Living and Working in a Bad Situation - Part 3 | Adult Sunday School

Good morning, welcome. Spring is in the air, brother. I mean, who knows? I mean, we could get another two feet of snow, right? But spring's in the air still. It's still light at five o 'clock. That means spring's in the air.

Yeah, well, welcome. Glad you're back. You don't know how glad I am each week to stand up here and still see faces in front of me after all of these weeks. It's encouraging, thank you. Open your Bibles to the sixth chapter of Ephesians.

Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. And let's pray to begin. Well, our Father, we return again this morning to this wonderful and marvelous letter from the pen of the Apostle Paul to believers that are so remote to us by time, by culture, by experience, that we cannot quickly identify without thinking seriously about these things.

Even the passage before us about slavery is so alien to us and yet your truth transcends cultures, it transcends time, it is always true and it is always applicable. And so we pray, our Father, this morning that we would rightly divide it, that we would understand it as it came from the pen of the Apostle Paul and that your Spirit would aid and enable us to apply it in our own culture and context, in ways that are helpful, in ways that bring glory to Christ, in ways that draw us ever closer to our Savior in whose name we pray, amen.

The Final Message in Paul’s Household Code

Amen. Well, this is the final message from Paul's household code. We started, I believe it was 18 weeks ago, back in chapter five and verse 15. And this, we now arrive at the final, final message, the final passage.

It's in this passage that Paul is commanding and exhorting and teaching the Ephesian believers how to live out their Christian faith in the home. And after this, Pastor Jim will be doing a series on imprecatory Psalms.

And he wanted me to just make sure you understand that he will not only be teaching the Sunday school, but he will be preaching. In other words, he'll be applying the messages on hard work over the next number of weeks as he both teaches and preaches twice on Sunday.

So for that, we're very grateful. So don't miss that. But here we are in chapter six and verse five. And Paul's addressing the topic of Christian slaves and masters who are on equal terms within the body of Christ and yet who are radically different from one another in terms of power and self-determination and economic status.

So they are one in Christ, equal footing there, but they are vastly different in terms of their hierarchies or priorities within the society. And this teaching from Paul is so important and the implications of it are so significant regarding the body of Christ and equality within the body of Christ that they really cut the thread of the whole institution of slavery that was very much a part of the culture of the ancient world into which the gospel came.

And it cut that thread. And although it did not immediately end slavery, it started a great unraveling, if you will, that eventually led to Christian nations recognizing their obligations under the gospel to put aside such really evil practices as the enslavement of other human beings.

So it just took time. It took time, but the gospel always accomplishes its purposes. Let's read the text together. Chapter six, beginning in verse five. 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 goodwill 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.

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. This is addressing slavery. But by application, we're going to apply it to our situation because we don't understand slavery, we're not involved in slavery, and so we're going to need to extract the biblical principles and then apply them to our environment, which is work, which is work.

And so what we can draw from this is five principles, and this is our outline, five principles that govern how we live and work when we find ourselves in a bad situation. We talked last week. If you are not in a bad employment situation, hang on, it'll probably come, such is the nature of work in a fallen world.

So five principles. Last week we looked at two of them. The first was actually found in 1 Corinthians 7 in verses 20 to 24, and that was that we should change what we can. Paul says that if you are a slave and you can get free, you ought to, you ought to.

And so I would say by extension, if you are in a very bad work situation and you can get out of it, if you can change, you should, you should. Secondly is that we must obey where you must, obey where you must, and we saw that in the first part of verse five here in Ephesians 6.

Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. So obey where you must. And then we begin with new. So the third principle, the third principle for us this morning, found in the second half of verse five and all the way to verse seven is serve with integrity.

So change what you can, obey what you must, serve with integrity. And Paul says here that 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 goodwill, render service as to the Lord and not to men. So the Christian slaves, Paul is telling them need to be concerned to not only just obey their masters because that was a base level societal expectation, but Paul is very interested in the manner in which they obey.

He's concerned about the heart behind the outward obedience and the theological motivations that stand behind it. So Paul's interested in their heart attitude and the theological motivation that drives their external obedience.

And he gives us here a fourfold description of Christian service. Fourfold description of Christian service and what it means to serve with integrity and Paul gives us a fourfold description of it. And the first is here in verse five.

And it is that they are to work sincerely. They're to work sincerely with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ. And the fear that Paul is talking about here is the reverence and awe that believers feel when they consider the implications of the Lordship of Christ.

It's the ascended Christ who stands behind and authenticates all the authority structures and providentially rules over his people. We see that in chapter one. Just to remind you, we're in Paul's first prayer here in Ephesians beginning in verse 18.

He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe.

