Walk in Harmony "at Work"

Pastor Jason

Ephesians - We are the Church • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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A godly relationship between Servants and Masters Brings glory to God

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Introduction

Have you ever had a boss that was just difficult to work for?

Story about working for the moving company

I showed up at 6 am and our first job was to move an ISU professors books from his garage to a storage unit-

It was an entire garage full of books.

We showed up opened the garage and my new boss said well here you go let me know when you a re done.

He then sat in the truck and did business on his phone.

about4 hrs later I finished loading the truck we drove it to a storage unit and guess what - he had more business to do-

After the books were all in their new home we moved on to the next job at an apartment building.

We were helping a lady move a keyboard into her apartment-

We showed up and the keyboard my boss described was drastically different than the baby grand that we needed to move into this lady’s 3 story apartment.

Lucky for me the boss called and got another college guy there to help.

As we were navigating it up the stairs we slipped and put a chip in the hallway wall- and guess who got thrown under the bus for that one? I can say it wasn’t the boss.

After that fun filled day of work- I have to tell you that that became my shortest employment ever. I figured there has got to be a better way to make $10 hr as a college student. So I quit before I went home and have never regretted that decision.

This morning-as we continue through the book of Ephesians Paul is going to give us the third specification for Biblical submission we must demonstrate as followers of Jesus.

Today’s TEXT: Ephesians 6:5–9 “Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people, because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord. Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

Today we are going to look at the Biblical submission of masters and servants.

Before we delve into the topic of masters and servants, lets take a couple of minutes to remember what we have been studying about Walking in harmony with one another.

Ephesians 5:21 Where we read that all believers are to “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

If you are Christian than God has called you to live your life in submission to one one another, Why? Because this brings God glory.

The Bible is very clear on what true submission looks like

Eph. 4:1-2 “I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,”

Submission to one another means that you with all humility and gentleness, with patience, You bear with one another in love

Gal. 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Submission to one another means that you serve them through love.

Phil 2:3 “Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.”

Submission to one another means that you respect one another treating them as more important than yourself

to Submit to one another means that you live your life humbly for the spiritual good of others around you .

In our text in Ephesians Paul has been building on the foundation of biblical submission in the home

In 5:22-33 relates to the relationship between a husband and a wife. and how their marriage is a picture of Christ and His church

In chapter 6:1-4 Paul speaks about the relationship of children with their parents.

and how this relationship is a picture of Christians with their heavenly father.

and now Paul moves on in our text this morning and gives us the 3rd specification of what true biblical submission should look like fin a believer’s life.

He is addressing how slaves are to serve their masters, and how masters are to treat their servants much like the relationship between children and their parents and husbands and wives.

Listen to our text again

TEXT Eph. 6:5-9 “Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people, because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord. Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

SLAVERY in ROMAN TIMES

historians tell us that Slavery existed in most of the ancient world and in many of the cultures surrounding Israel during biblical times.

The first century Roman empire was no different . It is estimated that there were close to 6 million slaves during the time Paul wrote his epistles..

We need to understand that culturally slavery was an accepted economic practice of that time.

Many people were owned by the Roman government such as the slaves in Athens who were used as a police force, and the slaves in city of Rome, who were used as the work force.

The vast majority of slaves during this time in history were the prisoners of war. The enemies that the Romans conquered and instead of killing them they made them their slaves.

Another type of slave that was common during the first century was the bond servant or the debt slave. This type of slavery was when a person voluntarily sold themselves or their children into slavery to pay off a debt they owed, or to pay for a crime they were found guilty of committing.

In many of the cities in Asia Minor the slave population outnumbered the freemen. and the reality was that many of these slaves could not have survived in that culture unless they lived under this arrangement.

slavery was the reality for many people who became believers during this time in history.

Paul’s purpose in our text this morning in Ephesians is not to condemn or condone the economical practice of slavery, But to address how slaves should act towards their masters especially after they became believers in Jesus.

TRANSITION:

Even though we do not have slavery in our American culture today, I believe that these same biblical truths apply to us in our work places.

These truths should ring true in the lives of Christian employees and Christian Bosses.

BIG IDEA; If you are Christian you are called to Walk in Harmony at work

Lets dig into our text this morning and look at how we as believers can strive for harmony with our bosses and our employees

Servants

Text. vs. 5-“Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people, because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.”

5 ways to be a godly Employee

Obey Your Boss

Text: vs 5 “Slaves, obey your human masters”

This seems pretty straight forward.

If you are going to be a godly employee than you first need to obey what your boss asks you to do.

