Introduction
Let me begin by reminding you again that we’re in the part of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he is teaching us how to live in the world as God’s people. And he’s already addressed wives and husbands and children and parents. Today we’re studying what he has to say to slaves and masters.
Someone may be wondering how this might apply to us today, because none of us is a slave and none of us is a master. However — and I’ve said this before — it’s important to understand that slaves in the ancient world were often treated well and did important work. When we think of slavery, we tend to think of slavery in the United States, when slaves were sent out to work in the fields to pick cotton all day long. It was hard labour and it was relentless. And they were often treated brutally, because they had no rights and were treated as less than human. In fact, they were treated as the owner’s property and he could do what he wanted with them. That tends to be what we picture in our minds when we think of slavery.
Slaves in the ancient world could also be treated brutally; and their lives could also be miserable; and their work could also be hard and relentless. But others were treated well and they were given important and skilled work to do. The historians tell us that slaves could serve as doctors and teachers and managers. So, when you were ill, the GP was someone’s slave. When you went to school, the teacher was someone’s slave. Or think of Joseph from the Old Testament who was sold into slavery by his wicked brothers; and he became Potiphar’s slave in Egypt. But do you remember? Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his household and he entrusted to Joseph’s care everything he owned. Joseph was a slave; but he ran the household; he was a manager.
Many of the slaves in the ancient world were doing the same kind of work that we do. And often they were treated well. Like us, they had time off from their duties; and they could enjoy time with their family. And so, the distance between slavery in the ancient world and employment in the modern world is not as great as we might first imagine.
And if you think about how much time we spend at work — and some of us have to spend more time at work than we do with our family and friends — you’ll understand that, though we’re not slaves, nevertheless we have in common with ancient slaves a requirement to work long hours. And just like them, we have to work. There’s no way round it: we have to work and we have to work long hours.
So, the gap between slavery in the ancient world and employment in the modern world is not as great as we might first imagine. And so, what Paul says here to slaves and master applies to workers and their bosses.
Grace restores nature
And as we think about Paul’s instructions here, we need to keep in mind the principle that I mentioned the last time which is that grace restores nature or grace restores creation. God’s good creation has been spoiled by sin. Adam and Eve were the first to sin against the Lord; and since that time, sin has spread through the whole human race. In fact, all who are descended from Adam in the ordinary manner are born into the world as sinners. And since we’re sinners by birth, then sinning comes naturally to us.
And sin spoils every relationship, beginning with our relationship to God, but it also spoils the relationship between wives and husbands and children and parents and workers and their bosses. Instead of loving and serving one another, people are naturally selfish and self-centred and unkind and they oppose one another and they are divided. Every relationship is spoiled because of sin and God’s whole creation has been ruined because of it.
But this is still God’s creation. This is his world. He loves it. He’s committed to it. He won’t abandon it. And because of his common grace, or because of his kindness to everyone, he restrains our natural inclination to sin, so that people are not as bad as they could be. And, in general, people are able to live together and work together. For the most part, they get on. And they get on with one another, because of God’s common grace by which he restrains our natural sinfulness.
And then, because of God’s special grace, or because of God’s saving grace, he saves his people from their sin and misery by his Son. And he fills them with his Spirit to renew them in his image and to enable them to do his will here on earth. And so, this is better than restraint. Restraint is one thing, but renewal is better. And God graciously renews his people. He restores them more and more to what they were always meant to be, so that believing wives and believing husbands are able more and more to love one another as they should; and believing children and believing parents are able more and more to love one another as they should. And he enables believing workers to love and serve their bosses more and more. And he enables believing bosses to love and serve their workers more and more. And in this way, grace restores God’s creation.
Faith and work
And the last thing I want to say before we get into the text is to remind you once again of the proper relationship between our work and our salvation.
Some people think that our salvation depends on our work. So, if we work hard, if we do our work well, then God will be pleased with us and he will pardon our sins and shortcomings and give us eternal life in his presence. In other words, our salvation — or eternal life in the presence of God — depends on what we do.
But that’s not the gospel. That’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that we are saved from the condemnation we deserve for a lifetime of sin, not because of what we do, but through faith in Christ and what he has done for us by his life and death and resurrection.
So, he came into the world as one of us and he lived the life we should have lived, but can’t, which is a life of perfect obedience to God. And through faith, his perfect obedience becomes ours. God treats us as if we’ve done everything right, even though we may have done everything wrong.
And he died on the cross to pay for our sins and shortcomings with his life. He took the blame for what we have done wrong. And through faith, we receive forgiveness for what we have done wrong.
And then he was raised from the dead to live for ever as one of us. And through faith, we receive the hope of everlasting life so that though we die, yet we shall live.
And so, we’re saved from the condemnation we deserve for a lifetime of sin, not because of what we do, but through faith in Christ and what he has done for us by his life and death and resurrection.
