Glorifying God in Your Work - Ephesians 6:5-9

I'm just working for the man. You ever heard that phrase? Maybe you said that phrase, sorry, I'm sick and tired of working for the man. If I think the man doesn't have your best interests at heart and maybe he doesn't. The man is just some nameless, faceless corporation. You show up, you put in your 40, 50, 60 hours a week. I'm done. I don't want to work for the man anymore. Or maybe you're realizing, I don't like the man that much. And so you start going, you know, I'll do just enough to get by. I'll do just enough so the man stays off my back and doesn't fire me, but that's all I'm going to do. Or maybe you're here, and you're the man. And you thought these workers don't get anything done. I have to say on them all the time. I'm just having to ride them constantly and threaten them to get anything accomplished in life. And we may think the idea of working for the man and being tired of working for the man is a new concept, 21st century industrialization. That's how it functions, but we're going to find in Ephesians chapter 6 that the 1st century had the same issues going on, the same problems going on. The context was a little different. In our day and age, if I were to say, man, I'm tired of working for the man. I just go find a different man to work for. I would just go find a new job. Go find somewhere else to be employed. In the 1st century, And what we're going to read in Paul's letter, he's writing into a context of masters and slaves. So they couldn't just go, you know what, I'm just going to go somewhere else and work. There was nowhere else for them to go. They couldn't legally go anywhere else, and if they did, then someone could come after them. The Roman Empire could come after them with legal ramifications for what was happening. Before we hop into Ephesians 6, though. I want us to anchor this in the reality of Paul's day. And what Paul is doing in his letter to the Ephesians, especially in the last 2 weeks, up to this week, of what he said among husbands and wives, parents and children, and now masters and slaves. We want to anchor that by looking at 2 other letters that Paul wrote at the same time he wrote Ephesians. So he was in prison. He's writing letters out to churches. And so he writes letters to the church at Colase, called Colossians. If you get a chance this week, go read Colossians if you've been in our Ephesians study, and you'll find that Colossians and Ephesians are very similar. Paul's writing in the same mindset to the same churches and similar areas, similar problems. And he also writes a letter to a man named Philemon, who was probably the home where the church in Colise was meeting. That's where they were gathering. So Colossians 4 verses 7 to 9 says this. It says, Titicus will tell you all about my activity. So Paul is sending this letter by a man named Titicus. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. And so the letter to Kalasse is being sent from prison where Paul is by Titicus. They didn't have email at the time, so Paul had to write it, put in someone's hand and said, could you take this to the church at Colise. And with Tychicus is a man named Onesimus, who Paul says he's our beloved brother. He's one of you. He had come out of Colosse. And now he's heading back with this letter that says similar things to the letter to the Ephesians. At the same time, Onesimus and Titichus are carrying a 2nd letter that Paul wrote to a man named Philemon. And he writes this letter to Philemon, and Onesimus is taking it with Titichikisso. Church in Colase gets a letter and Philemon gets kind of a personal letter from Paul. It says this in verse 8 through 12. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required. Yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man. And now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus. I appeal to you for my child. Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. The name Onesimus means useful in the Greek language. He says, I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. So here's Paul, sending Onesimus back to Philemon. Philemon is the home in which the church and colosse meets. What we're going to read today from Ephesians about slaves and masters is being carried by a slave named Onesimus, whose master was Philemon. And what Paul does in Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon, is undermine the relational structures within the Roman Empire around slavery. Now, slavery in Rome was different than slavery in the United States. But if you ever hear anyone say that it wasn't that bad, they haven't read history. It was a brutal system, like the one United States was. Every system created by humans to help organize how we do labor is brutal in some form or fashion. There is no utopian system in a sinful fallen world. Paul's writing, not as an activist to kind of reform the Roman Empire. He's writing to a very small church in Colise that meets in the home of Philemon, who is a slave master, and he has Onesimus, a former slave of Philemon, carrying this letter. to Philemon. And what Paul asks both of them to do is radically trust who God is and what God is calling them to do. The main idea from the message today is pretty simple. It's Christians work for Jesus. The God man. We don't like working for the man at times. We have problems with authority, especially if the man isn't doing a good job. If we think they're out for their own benefit. They're just trying to abuse us and use us and get all they can out of us but not caring for us. We don't like working for the man. But as Christians, we work for the God, man. And this is what Paul is going to show to both Onesimus and a Philemon. So as we read this, he's not writing to kind of like a blog post just to send out to the world of a bunch of anonymous faces. He's writing with 2 very real people in mind who are tied up in a relationship together. If you've been with us the last several weeks, we've been working through Ephesians. If you have your Bible, turn to Ephesians chapter 6, I want to point