015 ST_Working Unto Christ

Working Unto Christ

Happy New Year. A we get started, please turn in your bibles to Ephesians 6. I was privileged a year ago to preach on the first Sunday evening in 2021, and I get to do it again this year. The text I preached a year ago was Eph 1:1-2. We have made it all the way to Ephesians 6, and we only have one study left in Ephesians after tonight. Our text is in Ephesians 6 starting at verse 5 through verse 9.

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 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.

Please pray with me.

Through Jesus Christ, we come to thee our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. Father, in your wisdom, you have given this letter of Ephesians, to instruct us how to live the Christian life, especially how to live with in a Christian community. One would think Christians living in fellowship together would be easy. But since we still live in a world filled with fallen humanity, a world still under the judgment of God, living together isn’t easy. We pray as we study your word this evening that you would open our hearts to understand it so we can apply it. For we ask in Jesus’s name.

To review briefly where we are, we are in the portion of Ephesians where the Apostle Paul is instructing the Ephesians how-to live-in community in love. So, if your Bible is open. Look at Ephesians 5:21. The key instruction Paul instructs for living in community in 5:21 is “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” That is how we live in community. Then the Apostle Paul lays three illustrations of what that looks like. 1) He then gives us an illustration in Eph 5:22-33 with husbands and wives. “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” and “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”. 2) He gives an illustration with children and parents in Eph 6:1-4, “Children obey our parents in the Lord for this is right” and “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring up them in the Lord.”

The third illustration he develops (which is the one we are going to look this evening) is the relationship bondservants and masters. The Greek word underlying the word bondservant is dou/loj (which is translated bondservant in ESV and NKJ, and is translated as slave in the NASB and the NIV). Now when I was assigned this passage, I thought, probably what some of you are thinking now, what does slavery have to do with me now in 2022. Or you perhaps when you heard the word “slavery”, it made you think how it was practiced in the United States which was a sad and terrible time in our country which led to injustice. Now the slavery that Paul is addressing is ancient slavery in the Roman Empire in the first century, is significantly different than how it was practiced in America. Commentator S. M. Baugh writes “Ancient slavery could make for the most debased kind of life—and it could lead to enormous wealth and political power. For most slaves, it certainly placed them at their master’s mercy

and mercy and restraint was not always exercised by masters.”

Some scholars estimate that slaves comprised about one-third of the population of a city like Ephesus. Privately owned slaves were often considered to be a part of one’s family, so Paul’s instructions for slaves are natural for remarks dealing with family relationships alongside the others in 5:22–33 (wives and husbands) and 6:1–4 (children and parents) in the ancient context. Slavery seems to have been universal in the ancient world. A high percentage of the population were slaves. ‘It has been estimated that in the Roman Empire there were 60,000,000 slaves.’ They constituted the work force, and included not only domestic servants and manual laborers but educated people as well, like doctors, teachers and administrators. Slaves could be inherited or purchased, or acquired in settlement of a bad debt, and prisoners of war commonly became slaves. Nobody queried or challenged the arrangement. John Stott in his commentary on Ephesians writes “The institution of slavery was a fact of Mediterranean economic life so completely accepted as a part of the labor structure of the time that one cannot correctly speak of the slave ‘problem’ in antiquity. I think it is worth noting here, one of the reasons why the ESV in particular translate the word dou/loj as bond-servant rather than slave was to help the reader to understand slavery practiced in the first century was a different institution than practiced in the United States in the 1700 and 1800s. Not that it was honorable, but not the same.

But this is not the world we live in now. So how do we read and apply these four verses in Ephesians 6? Do we just skip over them especially in our annual reading plan, like we may do to long genealogies? The answer is no. “The New Testament deals with great principles, and we are meant to apply them. And it would be foolish to say ‘this is about slavery, what has this to do with me’ when the answer is this: Slavery is only one of the possible relationships of men to men. And the big idea here in the text is that the apostle Paul is concerned about it is the behavior of Christian people who are in any position of subservience to somebody else. How are we supposed to act? How do we live in community? As Bob Dylan said “You’re gonna have to serve somebody”. This portion of Scripture we are going to look at has its application to Christians employed in any sense. In our present day it is in the context of the principle on how a Christian conducts their self in the workplace, as employee or the employer.

