Ephesians 6:5-9
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 slave or free.
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 slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves 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.
Have you ever had a bad job? Have you ever worked for a terrible boss?
One of the jobs I tried as a boy was caddying for golfers at a local country club. About the second time I was hired to carry a golf bag for 18 holes was by a guy who was not only a lousy golfer but who had significant anger issues. He sprayed balls all over the course; in the woods, in the various ponds on the course; and in the back yards of the homes that lined some of the fairways. Each time he would hit a wayward shot he would utter very colorful curses and then say, “Coffey, go get that ball!” He had asked me my name early on but only called me by my last name. Over and over again it was, “Coffey, go get that ball!” Wanting to do a good job, and not knowing it wasn’t typically expected of caddies to find every lost ball hit by their golfer, I did my best to find every ball - risking life and limb, not to mention the possibility of getting poison ivy over my whole body in the process.
Finally, he became so enraged after yet another lousy shot that he hurled his five-iron, helicopter style, completely across the fairway and then said, “Coffey, go get that club!”
Have you ever had a bad job? Have you ever worked for a terrible boss?
One of the jobs I tried as a boy was caddying for golfers at a local country club. About the second time I was hired to carry a golf bag for 18 holes was by a guy who was not only a lousy golfer but who had significant anger issues. He sprayed balls all over the course; in the woods, in the various ponds on the course; and in the back yards of the homes that lined some of the fairways. Each time he would hit a wayward shot he would utter very colorful curses and then say, “Coffey, go get that ball!” He had asked me my name early on but only called me by my last name. Over and over again it was, “Coffey, go get that ball!” Wanting to do a good job, and not knowing it wasn’t typically expected of caddies to find every lost ball hit by their golfer, I did my best to find every ball - risking life and limb, not to mention the possibility of getting poison ivy over my whole body in the process.
Finally, he became so enraged after yet another lousy shot that he hurled his five-iron, helicopter style, completely across the fairway and then said, “Coffey, go get that club!”
I dutifully fetched his club and returned it to him, but I never caddied again!
Read again how Paul describes how the gospel shapes the relationship between boss and employee:
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 slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves 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.
In his book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job,” author Patrick Lencioni says the three things that rob people of joy and fulfillment in work are, anonymity, irrelevance and what he calls “immeasurability.” In other words, no matter what we do for work we can become miserable if no one knows who we are; if what we do doesn’t seem to matter; and if we don’t know if we are performing our job well or not.
Read again how Paul describes how the gospel shapes the relationship between boss and employee:
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 slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves 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.
In his book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job,” author Patrick Lencioni says the three things that rob people of joy and fulfillment in work are, anonymity, irrelevance and what he calls “immeasurability.” In other words, no matter what we do for work we can become miserable if no one knows who we are; if what we do doesn’t seem to matter; and if we don’t know if we are performing our job well or not.
We’ve already discussed how the gospel frees us from a miserable job experience by teaching that we work for Christ and not our earthly boss. We know that Jesus knows us by name, that our work matters to him, and that he will reward us for work well done.
In this passage Paul turns his attention to those who are “masters”; that is, those who own or manage doulos bond- servants. In today’s world he would be talking to employers, managers and bosses.
The revolutionary nature of Paul’s teaching here would have been that masters need to be concerned at all with their treatment of their bond-servants. A master would have considered his servants to be his property and would have felt completely within his rights as an owner to treat his servants any way he pleased. But Paul is pointing out that the gospel changes everything, even the employer- employee relationship. Not only does our work matter to Christ, but people matter to him as well. Therefore, how we treat people matters because Jesus loves and values bond-servants as much as he does masters; hourly employees as much as CEOs.
In this passage Paul turns his attention to those who are “masters”; that is, those who own or manage doulos bond- servants. In today’s world he would be talking to employers, managers and bosses.
The revolutionary nature of Paul’s teaching here would have been that masters need to be concerned at all with their treatment of their bond-servants. A master would have considered his servants to be his property and would have felt completely within his rights as an owner to treat his servants any way he pleased. But Paul is pointing out that the gospel changes everything, even the employer- employee relationship. Not only does our work matter to Christ, but people matter to him as well. Therefore, how we treat people matters because Jesus loves and values bond-servants as much as he does masters; hourly employees as much as CEOs.
What if the guy who hired me to be his caddy so long ago had called me by my first name? What if he had told me I was doing a good job and that he appreciated my efforts? What if he had treated me as if I mattered?
Almost all of us, at some time or another, play the role of “master” or employer. You might be a CEO, a manager, a parent or just someone who occasionally has dinner in a restaurant and pays someone to be your servant for the evening. Paul wants us to remember that people must be treated as if they matter to God, because they do.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Almost all of us, at some time or another, play the role of “master” or employer. You might be a CEO, a manager, a parent or just someone who occasionally has dinner in a restaurant and pays someone to be your servant for the evening. Paul wants us to remember that people must be treated as if they matter to God, because they do.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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