Servants and Masters
Eph 6:5-9
11-04-07

Today’s servants and masters are employees and employers or assistants and bosses.  Nevertheless, the application of the doctrine taught in this passage is the same either way. 

If you want to be a God-honoring employee then here’s what you need to do:

Obey your boss – 5 – you are not the boss, he is – so you are to do what he wants, the way he wants it done and when he wants it done – he’s not working on your schedule, you’re working on his – stay as long as you need - get the work done

Fear your boss – 5 – like the hands feared my grandfather – this fear is not the snare of Proverbs 29:25 – this is a fear that causes you to do exactly what you are told to do because you do not want to face the consequences [2 Cor 7:14-15] – you know when he says what he says he means for you to do it and there are serious implications if you don’t – coaches try to get their players to fear them in this way – so do commanders their soldiers – they know if they succeed in instilling that kind of fear in their players, they will get the best out of them that they can

Cut out the distractions – 5 in singleness of your heart – your single desire should be to please him – it is so easy to get distracted by so many other things that we get sidetracked from what we are to do – you find yourself dealing with personal business on company time – family problems on company time – while you are at work you need to be wholly at work and not drawn away mentally or emotionally or literally by some personal concern Lk 17:7-10

Cut out the eye service – 6 – don’t get into the habit of working harder when the boss is around and then slacking when he can’t see what you are doing – you have to cut that out because the Lord can see – Saucier said that on shift work in the refineries, they had to wait around for the boss to check them out - so they would sleep sitting down with their heads bowed – when the boss came they’d wake up and see his shoes – they’d cross themselves and say “amen” – made it look like they were praying [eye service, baby]

Work for the Lord – 5-7 – as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart – your earthly boss is just a physical representative of who you really serve – you are working for the Lord – if you always remember that you will always do your best – your best may not be as good as the next guy, but if it is the very best that you can do then you have done all you can do – and that’s the kind of effort you’ll give if you remember that you are working for the Lord – anyway, he is always watching everything you do

And the Lord will reward you – 8 – Col 3:24-25 – the Lord can pay you a whole lot better than any man can pay you with wages down here – because what he gives lasts for ever – and what he gives is right [penny a day] -

To be a God-honoring employer, here’s what you need to do:

Remember that you are a servant, too – 9 – your master is in heaven and he is no respecter of persons – far and away, the best executives are the ones who have come up through the ranks – they understand the business better, for one thing – but far more important, they understand the employees better – they know what it is to be on the receiving end of all of those demands – they have more compassion and more realistic expectations – they don’t cut too much slack but then they don’t become overbearing -

Do for the Lord what  you expect your employees to do for you – 9 – so often employers get so minded about the business that they put the Lord second – in other words, when you have employees, you want them giving you 110% while they are on the job – likewise, the Lord wants you to give him 110% also – but when you lose sight of the fact that you are working for him, he is lucky to get 33% effort out of you [Sunday morning Christians] – you think you can give him a little extra money and buy him off – you wouldn’t take 5 bucks from an employee to give him the rest of the day off, why should you think the Lord is willing to take a little extra from you so that you can get out of work – he has a job for you to do and when you do it, remarkably, the work your employees do for you seems to improve commensurately – they see the example for one thing and the Lord blesses for the other

Don’t threaten your employees – 9 – the Lord doesn’t threaten you to do what he wants you to do – he tells you and he expects you to get it done – likewise, you tell your employees – you’ve seen and heard the old “slave” stories where they were beaten into service – you realize the cruelty – the Lord is not like that with you and you are not to be like that with others – remember that the Lord is no respecter of persons – he sees you just the same way he sees your employee – one is no different than the other – well treat them this way [with some dignity]

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