The first principle I want us to see in the text, is that in our work, who do we really work for:

In verse 5 it read “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.

In verse 6, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

in verse 7, “rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man”.

And in verse 8, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

Paul is teaching us that in our work, we are working for the Lord. This idea is captured in a parallel passage in Col 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” I particularly like how this last part of the verse is stated in the 1995 version of New American Standard: “It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

The Greek underlying the English word “heartily” is the word yuch,, which means soul. Commentator Greg Beale translates it as “Whatever you do, work from the soul as to the Lord.” The Apostle Paul wanted the bond-servants to see that their ultimate motivation was to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not their earthly masters. And that is how should be for us, our motivation for work is serving Christ, in the service of our employer and really not serving ourselves. And what about I mean about serving ourselves in our work is, “having my own personal goals that collide with serving Christ, for example trying to achieve advancement at the expense of other people”. Our goal is to work like we are working for Christ, because we are accountable to Christ.

The ethical framework that we should have at work is fairly simple. It is found in Matthew 22:37-40 when the lawyer asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is. 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend on all the Law and the Prophets."

These two commandments instruct us how to live, but they also apply to our work.

I want to tell a very short story that illustrates this. I was in the Air Force for over 22 years and I was an aircraft maintenance officer, meaning I was responsible for the maintenance on the aircraft assigned to me. Every once in a while they would be a situation where I had to make a critical decision about whether we should let an aircraft fly because of time constraints or keep it down to fix it. And the rule I developed very early was this, “if this airplane crashed would I be comfortable in what I would tell the accident board on the decision I made”. That sort of decision framework really helped me in my career. But I think a better rule would have been “would have been comfortable telling Jesus what I did. Or explaining to him how I conducted myself in a certain situation . And this is how we should approach our work.

Now the Apostle Paul also had instructions for masters in Ephesians 6:9 which has applicability towards employers. Verse 9 reads: “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.”

There are three things that Masters should have done, and that employers should do according to this verse. The first one is, do the same to them. That is, if an employer hopes to receive respect, then the employer should show it to their employees; if they hope to receive service, give it. It is an application of the Matthew 7:12, known as the Golden Rule. "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

However employers hope their workers will behave towards them, they must behave towards their employees in the same way. Paul is stressing that there is no privileged superiority in being the person in charge.

Secondly in verse 9, is forbear threatening. As parents are not to provoke their children, so masters are not to threaten their bond-servants. That is, they are not to misuse their position of authority by issuing threats of punishment. Punishment was accepted in the Empire as the only way to keep slaves under control, and Christianity does not deny that in some circumstances punishment is legitimate, even necessary. But threats are a weapon which the powerful wield over the powerless. And a relationship based on threats is not a human relationship at all. So, Paul forbids it.

Thirdly, the reason for these requirements is their knowing that Jesus Christ is master of both bondservant and master, and that there is no partiality with him. Masters were used to being flattered and fawned upon, but they should not expect (for they will not receive) such discriminatory favoritism from the Lord. If one is in a high position at work, that one can experience this same kind of flattery and special treatment you get for being the boss. That person can start to feel privileged. And warning here is don’t. There is no partiality with the Lord.

Thus, all three principles were designed to lessen the cultural and social gap between bondservant and master. Instead of regarding his relationship with his bondservant as or of superior to inferiors, the master was to develop a relationship in which he gave them the same treatment as he hoped to receive. Both the bondservant and master shared the same heavenly master and impartial judge.

Paul is teaching for both bondservant and master, and in today’s world employee and employer, both should work together with mutual respect for one another, and unto the Lord and not for themselves. The problem is, as we all know, is that we live in a fallen world. And both employee and employer will not always treat each other as they should.

And because of that, I would like to speak briefly about the application of this text in our current day when things go awry. For example, “What does a Christian employee do when faced with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from their employer or the government”. Especially if not getting the vaccine results in losing their job.

