The Heart of Work
Notes
Transcript
Welcome- Prepare hearts and Worship
Call to Worship see Col 3:1-17
Prayer
Worship through Song
Sermon
Introduction
Introduction
We are continuing today and concluding Paul’s examples of Spirit filled believers. He has been teaching what mutual subsumption looks like in different structures of authority in the home. As we looked at marriage, husbands, wives, parents, and children, we have seen that there are authority structures in place in the lives of believers. As Christian’s we are to be filled with the Spirit, filled by the word of God impacting every part of our lives. Filled with the Spirits power and producing Spirit of the fruit, verses the flesh. Paul’s uses the family to describe how a Spirit filled believers treat each other as they submit to one another “in the fear of Christ.”
“In the fear of Christ”
Wives are to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord”. They are to respect their husbands because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.
Husbands are to submit to their wives by loving them just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. His example of submitting is Christ’s love.
Children are to obey “as to the Lord” because it is right.
Parents are to not provoke their children to anger but to bring them up in training and instruction “of the Lord”.
Every human relationship has been corrupted by the sin and fall of man. Man and men specifically have used power and authority to abuse and take advantage of the weak and dependent people around them.
In this culture women, wives and children were mistreated, marginalized, and abused. Paul’s teaching of mutual submitting of the family relationships is radical to the culture.
The enemy’s schemes and the sin of man continues to tear apart and warp the family unit. The battle is still going on today as we have been learning.
Paul then comes to the last section of the home.
Slavery.
5 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. 6 Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. 7 Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, 8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. 9 And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
This may seem like an odd section in regards to the family.
Most businesses and the general economy of the time was primarily family owned businesses. With a heavy emphasis on agriculture much of the economy was dependent on labor for these family businesses. Other families might be merchants or craftsmen but all had need for labor. It isn’t like it is today where we get asked what do you want to be when you grow up. You grew up and worked in the family business. Today we have automated machines and robots that can do the work of many workers without any need of rest or compensation.
Many of you know that am a Welding Engineer. The direction the the nation is going is that the welding industry is falling behind in finding enough labor to do the work. There is a scramble to automate as much manufacturing as possible because the laborers are just not there.
In this time the economy was dependent on people from outside of the family to participate in accomplishing the work. Many of these people would be slaves or bondservants. Their lives would be completely dependent on the family to meet their needs. People became slaves for many different reasons some reasons were voluntary and some were not. So as Paul talks about the home it would be natural to eventually get to Christian slaves as they were an integral part of the family.
Am I am saying that I am for slavery, of course not. But lets look at it this way. In the Roman period, Romans saw themselves as above the tasks that were given to slaves. Pride and other sins lead men to see as certain tasks as below them. So as as society moves beyond those tasks someone else comes to take them. In Yakima I was around farmers and migrant workers quite often. There was alway this battle between the migrant worker, many who were assumed to be undocumented. But as you talk to the farmers they were dependent on these workers because no one was willing to work the fields anymore. Their lives were heavily invested into these farms and without these workers their farms would fail. These men and women were great people and hard workers and because they had no other options they were willing to do what no one else would do.
The problem is this. Sinful men will corrupt any system that exists in this world. It has corrupted every government that ever existed. It corrupts financial systems. It corrupts social systems. It corrupts religious systems. It corrupts economic systems. And as the people of pride and depravity continued corrupt the economic world, what you find is at in Paul's time slaves were seen as some of lowest of the low.
One commentator mentioned that slaves would be killed on a whim for breaking a vase or for the slightest infraction. That in the list of tools available you have hardware, animals and slaves and the only difference was a slave could speak. They were treated unfairly, beaten, abused, belittled, ignored, sold, bought, and destroyed by evil men in a society that did not recognise that it was doing anything wrong.
We ask how can that be? How could a society come to that point? Look around. The views of our culture with regard to abortion. When we hear debates about these types of topics it is about justifying what is just wrong. People will come up with all sorts of reasons why a person should be able to do it but in the end it is against what God has knitted together.
God spoke about slaves in the Old Testament quite a bit and these people were to be treated much differently than what they were seeing when Paul was writing the letter.
Masters were to deal fairly with their slaves, to treat them generously to allow them to rest and worship on the Sabbath. They were not to be exploited, defrauded, neglected, oppressed. There were times where slaves were to be set free after certain duration.
Paul isn’t making a statement about the system of slavery. He is going to the bottom line of all corruption. He is dealing with the poison that infects everything. That is the heart of sinful men. And as Paul’s main purpose of these verses is to teach about Christians being filled with the Spirit of God, he teaches that it is the work of the Spirit that should manifest in the life of a believer in any and all circumstances.
What Paul is teaching applies to all labor relations. Where one person is over another in the exchange of work for money and goods to meet a persons needs. So the teaching on slaves will apply to each and every worker here. And the teachings to Masters will apply to any person that has the responsibility of being in authority over someone else.
He first teaches them to Obey:
How do you work?
How do you work?
5 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.
Paul is speaking to Christian slaves. During the time of the early church many slaves had come to a saving relationship with God and believed the Gospel. As they were filled with the Spirit they were to see themselves in the context of the sovereignty of God and then to obey their masters. Other translations say earthly masters while others say according to the flesh. The idea is that this state is temporary. Serve your God until he delivers you from the earthly masters and brings you into heaven. Then they will sit under the King. Jesus. This word obey is in the present tense which means to obey or to continue in obeying. They are to be doing this always.
