Thank you, Kathy. Next Saturday is an important
day for us to come here to the church and work
together for three hours. If you can do that,
would you please be here right at 9 o 'clock
and devote as much of that three -hour period
as you can to helping us with some of the fall
cleanup work that needs to be done. Jerry Pipes
will be in charge of it. And whatever you can
devote, whether it be an hour or two or even
three, would be greatly appreciated. Tonight's
service... We'll continue the theme, The End
of the Age. We're going to start a series, a
mini -series within the larger series tonight
on the coming kingdom and focusing primarily
on the return of the king, the return of Jesus
Christ. So we hope you'll be back tonight. A
person's perspective on what he's doing makes
all the difference in the world, doesn't it?
His task becomes a delight or a drudgery depending
upon how he looks at it. There was a man who
saw several masons working side by side on a
wall. Struck with curiosity, he went over to
them and spoke to the first one and said, Sir,
what are you making? The man replied, A wall,
can't you see? And so being a bit rebuffed, he
went a few steps to the second man and said,
Sir, what are you making? The man looked at him
and said, about $10 an hour, but I'm worth a
whole lot more than that. So again, he walked
a few more steps and went to the third person
and said, sir, what are you making? And the man
said, I'm a partner with the architect. We're
building a great cathedral where people are going
to praise God. The illustration is this, that
a person's perspective makes all the difference
in the world in what he's doing. Our text today
deals with the perspective of a Christian toward
his business, toward his vocation. Whether we
be employers or employees, all of us can benefit
from the text today in Ephesians chapter 6, beginning
in verse 5. Slaves, be obedient to those who
are your masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart
as to Christ. not by way of eye service as men
pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the
will of God from the heart. With good will, render
service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing
that whatever good thing each one does, this
he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave
or free. And masters, do the same things to them,
and give up threatening. knowing that both their
master and yours is in heaven, and there is no
partiality with him. Paul addresses here slaves
and masters, for that was the basic economic
relationship in the Roman world. Slavery was
widespread in that day, and slaves were the property
of the masters. Slaves had no personal rights.
Neither had they protection under Roman law.
Obviously, there was a good deal of ill will
toward the masters and the part of the slaves,
and even quite some dishonesty on their part.
On the other hand, the masters were known for
their lack of respect, cruelty, and brutality
toward their slaves. In the light of that, it
is interesting that the word of God did not command
the dismantling of the institution of slavery.
It rather recognized it without approval or condemnation
as a result of mankind's sinful condition. In
the Old Testament, God regulated slavery among
his people to forbid cruelty and to provide for
emancipation. The New Testament did not directly
attack slavery either. The result of that would
have been catastrophic for the world in that
day, and it would have been catastrophic for
many of the slaves who depended upon their masters
for their well -being. Furthermore, to have attacked
slavery would have supplied ammunition to the
enemies of the Christian message who claimed
that Christianity was anti -Roman. Rather, the
New Testament established principles leading
to peaceable change. The New Testament teaches
personal transformation, which leads to societal
transformation. Social issues today, although
slavery is not one of them, are not to be the
primary focus of our Christian endeavors. They
could become so. We are pressured on many sides
today to be involved in good but temporal social
issues. I devote a few hours every month to one
organization that I think is doing a fine job
in this area, in our state, and that's the Berean
League. I'm a member of the Berean League. Our
church as a body belongs to the Berean League.
And I think every Christian ought to be a part
of the Berean League because of the good that
it's doing in this area. I devote a few hours
and a few dollars every year to the Berean League.
But I don't believe that that kind of thing should
become the primary focus of my time or of yours.
We have more important issues to deal with than
societal issues. I was thinking about this this
morning and realized that we probably give two
or three percent of the money that we set aside
to give every month to works like this. Primarily,
we give to our local church and our family because
I believe that that is a principle of God's Word.
I would guess that 97, 98 percent of all the
money we give goes into the local church. Like
most of you, I receive a lot of letters asking
for money to this cause and to that cause. And
some of them promise me a nice plaque to put
on the wall. And others say, if you give a dollar,
it'll be ten Bibles to this place. And there
seems to be more of a tangible response to that
kind of giving. And sometimes it doesn't seem
as... quite as fulfilling to give toward the
ministry of the church, for the light bill has
to be paid, and staff people have to be paid,
and the ongoing expenses of the church. And yet
I recognized, and I'm glad I recognized early
in my Christian experience, that it is to the
local church that primarily I am to give in my
giving. We can give beyond that, and I think
we should give beyond that, but in the proper
kind of light. I don't think that we should give
all of our money to political parties and other
good institutions that we may believe in, but
which are a part of lesser things. Thinking about
social justice is an appropriate end, but it's
not the primary focus of what we're all about.