I want to read something that Andre Rivet wrote to a friend about 400 years ago in France when they were experiencing the plague. Rivet was a French Huguenot theologian and pastor. The question during the plague wasn’t about getting a vaccine, it was about social distancing. At that time people weren’t quite sure the plague was contagious or not. So people were wondering if they should flee. Should doctors continue doctoring and should ministers keep ministering, and should city officials still govern the city, or should they flee for their safety. So a friend wrote Rivet for advice and Rivet replied,

“A few godly and certainly God-fearing men question whether one ought to take precaution for that evil, either by keeping separate or staying away from visiting those who either have been infected or have visited infected places. Others equally godly and prudent men assert this can be done, and even must be done, yet with appropriate requirements and qualifications applied. I am not one who thinks I can construct a case for or against either side such would lead all parties to one viewpoint.” In other words, social distancing was a controversy among Christians during the plague, as getting a vaccine is controversial among Christians now.

Theodore Beza a friend and an associate of John Calvin wrote (and I am paraphrasing), “What is licit for one may not be licit for others. What is wise and good for one may not be wise and good for others. Christians must refrain from placing themselves in judgment of their neighbors on matters about which the Bible is silent.”

So what should be the Christian’s response to the vaccine mandate? Should a Christian employer require all employees to get the vaccine?

I have one more short story of illustration. Over 30 years ago during the Gulf War, I was maintenance squadron commander of about 500 people in Saudi Arabia. Some of the people in my unit had come from outside my organization, mainly reservists. At that time there was a genuine concern that we could be exposed to anthrax if it was used as a biological weapon. We had gotten a directive to make sure all of our airman got the anthrax shot. I heard grumblings that a certain reservist was telling people he wasn’t going to get the shot. And the backlash from that was, other airmen were saying if airmen so and so doesn’t get his shot, I am not getting my shot. So my solution was drive over to where this airman was, asked him to get in the car and I took him to get his shot. Problem solved. Now that I have had several years to reflect back on that especially during the pandemic, I questioned what I did back then. I didn’t ask him any questions, I just made him get his shot.

What I didn’t do was to take into consideration his conscience. And this certainly the issue that we are having now when it comes to vaccine mandates. Some are directing mandatory vaccine mandate without considering a conscientious waiver. Christians have come to varying conclusions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Many have decided to take it while others have not. Even though Christians haven't all come to the same conclusion about the vaccine, what all Christians share is a biblically informed belief that all of humanity in created in God's image (Gen. 1:27). Part of being created in God's image is to be endowed with a conscience, a God-given internal faculty that guides moral decision-making. A role of our conscience is to convict us when we do something wrong. Our conscience inflicts distress, in the form of remorse, whenever we violate what we believe is a morally appropriate course of action. Significantly, Christians believe that to willfully act against one's conscience is sinful. Romans 14:23 teaches that "For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." This admonition seems especially pertinent when the action involves something as personal as injecting something into one's body which, when Scripture describes the body of the Christian is a "temple of the Lord" (1 Cor. 6:19). In other words, Christians believe it is sinful to do something that goes against their conscience and therefore morally wrong to force anyone to do something against their conscience. Christians believe sincere conscience objections should be respected and that no one should be forced to do something they believe is morally wrong.

If a Christian find himself in this predicament where there is a vaccine mandate without the possibility of a waiver, what should they do, especially if failure to comply would be lose their job. 2 Co 13:5 calls to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. It is important for us to examine our beliefs and motivations to understand what we believe concerning this issue. Do we have an informed conscience? Meaning a conscience being informed by the word of God. Or is my conscience being informed by something else. Have I talked through my beliefs with someone who could help me like my pastor to ensure I have sorted this out? Have I truly prayed this through? Have I counted the true cost of discipleship? But in the end, each person is accountable to God for what they do. And our conscience informed by the word of God and his Holy Spirit is what God gives us to discern what action we should take. And in the end our response should be what Peter and the apostles’ answers were to the Jewish authorities in Acts 5:29 “We must obey God rather than men.”

Father, your word tells us, if possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Father we pray that you would help us deal with these contentious issues we didn’t even expect a year. Give us wisdom and patience with one another. May the focus of our work and lives be to glorify you forever. In Christ’s name, Amen.