out 2 things to you. In context that because when we preach on Sundays, it's very easy to forget what we talked about last week or the week before, especially 4 weeks ago. I don't know what I preached 4 weeks ago, so I know you don't. You would have to look back. If you look back all the way to chapter 4. of Ephesians. Chapter 4 is where Paul shifts from saying, here's the reality of who Christ is and who we are in Christ and that he died and rose again, that he's king, that he has inherited the whole world, and that we who are in Christ, who have accepted him, that we also will be a part of his inheritance. Then in chapter four, He says this in verse one, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. That changes in his letter from saying, let me tell you the way things are. Two, now that this is true, here's how we should live in light of that. Walk in a manner worthy. Now flip over to chapter 5. Verse 21. Go back to 20. He says this, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. So that phrase, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, controls the next 3 things Paul talks about, which is husbands and wives, parents and children, and now masters and slaves. In a Roman context, in the Roman setting, this would have been called a household. And in that house would have been husbands and husband and wife, their children, and then those who are working in that house. So don't think of it like, if you have a job and you work for a corporation and you go to an office, that's not what's happening in the Ephesian setting, they are working in someone's home, they would have lived there. Parents, husbands, wives, parents, childrens, slaves, masters. So he doesn't shift to kind of like, this is the home. Like our home is just my wife and I, and it used to be our girls, but they've moved on. So now it's just what my wife and I. But you have your kids with you, you go, that's the home. And then you go somewhere else to work. But if you had, in my home, we have a business that we run out of this home, and everyone who works in the business lives at the home. And it's part of the family, the household. That's the situation that we see in Ephesians 6. Here's what Paul says. Versus 6 to 8, we see talks to workers, or in this case, slaves. The point is this, workers work for Jesus. Look what he says, bondservants. The ESV translates this bond servant. You may have a translation that says slaves. I think slaves is a better translation. Paul's not trying to hide from what the reality of what the situation was. We hear bond servants and we can think, I don't know what that is, 1st of all. But the issue here was there was someone working, these bond servants, these slaves who couldn't just kind of change and go, you know what? I'm done with this job. I'll go take another job. They were locked in to that position. And in the Roman Empire, about a 3rd of the population would have been locked into that position in various jobs throughout the empire. Some of them very menial, some of them pretty advanced. Like you could be an accountant for an entire household, which would be an entire business, but you weren't free to go be an accountant for someone else. You were locked in. He says, bond servants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by way of eye service, as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will, 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. So he's done this in the other 2 household codes. He says, husbands and wives, this is your relationship. Parents and children, this is your relationship. And then he goes to this 3rd group and he says, bond servants, obey your masters. The word means listen to, the same as he told children, children, listen to your parents, which means do what they say. So he's saying, bond, servant, slaves. Listen to your masters and do what they say. With fear and trembling with a sincere heart. Paul makes it more difficult. It's one thing to go, I'm going to do what I'm told at work. I don't have to like it. I don't have to agree with it, but I'll do what I'm told. Paul's internalizing this person's work ethic. He's doing what Jesus did. If you go read the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, you've heard it said, don't murder. Just so you know people, that's like, on the level of ethics, that's not that difficult to like, do. don't kill people. That's easy. Jesus showed up and said, look, you've heard don't murder. You're struggling with that, by the way, people. There's a lot of murdering going on. He says, here's what. If you get angry with your brother, like, and you're thinking of doing that. You've already done it. And he says, you've heard don't commit adultery. Again, the bar is not that high. That's not that high if we're honest. says, don't cheat on your spouse. Jesus shows up and says, but I say to you, if you lust after someone else, you've already cheated. So you're like, well, I'm doomed. Paul says, look, I need you to obey your master. Good, I'll do it. He says, but I need you to do it with fear and trembling with a sincere heart. Like, you mean what you're doing. And then he says, you're not doing it for them. You're actually doing it as unto the Lord, as you would Christ. This is encapsulating everything Paul says to husbands and wives, parents and children, and now slaves and masters. It's all wrapped up in, he's writing to people who are followers of Jesus. He's not making a law for the entire Roman Empire because he's only talking to people who are in Christ. And so he says, I need you to serve as you would Christ. With fear and trembling. The fear and trembling is not this sense of, I'm so terrified if I don't do what I'm told, that I'm going to be beaten, that I'm going to have physical ramification. I'm going to be threatened. He don't talk to masters in a second. The idea of fear and trembling here is the sense of respecting the office that the person is in. We all live in relationships of authority and submission throughout life. You'll be at a place where one time you're kind of the leader, and