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about in Christ when he, that would be the father, raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, and here it is, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age but in the one to come.

And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. In other words, it is the ascended Christ who stands behind and authenticates all the authority structures that we find in the scriptures and thus to submit to them is in effect to submit to him, it is to submit to his lordship.

We submit to Christ when we submit to God-ordained authority structures and specifically here in chapter six and verse five, Paul states that their submission is to be characterized in a certain way, you see it, sincerity of heart.

They are to submit but they are submit in sincerity of heart. In other words, in an inner sincerity or we might say a personal integrity. Their submission is to be marked by an inner sincerity or a personal integrity.

In other words, Paul is again dealing with the motive, the motive behind the work. They're not only to do what they're told but they're to do it with a kind of an attitude that would be appropriate for a follower of Christ as if Christ himself were standing there supervising their efforts.

Second, they are to work honestly, they are to work honestly. Notice it in verse six, not by way of eye service as men pleasers. So they're not only to work sincerely but they're to work honestly, sincerely and honestly.

And as Paul makes clear by the use of this term eye service which by the way is a fascinating word. It's a word that's made up of two Greek words that are put together. The first one speaks of the eye and the next one slavery.

And so these two words put together is the idea that they are to work not by way of being eye slaves. They're not to work as eye slaves. In other words, they are not to serve with a view to impress other people.

And this is an interesting word as I say because it's only here and in the parallel passage in Colossians chapter three verse 22 where there we read bond servants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters not by way of eye service.

There it is again, as people pleasers but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord. And the reason I think this word is so fascinating is because this is the only place it appears. There's no references to this in secular Greek.

In fact, the only place it appears is these two places here in the New Testament. And so I think perhaps Paul made this word up. And as we all know, it's a sign of intelligence when you make up words.

And so Paul has made up a word. He has taken the word for eye and the word for slave and he stuck them together. And he says, we are not to serve as eye slaves. We're not to be eye slaves as men pleasers.

So what's he mean by all of that? What does that mean? That means that we're not supposed to work with the purpose of just making a favorable impression on our master. We're supposed to work hard. We're supposed to work hard when we're being observed and when we're not being observed.

That's the idea. That's the idea. They don't work honestly. They're to provide a solid day's work without regard to whether the master is present or not, whether the boss is looking or not. Now, I was first introduced to the ways of the world in the realm of employment at 16 when I got a job in a grocery store and I was working in the dairy department of the grocery store.

And I was going to be trained by a 30-year-old Navy veteran. And what he trained me to do was to hustle when we were out on the floor and being observed and then to take extended periods of time getting lost in the warehouse.

And in the hot summer, being lost in the dairy cooler arranging product, let's just say. And both of us were considered very good employees. And it really wasn't until like years later, reflecting back on that, I realized that essentially what he had taught me to do is game the system.

He had taught me how to game the system. He had taught me how to be an iSlave, to be an iSlave. And you know, it's a sad commentary, isn't it on the American worker? It's a sad commentary on the American worker and the quality of the American worker when so many companies now feel compelled to install video surveillance systems so that they can keep track of the employees, make sure they're working, make sure they're not stealing from them.

It shouldn't be that way for Christians, for sure. It should not be that way. Christian workers don't need video surveillance in order for us to put it in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

Why? Because we work under the Lordship of Christ, that's why. We work under the Lordship of Christ. Third, third, they're to work wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly. You see it again in the second half of verse six.

Not by way of eye service as men-pleasers, contrast, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. We're to work wholeheartedly. It's a contrast, it's a contrast to those who work hard when somebody's looking and then goof off when they're not, to those that Paul is now enjoining here to recognize their ultimate master is Christ, their service is to him, and they are to work, you see it, from the heart, from the heart, wholeheartedly.

Actually, the word is exuche, it's out of the soul, is what it literally says. They are to work out of the soul, in other words, from the soul, or from one's innermost being. That's where the work is to be coming from.

It's not to be coming from the oversight of the supervisor, but it's to be coming from the inside out. Again, Colossians chapter three, verse 23, whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men.

So in both epistles, Paul is hammering on this point that work that is done well and is pleasing to Christ is work that is motivated internally for the service of Christ, for his evaluation, his approval, not your supervisor, not your master.

As a slave, they were to work hard. They were to work hard and they were to work for the benefit of their masters. But the motivation, the hard work, is not to be noticed, but rather as a service to Christ, that's key.

And finally, in verse seven, they are to work enthusiastically, enthusiastically. With goodwill, render service as to the Lord and not to men. Because they're working for Christ, because that's the reality of it, they're serving Christ as they serve their Christian masters and they can render this kind of service with a good or a positive attitude rather than begrudgingly.

