Do you have a difficult job or a difficult boss? As bondservants of Christ - be a great employee.

GCT:  Have you ever felt hopeless in your employment?  You can’t see how you are going to get through the next ten years or ten days at your present job?  How is your relationship with your boss and your work ethic to be different?  Paul has a word for us in Ephesians 6:5-9 to encourage us in what it looks like “to be filled by the Spirit of God” in our workplace.  Paul is speaking directly to those new believers in the Ephesian church who were slaves - real slaves.  This passage is not about the Bible condoning slavery or speaking against it.  This scripture is specifically about how to do your work, no matter how difficult it is, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Whatever God says to the first century slaves on how to obey their earthly masters we can be assured that the same commands go for us as well in our workplace no matter how difficult.

We are encouraged here to remember that all of our work is to spring forth from our understanding of our relationship with Christ, specifically, us being slaves to Christ.  As we are servants/slaves (same word) to Christ being fully and joyfully submitted, devoted and responsible to Him we are in the same way to be joyfully submitted, devoted and responsible to our “earthly masters.”  That should be recognizable by your boss and others and all will be benefited tremendously.  

This type of work is to come from a sincere heart and in return we get a promise from the Lord Himself!  We are promised that whatever good that we do in our labors in employment we will receive that same good from the Lord Himself (6:9).

This is how we are encouraged to get through difficult bosses and difficult jobs.  How could a slave get through the day back in the first century doing the same hard labor year after year for thirty or forty years?  The only way was for the slave to look at his master and say to himself, “I am not working for you, I am working for my master in heaven.  So, I am going to do the best job today that I can possibly do today with the gifts that I have.  When I work this way the Lord is honored and good will be coming to me from the Lord Himself.”  Again, as we work unto the Lord all will be benefitted and blessed by us being a joyfully devoted, submitted and responsible employee.

Church, let us be a people that do all things as unto the Lord rather than for man knowing that man will get great benefits from this type of work.  Let your work be redeeming work in your workplace.

I look forward to worshipping with you Sunday.  Great love in CHRIST, Steve