people are doing what you say. And then you'll turn around, and maybe 5 minutes later, you're now being told what to do. And this other person's in a position of authority over you. And you say, okay, now I'm having to submit to that. That's just part of life. And Paul is rearranging how we understand those relationships. He doesn't say they don't exist. There's always going to be someone saying, hey, I got a lead at this time. I going to have to follow it this time. But when he says fear and trembling, as you would to Christ, He says, it's not that you're fearing and trembling the person who's leading you. It's that you're so aware of who Christ is, that it's rearranging how you work. And then he goes, not by way of eye service as people, pleases. We all get this, right? Um, Andrew here is a principal. So he's a leader at his school. I know, because I'm a teacher at a school, and when the man shows up, starts walking down the hall, it's like, I got to teach harder. I got to look like I'm working. I gotta look busy. How many of you, just don't raise your hands because every hand should be raised. We've all done it. Right? You're just working and you're, oh, I got whiff, the text went out on the secret text shank, boss is on the floor. Start working really hard. We've all done it. We all do it. Even if we don't want to do it, we're like, I need to work a little harder. The boss is working. Paul says not by way of eye service. We don't pick up as much, he says, to the bond servants. Not by way of eye service. So the word bondservant there, in the Greek, the original language is the word used for slave. And Paul does a play on word by eye service. He says, not like as an eye slave. In the sense that, ah, when he's around you, work harder. You're just here to please him. So your work is really like, I'm just here to please this boss. And when he's not around, I'll kind of slack off. Paul says, don't do that. Because that's not who you're working for, ultimately. He says, but as bondservants of Christ. So as a slave of Christ, who should you? How should you work? Doing the will of God, from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord and not to man. Paul's changing, who Onesimus is working for. He sent Onesimus back to Philemon. And Onesimus knew what was in this letter. He definitely knows what's in the letter to the Colossians, and it says the same thing. And Onesimus hears this and he goes, I ran away from Philemon. We don't know all the details. It's not in scripture, but Paul's sending him back. He says, Paul, who is like a father to me in the faith. I trust him. and he sent me back, and now Paul's telling me, I need to serve from the heart like I'm working for Jesus. not working for Philemon. Something was wrong in that relationship that made Onesimus leave. And so Anesimus goes back. And he says, I want to render authentic service because God's the one I work for. Now, we don't like, right? If we're honest, I imagine you don't like when the boss is on the floor. You get a little nervous, like, oh, he's watching me. I want to read a passage from Psalms 139. about the man that we work for, Jesus Christ, the God man. Here's what the psalmist says. Oh, Lord, you have searched me. and known me. You know when I sit down, And when I rise up, You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and our acquaintance with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Imagine if your employer could know what you're thinking before you think it. He said, when I rise up, when I sit down, you're watching me. You have your cameras everywhere. You're surveilling everything I do. I imagine your reaction would be, I don't like that at all. I'm not a fan of my boss, knowing everything that's going on. Look what the psalmist says about God knowing everything about him. He says, such knowledge is too wonderful. For me. It is high, I cannot attain it. The Psalmist position is that it's an amazing thing that God is watching him, that God knows everything that's going on in his life. Now, if the boss was on the floor and you thought, I'm about to show out, I'm going to impress him or her. Then you go, I'm glad you're here. I have something I want to show you. College football kicked off last week, but really this week it just kicked off Saturday around 11 a.m. when Alabama played. So football has started. One of the things I like about college football is inevitably they're going to show some new players' parents sitting in the stands, right? And the parent loves it. The kid loves it. The parents are watching. You have young kids when they go and start playing sports or doing things. like, are you going to come watch me? Are you going to come watch me? They want your eyes, a parent's eyes on them. Now, as they get older, They start maybe doing things that they don't want the parents to know about. So it's like, hey, I need you to kind of turn off Life 360. I don't need you tracking me anymore. Our relationship with God can be the same way. Psalmist says, I'm so glad that you can see me. All that I'm doing. You have me. But if we're going to slack off, Because the boss isn't around, Paul saying, look, the boss is always around. The real boss that we serve. He says, workers we work for Jesus. And then he says this. It says knowing in verse 8, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this who will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bond servant or is free. Paul brings in there's 2 groups that would have been in the house of Philemon. There would have been bond servants, these people who were slaves who could not leave, and there would have been freedmen, who were working contractually with Philemon. They still had to do what he said. That's going to be like all of us. We're working in a contractual relationship that we can get out of, if we want to, that we could say, hey, I can go change my employment. Onesimus couldn't change his employment, but there were others. And Paul says, whatever someone does, when you're working for the Lord. And you're working hard. And we may find