Redeeming Work
Colossians 3:L22-25 (ESV):
22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
23Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
One of the most dangerous mindsets that we as believers should avoid is making the distinction between a sacred and secular life. Historically, many theologians would trace this distinction as early as 426 A.D. from the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, where he argued that there is a huge difference between the spiritual contemplative life and the secular active life of common work. The spir itual was far superior to common work, while ordinary workers were seen as inferior, second-class citi zens. Of course, when you go to the Scriptures, back in the Old Testament, when they had a designated office for the priests, you can have a basis for this doctrine.
However, past forward to the New Testament, when the apostles began teaching the priesthood of all believers, this distinction was removed. For this reason, during the Reformation in the 16th centu ry, both Martin Luther and John Calvin rejected the division between sacred and secular life. They strongly advocated the word vocation as a universal term that was applicable to all states of life and all kinds of work. All work was regarded as a service to God.
This morning, as we continue with our sermon series, God @ Work, I wanted to use our time talking about redeeming our work by strengthening this teaching that such distinctions don’t exist and that we should do our best to serve God and consider our places of work as our mission field for the Lord Jesus today. I’m reminded of the comments by Bill Gaither, the famous Christian songwriter who wrote “Because He Lives.” He said:
“Gloria and I grew up seeing people attending church, dressing the right way and acting and say ing all the right things, but never affecting the world much. . . I don’t think we’re of any value if we don’t risk getting our hands and feet dirty to try to go where the people are.”
How many of you are still conscious of affecting this world for Jesus Christ? Would you agree that our Christianity would not have any value to the world if we don’t begin showing up as followers of Jesus Christ in our places of work? When the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, he specifi cally addressed in chapter 3 the topic of putting off the old man and putting on the new man. This teaching simply revolves around the transformation of genuine believers of Jesus Christ. Once you reach verse 18, Paul becomes very specific on how our relationship with Christ should affect our earthly rela tionships, like the relationship between husbands and wives and the relationship between parents and
children. Our main text this morning is the continuation of this discussion on relation ships, and it talks about the relationship between masters and bondslaves or employ ers and employees. This passage, I believe, can help provide some essential guide lines for us on how believers should serve the Lord in their places of work.
Now, since the passage was written to bondslaves during the time of the Romans, who treated slaves as properties, it is possible that they were serving unbeliever masters who were oppressing them. It is significant to see that even in that work environment, they should not fail to see their responsibility to honor the Lord. So, how can we redeem our work so that we can maximize our opportunities to serve the Lord there? Allow me to highlight three essential mandates from the text:
I SUBMIT TO YOUR EARTHLY MASTERS
Aside from our homes, once we begin working, we will spend a big chunk of our time in the places where we are working. Approximately a third of our lives are spent at work. This fact is the reason why it is essential for the apostle Paul to instruct us on how we should live for Jesus Christ in our places of work.
So, in verse 22, we read – “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly mas ters.” As I have said earlier, during the time of the apostle Paul, the Romans believed that they were too dignified to do menial work, so they ought to be given to the slaves. So, slavery was very much a big part of their culture. It has been said that within the Roman empire, one in every three people were slaves. According to the commentary written by Warren Wiersbe, during this time, there were probably around 60 million of them.
Now, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was shared by the early believers, many of these slaves came to know Jesus Christ and became members of the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13 beautifully states this truth:
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
One beautiful truth about the Gospel is that it puts everyone on the same level. Everyone is the same - a sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. In the church, they are not considered second-class citizens.
However, in a world where cultures are dominated by sin, oppression is expected. During the times of the Romans, the Bible is quite clear that rebellion toward earthly masters was not the right be havior for Christian slaves, but submission. Notice the word is “obey.” If you back tract to verse 20, this is the same word used to exhort children to “obey” their parents. The Greek word suggests “to hear un der” or “to listen attentively.” In other words, slaves should always heed or listen to the command of someone who has authority over them.
Now, when this exhortation is applied to us, we need to ask ourselves – At our workplaces, who is the one who has been given authority over us? How obedient are you to your boss or supervisor? Ob viously, the main exhortation for believers is to obey our bosses or supervisors in the same way we will
obey the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can hear some of you say, “But you don’t know my boss. He is arrogant, in
considerate, and so inconsistent.” Let me ask you, does the text say, “Obey them when they are gracious and kind to you only?” Nope, it says to obey them out of our fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you a good cross-reference verse:
1 Peter 2:18 (ESV):
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
So, both apostles, Paul and Peter, were giving the same exhortation because this is God’s will for us. The main emphasis is quite clear, as Christians, we strive to be model employees because no one is really going to listen to what we have to say about our faith unless we have established a good testimo ny of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in our workplaces. Remember, how you and I work will often determine what our co-workers would think about our God. So, obey. Christians should al ways do their best to be exemplary workers because of their faith in Christ.
