How to be a Great Worker
Eph.6:5-9 (NIV)
Historical Context:
1. Everyday-life: Experts seem to agree that one in three or 1/3 of the population of Rome during the time was a slave - common everyday life occurrence. They do all kinds of labor intensive jobs, working in mines, fields, and some are doctors, teachers… Hence, the economy is dependent on slave labor.
2. Generally, in Bible times, slaves were not treated well by their masters. Once a person was classified as a slave the person’s rights were diminished immensely. The slave was not a person but a property, or a thing of its master, and the slave had no lawful place other than to benefit the master. This is clearly seen in the Roman statesman Cato who said, “Old slaves should be thrown on a dump, and when a slave is ill, do not feed him anything. It is not worth your money. Take sick slaves and throw them away because they are nothing but ineffective tools.” Since the slave was regarded as the property of the master, a master could then inflict upon the slave as much or as little abuse as he or she found necessary. Being property, a master also owned everything the slave acquired while serving this master,
So we gotta remember these are the prevailing attitudes and workplace conditions of the day. They were a lot worse, especially when we know that many slaves are acquired in violence, such being POWs or being sold by your family, or kidnapped…
Since the curse in the Garden of Eden in Gen.3:17-19 our work has been difficult and toilsome – thus the idea of “a curse”.
As a result of living in world that is not heaven, we will struggle… It will be hard.
We find in our text this week that even in work, no matter how toilsome it may be, we can live and work in a way that brings honor to God and others. Similar to our marriage, and our family relationships with our children, our work relationships can also be a vehicle for demonstrating God in us!
Once again, the key component for us making a lasting impact on the world is our willingness to submit to one another. Let’s look at what God says about our work relationships and how they can bring honor to Him.
I. Workers Honor God As We Obey Those In Authority Over us. (Eph. 6:5)
A. We honor Christ and our employers as we do what we are told to do. (Ex. 21:16; Titus 2:9-10; Luke 17:7-10)
1. While the Bible doesn’t speak against slavery overtly, it clearly speaks against the kidnapping of anyone for the purpose of making him or her a slave. (Ex. 21:16)
Exodus 21:16 (NIV)
16 "Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death.
2. Slaves are commanded to be obedient to those whom are their masters.
a) Be obedient is in the present tense and therefore indicated a continual uninterrupted obedience.
b) They are to obey in everything and at all times with the only exception being when they are instructed to do something that was immoral or blasphemous.
3. While the concept of being a slave is lost on us today, the idea of bringing honor to God and to our boss by our obedient and exemplary work is not.
4. Christians are to submit to anyone to whom they report and are under their authority.
a) When a believer sits down beside her boss in a worship service she does so as a complete equal in Christ.
b) But on the job she is to submit to the authority of her boss, because that gives testimony to her submission to the higher authority of God’s Word.
5. So whether a boss is kind or cruel, Christian or non-believer, a Christian worker is to be obedient to the boss because that is God’s will.
a) The Scriptures speak to this in Titus 2:
Titus 2:9-10 (NIV)
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them,
10 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.
6. How a believer works in his or her job reflects on the Lord, regardless of who the human master or employer may be.
a) Now granted, this obedience and submission is only to the point of what is moral.
b) No one is required to blindly submit to an authority that is asking them to do something that is immoral and against God’s Word.
c) We are not to lie, cheat, or steal for our boss.
Trans: But…
B. Our work is to be sincere. (5; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
1. The idea here is one of honesty and not a façade or just a show.
a) The respect and fear mentioned here speaks, not of an attitude of fear and cowering before our boss.
b) No, the idea is more one of respect and honor that make a person anxious to please.
2. The sincerity mentioned here is meant to suggest that it is possible to put on the appearance of obedience without the genuine heart attitude.
a) We’re talking about a sincere heart attitude of blessing our employer!
b) And in the context of that heart attitude blessing God and our self!
c) It is a win-win all the way around.
3. We are to do our work with all the excellence we can muster so as to be the best employee our boss has ever seen.
4. God’s Word speaks to this in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NIV) -11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
ILL. I was sitting on a bench on a beach boardwalk late one afternoon, resting after an hour walk. I had passed a woman in a green uniform pushing a broom several times. She came toward my bench doing her meticulous sweeping of the sidewalk. Suddenly she stopped, wiped her forehead, and rested on her broom. I called out to her: "You do a great job."
"Thank you," she replied. Then she added something that explained why the sidewalk behind her was spotless. "I just believe people want to walk on a clean sidewalk."
I was humbled to be in the presence of a worker who viewed her task with such significance. Whatever the park service was paying her, there’s no way they could have demanded the excellence she brought to her work. That kind of motivation comes from within.
