Working as to the Lord (Ephesians 6:5-9)

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you please turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter six, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians chapter six. And we'll be looking this morning at verses five through nine. Ephesians chapter six, verses five through nine. You can find that on page 1041 of your Pew Bibles.

Hear now God's Word from the Newer Covenant. Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ. Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. Thus ends this portion of the reading of God's Word.

Well, I was with a friend this week from Georgia, and if you know anything about Georgia, It means that is the home of what my friend Caleb calls the Lord's Chicken, meaning that great restaurant, Chick-fil-A. And it's amazing at Chick-fil-A, they have made a culture of, it was founded by a Christian man, and he made a culture of, we are going to keep great customer service, politeness, and treating our employees fairly. And because of that, the business has prospered, making good food, caring for customers, and caring for employees. That's their values.

And they've stuck to it. But maybe you haven't had that experience in your life. Maybe you have had a work experience in your life that you thought, why was I ever working there? Or you had bosses who didn't care about customers, or bosses who didn't care about their employees, or bosses who didn't care even about the quality of work that was being put out.

Well, here the Scriptures give us real life. Here the Scriptures give us real life of what it means to work as to the Lord. What does it mean to work as to the Lord? And so as we look at the reality of life, both in ancient Rome and in our current day, we need to first address that there's an elephant in the room, and then we'll talk about the grace that God has undergirded this passage with, as well as the obligations that Christian slaves would have, and Christian masters would have, as well as the hope that's to come. So first we need to talk about the elephant in the room.

This is talking about slavery. Bonservants is a nice King James word to talk about slavery. The word doulos in the Greek there literally means slaves. Slaves obey your masters. The scriptures aren't worried about dealing with the difficulties of the reality of life.

At this time in the Roman world when Paul is writing this to the people in Ephesus just across the Aegean Sea There's, in the peninsula of Italy around this time, the guesstimate is that there's somewhere between 85 to 90% of the population is either slaves or a descendant of a slave. And so while we might be very uncomfortable coming to this passage, if Paul was to ignore this relationship between slaves and masters, this means that four-fifths of the church would go, so what about me? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to interact in the situation that I'm in? And so Paul is not here making a justification for slavery. Paul is not here saying here is what slavery should be.

But he's speaking into the reality of life that they have experienced. And we're gonna go through this and we're gonna see time and again that there's a reality of speaking to people where they're at. But the elephant in the room is, so should slavery have been condoned in America then? Well, brothers and sisters, this was not the type of slavery that we found in our black history in the past. As we come to the obligations of masters, we're going to see that the American experience was far different than what Paul is writing to here, and especially for those who are in the South who called themselves Christians. And if you come to Chalk and Talk, you will see pictures of how they treated their African brothers and what they did to keep them away from Christ and the equality that we find here in this passage. the American system of slavery based upon kidnapping, based upon chattel slavery, based upon keeping people subjected and lower than just because of the color of their skin was sin.

It was always sin and we should not just try to pass over it or justify it. But writing to this culture, Paul has very clear instructions that radically change the paradigm of how people in the Roman world would have thought about this institution of slavery.

But we need to make sure that we, we have a challenge, okay? You have a pastor up here who likes to go paragraph by paragraph, chunk by chunk, and let's see, it is November. Did you know we started this series in January. But I'm sure you remember every single sentence from the first five chapters of the book, don't you? You know how this fits in contextually with everything.

But we've come to this portion in the book of Ephesians where we are working through the commands that God has given, but these commands are always based in the truth statements of what followed it. What went before it was the true statements that we are saved by grace through faith. God has loved us. God has chosen us. God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. God has made us his people. And because we are his people, he gives us good work to do.

Ephesians 2, 8-10. And we might be tempted when we have gone through this family code, this section of what does it mean to live out the Christian life, to think that, oh, if we're not doing these things, we're not worthy of grace. Well, as one of my friends said this week, when I asked, do you think we live worthy of grace or do you think we live in the light of grace? He said, no, you're right.

God's just so cool, he loves us anyways. No, we live in the light of God's grace. This is what flows out of the grace of God. And so it is God who has saved us, it's God who has given us this gift of grace, it is God who has shown us His favor, and because He's shown us His favor, now we get to imitate Him. Now we get to walk in the light as He is in the light. Now we get to walk in wisdom, and that's what God is giving us here is wisdom. How do we walk? as children of the light imitating God. Well, he addresses first slaves, bond servants here. And he has a command to them, first of all, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh.