Now, this would undoubtedly make them stand out, wouldn't it? If you find a worker who is internally motivated and is working hard and is serving their employer and is being driven from the inside, not from the external pressures or factors, then they're gonna stand out.

Because they're one in a thousand, maybe rarer than that. So they're going to stand out. And these slaves are going to stand out too. If they are applying the realities of what Paul is talking about here, they're going to stand out.

In other words, people are going to notice them. People are going to notice them. I mean, after all, if you've ever been in a supervisory position, you know a good worker and you know a bad worker. And it doesn't normally take very long for you to get it figured out.

And so when you work hard, you stand out. You stand out. Now, the motivation, the motivation again, and this is what this is all about, to serve their masters in a system that is inherently unjust, is ultimately the recognition that their obedience is not to a faulty human master, but to a perfect heavenly master, Christ.

That's what can keep them on the job. That's what keeps them working. That's what enables them to serve Christ in this way is they recognize that behind all of this, unjust as it is, lies the opportunity to serve Christ.

Now, if that's true of them, that's got to be true of us too, don't you think? It's got to be true of us too. These Christian slaves, they're being called upon to serve their masters in a qualitatively and quantitatively different way than all the others around them.

They are being called to stand out. Why? Because they're serving Christ. The answer is they're serving Christ, not merely their earthly master. In the workforce, it's true for us. We work hard, we work honestly, we work wholeheartedly.

Why? So that we get noticed, so we get a promotion, so we get a raise. No, those are all derivative benefits. We work in this fashion because it is the service to our Savior. It is the way we express our devotion to Him.

It's the recognition that Christ stands behind our work, and it sanctifies it in that way, and it sets it apart as ultimately service to Him. It turns work from drudgery to worship, and that's significant.

That is significant. Now, let's be quick to say it doesn't remove the pain of the work, right? But we're talking about slaves here. It does not relieve the pain of the work. You still could have, in our day and age, you could still have an unreasonable boss.

You could still have unpleasant coworkers. The change in focus doesn't change your circumstances a bit. Not a bit. But it's dramatic to change that will occur in you because it changes your focus. It allows you to see God's greater gospel purposes behind this pain.

Now it's not just about, it's Monday morning, I gotta go to work again. I work with like, you know, it's really hard to soar with eagles when you work with buzzards, and I'm surrounded by them. Or this person that I work for, they need a psychological examination.

I mean, they're crazy. That pain doesn't go away, but the focus can change. And when the focus changes, it goes from something you dread to transcend that to an opportunity to worship and live for Christ and live for the gospel in this environment.

Now, if you can change, change. But maybe you can't. Maybe you can't. They certainly couldn't, for the most part. If a slave is supposed to serve his master in this way, what would Paul say to us moderns, huh?

What would he say to us in terms of how we're supposed to serve our employers so that we don't blunt the Christian gospel? If this is his words to them, what would he say to us? What would he say to us?

Living with an Eternal Perspective

And the fourth principle for living and working in a difficult environment is found in verse eight. And it is this. We are to think eschatologically. We are to think eschatologically. The world is full of injustice.

The world is full of injustice. And the righteous heart longs for the day when Christ will return and set it right. That is the longing of our hearts. So therefore, the fourth principle by Paul governs how we work in this difficult situation between the comings.

We await the return of Christ when things will be made right. But when it's not there, it's not today, at least not yet. But being focused and rooted, and remember I said theological motivation, the theological motivation that arises out of thinking eschatologically provides the motivation to live in this way.

Verse eight, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord whether slave or free. It's because these slaves are ultimately serving Christ when they serve their masters, and it is Christ that they should look to for their recognition and their reward, but it won't be in this life.

It won't be in this life. There may be some more or less measures of earthly recognition that come to us, but the final commendation doesn't come here. At the end of it all, the gold watch is not all there is.

The brass ring, it's always a little out of your reach. That's not where it's at. It's not there. The true reward, the true reward for Christian obedience comes not in this life, but the next. Not in this life, the next.

And notice here that the verb that Paul uses to express, to speak of Paul's reward or repayment, right? Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive back from the Lord. That verb receive, comizo, it means to receive or to recompense.

It's the same verb that appears over in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10, and it is used there in the context of the eschatological judgments, specifically the bemise judgment of Christ. This is the judgment, not of sin, for our sin was dealt with on the cross, but this is the evaluation of our Christian life and for the purposes of eternal reward.

Paul writes there in 2 Corinthians 5, 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his, that's the verb, for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Following the rapture of the church and prior to the beginning of the tribulation, all Christians appear before the judgment seat of Christ, the bemise seat of Christ, and they are evaluated by him with regard to their Christian discipleship.