ourselves going, man, I'm putting in a good effort, an honorable effort, and I don't think I'm going to get any kind of reward for it. And it may be that this earthly corporation, this earthly boss doesn't give you a reward, and you go, that's unfair. Paul says, anything we do, God is watching that, and he rewards that. So you may not get this earthly reward, but he says, you're working for a different leader. You're working for a different man, Jesus, who is the god man. But he doesn't just leave it there. In the 1st century, this would have been typical kind of philosophical rhetorical language, slaves obey your masters. Everyone would have said, yep, that's how it works. That's what you do. Because the masters were the ones with the power. And they would have said, here's how you should respond, because the way power works in our world, and Jesus mentions this, when he talks about how he wants leaders to be, power in a fallen sinful world works this way. I'm in charge, people who are below me, your job is to make my life better. You're here to serve me. When Jesus' disciples were arguing and fighting about who's the greatest, Peter and James and John. They were fighting about this, and Jesus says, look, among you people, it's not like the Gentiles, this meant the world. They lord it over each other. And so the leaders tell others what to do so they can be blessed. These leaders can have a great life. Paul says, not Jesus said, not this way with you. If you want to be the greatest, you should be the least. If you want to be the leader, you should be a servant. And then he goes into the last supper and he takes off his robe and he washes their feet. The thing that a slave would have done in that culture. And he says, I'm giving you an example. I came to serve and not be served. Jesus didn't say there aren't leaders and followers in life. He just said, leaders, your role is radically different. So Paul doesn't just speak to the person who's in the subordinate position, the child, the wife in the 1st century, to the slave here. He talks to those who are in the authoritative position, a husband, a parent, and now a master. He says, 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. This is where he radically changes how the culture would function. First, to the servant, he says, look, you're not serving this earthly master. You serving Christ. Second to the master. And this is where he turns the Roman structure in the world structure. It wasn't just Rome. It's the United States in the 21st century. It's every place and every time where leaders abuse workers. That's not unique. It's not every leader doing that, but the systems are always geared in a fall and sinful world, that those in authority have it better. And those below them are working for them, to make their life better. Jesus radically change that. And Paul says the same thing. Masters, do the same to them. That's shocking. That's shocking that Paul would say this. Philemon hears this, by the way. He could just say, hey, Philemon, do the same. To Onesimus. Onesimus, you need to work for Philemon with integrity. Philemon, do the same and stop your threatening. So there's no place. In this household for the master to threaten. And this threat would have been like physical violence, suffering. on the slave, to stop your threatening. He told parents, don't provoke your kids to anger, stop abusing the authoritative position that you have. Knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven. So he tells Philemon. He tells the person in the position of authority, you have another master, by the way, your middle management at best to this leader. And we all have a higher leader who is Christ, and that there is no partiality with him. We live in a world. We can be honest about this where there is a lot of partiality. There is a two-tier justice system in every part of the world. Those with power and wealth and influence will get away with things that those who don't have those things will not get away with. That's life in a fallen world. That's life in a sinful world, and we live in that world. Paul tells Philemon, you need to know this. that the God we serve isn't partial to you just because you're in a position of authority, or you have money, or you have wealth, or you have power. He has no partiality. In fact, what we read in scripture over and over, is God has a soft spot for the person who is weak, who is abused, who is suffering. They've already been onesimus. He doesn't let Onesimus off the hook and say, hey, look, you're in the subordinate position. You know, just run wild, do whatever you want. He says, this is your role. But he calls out the master and he says, you have a master. Masters, you serve under Jesus. If you're in a corporation, and you're in this middle management position, or you're working this corporation, and the CEO comes out and says, hey guys, in this place, we will not have anybody threatening or abusing the people that they supervise. That's what Paul says. Look, the leader of who we are is telling us, no threats, no abuse. Again, this letter was written to a small house church. Less people than we have in this room probably. We're in the church in Colossee, in the church in Ephesus. And he has a bondservant, a slave, Oneshemus carrying it to Philemon, who had been his owner, his master. I didn't read everything that Paul wrote. I want to read this back in Philemon. Verse eight. Paul says this, accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, that's Paul writing to Philemon, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you, and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. And then he says these words. I would have been glad to keep him with me. in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant. But more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother. Especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh. And in the Lord. That was tied up in everything Paul is saying. We don't live in that context. You don't work in that context. You're going to leave here and tomorrow. All