Rather, we should leave those issues to the God
who is in heaven and who is in control, and to
whom all must give final account. We have to
keep in mind, folks, that God's kingdom is not
going to come through our legislative efforts
or by our social action agendas. God's kingdom
is not coming that way. Our primary focus and
duty for the stewardship of our time, our talent,
and our money is to be towards spiritual ministry,
the preaching of the gospel, the building up
of the Lord's church. and keeping ourselves unspotted
from the world, living holy and God -fearing
lives. But nonetheless, we do have a responsibility
in society. Our primary focus is to be on the
things of eternity, the things that are going
to count a hundred years from now when we're
in the presence of the Lord. But we do have a
responsibility in society, and as we carry out
the principles of God's Word, we're going to
carry out God's impact in society. And so I repeat
that God in his word did not directly attack
the social abomination of that day, slavery.
But the word of God laid down principles which,
when followed, brought about the abolition of
it. Now here in our word today, we come to some
very practical principles. These are written
to slaves and to masters, but they as well apply
to employees and employers, workers and supervisors.
To all of us who are involved in the working
world, and that's nearly all of us, the Word
of God speaks with simplicity and practicality
when it says, Slaves, be obedient. And masters,
it says, Be considerate. That's my word, but
I think that fairly summarizes what he says.
Slaves, be obedient. Or, to put it in our own
vocabulary today, workers, do your assignment.
In our text, there are two masters that are in
view. There is what is called the master according
to the flesh in verse 5. This, of course, is
the human authority. in our workplace. It is
that supervisor, employer, or foreman to whom
we must give account in our working. But there
is a second master overseeing this that is in
view as well. In verse 9 he is called the master
in heaven, and in verse 6 we are called the slaves
of Christ, so there's no lack of certainty as
to whom the second master is. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what we are told here is that
we are to serve both masters at the same time,
recognizing the superiority of claim upon our
lives of our heavenly master. But we do have
a responsibility to our earthly master as well.
Our responsibility as those who are hired to
perform a service is, simply put, obedience.
That is the same word that is used in verse 1
where children are commanded to obey their parents.
It means to listen to and to submit to. It means
to do what is expected of you. It means to fulfill
what your job description says. Now there are
several additional ideas that elaborate upon
this basic idea of obedience. Notice that he
says we are to obey with fear and trembling.
The thought here is that we are to do our work
with concern and care to do our very best so
that we might glorify God in what we're doing,
that nothing we would do would detract from our
testimony. The Apostle Paul went to Corinth,
1 Corinthians 2, 3 tells us, with fear and trembling.
What was his concern? Was he afraid of the people?
Was he intimidated by them? No. His concern was
that he might serve the Lord acceptably among
them. Likewise, we are told in Philippians 2,
12 that we are to work out our salvation with
fear and trembling. What does that mean? What
it means with a recognition of our own human
inadequacies, our own trust in God to make us
sufficient. And so the point is that as we serve
our supervisors, our foremen, our employers,
we are to do that with care to do our best, recognizing
our own inadequacy and depending upon God to
make us sufficient for that job with fear and
trembling. Then he tells us that we are to obey
in the sincerity of our hearts. The word sincerity
here means singleness. The root idea is simplicity,
and his point is that in our work we are not
to have a divided loyalty or motivation. We are
not to become diffused, but rather focused on
the duty that is at hand. In other words, we
are to give the full attention. and energy that
God has given to us to the assigned task at work.
We're not to allow ourselves to become so spread
out in interest that we don't get our job done,
but with singleness, simplicity, or sincerity
of heart, we are to serve those who have hired
us to do a job. And then he says that we are
to obey as to Christ. Our earthly employment,
folks, is our duty. He is our heavenly master
who oversees all. But as we serve our earthly
master, we are as well serving our heavenly master.
Whatever our avocation may be, our ambition is
to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. William Carey
was one of the great missionary statesmen of
his day, a pioneer who opened up the continent
of Asia. He applied for foreign missions work
with his denomination in Britain. And someone
there, knowing that he was not an ordained, quote,
minister, said to him, and what is your business?
It was to be a put -down to him because, in fact,
he was not a minister. Carey wisely replied to
him, my business is serving the Lord. and I make
shoes to pay expenses. What a great answer. I
want to ask you what your business is, and then
what do you do to make money to live on? As we
do, whatever we do, we are to do it as to Christ.