But you need to ask yourself, how did someone become a slave? How do I become a slave in the Roman world? If you are a slave in the Roman world, you sit there and if you look at the color of your skin, It doesn't look that different from your masters. You might be a little bit more olive, or you might even be a little bit more pale. Because the slaves in Rome sometimes came from the Germanic territories up in the north, or up by the borders between Poland and Russia. But there was a problem with some of those slaves who might have even more pale skin than their olive-colored masters.

Because those slaves had revolted against their rulers in 73 BC, right about 60 years before this is written. And so the German, Germanic speaking, Germanic speaking at that time just means anybody north. All of those people were treated worse because they were seen as rebels. And so they would have these pits dug for them in the ground with low roofs so that they couldn't actually stand up and they were given the menial tasks of working in the field.

But maybe you were one of those slaves at that time and you would look down at your skin color and you might actually be more melanin there. You would find more black and even more olive. Maybe you would look more Persian. because typically slaves were brought in as prisoners of war. And so as the Romans conquered the South and Africa, and as they conquered the East all the way into India, they brought slaves with them, including a whole slew, tens of thousands of Jewish slaves.

But those people were seen to be more educated. And so often slaves from the East, slaves from what they would call the Orient at that time were actually preferred as house slaves and as those who would actually work in artisanship and they might even be the accountants or even the educators of their children.

And so the slave experience in this time when Paul is writing is not monolithic. It's not saying this is one type of slave. In the lived experience of these slaves, some of them have a great deal of freedom. Some of them are under contract with their masters that by the time they've served seven years, their masters will let them go. Others of them, the culture would say after the time that they were 30, their masters should free them. And so there was a hope of someday being able to get out of this slavery.

But the problem is what happens, I become a slave. Right? I have a master and whether I like it or not, I was brought here to Ephesus as a prisoner of war and now I'm a slave. But I hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and it radically changes everything. I'm told that I'm a child of God. You're told that you are one of those who is redeemed and that you are no longer a slave to this world.

So does that mean I should run away? Does that mean I should do whatever I want? Paul addresses that in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 21 through 24. I want to read that just so that way you know I'm not paraphrasing here. This is what Paul says, again, into the lived experience. of these people, 1 Corinthians 7, verse 21. Were you called while a slave?

Don't be concerned about it. But if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price. Do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called." Paul preaches freedom to the captive. You might be under this obligation of slavery, but brothers and sisters, you are free is what he's telling them. Remain in that state.

Because as you live your life as a Christian slave, 1 Peter 2 says that if you run away, if you are a disobedient slave and you gloat about it as, oh, I don't need to listen to you, I'm a follower of Jesus. 1 Peter 2 says you make your slave owners blaspheme Christ because of your new gained freedom. But yet if you are able to get free, if you're able to buy your freedom, if you're able to work out of your freedom, do it. Do it.

Great. So see, again, the scriptures are speaking into the real, lived situation of what these people would be feeling like. They do have a new master. His name is Jesus Christ. And in Jesus Christ, they are truly free. But yet here, God gives them a command. Obey your masters according to the flesh.

There's something that we miss a little bit here in the Greek. There's a word play between the word for masters, in the Greek is the word lords, kurioi. And the word for Jesus Christ being Lord is also kurios. You might have masters in the flesh here, but you have a master who is in heaven there.

You obey your earthly masters here according to the flesh, why? out of fear and trembling reverence as to Jesus Christ. The obedience that a slave was to have that God was giving to them here was that they can reverence their masters and they can see it as a mirror that it was Jesus Christ who was their true master. But even as they reverence their masters here on earth out of a reverence for Jesus Christ ultimately, They had to do it with pure motives.

Look with me again at verse 5. Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ. Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. I love that word, eye service.

Have you ever met people who at work are nothing but eye service type people? They're only doing their work when their boss is looking. That's one, right? You know the lazy bum who doesn't do any work except for when the boss is in the room and all of a sudden they're very productive. That's one type of eye service. The other type of eye service is the brown noser. The one who's doing everything humanly possible to get in good with his master. Not out of his sincerity, just because he wants to puff himself up and be above everybody else.