However, once we have received salvation through faith in Christ, we’re to work for God’s glory in the world. We’re to go to out into the world and we’re to live for him. We’re to give up our sins and we’re to work for his glory by obeying him and doing his will in the home and in the workplace. And we’re to live for him, not to obtain salvation, but in order to demonstrate our gratitude for the salvation which Christ has already obtained for us and which we have received through faith. We’re to work for him, not to obtain our salvation, but because we’re grateful for what he has done for us.
And so, if you’re a believer, then you should go out to work each day with the aim of bringing glory and honour to your Saviour, who loved you and gave up his life for us. And that takes us to Ephesians, because Paul shows us how to bring glory and honour to our Saviour when we are at work.
And, of course, for some of us, our working days are over, because you’re retired. Or perhaps you work at home and not in the workplace. But you’re still able to show your gratitude to God by using your time for his glory and by loving and serving the people around you.
Slaves/workers
Paul addresses slaves first of all. And he tells them in verse 5 to obey their earthly masters. And as I said at the beginning, what he says to slaves applies to workers today, because the gap between slaves in the ancient world and workers today is not as great as we first imagine. And, of course, this also applies to students in school or college, because the school or college is your workplace. That’s where you work.
And so, God’s will for workers today is to obey your boss or your teacher or professor. Do what he or she says. And in the parallel passage in Colossians, Paul says you’re to obey these people in everything. That is, in everything in the context of your work. Your boss has no right to interfere in what you do in other areas of your life. Your boss has no say over what you do in your free time. And, of course, if your boss asks you to do something which the Lord forbids, then you’re to obey God rather than your boss. But assuming that your boss is asking you to do something which the Lord does not forbid, then it’s God’s will for you to do it. Obey your boss. Do what he or she says.
When I preached on the parallel passage in Colossians last year, someone asked me afterwards about strike action. If we’re meant to obey our boss, then can Christians stike? I don’t have time this morning to go into it, but I said a little about strike action in my last sermon on Colossians. And if you’re interested, you can look it up on my website.
But back to Ephesians. One of the commentators makes the point that it’s not surprising that Paul should tell slaves to obey their masters. After all, everyone expected slaves to obey their masters in those days. And everyone expects workers today to do what their boss wants. But what is new in what Paul says is what he says about the way slaves and workers should obey and why they should obey.
And so, he tells them to obey with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. The words ‘respect and fear’ mean that workers are to show their boss deep respect. We’ve all seen workers who are disrespectful towards their boss and who mock them behind their back or who are always complaining about them to their workmates, pointing out their faults and undermining their authority. But we’re not to be like that. We’re to be respectful at all times.
And we’re to respect them with sincerity of heart. ‘Sincerity of heart’ means something like ‘singleness of purpose’. And our single purpose at work — what we’re aiming to do in the workplace — is to honour the Lord our God by the way we treat our boss and by everything we say and do. In fact, the way we regard our boss at work should be the way we regard Christ our Lord. Do you see that? Paul says at the end of verse 5 that we should obey our boss ‘just as you would obey Christ.’ You try to obey Christ, don’t you? You try to obey him with deep respect and with singleness of purpose, don’t you? Well, obey your boss in the same way.
In fact, since we believe that God controls all aspects of our life, then that means that God has placed your boss over you. God has put him or her in this position of authority over you. And that means it’s God’s will for you to submit to your boss and to do what your boss says.
In verse 6 Paul tells workers to obey their boss not only to win their favour when their eye is on you. We all know people who work hard when the boss is watching them. Or the students here will know people who work hard when the teacher is in the room. But what happens when the boss or teacher leaves the room? Don’t those same people slack off? They turn to the person next to them and have a chat or they pick up their phone and check their social media feeds. We’ve seen it done a thousand times and perhaps we’ve done it ourselves. But God’s people are not to be like that. We shouldn’t only work hard when the boss is around. Whether the boss or teacher is nearby or not shouldn’t affect the quality of our work or the effort we make. And that’s because we’re slaves of Christ. Do you see that in verse 6? We’re working for him.
So, back in verse 5, Paul referred to our earthly master. Workers have an earthly master. But they also have a heavenly master. And so, when you’re at work, you’re not only serving your boss, but you’re serving your Lord who is in heaven. And it’s his will for you to do your work ‘from the heart’. People sometimes say that their heart is not in whatever they’re doing. They can’t be bothered doing something. They’re not enthusiastic about it. Their heart is not in it. But the will of your heavenly master is for you to do your work with your heart. That is, you should do it wholeheartedly. And you should do it wholeheartedly because you’re serving the Lord who loved you and who saved you.
And just to underline what he has already said, Paul almost repeats the same thing in verse 7, where he says we’re to serve wholeheartedly. That is, we’re to serve enthusiastically. We’re to serve with eagerness. We can imagine slaves in ancient times doing their work reluctantly. They’re only doing it because they know they will get into trouble if they fail to do their work. They might be punished. And we can think of workers today who work reluctantly. They only do it because they need the money and they’re rather be doing something else. And so, what Paul is saying is new, because Christianity gives us a new way to think about our work. We’re to work, not reluctantly or half-heartedly or out of necessity. Instead we’re to do our work wholeheartedly and enthusiastically and with eagerness. We should be leaping out of bed to get to work. We should throw ourselves into our work. We should work like that, because we’re to do our work here on earth as if we’re serving the Lord, and not men or women. And we love the Lord and we want to please him.