He and His kingdom, that's our business. And
then we are to obey not by way of eye service,
in verse 6, as men pleasers, but as slaves of
Christ. Not by way of eye service, or eye slavery,
actually, he says. The point is that we are not
to simply go through motions to be noticed by
our employer, but fail to accomplish very much.
Nor are we to work hard when the boss is around
and then be lazy when he's gone. For a couple
of years, between my years in college, I worked
at a Beatrice Foods plant at the peak of Kansas.
I had part in making cottage cheese and sour
cream and packaging it, as well as stacking ice
cream and various other sundry items that the
lowest person on the totem pole got to do. But
I remember some of the employees there who were
rather comical to watch because when the supervisor
wasn't around, they took it real easy, sometimes
even looking for a place to lie down and snooze
for a while because they'd been out late the
night before. But I tell you, when the boss was
coming around and somehow there was this message
that got through the plant as the boss was making
his rounds, he's on the way, people got busy,
real busy, to impress the boss. That's the point
here. We're not to get busy just when the boss
is around with an eye to pleasing men. We're
not to be eye slaves. We are to be slaves, genuine
slaves of Jesus Christ. And then we are to see
the job, he tells us, as the will of God to be
done from the heart. Do you see that in verse
6? Do you look upon your job as the will of God
for you right now? God wants you to see it that
way. It doesn't mean that you're going to be
completely fulfilled necessarily in what you're
doing. Sometimes God's will takes us through
stress and trial and difficulty. But wherever
you are at this point, if you're serving the
Lord Jesus Christ, would you see that job as
God's will for your life, at least for now? And
would you do it as the will of God from the heart?
So often we make a division, don't we, between
the secular part of our life and the sacred part
of our life. Monday through Friday, well, that's
secular. That's over here. That's in one category.
And then Saturday, of course, is in another category.
That's ours. And then Sunday, well, we give some
of that at least to the Lord. That's the sacred
part of our life. That's not so. God says that
every day is sacred, and everything we do is
to be counted as sacred. And he says that as
we see life this way, we are to do what we do
from the heart, that is, with enthusiasm and
with wholeheartedness. There is a parallel passage
in Colossians 3, in verse 23. And there he puts
it this way, Whatever you do, do your work heartily,
as to the Lord, rather than for men. Do your
work heartily, whatever your hand finds to do.
Do that with all of your strength and all of
your energy as to the Lord, seeing it as the
will of God. And then he says that we are to
obey with goodwill. That is, with readiness to
do what we're asked to do, without coercion,
without complaint. And finally, he says, we are
to render service as to the Lord and not to men.
You know, when you and I see our work as work
that is done primarily for the Lord, we will
no longer be working primarily for men. They
may have the privilege of giving us our paycheck,
but we're working for one who is greater than
they. or the net company. We're working for the
Lord. If only some of us could grab a hold of
that truth, it would change the way we look at
the boss. Because some of you work in very difficult
circumstances. There's a lot of pressure. And
in some cases, even opposition to your Christian
witness and testimony. You hate to go to work
on Monday morning because you know when you get
there, you're going to be in the vice. and the
pressure is going to squeeze you. And that's
not fun. It's not fun for anyone. But would you
ask God to help you today to see that job as
something that you're doing for the Lord and
not for men? He is your heavenly master, and
your work is out of love, the love of a slave
for Jesus Christ. And because his will has assigned
you that particular spot, what you're doing,
that service that you're rendering, you're rendering
to the Lord and not to men. If you can just look
beyond that supervisor who rides you and see
Jesus Christ overseeing that supervisor, that
will help you in your service in that place.
Then he speaks to masters as well. That is, to
those who are managers, who are executives, who
are employers. He says, be considerate. Here
are the biblical principles that are laid down
for us. In the first place, he says, do the same
things to them. That is, to those who are in
your hire. Treat them with respect, is the principle.
Treat them with understanding. Practice the golden
rule. with those who work for you. Promote the
welfare of your workers, just like you expect
them to promote your welfare. It seems to me
that Boaz must have been a man who practiced
this with his workmen. For when he got to the
field, it says in Ruth chapter 2 and verse 4,
that he said to them, May the Lord be with you.
And then they, his reapers, replied to him, May
the Lord bless you. When was the last time that
happened in your office? When your boss came
in and blessed you in the name of the Lord, and
you turned around and said, and the Lord be with
you too. I tell you what, that would change a
lot of offices, wouldn't it? You see, here's
a man, Boaz, who treated his workers with respect.
Every one of us who has people working under
us and for us. You need to treat them with understanding.
