Ephesians 6:5-9
By: Alexander Rico
We see Paul continuing the call for submissive relationships; however, as we have seen from our study last week, the main emphasis is our relationship to God. As it is, the moment your relationship with God is right; then, your other relationships will follow; and ultimately, you will seek to relate to them a type of relationship that pleases God.
And so thus, we are brought here to our text today. “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ.” (Ephesians 6:5) It is in this verse, that we see a term not used frequently in our society today. What is that word? Well, it is, “bondservant”. Dictionary.com defines a bondservant as a person who is, “obligated to service without wages, essential a slave”. At the time Paul was writing this, a large majority of the Roman Empire were in fact slaves. These slaves were considered mere property and could be killed at any time without an investigation being held by the state. More recently, in the early years of our society, we viewed African American citizens as slaves; and, used them to do manual work without pay. In placing this illustration into our text, we then begin to see Paul’s view on our relationship with employers. Some of you are saying, “Yeah, I can see the resemblance… slavery and work.” I once read a comparison of prisons and work. It stated: “IN PRISON…. you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell. AT WORK….. you spend the majority of your time in a 6X8 cubicle. IN PRISON….. you get three meals a day, free. AT WORK… you only get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it. IN PRISON… you get time off for good behavior. AT WORK… you get more work for good behavior. IN PRISON… the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you. AT WORK… you must carry around a security card and open all the doors for yourself. IN PRISON… you can watch TV and play games. AT WORK… you get fired for watching TV and playing games. IN PRISON… you get your own toilet. AT WORK… you have to share with someone who pees on the seat. IN PRISON…they allow your family and friends to visit. AT WORK…you can’t even speak to your own family. IN PRISON… all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required. AT WORK… you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners. IN PRISON… you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out. AT WORK… you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go behind bars. IN PRISON… you must deal with sadistic wardens. AT WORK… they are called managers. We see that our job description is to be that of a servant summed up into one word, “obedience.”
From our study last week, we can recall that this word requires a two fold system. You cannot be obedient without first listening and doing the act that is requested of us. What does this mean? Well, when we are asked to do an errand or job for our employer, we should not sit their with our hands crossed in front of us pouting and moaning about the task; but rather, acting upon it with a servant’s heart, eagerly awaiting the next task, the next moment of service to our master. Not simply doing it because someone is watching us, as Paul refers to by the use of the term, “eye service”. How many people have we seen, or perhaps been a part of; where the only reason they do something is because they know the type of response they will receive from those around them. They have no real intentions of helping out; all they want is the look. They are, “man pleasers”, people seeking to please the eyes of man rather than truly doing a task because it brings glory to our father in heaven. Paul said this about man pleasing, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) The way I see it, we should be working faithfully, no matter who sees us. I have heard on occasion in ministry, “how many people will see what I am doing?” They want all the credit!
Paul tells us, that when we are to work, or are asked to do something by those in authority over us; we should simply see it as if they were Jesus Christ himself, and we are serving him (v.5b). Would we serve the Lord haphazardly? Would we deny Him service? Would you tell him, “No”? I highly doubt it! Same is true of our work with our employers. We are to treat the work, no matter how small or how large the job, as if we were working for Christ as through love. Why love? Well, because of the gratitude we have towards the price Christ paid on our behalf.
“With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:7). See, Paul the apostle is saying simply that true goodwill of a slave is a concern for his work as if it were his own. You would not simply throw together something if you knew it was going to be yours, would you? When we build something for ourselves or do something for ourselves, we strive to give it our all! We need to make sure that we are putting forth that same effort, that same attitude when working for our masters, our employers.
Why? Well, we see that answer noted in verse 8, “knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord,” (Ephesians 6:8). Paul makes it clear here, that whatever we do for the Lord, for the right reasons, will be rewarded at the time of judgment, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the good things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-11). Each of our works, which we have done here on earth will pass threw the fire, and those things which were done for the right reasons will remain in tact; but, those which are done in the wrong shall be consumed by the fire. No matter who we are, slave or free person! (v.8)
Now, having discussed the role of a servant or employee; allow us to close with the job description of an employer. Under the Old Testament Leviticus law, God gave masters instructions concerning their dealings with their servants. He said, “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.” (Leviticus 19:13) In other words, don’t take the wages that are due to your employee for the time that they worked; that is clearly robbing! For your homework, you can also look up Leviticus 25:39-43 and Deuteronomy 24:14-15; look over the set down law and read more about what was expected of employers during those times. See many times an employer needs to understand that they have a master in heaven they have to account to once they die. And it is in stating this that we must keep in mind as employers:
- I do not have the final say, what I say does not necessary go!
- I have a responsibility to my Master, Christ.
- I am accountable to Him.
Sure, you can be this big hot shot CEO of a company, own a pen with your name on it; have the best office in the building, and have all answering to you; yet, you have to answer to God! James tells us, “but he will be judged without mercy, which shows no mercy.” Jesus gave us the parable of the steward who was entrusted with his masters goods when his master had traveled off to a far away country. When the master had been away for a long period of time, longer than expected by the steward; he began, we are told, to mistreat the servant under him. It was when the master returned that this man was cut off and received his portions among the unbelievers. One of our major problems in today’s society is the fact that many people do not seem to realize that though they may be at the top of the totem pole; they will one day have to give an account to Christ for all that they did; they lack the sense of responsibility.
Finally, in closing, we see here in verse 9, “and there is no partiality with Him”; Him speaking of Christ. God is just as interested in the pauper, the poor person, as he is the billionaire; there is no high and mighty in his book, in fact, he knocks those who are on their high horse off! If masters and servants would consider their duties to God, and the accounts they must shortly give to him, they would be more mindful of their duty to each other, and thus harmony amongst one another.
Therefore remember, when you go to work this week, though it may be hard treat your bosses as if you are working for Christ for in due time when we reach those pearly gates we will be rewarded for our true efforts and actions here on earth; and, bosses treat your employees with respect for one day you will have to give an account before our father in heaven of your treatment of them.
Be the first to comment