Lesson 14--Off to Work We Go (Ephesians 6:5-9)

Introduction

What kind of an employee are you?

We usually approach that question from the eyes of an employer or potential employer. We want to gauge their work ethic and work habits.

Are you reliable?

Are you trustworthy?

Do you do a day’s work for a day’s pay?

Today’s lesson asks the same question but from a different perspective.

Many times we separate lives into secular and sacred, work and worship. But those are artificial lines drawn in the sand. For God, he sees it differently.

In this last lesson of a triad, Paul has emphasized the idea that you see faith well through the relationships we have, whether parents and children or husbands and wives.

Today, he reminds us that faith puts on work clothes as well. It knows how to get greasy and sweaty. And how we work says more about our faith in Christ than our ability to make a living. At work, we find out what is the center of our lives.

So, let’s go to work to find our faith.

Discussion

The Problem of Slavery

We come to this passage, and many issues swirl around muddying the waters.

I remember as a boy seeing an old black-and-white movie that was a silent picture of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the book by Harriett Beecher Stowe. To this day, I can remember the scene in which the master Simon Legree whipped Tom until he collapsed in a bloody pool.

In the 1970s, America was riveted to a new form of television in the mini-series initiated by Alex Haley’s story of his family Roots. I have to admit, at times, it was hard to watch.

Today, we do not have slavery. In fact, it is a revolting concept that someone could own another human being and use them as an animal. It is a dark chapter in American and human history.

Therefore, we tend to dismiss this kind of lesson altogether as a relic of a lost culture blind to reality. But to do so is to ignore many issues we need to discuss.

First is what it was in the Roman world.

In the first century world of the Mediterranean basin, it is estimated that there were 60 million slaves. Just to put that into perspective, that is twice the population of Texas in 2022, with some added in. Imagine if every citizen in Texas was owned by someone else!

We think of slaves as poor and uneducated. They might have been. But many from various social classes were slaves, including doctors. A man became a slave either because he was born into it or was driven into it by economic distress. A man could buy his way out of slavery or serve in the Roman army, giving him his freedom.

But for most, they were caught in the system.

Laws concerning slavery allowed for complete control over the life and death of a slave. The slave owner was the “father of the family.” He could punish by whipping or by confinement in prison by that position. He even held the right of execution.

With his great learning, even the esteemed philosopher Aristotle would say, ‘A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.’

While it seemed to be accepted by Roman, it presented a challenge for the church. In churches, you found masters who had become Christians sitting in the same area as slaves they owned who were also converted to Christ.

The small New Testament postcard of Philemon details the tension in Ephesus’ sister church of Colossae. Philemon, who may have been the one in whose house the church met, owned a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus is worthless and runs away and ends up in prison. There he meets Paul, who knows Philemon. Paul converts him to Christ. But what do you do?

Philemon has the legal right to punish Onesimus. Should Paul send him back as he is obligated to do?

Paul asks Philemon to welcome him back as a brother in Christ and then send him back to me for now. With his conversion, he lives up to the meaning of his name, “useful.”

It was a strain. The church had to address three different situations.

How does a Christian slave relate to a non-Christian master? How does a Christian master relate to non-Christian slaves? How does a Christian slave related to the Christian master?

For Paul, this lesson and the parallel passage in Colossians provide the essential principles to guide Christian slaves and Christian masters.

The second issue that must be faced is “why didn’t Christianity try to abolish slavery?”

In fact, some critics dismiss Christianity in general because it did not advocate for the immediate abolition of slavery.

However, we need a little perspective. Just because the Bible acknowledges the existence of something does not mean giving its approval to that behavior.

The Bible describes vices such as arrogance and pride without directly in those passages dismissing them.

A description is not an approval. In fact, it shows that Christianity has infected all forms of situations to change them.

Think about what abolition would do. If the church advocated overthrowing a social structure so engrained, it would have meant sure destruction of the church. God uses time differently than man does. He may be working on a problem without us seeing it directly.