Again, it is not a judgment of our sin, our sin was fully and finally dealt with on the cross, but there is an evaluation of what kind of disciple have we been, what have we done with what was entrusted to us?

And it is the deeds of faith, often done in secret, often in the face of adversity, that receive Christ's commendation and reward. And the faithless deeds, which have no eternal value, are burned up, he tells us in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 13 to 15.

I want you to notice here in Ephesians that Paul reminds them whatever good thing they do, even the smallest deeds of Christian obedience don't go unnoticed by Christ, and they are rewarded in the end.

Now, this emphasis on good things, knowing, again, verse eight, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this emphasis on the good things should draw our attention back to chapter two and to Paul's majestic statement about the gospel back in chapter two and verses eight through 10.

For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. And we often stop there and we shouldn't, because verse 10 says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.

These good works that Paul is referencing here in chapter two and verse 10, I think in context, is the good works that appear in chapters four, five, and six of this letter. I mean, at first interpretation, I should look for the definitions of the terms within the very letter itself, and I don't need to go any further than that.

What are the good works that have been prepared beforehand for us? It is the mundane, everyday, ordinary tasks of life. It is husbands loving your wives sacrificially like Christ loved the church. That's the good works prepared for us.

It is wives submitting and respecting your husband. That is the good works that have been prepared for you. It is children being obedient to your parents. That is the good works that have been prepared for you.

Slaves, it is to be obedient to your masters, not as I slaves, but from the heart, wholeheartedly, with sincerity. That is the good works that have been prepared for you. And of course, masters, we'll get to in a moment because they have theirs as well.

So these are the kinds of good works, and we might say it's rather dramatic, isn't it, with the life of a slave? These are the good works, slave, that has been prepared for you. It is to live counter-culturally to all around you.

And we can say that, I think, with regard to us and our situation and our day and age in the same way. What are the good works that have been prepared for you? They begin Monday morning. How you approach this makes a huge difference.

It makes a huge difference. Change what you can. Obey where you must. Serve with integrity. Think eschatologically. And fifth and finally, practice mutuality. Verse nine. Practice mutuality. 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. Just like with the marriage and parenting, Paul ends this section of the household code with instructions to the dominant party in the relationship.

It's the same way it was with wives and husbands, children and parents. Now it's slaves and masters. He speaks first to the one who is called to obey and to submit. He speaks then to the one who is in the position of authority.

Same idea. Previous two cases, his instructions to the master are radically counter-cultural. And they reflect the transformation in the relationship brought about by Christian conversion. It is not just the subservient party in the relationship that is called to live a new and radical way.

It is the dominant party in the relationship that is also called to the same kind of radical, counter-cultural life that is brought about as a result of the indwelling Christ. Now specifically, let's take a look, verse nine.

Specifically, Paul is calling on the Christian masters to display first the same integrity in attitude and action toward their slaves that the slaves are called upon to display towards them. You see it.

And masters do the same things to them. In other words, you are to demonstrate to them a sincerity and honesty, a good attitude. Even though you are in the dominant role in the relationship. Second, they are called upon to give up their societally accepted prerogative of threatening violence in order to manipulate and motivate their slaves.

Give up threatening. Give up threatening. This was the way it was done. This is the way it was done. Now, he's not forbidding the master from punishing a disobedient slave. He's not doing that. But what he is prohibiting is the use of threatening as a management technique.

He is prohibiting for a Christian the use of threatening as a management technique. And I think I can easily see this apply in our society and setting today. There is no place for a Christian man manager and a woman manager to resort to intimidation and threatening as a way to manage employees.

It's contrary to the Christian message. 40 years ago, my early years in banking, I witnessed a grown man reduced to tears in a public meeting when a VP humiliated him for failing to have been adequately prepared for the meeting.

He began to dress him out in such a way that the man literally began to cry. And that was my first exposure to that kind of really violent management style. And it was about 10 years later, in another setting, where I witnessed the vice chairman of Bank of America dress down the president of our subsidiary with profanity and in a public way in order to intimidate all of us over the fact that a Diet Coke had not been provided to him to go with his jelly donut for the breakfast meeting.

That tirade went on for 30 minutes. I'd never seen anything like it. It makes perfect sense. But I'm pretty positive that I've not just witnessed like two exceedingly rare instances. Those of you who have been in the workplace for any period of time, you know.

You know that violence, intimidation, humiliation, harassment are standard management tools. And there is no place for them. No place for a Christian to utilize threats, actual or implied in their leadership of their employees.