Reggie McNeal
5. The question here is one of obeying Christ and it has a lot to do with who I understand Christ to be… Is He worth obeying?
a) We are to sincerely obey our earthly bosses and those in authority over us in the same way we would obey Christ!
b) Part of the question is one of whether or not we obey Christ.
6. Just this passage alone tells us how much God is for us through Christ, is He worth obeying, the God who loves us, gives us heaven, thinks about us, pleasures in us, forgives our sins, rescues us from a world of toil and struggle to a new world bequeathed to us as sons of God through Jesus?
7. If we want to have a great work-life? Think about Jesus first, obey Him… Let the message of Christ sink it, let the words of God sink it, let God move your heart…
C. Our work is with excellence that reflects our love for doing God’s will in our lives. (6)
1. The faithful worker does not simply do the minimum his job requires, much less, only work when his boss or other workers are watching.
a) He or she should not need to be “checked up” on because they always do their work to the best of their ability.
b) And, such a worker works just as hard when they were over looked for a raise as they do when they were being considered for one.
c) A believer works hard and with excellence not to make a good impression on anyone or from a motive of promoting themselves.
2. Rather, a believer works hard and with excellence out of a heart that wants to bless God!
a) Out of a motivation to sincerely please God with our labor.
D. Our Work is done primarily to serve the Lord. (7)
1. The idea of wholeheartedly means that no prompting and no compelling is necessary.
a) We do our work to the very best of our ability and we do so with determination and enthusiasm.
Ephesians 6:7-8 (NIV)
7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
E.
D. FULFILLED LONGINGS
Teachings of the Bible confronts our longings, our human need, our weakness and challenges us to turn to the only legitimate source for our longings to be fulfilled. The Bible says in John 7:37-39 (NIV): “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as [3] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
And now due to event of Pentecost, (today’s Pentecost Day) we remember God has poured out His Spirit on anyone who truly believes… Jesus has been glorified but will anyone take up His invitation “come to me and drink”? Will anyone RSVP? Some of us here maybe long time Christians but have not experience this sense of God touching our thirst or longings, it is time to own up to that thirst go to Jesus.
Come with me into West Texas during the Depression. Mr. Ira Yates was like many other ranchers and farmers. He had a lot of land, and a lot of debt. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others)had to live on a government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it.
It is fair to say that you and I are a lot like Mr. Yates at times. We are heirs of a vast treasure and yet we live in spiritual poverty. Because we are unaware of Jesus or unaware of what He wants for us. We are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, and yet we live unaware of our birthright. We gather today to remember how rich we are, when w e do trust Him and His provisions for us in a broken world. We gather today to be reminded that there is purpose in life, that our thirst is fully satisfied in Jesus.
Paul teaches his readers in Ephesians that the circumstances may not change but their whole inner self can change, their hearts can change.
Today you can start changing your attitudes about work… it is about your inner life… your heart… if you have allowed Jesus in…then you can transform your service into one of worship serving God not men, obeying Christ…
6 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.
7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
When there is this heart-change, there will be an attitude adjustment, you are serving the Lord, as you work for your boss, or if you are your own boss… it is not about just making money, wining their favor, it’s about a spiritual breakthrough, it’s about transformation, towards a better and peaceful life in a world of turmoil, abuse and pressure.
Duke University did a study on "peace of mind." Factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability are:
The absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness.
Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression.
Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it.
Force yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress.
Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune.
Cultivate the old-fashioned virtues--love, humor, compassion and loyalty.
Find something bigger than yourself to believe in. Self-centered egotistical people score lowest in any test for measuring happiness.
All of these factors can be increased when you invite God to fill you up. Until you have found purpose in life with God who can fill you, you feel like life is futile. If there is no purpose, then you are no better than a piece of meat waiting to be consumed, or an object that is subject to abuse. Life is nothing but an ugly cycle of unending monotonous misery.
E. THE REWARD
Paul is teaching the slaves to deal with the real world. His real world is this: due to the circumstances of that world economy , slavery won’t be abolished. The economy then is too dependent on slaves, so no overnight changes there. That is what I like about God, He knows our world better than we do. IN A WORLD where slavery existed He chose to change one heart at a time (Ex.21:2-11; Deut.5:12-15l 15:12-18). He chose to free the heart, so that under any circumstance, a person can be free. Like the story of a kid who has been reprimanded by the father “go sit in the corner”. His reply is “I may be sitting in the corner, but inside I am standing.” Do u stand on the inside will the world pushes u to sit down? Are u free on the inside, so that u can submit and help and be useful to your boss? Do you know when u serve well, do a good job, you do it to obey the ONE God?
Doing a good job, will be rewarded, sometimes it happens, get the recognition, the raise, the pat on the back, it feels good, but sometimes it does not happen, don’t worry…
8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
A WORD TO THE BOSSES…
9 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.