As the employee your boss has the right and authority to tell you what to do.

You may say “ but my boss isn’t fair, He always gives me the hardest work to do. He doesn’t like.

Listen to what Peter Wrote in 1 Peter 2:18 “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”

Trans: When we obey our employers without complaining We proclaim Christ through our actions.

Paul goes on and gives us the 2nd way to be a Godly employee, listen to the text.....

Respect Your boss

Text: vs 5 “ Slaves, obey your human masters......with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ,

The phrase “with fear and trembling doesn’t mean to be afraid of your boss but it means to give him respect.

Paul doesn’t just say to acknowledge your bosses authority in your life, but to show them respect out of the sincerity of your heart .... and then he takes this respect a step further and says give them the amount of respect that you would give to Jesus if he was your boss.

if we want to be a godly employee then we need to show our bosses complete respect.

Honor them for their position of authority

Give them preference.

Don’t talk bad about them

build them up

Encourage them

Respect is the action of treating others better than the way that you want to be treated yourself

1 Tim. 6:1-2 “Those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent the name of God and Christian teaching from being discredited.But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect because they are brothers. Instead they are to serve all the more, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved.

[ and then Paul finishes this teaching to Timothy saying Teach them [those who are slaves] and exhort them about these things.”

When we give our bosses the same respect that we would give to Jesus - the Bible tells us that Christ is ultimately the recipient of that respect.

Trans: the third way that we can glorify God as employees is to......

Have personal integrity..... in everything we do.

Text: vs. “6:6 “Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ,, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.”

EXAMPLE: undercover boss -in each episode a high-level executive puts on a disguise and slips anonymously into the rank-and-file of their own organization. Many times as a new employee.. WHY would they want to do this? .... to examine the inner workings of their operation.

They want to see what their employees are really like when they are not around.

Example of Water and work week- We begin each summer with a try out week for the kids who want to work. they are assigned tasks to do like raking up the beach painting buildings, moving rocks, weed whipping , cleaning the boats, and a whole lot more. . We tell them that they are being evaluated based on their attitude and their work ethic.

I always found it comical that when I showed up at a job sight everyone seemed to be working their tales off. They were going after it. But then when I would read the reviews by their team leaders it was just the opposite. “ This person sits around, doesn’t help until He sees the boss coming by.

This is what an eye pleaser looks like- Someone who works hard only when the boss is watching.

Personal integrity is working hard no matter who is watching and even if you will never get any credit for it.

To Be a godly employee means that you work with integrity at your job, no matter who is or who isn’t watching

Trans: A godly employee not only Obeys His boss, and Respects his boss, and works with entirety but HE also works for a purpose much bigger than himself.

TEXT: Eph 6:5-6 “Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

A Christian employee should do His......

WORK FOR GODS GLORY [alone]

Text: but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

Notice Paul doesn’t bring freedom from slavery in our text but he says look at who your real master is. You are slaves of Christ.

and as slaves of Christ We do the will of God- Form our heart.

I love how Paul ends this verse- From the heart.

Our service to Christ is based on our outward actions but on the motivations of our heart.

Its easy for us to do whats right on the outside so that others will be pleased, But the Bible tells us that God judges our heart, not just our actions.

Remember what the bible tells us about our heart

Prov. 4:23 “Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life.”

Prov. 27:19 “As in water the face is reflected as a face, so a person’s heart reflects the person.”

Matt 15:18 “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart.”

When we understand that we are servants of God ia d not just slaves of our earthly master we can realize that ...

when we obey our earthly masters we are obeying our heavenly master

When we respect our earthly masters we respect our heavenly master

when we work with integrity for our earthly master we bring heavenly integrity to our heavenly master.

and this leads us to our 5th and final condition of Being a good employee

We need to do our work Joyfully.

Be JOYFUL

Text: vs. 7-8 “Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people, because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.”

To work joyfully means that we do your work with Enthusiasm-

a joyful employee is someone who finds great pleasure in doing their job. Its a person who is genuinely happy.

Illustration: Happy waitress

I think some of the best illustrations for joyful employees are in the restaurant business.

have you ever met a happy waitress?

waitress at GeJos.

she had fun,

She enjoyed her job,

She enjoyed the customers

she enjoyed her boss

she was joyful in her work.

If people came to your work place what would they say about you?

Would they say that you are a joyful employee

or would they say what is wrong with that guy? He’s a grump

So what do you when you go to a restaurant and your waitress does a great job at her work?

You leaver her a big tip!!!