Secondly, don't abuse them. Threats, intimidation,
coercion, they may get the job done, but they
will destroy your relationship and your Christian
testimony. Rather, use a positive approach to
motivate those who work with you. Treat them
with what Paul says in Colossians is fairness.
and justice. Don't abuse them. And then the third
principle, remember that all of us will give
an account to our heavenly master. All of us
will. Whether we are an employer or employee,
whether we're a supervisor or supervisee, whether
we are an executive or a worker, all of us will
one day give account to the Lord. And not just
for what we do on Sunday morning, but for the
way that we work through the week. The way that
we treat people through the week. That's the
point. And there's one basic principle that our
Lord will use in his examination of all of us.
No partiality. God is no respecter of persons.
He will treat all of us the same way. We will
all have the same opportunity when we are judged
by the Lord. And that principle, by the way,
of no partiality is one that all of us should
practice in our treatment of other people. There
is nothing that so commends Jesus Christ to a
lost world as that believer, whatever his position.
As that believer who's chosen, redeemed, and
sealed by the Holy Spirit, that believer who
has been added to the body of Jesus Christ, there
is nothing that so commends Jesus Christ to a
lost world as that believer who lives out his
faith in the business world. That's business,
but not as usual. That's business done God's
way. My friend, it is truth that transforms the
lifestyle and manifests Jesus Christ. This is
God's truth for us today. Will you allow God's
truth to transform your life? Will you declare
this morning that you will allow your life to
be conformed to the principles of God's word
so that your life being transformed by the word
will be a testimony to Jesus Christ? And to you,
my dear friend, who is without Jesus Christ,
who is lost, do you see today your desperate
need for the Savior? Will you call upon him today?
We sang earlier, Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art
calling, do not pass me by. I want you to know
that Jesus Christ will pass by no one who calls
out to him. Jesus was surrounded by a multitude
of people as he passed through Jericho that day.
And over on the side of the road was Bartimaeus
along with a friend or two of his who were blind.
And the Bible says that as Jesus was passing
by, Bartimaeus, understanding who it was and
having heard of the power of Jesus, to deliver,
cried out and said, Jesus, Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me. And those who were standing
by tried to quiet him down. He was such a noisy
fellow. But he continued to cry out, Jesus, have
mercy on me. And our Lord responded to Bartimaeus,
and he said, Your faith has made you well. And
Bartimaeus, that day, my friend, was healed of
his physical blindness, but he was delivered
as well from his spiritual blindness and sin.
And whoever you are today, if you will call upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, he will save you. He will
not pass you by. And then you can join the rest
of us who in our lives desire to serve the Lord.
Who are you serving today, my Christian friend?
For whom are you laboring? Does it seem that
you're pouring out yourself with very little
in return? You're not even paid what you're worth
like that fellow working on the wall? Are you
pouring out yourself with little appreciation
that seems to come to you? Well, remember this.
As you serve the Lord, as he's commanded us to
in his word, one day when you stand before him,
our master in heaven, and he rewards. He will
pay back to you what you deserve. He will put
on deposit for you there that which you have
given for him here. The story is a familiar one,
but it's so worth telling, about the old missionary
who was returning home after many years of service
for the Lord in Africa. On the same ship that
he was traveling on was President Theodore Roosevelt,
who had... been on a wild game hunt in Africa
and was returning home. When the ship docked
in New York, there were great crowds who were
there. The press was there. Bands were there
to play their music, all to welcome the President
of the United States. The old missionary and
his wife walked off of the ship unnoticed and
made their way to a cheap hotel. to spend the
night before traveling further west. The missionary
said to his wife that evening, Honey, you know,
it just doesn't seem right. We've given our lives
in Africa to win people to Christ, and when we
arrive home, there's nobody to meet us, and no
reward. The president shoots some animals, and
he gets a royal welcome. It just doesn't seem
right. And thoughtfully, his wife responded to
him, the voice of the Lord speaking through her.
She said, Honey, do you know why we haven't received
our reward yet? It's because we're not yet home.
Let's pray. My friend, this isn't home, our final
home. We're heading there by God's grace. But
this is our place of service, where we are assigned
by the Lord in his will to represent him. Will
you, in response to his word this morning, quietly
within your own heart, give yourself afresh?
to the Lord? Whatever that area of struggle and
doubt has been, will you tell the Lord that you
give him that? Maybe there's been some resentment,
discouragement. Will you tell your heavenly master
today that you're content to wait until you get
home before you get your reward? Father, I pray
that whatever our spiritual need may be today,
that the Holy Spirit will work in us, that that
need may be met by our yieldedness to the word,
and may the truth transform us. I pray in Jesus'
name. Amen.