In 1977, country singer Johnny Paycheck recorded the hit single “Take This Job and Shove It”. The chorus of that song began and ended with these well-known words:
“Take this job and shove it, I ain’t working here no more.”
Apparently, that song really struck a nerve with people, becoming his best-selling record, with over 2 million copies sold and inspiring a movie with the same title.
Attitudes towards our work certainly haven’t changed for the better since then. A February 2007 report by the Conference Board found that Americans are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs. Today, less than half of all Americans say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent just twenty years ago. Although the rate of dissatisfaction is highest among workers under 25 years old and among those who earn under $15,000 per year, as we might expect, what is really surprising is that even among older and higher paid workers the rate of job satisfaction barely exceeds 50 percent.
But certainly that is not what God has in mind for His children. Listen to the words from the author of Ecclesiastes:
Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18, 19 (NIV)
The Bible is really clear that God intends for His children to find satisfaction and happiness in their work. But exactly how are we to do that? As we continue our journey through Ephesians, we’ll find that Paul addresses that issue with his readers. Let’s read our passage out loud together:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Ephesians 6:5-9 (NIV)
I know that for many of you, your first reaction may be that Paul isn’t addressing our work at all in this passage. He’s writing here about the relationship between slaves and masters. But once we understand the nature of slavery in the Greco-Roman world that Paul lived in, I think we’ll see that this passage does indeed give us some very practical instruction about how we can “take this job and love it” rather than wanting to “shove it.”
Greco-Roman Slavery
Most of us get our ideas about slavery from our study of slavery in the United States where slaves were kidnapped from Africa and brought here to the United States where they were forced to work for their masters, often under very cruel and harsh conditions. But the slavery in the Greco-Roman world of Paul was much different.
In the Roman Empire there may have been as many as sixty million slaves, with somewhere between one-third and one-half of the population in some form of servitude. In some areas of Asia Minor, slaves actually outnumbered freemen.
Initially, most slavery resulted from conquest in war, where the vanquished foes were forced into slavery by the Greeks, and later the Romans. Others became slaves as a result of incurring a debt and they were forced into slavery in order to pay their debt. Jesus refers to that kind of slavery in several of His parables. Still others were born into slavery. Although some forms of slavery, such as rowing on a ship or working in the mines, did involve poor working conditions and harsh treatment, that was not the normal situation for most slaves.
In fact, almost all labor was performed by slaves, even those tasks that we would consider to be “desk jobs” like teachers and tutors, secretaries and personal advisors. Most slaves were actually members of the household and the law required the masters to provide them with food, clothing and shelter. In many cases, slaves could save up money and buy their freedom. Paul alludes to that practice in 1 Corinthians 7. Although the masters did have absolute authority over their slaves, there were some laws, mostly quite inadequate, however, that did provide penalties for mistreating slaves. Nonetheless, slaves had absolutely no rights before the law, evidenced by the fact that they could not even marry.
For most slaves, the best that could be hoped for were to be owned by a good master, to stay in his good graces and to hopefully one day earn enough money or favor to gain his freedom and become a citizen of Rome.
That was the lot of many of Paul’s readers. We know from historical records that the early church primarily consisted of those from the lower classes, many of whom would have been in some form of slavery. And from what we know of slavery in Paul’s day, we really don’t have to make any kind of stretch at all to apply what Paul wrote to our jobs today, since most of them aren’t all that different in many respects from the relationship between slave and masters in the first century.
HOW TO “TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT”
Before we look at this passage in more detail, let’s take a moment to put it in its proper context. In Ephesians 5:21, Paul began with the overall principle that applies to our relationships with other within the body of Christ when he wrote:
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Then he applied that general principle to the relationship between husbands and wives, and then to parents and children. He is now going to wrap up this section of his letter by applying that same over principle to the relationship between masters and slaves, or as we’ll do this morning, to employers and employees.
Although I’m going to share several practical principles with you this morning, this passage can really be summed up with one overall principle:
1. Take Jesus to work
Let’s go back and read our passage one more time and this time I want you to focus on how many references there are to Jesus in these five verses that deal with our work:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Ephesians 6:5-9 (NIV)
As I pointed out last week, one of the biggest mistakes we make as followers of Jesus is that we have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives. On one hand we have our “spiritual” lives which consist of reading the Bible, praying and going to church. Then we put everything else in the “secular” category – our families, our hobbies, our entertainment and leisure, and, most pertinent to our discussion this morning, our jobs. How many times have you either said or heard someone else say something like this: "I’d really like to serve God, but I have to spend so much time on my secular job."
But by the way Paul weaves Jesus throughout his instructions concerning work, he makes it very clear that we can’t separate our work from our relationship with Jesus. You’ll remember that Paul did exactly the same thing when he wrote about marriage and about the relationship between parents and children. There should be no area of our lives that is not impacted through and through by our relationship with Jesus. In other words there is no area of our lives that is really “secular”. And that is certainly true of our work.