Do you do the same thing for a bad waitress, a grumpy waitress, a disgruntle waitress

Not a chance- WHY - because they didn’t earn it.

Paul tells us that as believers we have the opportunity as employees to bring God glory in our work place by the way that we serve our employers and when we serve well God Gives us a reward for our good service.

TEXT: , because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.”

Most of us are not waitresses that get tips based on our work, but understand that even though it may look like your boss gets all the glory or your boss gets all the financial benefits from your work, the Bible tells us that God gives us HIS REWARD for our joyful faithfulness.

and When it comes to Gods reward; It doesn’t matter if we are the CEO or a part time employee- The Bible tells us that God rewards those who serve well.

TRANS: IF you are a christian that God has asked you to be a godly employee. Take every opportunity to serve well so that Christ is magnified in your life as an employee.

Not only where there many slaves coming to Jesus during this first century but many masters got saved as well.

Paul goes on to tell the masters how they should treat their slaves if they want to honor God in their homes.

If you have employees under you and want to honor God in your business than this is for you.

TEXT: SEE BELOW

Masters

Text: 6:9 “Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

In the Roman culture Masters had the power of life and death over their slaves.

They had the power to beat, imprison, and sell any of their slaves.

and the masters would hold this power over their slaves head, they would threaten them with these harsh consequences to get their slaves to work harder.

Paul in our text is exhorting masters who had the legal rights over their slaves to understand their biblical responsibility to their slaves.

He gives Christian masters 3 ways that they can honor God in their position.

Again I believe that even though we do not have slaves and masters in our culture today, these 3 principles apply to employers with their employees.

Let’s look at the ......

3 WAYS TO BE A GODLY EMPLOYER

RESPECT your Employees

text vs. 5 “Masters, treat your slaves the same way,”

What does Paul mean by the same way? Look at what He just wrote

have Respect, have integrity, work for God’s Glory, and be Joyful.

Paul doesn’t make it easier for the employer to glorify God but more difficult.

to be a godly employer you need to Show your employees the same respect that you expect from them.

Honor them when they do well.

build them up and don’t tear them down.

show them preference above yourself.

Trans. Paul goes on in our text and says “give up the use of threats”

Don’t Abusive Your Employees

just because you have the legal power over someone doesn’t give you the spiritual freedom to use it.

Stop threatening your employees

Stop using harsh insulting language with them.

Stop making them do more than what is required of them.

Understand that the opposite of Abuse is to apll

treat them well, to pay them well, to respect them well, to honor them well, to reward them well, to give them the praise that they deserve.

If you are a boss and you use your power to degrade, diminish, and tear down your employees than you are not bringing glory to God.

TRANS; Finally Paul says a godly employer remembers who is own master is,

Remember who your master is

Text: “Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

a Christian boss understands that he has the same master as everyone of his Christian employees have.

and Paul goes on to say that God - who is our master does not show favoratism to any one of us based on our role in the company.

in fact the Bible is quite clear on this truth

Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”

If you arte in Christ it doesnt matter who you are or your position in the company You are called to live like Jesus, and to serve others l;ike Jesus, and this means that there is no room for partiality in our lives.

In Fact James 2:8-9 tells us “But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators.”

To show no partiality is to live by the golden Rule” Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Employers- what Paul is telling us is that your Christian employees are your brothers and sisters in Christ- treat them the same way that you would treat Jesus if he worked for you.

BRING IT HOME

When we look at how we are to be godly employees and Godly Employers

No where is the Employee’s response to their boss dictated by how the boss treats Him.

No where does the Employees actions dictate how the boss is to treat those under his authority.

WHY- Because our motivation to serve one another in the workplace is based on our desire to serve Christ with our lives.

When Christians live their life for Gods glory the trials and frustration we face at work are no longer burdens that we must bear but opportunities for Christ to be glorified in our lives.

Think about it.

When things go right at work and we give God the glory - others See jesus in our lives.

When things at work just don’t seem to be going our way- Your continued joy and faithfulness, and hard work- bring glory to God - and others seeJesus in your life.

You see if we want to have harmony in our workplace-It requires Christian employees to obey, and respect their bosses, to have integrity in all they do , and to work joyfully for Gods Glory. It also requires Christian employers to treat their employees with the same respect they deserve as the boss, to not be abusive, and lead in way knowing that you serve the same Jesus as your employees.

As a church we are called to make and equip followers of Jesus in our community, and I believe that the best way you can proclaim Jesus at work is by being a godly employee and a godly boss.

Don’t waste an opportunity at work to proclaim Jesus to your community

Pray

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