The only time a person would be justified in disobeying their master would be in the situation of commands that are contrary to God. Every person has a highest authority. In every situation where a human authority is in conflict with the commands and will of God that person is to follow the commands of God. This applies to all authorities that are defined by God. Civil authorities, Spiritual authorities, family authorities. Obedience to the earthly authorities is a command of God except if it is in conflict with the commands of God.
Paul adds in 1 Peter that it doesn’t matter what kind of authority it is.
18 Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence not only to the good and gentle ones but also to the cruel. 19 For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.
He lets them know that God sees them. Many slaves did not have other options. We usually have more options because we can look for other work unter a different employer but many times for many reasons we find ourselves, like the slaves, in labor relations that have cruel bosses and that Christians may suffer grief and be treated unjustly.
But when, you suffer for doing good. What is good? What God desires. When you suffer for doing good, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.
Paul is teaching them that in their life as a believer that their obedience will testify of who God is. It is very hard to find people who just work and who work hard. When we are obedient and hard working we revel who we are as Paul has already laid out.
5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
No matter a person’s lot in life. Whether they are slave or free, Jew or Gentile, male or female, adult or child, each and every person will testify who God is by how they submit to one another and how they work. This is one of the ways a believer testifies about the Lord.
But it is more than just doing all the right things. It gets back to the heart.
5 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.
They are to obey with fear and trembling. They are to be be reverent and anxious in the positive to obey.
They are also to approach their masters in sincerity of heart, as you would Christ. To sit under a cruel master and to obey as you would Christ. Here it is again as you would Christ. One must ask do we obey Christ correctly. If you have a false idea of what it looks like to obey Christ, then you will not be able to work in the way he is telling us. If you think you obey Christ to gain physical blessings then you will work with the wrong heart. If you obey Christ in fear of being in trouble then you will work with the wrong motives.
Sincerity is a greek word that is translated as generosity, singleness of heart. It brings the idea of undivided and a pure heart. obey as you would Christ.
When you work, do you work as if you are working directly for Jesus. Would you use the same language, deliver the same quality, cut the same corners, miss the deadlines or give the same level of care.
9 Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back 10 or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.
Who do you work for?
Who do you work for?
6 Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. 7 Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, 8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.
Don’t work while only being watched. What a person does when no one is watching is very telling. It is amazing what gets caught on camera when someone doesn’t think anyone is watching. We forget that Jesus sees all of it. Our good and our bad. He sees us when we struggle and cry out where are you and he sees us when we are at home with no one to hold us accountable.
As slave and each person is to preform their job with the same quality and enthusiasm as if no one is around. This reveals the motive of the heart. Have you ever worked with that person that only works when the boss is around. That as soon as they go to a meeting they start chatting or wasting time.
Cameron Dragon Ball
We are to work as slaves to Christ, as people who have their entire livelihood dependent on the Son of God. And to do God’s will from the heart.
And if that wasn’t hard enough, the worker is to serve with a good attitude, once again as to the Lord and not to people, Paul seems to be trying to drive home something here. Yes as to the Lord.
Why because a Christian knows that everyone, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.
23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,
Ephesians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Right Diligence
A believer does his work diligently for the Lord’s sake in the assurance that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. God’s credits and rewards are always dependable and always appropriate. An employer may not appreciate or even be aware of the good work done, perhaps because he is indifferent or because someone else takes credit for what is done. But God knows and God rewards. No good thing done in His name and for His glory can pass His notice or fail to receive His blessing.
Here Paul says that when a believer do good that they will receive this back from the Lord. God is faithful to reward. If you do he will do. We can be a little callous to the blessings that God does promise. Due to false religions like the prosperity Gospel we start to falsely believe that we cannot work expecting anything in return. But isn’t that what the word just said?
The issue is not the God will give, the issue is when man defines the terms of the reward. Remember he is talking to people who most likely will live their entire lives without receiving any significant material blessings. So is God a lier? As the Kingdom of God is not of this world so are many of the rewards. God says the power to gain wealth comes from him.
18 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Some will and some won’t but in Christ all are equal. Including the Masters
1 All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed. 2 Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things.
Paul transitions to the Masters
Who Works for You?
Who Works for You?
9 And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
The believing master is to humbly remember his place under Christ and Paul lays down the final equalizer. That even though you have been blessed in a place of authority in this world God plays no favorites when it comes to the Gospel.
28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.
We were all sinners, all in need of a savior, no one looks to God on their own. There is one savior, one way, one narrow path. Jesus. We were created through him, saved by him, for him. As Paul concluded his section of the example of the family for spirit filled believers. He continually drove home the point that we are all in Christ. There is so much division and discention in the world and in the Church. Much of this comes from the failure of believers to live life in Christ. We are constantly struggling for power, leverage, notoriety, recognition, and elevating ourselves over others that we do not sit content in Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Paul was teaching them that no matter what place in society that they have been elevated to an amazing position.
Thru the Bible Vol. 47: The Epistles (Ephesians) The Soldier’s Relationships
The Lord has lifted the employee to a high position; He has dignified labor. It doesn’t make any difference whether a man is working at a bench or digging a ditch or working in an office or mining down in the bowels of the earth or farming the land on the top of the earth. If he is a child of God, he can say, “I serve the Lord Christ.”
Paul does not attack the system. he teaches to the heart which will change every system that believers participate in. If we want reform in the schools we need christians in the schools working as for Christ. If we want civil government to change we need servants that serve the city in Christ. If we want the church to change we need Christians to work in the fear of the Lord. If we want homes to change we need parents that serve “--------”.
How has this challenged the way you think?
How has this challenged your affections?
How is this challenging you to live differently?
Prayer
Prayer
Institution
Institution
In Christ
For believers, Not children who do not beleive
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.