Do a good job of being a boss. Show appreciation for work well-done. Hear your workers’ concern. Imagine this, if everyone is doing their best, won’t everyone be more fulfilled?
Here in the new millenium …
The story of Li ChunMei (Washington Post May 13, 2002)… Co-workers said she had been on her feet for nearly 16 hours, running back and forth inside the Bainan Toy Factory, south Guangdong, carrying toy parts from machine to machine. When the quitting bell finally rang shortly after midnight, her young face was covered with sweat. This was the busy season, before Christmas, when orders peaked from Japan and the United States for the factory’s stuffed animals. Long hours were mandatory, and at least two months had passed since Li and the other workers had enjoyed even a Sunday off. Lying on her bed that night, staring at the bunk above her, the slight 19-year-old complained she felt worn out, her roommates recalled. She was massaging her aching legs, and coughing, and she told them she was hungry. The factory food was so bad, she said, she felt as if she had not eaten at all. "I want to quit," one of her roommates, Huang Jiaqun, remembered her saying. "I want to go home."
Finally, the lights went out. Her roommates had already fallen asleep when Li started coughing up blood. They found her in the bathroom a few hours later, curled up on the floor, moaning softly in the dark, bleeding from her nose and mouth. Someone called an ambulance, but she died before it arrived.
The exact cause of Li’s death remains unknown. But what happened to her last November in this industrial town in southeastern Guangdong province is described by family, friends and co-workers as an example of what China’s more daring newspapers call guolaosi. The phrase means "over-work death," and usually applies to young workers who suddenly collapse and die after working exceedingly long hours, day after day. People like ChunMei feel trapped, they cannot move to another job… not educated, the only skills they have.
F. CONCLUSION
Today you may feel like a baby out of the womb… give it time. Allow your longings for recognition, love, acceptance, to draw you closer to the Spirit of the Living God who wants to give a spring of living water for our thirsty souls.
Young Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are in a Chinese restaurant having a meal.
Skillfully using his chopsticks, Obi-Wan deftly dishes himself a large
portion of noodles into his bowl, then tops it off with some chicken and
cashew nuts.
All this is done with consummate ease you’d expect from a Jedi Master.
But poor Anakin is having a nightmare, using his chopsticks in both hands,
dropping his food all over the table and making a mess of things.
Obi-Wan looks at Anakin disapprovingly and says, "Use the forks, Anakin."
As I read the book of Acts the disciples seem more like Anakin than Obi-Wan.
Young disciples for whom the power of God is available and they are bumbling
along trying to make use of it. But give them time. They will learn. And
they will change history for ever!
You too maybe bumbling around, but take heart. Get to know God better.
It is time to seek God’s filling. To be in touch with how much you long for God…in your inner being. Will u admit your thirst?
Sometimes we feel that we can justify our work habits because of lack of pay, poor conditions, etc. We need to remember that Paul was admonishing people who were slaves. If we dislike our work so much that we are not willing to give our best, at least now we are free to move on to another job. But today, look deeper into your lives, don’t just see the symptoms of your unhappiness, look deeper into the heart, your heart, that’s longing for recognition, for a sense I am a man or a woman, not a machine to produce things, not a dog to be kicked around. Moving to another job may not be a solution, it may be your heart that needs moving.
Jesus died for you, He is for you, no matter what hole or rubbish you find yourself in. Your whole world, work-world included matter to Him. There is purpose for your life beyond making the almighty dollar, or making ends meet.
I struggled with a poor attitude too. I remember a time when I was employed as an administrative trainee. Was it ever boring. Felt there was no purpose, like a cog in a machine. It not until later that I found God’s purpose that my work world makes sense. See that in
Titus 2:9-10 (NIV)
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.
Is your work-life, work-habits make Jesus attractive? If not time to change those bad attitudes, right? If we are fully trusted IN THE WORKPLACE, we can used by God to teach our work-world that it is Jesus who made life worth-living.
It’s all about attitudes. What are they?
It’s the advance man of our true selves. Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward. It is our best friend or our worst enemy. It is more honest and more consistent than our words. It is an outward look based on past experiences. It is a thing which draws people to us or repels them. It is never content until it is expressed. It is the librarian of our past. It is the speaker of our present. It is the prophet of our future. – John Maxwell, The Winning Attitude (p.24)
To improve work relationships, to get the best out of your work-life, to feel free in the work-world, to be healthy and improve your life in which you feel trapped as a slave, you need an attitude change, an inner change, a heart change… that’s easier said than done.
Luke 17:7-10 (NIV)
7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ’Come along now and sit down to eat’?
8 Would he not rather say, ’Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?
9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ’We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’"
John 5:16-17 (NIV)
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV)
25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