In 1993, the Ms Foundation for Women established “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” as a way to introduce girls to various career opportunities. As a result of pressure from educators and others, the program was expanded in 2003 to include boys as well. So now on the 4th Thursday in April, we have “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day”. There is also actually an official “Take Your Dog to Work Day” which is held in June each year and sponsored by Pet Sitters International. Although there is certainly nothing wrong with those kinds of programs, I doubt that they have done anything to significantly improve the way people look at their jobs.
On the other hand, Paul makes it clear that if we really want to love our jobs, then the key is making every day “Take Jesus to Work Day”. And I’m convinced that if we could learn to do that, Jesus would radically transform our work and the way we view it. Taking Jesus to work with us will revamp our work in three areas:
• Our mind-set
Although much of what Paul writes is directed toward the proper behavior, he is much more concerned with the heart behind the action. So let’s begin by looking at how taking Jesus to work ought to impact our mind-set.
o When I honor my earthly boss, I also honor Jesus
Paul commanded slaves to obey their earthly masters with respect and fear. He also says that they are to work as if they were slaves of Christ Himself because that results in doing the will of God from their heart. And we know from the rest of the letter that the will of God he is referring to here is God’s plan to one day bring all things together and restore them in Jesus. So when we treat our earthly bosses with the proper respect, that actually furthers the will of God here on this earth and that obviously brings honor to Jesus.
It’s interesting to note that Paul doesn’t command that kind of respect and fear only towards those masters who were kind and treated their slaves in a considerate manner. All slaves, regardless of their circumstances owed that kind of honor to their masters. Peter makes this even clearer:
Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
1 Peter 2:18 (NIV)
One of the keys to finding satisfaction in your job is learning to treat your superiors with honor and respect, not because they necessarily deserve it, but because it honors Jesus.
o I can serve God wherever I am
Probably a large majority of those who read Paul’s letter were slaves and my guess is that they were looking at Christianity as a way to escape from that slavery. But it is really interesting that Paul never encouraged them to try to escape from those circumstances. In fact, in another of his letters he wrote this:
Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you - although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
1 Corinthians 7:20, 21 (NIV)
Paul encourages his readers to realize that they can serve Jesus right where they are. They don’t need to change their circumstances to do that.
One of the best Biblical examples of this principle is the account of Daniel. He served under a number of ungodly kings, but he never tried to escape those circumstances. Instead, he committed to serving God right where he was. So it’s really not surprising to see how Darius addresses Daniel the morning after he was thrown into the lion’s den:
When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"
Daniel 6:20 (NIV)
Isn’t it interesting that even the pagan king Darius recognized that Daniel had been serving God constantly all along, right where he was?
In his commentary on this passage, William Barclay makes this observation:
He does not tell them to rebel; he tells them to be Christian where they are. The great message of Christianity to every man is that it is where God has set us that we must live out the Christian life. The circumstances may be all against us, but that only makes the challenge greater. Christianity does not offer us escape from circumstances; it offers us conquest of circumstances.
A recent study by the U.S. Department of Labor shows that between the ages of 18 and 38 people change jobs and average of 10 times. There are certainly some good reasons for us to change jobs, but in general there is little evidence that changing jobs actually improves one’s job satisfaction.
As followers of Jesus, I’m convinced that we need to really seriously consider whether we really ought to change our jobs or whether we just need to learn to serve God right where we are right now.
o My work serves God by meeting the needs of those He loves
Paul very clearly makes the point that our work actually serves God. I’m convinced that the most significant way that we serve God through our work is by meeting the needs of those he loves. Remember these words of Jesus as He commented on the parable of the talents:
"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:37-40 (NIV)
Jesus spent much of the first 30 years of his life working as a carpenter alongside Joseph. By doing so, Jesus demonstrated for His followers the intrinsic value of work. He also served His heavenly Father by serving people who had the need for a place to live by building houses for them.
One of the ways to transform your view of your job is to think about how what you are doing meets the needs of other people.
By taking Jesus to work, the first thing that happens is that our mind-set is transformed. And that new mind-set naturally leads to a change in...
• Our movement
Although Paul focuses a lot on our mind-set, he also describes how that ought to affect our movement – how we physically carry out our work. Let’s focus on just three attributes that ought to characterize our work:
o Obedience
This is really the crux of what Paul commands of slaves – they are to obey their masters. He uses the same exact word he used in verse 1 when he commanded children to obey their parents. You’ll remember that it is a word that indicates hearing and then responding positively to what is heard. I don’t think we need to spend much time here because I think we all know what it means to obey our bosses.
As with children’s obedience to their parents, there is obviously a limit to our obedience to our superiors in the workplace. We can never obey an instruction that would cause us to violate a clear command of Scripture. But, as I pointed out a few weeks ago, that exception is likely to occur very rarely and we need to be careful of trying to put words in God’s mouth as a justification for our disobedience.
o Integrity
Although it is not quite as clear as in some other versions, Paul warns against two specific ways that we can destroy our integrity in the workplace.