Paul's saying, well, hold on, hold on. Slaves, don't obey your masters like that. Not out of eye service, not out of trying to please men, but because your eyes are fixed upon Jesus Christ. Because your desire is for God's glory, because your desire is to be faithful to the one who has redeemed your soul. So there's a command, there's an attitude for slaves, but there's also the motivation for slaves. Slaves are to obey their masters, they're to work for their masters to the glory of God. Not laying up treasures in this world though. but laying up treasures in heaven. Notice what it says, again, read verses six and seven with me.

Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Don't just try to do your work because you wanna please men, but do as the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, do all things unto the glory of God. This is what Paul says again in one of the Corinthians when he says, whether you eat or whether you drink or anything you do, do it unto the glory of God. Do you look at your work as service unto the Lord?

Now I wanna tell you that this is something that was radically different than at that time. It's something that we have just inherited in our lives and I'm going to guess that you just take it for granted. For the long, long history of the world, there was a people set apart and they did holy work and the rest of the people did lesser ordinary work. the priests would get up and they would do holy work as unto the Lord, and everybody else, they just did stuff to get by. This was the mindset of, I don't want to call it dark ages, but the other word is falling out of my mind now. Before the Reformation, this was the theology, the priests did the work, they did the holy work, and everybody else just did menial work. But that's not the way it is.

Whether you are a school teacher, whether you work at an ammunition plant, whether you are a pilot, whether you work at a tire shop, whether you work on pigs, whether you work in a bank, whether you care for cows, whether you till a field, your work is to be as unto the Lord. Your work is meaningful to God because God sees your work and as you do your work as unto the Lord, you lay up treasures not here on earth, but in heaven. And the Christian is promised that at that last great day, he will reward you for your work for his kingdom. There's an amazing story in the book of Genesis. You know this story. God plays this out in the book of Genesis, in the life of Joseph.

How did Joseph serve in Potiphar's house? Did he do it for his own prestige? No. How did Joseph serve in Potiphar's house? Was it just to be a man pleaser? No. Was Joseph a lazy bum all the time except for when his boss, Potiphar, was looking on? No. No, he served as unto the Lord. He served as unto the Lord. He served even as a slave. And then even when he was taken into prison, and then he was given even more chores and more responsibility, even there in prison, we see Joseph serving as unto the Lord. Brothers and sisters, slaves are commanded to work as unto the Lord, and by application to us, we work as unto the Lord. Could you imagine if we took these words seriously? Could you imagine I long for this day.

I long for the day when companies will call and they'll say, I don't know what it is about the people who come out of your church, but do you have anybody else who's needing a job? Because your people just work their tails off. They don't do it with grumbling and complaining, but it seems like they're actually for the benefit of the company and not just for their own good. It seems like they don't have to show off all their work, but they just faithfully come in and they work hard every single day. I don't know what it is. I don't know why they're working this hard. I don't know what motive they think they have.

But think about the testimony that would give. if we actually labored as unto the Lord. Now I gotta tell you, I had to check myself while I was sitting in an airport, working on this sermon, and I kept getting tempted and distracted to go watch YouTube as I'm sitting there writing a sermon for working as unto the Lord. This is not easy. It's easy to pull out your phone and get distracted. It's easy to pull up something on the computer to get distracted. It's easy to be worried about, oh, what's in it for me?

Instead of realizing that every deed we do is in front of God's eyes, and do we offer up our work as a living sacrifice unto God, saying, Lord, I've served you. I've loved you. Our testimony is part of this. A slave who's actually devoted to their master's success, a worker who's actually devoted to their company's promotion, Do we encourage our employers to speak well of Christ?

But there's a reality. What if your boss is just a jerk? Okay, maybe that was too harsh. No bosses are ever like that. No, there are some like that. Do you still serve them? What if your boss gives you long hours when you wanna be home with your family? What if your boss just doesn't like you and so he doesn't or she doesn't give you the hours? What if your boss sidelines you again and again and again for promotions even though you work your tail off?