And that is what happened to slavery.

One way to abolish slavery is to change the minds and hearts of people concerning the problem. Over time, more and more slaves and masters found themselves brothers and sisters in Christ. This change of spiritual relationship loosed the grip on the need for slaves. Within a few centuries, slavery was being pushed out.

It is true of most of the social problems of our society. When Christians present the good news of Jesus and hearts are won, and lives are changed, significant societal issues begin to vanish. If they remain, Christians have not won people’s hearts to Christ.

This is true because the entire premise of this lesson makes slavery difficult. Our relationship with Christ governs all that we do. And when fully grasped, the faith frees all.

So, Paul begins with those who feel the yoke of bondage.

The Work of the Slave

As Paul begins teaching slaves and their masters, he continues a principle that guides this entire section on relationships.

“submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21, ESV)

This mutual submission based on their faith in Christ is to guide them. Their concern for another and not for themselves will help them sort out the nitty-gritty details of life.

If you can remember that we are serving each other, it makes all of life easier to understand and live.

So, specifically, how are slaves to live out this “submissive” attitude?

“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,” (Ephesians 6:5, ESV)

He calls them bondservants, the word for the ordinary slave. And as he has told children, “obey” or heed your earthly master.

But Paul’s use of obedience, coupled with the mutual submission principle, loosens clenched fists and releases tense jaws.

It is easy in our work even to work because I “have to.” We feel compelled. It is best summed up by the sign on desks that reads, “You can’t fire me, slaves have to be sold.”

A slave might comply because he feared punishment or in a resentful manner. He told his mother, “I may be standing outside, but I am sitting on the inside.” It would be like the little boy who was made to stand in the corner as punishment.

So Paul provides clarity about the “manner” of the obedience. How do you obey?

First, he says “with fear and trembling.” While the term can mean sheer terror, the question is, “of whom do you have fear and trembling?”

It would be easy to say, “that master with the whip.” But from the context, it is someone more powerful who controls more of your life.

The fear and trembling describe a reaction to God. He respects God so much because he knows of God’s presence. God is with us in cubicles, factory floors, surgical wards, and behind store counters. Do you respect the invisible presence to obey?

Paul goes on to describe the “sincere heart.” We get “sincere” from Latin, which originally meant “without wax.” When a merchant in ornamental marble found a flaw in it, he knew it would bring a lower price. And since marble was whitish in color, an unscrupulous seller would often fill cracks with wax.

The outrage broke out when the hot summer heat melted the wax leaving the gaping hole. So, those who wanted to justify their price would put a sign that read, “sin-cere” or literally “without wax.”

Paul says labor should be without the wax of hidden motives.

Workers come in two forms. Some work only for a paycheck. If they believe their pay is too low, they will not work hard but will hardly work. It makes for miserable workplaces.

But others see themselves as craftsmen. They seek to improve their workplace and do an honest day’s work for their pay. They want to enhance lives in some way.

You can always tell between the two.

Paul says, “get your motives for working clear.” Even though a slave had little choice, he had the ultimate choice, which Victor Frankl observed from a Nazi death camp as the “freedom to choose one’s attitude.”

He goes on to describe what is a common workplace experience.

“not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,” (Ephesians 6:6, ESV)

Some work out of eye service, as people-pleasers. The old term was someone who was an apple polisher. He would make the apple shine just to impress people.

Eye service is literally “when the eye is on them.” It means they world only as long as they are watched. They need constant supervision.

When I was a high school student, I had a job in a drugstore. The owner was a crusty but fair man. He had a philosophy. “I pay you to work, so I expect you to work.” He would have you dusting the same shelves repeatedly just to keep you busy. When he would leave, you could hear the slamming of the back door, and you could see people scatter trying to find something they could do.

Those were the workers who worked with “eye-service.”

I have found that employers appreciate employees who always look for things to do, ways to improve the workplace, or expand their role. So, if you are employed, what do you do? Do you want someone to tell you what to do, or do you find a way to do something?