The first is what he calls “eye-service”. He is addressing those who only work hard while the master is watching and then loaf when he is away. Of course, that is not really relevant in today’s workplace is it?
This week I read an account of a foreman and some primitive workers under him. He found that they were afflicted with this disease of eye-service; they worked only when he watched them. But this particular foreman was the proud possessor of a glass eye, and he found that he could take his eye out of the socket and lay it on a stump where it could "watch" the men, and they would go right on working, whether he was there or not. But one day he came back to find them all lounging around. He had placed the eye on the stump, but one of the men had found a way to sneak around, come up behind the eye, and put his hat over it so that it no longer "saw" them.
Before you’re too quick to dismiss the practice of eye-service as something only other people do, I want you to think about the time you spend at work checking personal emails and making personal calls, taking long lunch hours, surfing the internet, chatting with fellow employees about your favorite TV show, etc. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
The idea is that we should be 100% trustworthy, whether someone is watching what we’re doing or not. Paul makes this same point in a slightly different way in another of his letters:
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Titus 2:9, 10 (NIV)
The other practice that Paul warns about is “men-pleasing”. In today’s language, we would call this “brown-nosing”. The idea here is that a person works in a way that is designed to make brownie points with the boss, but which is in effect actually an act of disobedience because it goes against the best interests of the company and/or our superiors.
This can take a lot of different forms in the workplace – saying one thing and doing another, gossiping about other employees in order to make ourselves look better, tooting our own horn. Again, I think you get the picture without me having to give you a complete list.
In his companion letter to the Colossians, Paul reinforces the need to work with integrity:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord
Colossians 3:22 (NIV)
Taking Jesus to work is the perfect antidote to these practices. Once we realize that Jesus is watching everything we do, that is a great motivation to make sure that we give a full days’ work for a full day’s pay – regardless of whether or earthly boss is watching or not. And it also prevents us from trying to be men-pleasers rather than God-pleasers.
o Industriousness
Howard Stein recounted the experience of one of his friends in Reader’s Digest:
A retired friend became interested in the construction of an addition to a shopping mall. Observing the activity regularly, he was especially impressed by the conscientious operator of a large piece of equipment. The day finally came when my friend had a chance to tell this man how much he’d enjoyed watching his scrupulous work. Looking astonished, the operator replied, “You’re not the supervisor?”
Paul instructs slaves to serve wholeheartedly. That word indicates enthusiasm and eagerness that doesn’t require outside motivation. The point that Paul is making here is that Christians should be hard workers. We need to give our employer our best effort. That means that we should be as skilled and well-trained as we can possibly be and that we should do our jobs to the very best of our ability and never put in a less that complete effort.
Obviously, there is a balance here. There is nothing in the Bible that commands us to be workaholics. In fact, there is much to warn us about that. But overall, the principle is that followers of Jesus should be exemplary employees who consistently work hard to the very best of their ability.
Before we look at the last aspect of taking Jesus to work, let me just briefly address the responsibilities of those of you who either own your own businesses or are in positions of authority in your work. The concept that masters also have a duty to their slaves was certainly revolutionary in Paul’s day. Masters are to treat their slaves in the same way that the slaves are to respond to them. This obviously does not mean that masters are to obey their slaves, but masters are to work with the right attitude and the right movement as well. The boss also needs to take Jesus to work and to honor Jesus both by the way he works himself and by the way that he treats his employees.
That brings us to our last principle, which should impact both slaves and masters; employees and employers.
• Our motivation
The motivation for both slaves and masters to work in the way that Paul has just described is that they both have the same master in heaven. And our heavenly master does not show favoritism based on one’s place here on earth. Both employees and employers are ultimately accountable to God for the way that they think and behave in the workplace.
But there is also a further motivation. God will reward everyone, slave and free, for whatever good he does in the workplace. Paul is obviously not writing about salvation here, but rather looking forward to that time when all believers will stand before God and give an account of their lives for the purpose of receiving rewards. In the parallel passage in Colossians, we can see this even more clearly:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23, 24 (NIV)
For those whose work produces that which is good and useful, they can look forward to an inheritance from the Lord. From our recent study on heaven, we understand that not only includes eternal life, but also rewards that we will receive from Jesus as well as additional responsibilities in His eternal kingdom.
If your motivation for going to work is just to get a paycheck, then it’s very likely that some day you’ll come to the point where you join Johnny Paycheck and sing “Take This Job and Shove It”. But if you are motivated by the fact that the way you serve others in your work will one day result in being rewarded by Jesus and being given the privilege of serving in His kingdom, then there is no possible way to have that kind of attitude.
Do you want to take your job and love it? Then take Jesus to work with you every day.