None. If you're a Christian, you must resist the temptation to employ this kind of dehumanizing behavior. Even though, even though it is frequently used, frequently used. Now let's look at the motivation.

Give it up, he says. Why? The motivation to give up the societal privilege. See, that's the important thing to see. It's a societal privilege. The threat of violence was widely accepted. It's grounded in their understanding of a few things here.

First, that they also have a master themselves. Their master, yes, but they have a master over them. And that master is Christ. And they are thus accountable to him who is a higher authority. And it is the same higher authority that stands over their slaves.

They have the same master. You see, give up threatening, knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven. That's a radical concept in the Roman world. That is a radical concept in the Roman world.

Paul just put slaves and masters on equal spiritual footing. He's just said, regardless of the societal differences here, before Christ, we're equal, we're equal. So they have a master. Second, that master is an impartial judge.

You see it? There is no partiality with him. Christ is an impartial judge. He's not impressed by, nor does he show favor to human distinctions. He's entirely unimpressed with them. Therefore, in the eyes of Christ, both slave and master stand on equal footing.

And they will receive equal treatment in the evaluation of how they carry out the implications of the gospel in their separate spheres. Impartially judged. And third, when will this happen? Verse eight, at the baby seat, at the baby seat.

Master, or if I can say it now, employer, those of you who employ others, those of you who are in supervisory capacities over others, there will, pardon me, there will be a judgment. There will be a judgment.

There will be an evaluation of how you live the gospel in this situation. If you don't live transcendentally, if you do not live in light of the reality that both your employees and you stand equally before God, you're missing it.

Now, Paul's teaching here is not egalitarian, okay? Let's just be sure we say that. There is a flattening at the foot of the cross, spiritually, but he is not an egalitarian. In other words, the relationship between slave and master is reciprocal, but it is not symmetrical.

It is reciprocal, but it is not symmetrical. In other words, they are not socially equal. They are not socially equal, but they are similarly obligated to submit their attitudes and actions to the Lordship of Christ.

That's true for us today. If you are the boss, you are still the boss. Your relationship is not symmetrical with your employees. It is your responsibility to tell them what to do, and it is their responsibility to say yes and do it.

And yet, if you are both believers before Christ, you're equal. Can you imagine how hard that must have been in the first century church? Remember we talked about slavery? We said that slaves in the Roman Empire came in all stripes and forms and served in all aspects of society, like they were very educated slaves taken captive.

Imagine being a first century church which has a large slave population in it, why? Because there's a large slave population in the Roman Empire, and you walk into the church, and it wasn't Monday through Friday, but you get the idea, that there's this kind of hierarchy going on, and then you walk into the church and it goes like this.

Your slave is now your spiritual elder, now has authority over you in the Lord. The only way that can work is with a fundamental understanding of the gospel and the reality of what it means. We are in a reciprocal relationship, but not a symmetrical relationship.

Paul does not command the Christian masters to free their slaves, he does not, but rather to treat them in a way that recognizes the status of both the master and the slave as joint heirs of Christ and subject to his gracious lordship over them.

That's the key, that's the key to it. May the Lord help us, may the Lord help us to apply this truth in our lives, in whatever situation we find ourselves, to the glory of Christ, let's pray. Our Father, the gospel is a radical message.

It is a radical message because we live in a world that is absolutely upside down, and it is the gospel and the gospel alone that can turn things right side up. It is the gospel that can help us to understand our true value, our true worth.

It is the gospel that can help us to appraise the value and worth of others. It is the gospel that enables us to humble our heart and restrain our flesh, and to seek to be served rather than to serve, or excuse me, to serve rather than to be served.

It is the gospel that enables people to love one another, to be a blessing to one another. It is the gospel that unites us together in the body of Christ. It is the gospel that enables us to pierce through the cultural morass that we find ourselves in, and to live in a way that is radically different, for it is the gospel alone that can save.

It is the gospel alone that can draw men and women, boys and girls, from their bondage to sin, and enable them, by faith, to live differently in a way that is winsome to others. Oh Lord, the things that we have learned over these many weeks have confronted all of us one degree or another.

There is none of us without sin. There is none of us who does not fall and fail right now. Regularly, and thus there is not a one of us who has outgrown the need for this gospel of grace. May you apply it this morning to our hearts.

And Father, for those here this morning who are in a difficult situation, or perhaps a difficult marriage, or perhaps there's children even in a difficult family setting, please encourage them today to look to Christ.

May he be their source of strength and confidence. We pray for his glory and his alone, amen. Well, beloved, there you go. That's 18 weeks, and we'll come back with a light topic like imprecatory psalms.

I'm looking forward to it, God bless you.