But for Paul, all of this comes to the point of faith. It is not about “how you can please your employer.” Instead, it is how you can please God.

In the four verses that comprise the instructions to slave, something is repeated four times.

“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.” (Ephesians 6:5–8, ESV) as you would to Christ; as bondservants of Christ; service to the Lord, not to man; receive from the Lord.

True Christian-inspired labor recognizes the actual boss is not an earthly one but the one in heaven who watches us as we work. He knows the motives and how we genuinely perform. We can hide nothing from him.

He is never away from the office. He watches. He never takes a vacation.

As Paul says, if that is the case, we “render service with goodwill.” He says that a man or woman who is a Christian work without being told to work.

The Christian should never be known as the man who “started working when they threatened to fire him.”

Think of the proclamation such service would make. A Christian employee who shows up on time ready to work. He never makes excuses for what he cannot do but finds a way to do it the best he can. He is happy in his work because he knows that someone more significant than his employer is evaluating him. He gets more done in less time because he uses it well to accomplish what he knows God wants him to do.

The reason is simple. What a worker receives is not in his paystub. It will be at the throne of God. Whether paid nothing, paid little, or paid much, his actual compensation comes from the Lord, who gives so much more than any earthly master can.

Imagine how you and I, armed with these instructions, could change the mind of a skeptical boss. Let others say of us, “I may not believe in his God, but I know how much he believes because I have seen him work.”

The Oversight of the Master

But as Paul has with wives, husbands, and children and parents, he balances his instructions.

If mutual submission means anything, both are giving to each other all the time. Nothing is a one-way street.

So he gives one single verse of instructions to masters.

First, he says, “give more than you get.”

“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.” (Ephesians 6:9, ESV)

The “same” is to give as you expect them to. Be as concerned for slaves as they are to be for your work. This was a dramatic shift in thinking. The master held all the cards. He owed nothing but basic survival (although many were compassionate to slaves).

This would definitely change the dynamics of the master-slave relationship. Assuming both master and slave were Christians, the submission to each other creates brotherhood, not oppression.

This “sameness” comes out in one startling but straightforward idea.

“Stop your threatening.”

A threat was something that would make someone “quiver,” which is what a cousin of the term means. Paul would have none of the fear-motivated methods of masters. If they were Christian, Christ doesn’t threaten you. He cares, instructions, asks.

Paul says, “put the weapon of the threat away.” It did not work, but more importantly, it did not reflect the Christian ethic with other people.

Then, Paul reminds them of the same idea he told slaves. You, too, have a master. In fact, he says, “both you and your slave serve the same master.” The master is no better than the slave because both serve the same God.

But Paul says, “he doesn’t care who you are when he sees your face.” Partiality was a concept that you were recognized as someone special.

You can hear many masters in the ancient world. “Don’t you know who I am? I am special. I am your master.”

When a man stands before the throne of God, God doesn’t see the position on earth. He only will recognize whether you served him, the supreme Master, well.

Conclusion

Paul emphasizes three factors that, over time, would eliminate the slave-master relationship.

Before God, there would be:

Equality. Slave and owner alike would be treated the same. God would judge not by a social standard but an eternal standard. Justice. What the slave owed is also what the master owed. Both were to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ. Brotherhood. The family of God was more significant than the economic systems of man. In Christ, they shared a common father.

But the eternal truth is that the world is watching us. We profess that the gospel message has changed us. And it wants to know, “how much.” And one of the places it comes out most is at work.

The measure of our Christian faith is best seen in….

The best of times. When people have it all, people will learn much about your character. Success reveals our hearts as much as suffering.

The worst of times. When we are down, how we respond will tell others what we believe about God and his care for us. If we trust, they will pay attention. If we shake our fists at God, they will pay attention.

The mundane of times. Our character exudes in the little things we do in employment each day. That’s the workplace for many, the day-to-day grind. It will expose who you are when no one is watching or seems to care.

People are watching to see if Christianity works where we work. But they will know it only because we know that God is watching even closer.