Country Acres Baptist Church.”
But ultimately, above that earthly employment, you answer to Jesus Christ.
As a Christian, you serve Him supremely.
That means that how you relate to your employer, your employees, your company is governed by and influenced by your relationship to your Lord – Jesus Christ.
Both your tasks and your relationships at work need to have the marks of Christ on them.
This means that no matter what you are doing, it has eternal significance.
There is no unimportant work when you realize that you are working for Christ.
The value of your work is not derived by the nature of the task but by the realization that it is done “as to the Lord.”
TS: Now, since that is the case, there are certain qualities which demonstrate a Christ-honoring work ethic.
Let’s see what those are for both employees and employers.
I.
Spirit-filled employees serve their employers for the glory of Christ.
A.
They serve by respectful obedience.
1.
This is built on the authority structures displayed in
this section of Ephesians.
Employers have authority
that is to be recognized and honored.
2.
This means that employees are to do as directed with
a respectful spirit (fear and trembling).
Of course,
this authority does not require an employee to do
something illegal, immoral, or blasphemous.
B.
They serve with sincere eagerness.
1. /Sincerity of the heart/ = singleness of heart, unmixed
purity of motive.
A heart that is not full of ulterior
motives but undivided in its desire to serve.
2. /Not with eyeservice as menpleasers/ = a term which
may have been coined by Paul, eyeservice refers to
working hard when the boss is looking so you will
make a good impression.
It is the worker whose
activity and production rises and falls with the level
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