of us are going to go to work, and I imagine very few of you are going to go to work in a family business where it's just everyone who's there is living in the same house kind of under the same roof the way this was. So how do we apply this today? Remember, Christians work for Jesus, the god man. First, working for the man, Jesus is a holy calling. whatever your job is, as long as it's a moral job. If you're a pharmacist, you can go to work tomorrow, and that's a holy calling that God gives you. If you're a drug dealer, like elicit drugs, you can't do that for God. It's not a holy calling. There are some jobs if you're doing them and God says, don't do them, quit doing those jobs. But for all of you in here, hopefully, the thing you do tomorrow. If you go in your computer programmer, if you're a nurse, if you're a teacher, if you're a principal, If you're in construction, Whatever you're doing, it's a holy calling. And you're not working for the company you work for, or even the business that you run, you're working for Jesus, ultimately. And we work hard at our job. Because one, we've committed to do that, but ultimately, Jesus deserves our best. And he's placed us in all these places all around the city to be a witness for him. to testify to who he is. And so when I say, hey, if someone says, why do you work so hard? Why do you, you know, always doing what you should do in your job, if other people are goofing off, the answer should be, not for a paycheck, it should be, well, my boss told me I need to work this way. And not the boss on the org chart, but Jesus. The chance to witness for him. Also, your work, God's place you to serve. And that doesn't have to mean that you're getting paid money. You can be a mom who's staying at home. saying, this is what God's got me serving right now. This is where I'm working. It enables you to help others and care for others. That when we go to work and we make a paycheck or we're serving in some way, we're caring for others. We can use that to not just serve ourselves, but serve others. Second, remember that the god man is watching. And if that makes you nervous that Jesus is watching you tomorrow at work, then C point one, working for him is a holy calling and say, okay, I need to adjust my attitude to work because my savior is watching me. It should be an exciting thing. It should be. God, come watch me work. Come watch me work. This is exciting like a kid when the parent shows up at the game. Come watch me do this. That should be how we serve. Now, all of us are going to find a moment where we're like, I'm not doing that because you go away, God, and please hide because right now I don't want to work that hard. I don't want to have that integrity. That's when we have to check ourselves and go, okay, God. You're watching. I'm going to do this the way you want. I'm going to serve the way you want. I want to please you. And then third, if you're the man. If you're here and tomorrow, you're going to go and you're leading people. Know this, you serve the god man. You're a middle management. And your job is to care for your workers. They have a job that they have to do, and you're responsible for getting that job done, no threatening. He'll say, I'm here to serve you and help you and care for you. Again, the structure is different. Because we go to work, and if you're a leader, your employees don't go home with you more often than not. The work day ends and we all head to our own neighborhoods, our own homes. But the principle is the same. If you're leading people at your job, you should be saying, God, how do I serve these people, how do I care for these people? How can I bless these people as they work at this job? As their leader, know that you have an ultimate leader and they have an ultimate leader, that we're all just working for Jesus. We're all just trying to serve him. So if you ever hear the phrase again, man, I'm tired of working for the man. think to yourself, I never want to become tired of working for the God man, Jesus Christ. As our worship team comes up to lead us in a final song. I want to say this in the back corner here. We have 2 of our deacons. If you have anything you would like to pray about. Maybe this struggles at work and you're like, okay. I don't like you. like what Jesus has to say to me about this. But he said it, and so I need to pray about my attitude. Hey, we would love to pray for you. Maybe you're going, I got to work on being a better leader, a better boss. I need to care for my people. I would love some prayer for that. Maybe you're hearing you're going, I don't think I'm working for Jesus. I don't know if I've ever given my life to him, and I want to do that. I want to trust him. I want to know what it means to be a follower of Christ, the God who loves you so much that he died on a cross and rose again. And is coming back. The reason this world exists is because of God and for God. who sent his son, God the son, who became human, the god man, so that we could be reunited. If you want to know more about what that means and how you could follow Christ. You can go right to the back corner. We would love to talk with you more about what it means to be a follower of Christ. Will you join me in prayer? Father, we love you, and we thank you for your son, that you have called us to this place in this time. Help us to be faithful to you. Because we head out this week. And we go back to work on Monday, that we would be faithful to you, that we work for you, that I work for you. And fathers, we lead others that They're not ours, employees, they're yours. Whether they know you or not, we are to serve them and care for them. Will they help us to live out the truth of your word, in the relationships in our lives, so that you would be honored and glorified? Well, we long for your return. We look forward to the day when your son returns, and sin is no more. And death is no more. And that he reigns supreme, until then may we be found faithful. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

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