THE CHRISTIAN WORK ETHIC
Notes
Transcript
Working our way through Ephesians we come to a passage that deals with slaves and masters, which is simply building on the theme of the past dozens of verses dealing with submission and authority. Thank God and Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionists that slavery is no longer the basis of our economy. But there are still some relevant principles in our text that can be applied to our employer/employee relationships that are a major part of our lives.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ATTITUDE
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ATTITUDE
Deep respect
Deep respect
There are 3 attitudes that every worker should make a point of cultivating in your life. Some have jobs and bosses that will make these attitudes easy/almost natural. Some it will take a morning pep talk to yourself everyday to pull it off, but either way, if you want God’s blessing and your bosses blessing, Paul is giving you sage advice.
The first is respect…NLT deep respect. NKJV fear and trembling, which in our vernacular is probably a bit of an overstatement but in the Greek the idea is a truly deep respect. The NLT nails it.
There is, in my experience, a built in antipathy between labor and management. It is common for the laborer to think that his management doesn’t know what he knows about his job. “What does he know about building a house? He’s never poured a foundation! He can’t wire his Christmas lights! He don’t know anything about plumbing. The only copper he’s ever touched is his pennies!!”
Most men who have ever risen in a company or a trade have either worked hard to get there and must work hard to stay there.
I know there are the occasional undeserving, but that is irrelevant. If God saw fit to promote him, we have to respect that. If you can’t respect the man, respect the position. Respect the authority. Respect the office. If he’s a bum, he won’t be there for long. If you don’t respect the office, you won’t be there for long!
Do not curse the king, even in your thought;
Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom;
For a bird of the air may carry your voice,
And a bird in flight may tell the matter.
Sincerity
Sincerity
Then Paul throws this word into the mix, which makes it even more challenging. SINCERELY, With SINCERITY.
This is not the Eddie Haskell type of respect. This is not, if you’ll pardon the saying, brown nosing. This is something your are going to have to coerce your heart to buy into!
Paul keeps coming back, as we will, to the idea of, “as unto the Lord”. Our translation has it: “ Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ”…with the same sincerity.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
We all know we can’t con God!! It’s going to have to go deeper than just what you say!
The word haplotaytie implies an element of generosity. This is not a begrudging respect. I guess I have to respect you if I want to keep my job, but a large hearted respect! So what I said earlier about respecting the office might be your first baby step but you eventually are going to have to put your big pants on and actually respect the man!
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm
Then Paul adds the cherry on top: Enthusiasm. The word is a little more expansive than that, including loyalty, zeal, devotion, and affection. Maybe you could write those words down and work your way toward all that. But just plain old enthusiasm is hard enough sometimes.
My Daddy always said, “Any job worth doing is worth doing right.” If you’re flipping burgers you want to give your customers the best burgers you can flip! If you’re digging ditches you want to out dig a dog burying its bone! If you’re preaching you want to swing for the bleachers every time you get behind the pulpit. You might only get a grounder for a single but don’t let that be because you didn’t try!!!
It is admittedly hard to be enthusiastic about a job that feels pointless, but there’s always a point. If nothing else, there is the testimony of honest, ethical work done with a good spirit and joy. If you can’t be enthusiastic about your job, be enthusiastic about the God you serve.
WORKING FOR GOD
WORKING FOR GOD
As Slaves of Christ
As Slaves of Christ
And that is where Paul actually takes the discussion, as I’ve already stated. You aren’t working for your boss in the end, you’re working for God!
Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ... As slaves of Christ...as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people...
Remember Paul is talking to slaves, so when he refers to them as slaves of Christ he is changing the identity of the master. It is no longer an earthly master, it is Jesus that they are working for.
The practical applications of that are sobering.
God is Watching
God is Watching
V.6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Keeping watch on the evil and the good.
“For His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Remember the Reformation truth: Coram Deo, living before the face of God. When you are working for God, there is no slack nor theft nor water cooler gossip nor flirting with the secretary that goes unobserved. Pastor Mitchell always said that behavior that is observed is behavior that is changed.
If I am indeed working for God, then there is no time when your boss isn’t watching!! And then consider:
God’s Payday
God’s Payday
Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
God ultimately signs your paycheck!
I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
Both enjoying the good of all his labor and the labor itself is the gift of God. It all comes from God.
For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
We all know that your not going to get a raise by leaning on your shovel. You want your boss to catch you going the extra mile, not sleeping at your desk!
DIGNITY
DIGNITY
There is another facet of work that is embedded in our text that you can easily miss, but it is perhaps the most important take away from any discussion of work. It has to do with your dignity.
Men who don’t work have no source of dignity. They can’t point to a job well done. They can’t point to provision for their family. They can’t point to growth or achievement. They can’t point to any meaningful involvement in the human experience.
This is implied in our text.
God’s Word to Masters
God’s Word to Masters
God speaks to masters in v.9, telling them to treat their slaves well. Paul is drawing on the OT here.
‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.
This was far more humane than most of the epics of slavery and labor relations in the past. Our own history bears the mark of Southern slave owners who fought to preserve their property for as far as their laws were concerned, slaves were not people, they were property! I was just in the Abraham Lincoln museum and that was the political position of the Democrats in the 1860s (and in the years preceding). It led to a Civil War…but I digress.
The Source of Dignity
The Source of Dignity
God serves notice in our text that masters (and in our modern context employers) are to treat their employees with respect…not threatening. The idea is extracting service by fear. Lording over them from a position of superiority and controlling them unrighteously.
And it is here that God levels the playing field. Masters: you too work for God and he has no favorites, he shows no partiality. You are all of equal value to God.
The boss isn’t superior to the employee. The laborer is not superior to management. You all work together for me, saith God!!
Any authority you may have is derived from God! Any skills, any wisdom and insights you may have, all come from God. This may be hard on your ego, but it all comes from God, not from some inner greatness that you may think you possess. We are all of us in the employ of the all wise God who gives and takes away according to His great wisdom.
O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
The Ultimate Master
The Ultimate Master
If this is true, then I am as important as the CEO. The CEO might not believe that, but it is true. The elite are blinded by their wealth and their earthly power, but it is a delusion. We all have different gifts, but a gift can’t make you superior. It is a gift! You didn’t make it. You didn’t earn it. A gift says nothing about the recipient. It says everything about the giver.
I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
And we are all working for the ultimate Master.
Rejoice that He saw fit to give you life! Rejoice that there is eternal purpose in your life. Sometimes it can be hard to discern, but in that day it will all come to light.
with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
Ultimately we are working for God!