How do you serve them? As unto the Lord. As unto the Lord. This is again what 1 Peter 2, 18 says, be obedient unto your masters Whether they are good, gentle, or harsh. We serve. Now, the blessing you have, that is different from the Roman slaves at this time, is work your tail off for them and put in resumes at night. Do your hard work for them, serve for them as unto the Lord, and go get a different job. You have a blessing that these Roman slaves did not have. Yes, you are a servant, but you are a contracted servant for them. Don't grumble and complain about it. Don't fight against it. Don't try to turn all the employees against them. Labor as unto the Lord and put in your notice. Again, how you can leave a job can be just as much of a testimony to your employer as how you worked when you were there.

But this isn't just about slaves, though. Look with me at verse 9. The focus moves off of slaves and it moves on to masters. Verse 9, And you masters do the same things to them, giving up, threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven. And there is no partiality with him. Master, do the same things unto your servants.

This is radical in the life of a Roman master. Seneca wrote, a writer from the Roman era, wrote that slaves are to be treated as enemies. Or Aristotle in his writings in the politic, he wrote that slaves are nothing more than tools. And yet here the scriptures say, hold on, no, no, no, no, no. Masters, that's not how you're to treat your slaves. But the same attitude they're to have towards God, you're to have towards them. Because masters are meant to be that mirror for what the heavenly Lord looks like. How do you treat your slaves, Christian masters?

And so there's a command clearly given in verse nine, Giving up threatening. It was common in the Roman world that to try to encourage loyalty among your slaves, you needed to be as harsh with them as you possibly could. And again, Paul is speaking into the reality of the time and he's saying, stop it. Stop threatening the beatings. Stop threatening the sexual harassment that you would inflict upon these women. Stop threatening to separate the husband from their families if they don't work harder. Stop the threats. Stop threatening and love like Christ loves his servants.

This is based upon God's character himself. God does not rule over us as our Lord, as our master, as a tyrant, but as one who has loved us and cared for us and serves us. The master is told something that's amazing for the time. The master is told that just like the slave is to work, because God is going to reward for the good they've done. Look at the last part of verse nine, what it says. Knowing that your own master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality in him.

God does not take bribes. God does not look upon the rich with more favor than the poor. God does not look upon the destitute and show contempt for them. God does not look upon the widow and take advantage of her. God does not look upon the slave and think that he is worse than the slave master. No, what did God do?

What does he remind them of again and again in that Deuteronomy 24 passage? You were once slaves in Egypt. And God redeemed slaves. This is the entire story of the book of Exodus. That you were once slaves and God remembered you and redeemed you and loved you and cared for you. Masters, God shows no partiality. He's not going to judge you better or more easily just because of your status on earth. No, no, masters must also give an account and will also be rewarded for the good. But there's this reality here.

Again, we're uncomfortable with slave language and master language. I mean, this is like so removed from us and it's so colored by the evil of American chattel slavery that we might miss the fact that this is one of the key ways in which scripture actually talks about your salvation. This is one of the key ways in which God has decided to communicate your salvation. Brothers and sisters, you were once a slave. Let me say it again. You were a slave.

That's what scripture says, that we were slaves to our sinful desires and passions. We were slaves to the ruler of the principalities of the air. We were slaves to our own lusts. We were slaves to our own desires. We were slaves to our own selfishness. We were slaves to our own greed. We were slaves to the things in this world which would corrupt our souls. But yet God redeemed us. The idea of redemption is that God has purchased you with the price of his very own son, that God bought you out of slavery. He has taken you out of being a slave and into the position of being a child of his household.

Brothers and sisters, your master in heaven is not harsh with you, but he loves you. Brothers and sisters, your master who is in heaven is not cruel with you with vain threats, but he promises you everlasting life. Brothers and sisters, God has changed the paradigm in how we respond to one another because of how he has responded to us. Brothers and sisters, do you labor as unto your master in heaven who has purchased you and loved you with an everlasting love?

That is a master you can serve with all of your heart. Whether you walk into the school, whether you go into the shop, whether you climb into the tractor, can you serve your master as a good and faithful Lord, brothers and sisters, you can. because he loves you, because he has cared for you, because he does not just regard you as a slave, but as a full heir of his promises. Brothers and sisters, let us labor as unto our Lord.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you so much for the love that you have poured out upon us, for the grace that you have founded our relationship with you upon. We thank you for speaking into the reality of our lives, but basing it in the hope of the gospel. Lord, we pray that we would labor for you, our Lord. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would apply these words to our hearts and that we would practice them in our lives.

In Jesus's name, amen. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.