When you’re at work, or when you’re at school or college, you’re serving the Lord. You might think that the only place to serve the Lord is in church and it’s by helping to lead one of the organisations here; or it’s by doing Fresh; and it’s by going on a mission team in the summer. And there’s nothing wrong with doing those things. But you might think that that’s the place where you serve the Lord and your job or school has nothing to do with serving him. But Paul makes clear in verse 7 that we’re serving the Lord in the workplace and in school and in college. He’s sending you into work each day to work for him. And because you love him and are grateful to him for saving you, then you should do your work wholeheartedly.
And again, don’t misunderstand Paul. He’s not saying that the way to serve the Lord in the workplace is by evangelising your fellow-workers. He’s saying that the way to serve the Lord in the workplace is by doing what your boss wants and it’s by showing your boss respect and it’s by doing your work with enthusiasm.
And to encourage us, Paul goes on in verse 8 to remind us that the Lord, whom we are serving, will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Paul says to his readers that you know this. You know this is true. You’ve been taught that this is the case. And you’ve been taught to expect that the Lord will reward his people for the good they do here on earth. Maybe their earthly master will not reward them. And maybe your boss will not reward you. Maybe you’ll be overlooked when it comes to giving out a bonus. Maybe your teacher will not notice how hard you’re working and how well you’re behaving and it hurts you that the school bully is honoured before you. But know this: that the Lord will reward his people for whatever good thing they do here on earth. He sees the good you do at work and he will reward you for it. He might reward you in this life or he may reward you in the life to come, but he will reward you.
And so, there’s an encouragement to you when you’re at work or in school. No-one else may notice the good you’re doing, but the Lord your Master sees it. And he is willing to reward your good work. And so, keep going. Keep doing it. Do what your boss wants. Do what your teacher says. Respect them. Work hard even when they’re not there to see it. Work wholeheartedly. Enthusiastically. This is how you show the Lord how grateful you are for your salvation. And know that your labour is never in vain, because he sees it and will reward it.
And as God’s people go into the workplace, or as they go into schools and colleges, and work enthusiastically for the Lord, then God is at work in the world to restore it to what it was meant to be.
Masters/bosses
In verse 9, Paul turns his attention to masters. And this applies to bosses today: to employers and supervisors and managers and to teachers in schools and colleges.
And he says to them that they should treat their slaves or workers in the same way. That is to say, treat your workers in the same way as workers should treat their bosses. And that means: treat them with deep respect. That’s what Paul said to workers in verse 5 and it applies to bosses as well. So, bosses are to respect their workers. They’re not to take advantage of them or to treat them as if they had no worth.
And they’re to do so with sincerity of heart. That’s what Paul said to workers in verse 5 and it applies to bosses as well. And remember: ‘with sincerity of heart’ means ‘with singleness of purpose’. And our single purpose at work is to honour Christ the Lord. And the way bosses honour Christ the Lord at work is by respecting their workers and by not threatening them.
While many slaves were well-treated in the ancient world, others were treated very badly and their masters threatened and abused them. But Christian masters were not to be like that. And Christian employers are not to be like that either. We’re not to threaten people under us, because their Heavenly Master is also our Heavenly Master. In the ancient world, some masters may have thought that they could do what they liked to their slaves, because they didn’t answer to anyone. But we all answer to someone, because God is over us all. And we are accountable to him for what we do.
And, as Paul says, there is no favouritism with him. And what he means is that the Lord will repay the person who does wrong, whether that person is the worker or whether that person is the boss. Whoever has done wrong, God will repay them. God will repay them, whether it’s the boss or the worker, unless they confess it and turn from it and seek his forgiveness. And the good news of the gospel is that God is always willing to forgive the sinner who turns to him for mercy, because the Lord Jesus Christ gave up his life to pay for our sins and he shed his blood to cleanse us.
Conclusion
And so, as God’s people go into the workplace, or as they go into schools and colleges, and work enthusiastically for the Lord, then God is at work in the world to restore it to what it was meant to be. And as bosses are kind and good to their workers and teachers are kind and good to their students, then God is at work in the world to restore it to what it was meant to be. God is at work, because, of course, we’re to rely on God’s Holy Spirit for the help and strength and ability to live like this and to work like this. Because we’re sinners, our natural inclination is to do wrong. And so, we’re to look to the Holy Spirit to renew us and to help us so that we do all things for God’s glory.
And God will continue to restore the world until Christ comes again to renew the heavens and the earth completely. And in the new heavens and earth, people who were once slaves and workers and people who were once masters and bosses will join together to give thanks to God for his kindness to them in Christ Jesus and for saving them from condemnation and giving them eternal life in his presence.
Sermons and Stuff 