II SERVE WITH SINCERITY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY
Speaking of becoming a testimony for Jesus in our workplaces, the apostle Paul made two specif ic suggestions on how Christians must perform. Here are at least two ways:
A. Work With Sincerity
When you go back to verse 22, the idea of performing with sincerity is placed in contrast with being a people-pleaser. I’m sure we all know what it means to pretend to work diligently whenever we are being watched. But when the boss is not around, we suddenly drop the act and become irresponsi ble. We start slacking off.
Well, this behavior is unacceptable because if we fear our ultimate boss, who is the Lord Jesus, we know that He is always watching. This perspective ought to be life-changing for us. Why? Listen, even when you are working at your place of work, in reality, you are working for the Lord. You are not only serving the Lord when we are carrying out our responsibilities here at church. You are serving the Lord as you carry out your responsibilities at your workplaces. You are a servant of Jesus Christ 24/7. This is what we were saying earlier; we don’t compartmentalize between sacred and secular. Our entire life ought to be dedicated to serving God wherever we are. He is always watching us, whether we are doing our best for Him.
An article in New York Post posted on July 29, 2017, reveals that an average employee is wasting 5 hours a week on their cell phones on things that have nothing to do with their jobs. Some are doing online shopping, while others are watching videos on YouTube. As believers, we need to be careful of wasting the company’s time because it can hurt our testimonies as children of God.
B. Work Wholeheartedly
The second way believers should perform is by working wholeheartedly. Verse
23 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” The very idea of working heartily here literally suggests “working from your soul.” Meaning a Christian worker should work passionately or enthusiastically.
Are you devoted enough to what you are doing that you can do your best all the time? There are some workers who are lazy, and everyone else in the office knows about it. You must always tell that person what to do. No initiative and no desire to excel in what they do.
One reason why Daniel and his friends stood out as government officials during their time is be cause of their dedication to God and to their responsibilities. Take note of this comment about Daniel:
Daniel 6:4 (ESV):
4Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with re gard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faith ful, and no error or fault was found in him.
In Daniel 6, with the new administration in Babylon, Daniel was given a promotion to be in charge of all the governors at the tail end of his government services. As a result, those who were jeal ous of his promotion wanted him removed, so they tried their best to find some faults in the way he dis charged his responsibilities. And they all realized that they would not be able to find any.
Wow, how many of us would be able to survive the same scrutiny? If our co-workers will try to find fault to take us down, will they be able to say, “Oh, he’s lazy” or “She’s unreliable?” Or would they say, “We won't find any fault?” If you go back to the book of Daniel, Daniel and his friends stood out to be the best government workers because they were servants of God first before they were public offi cials.
I would like to give you one more verse before we move to the last point.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (ESV):
10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,[a]for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
The wisdom of King Solomon is on point with this reminder that if we find work to do here on earth, we should commit to always doing our best or giving our best efforts because life here is short. We only have a limited time to make a difference in this world.
III STRIVE FOR GREATER REWARDS
Lastly, the text concludes in verses 24-25, saying, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.” These words are very significant. Why? We are always conscious of proper compensation at work. We hate it when our employers undermine our value
to the company by not compensating us properly.
Let me remind you that our ultimate employer, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, will always give us the right compensation. He will reward our performance accordingly! However, we have to be patient in rela tion to our rewards because it is God who has appointed the time when we will be rewarded. If we choose to serve the Lord in our workplaces, our performance there will also be rewarded. However, if we choose to disobey, we also will suffer the consequences of our disobedience.
With these exhortations from the apostle Paul, I am reminded of the words I read lately by Sharon James, saying,
“I am not responsible for the outcome of my obedience; God is.”
As you and I live our Christian lives today, we need to commit ourselves to obeying God. Time and again, the Word of God will tell us how we should be living our lives. Instead of arguing against it, I hope and pray we will always decide to obey and trust the Lord for the reward we will receive out of our obedi ence.
Henry C. Morrison was a great missionary who served the Lord in Africa for over 40 years. On the way back to the United States, he began to wonder, “Will anyone remember us?” Unknown to Henry Morrison and his wife, Teddy Roosevelt, President of the U.S., was also on board that ship. He had gone to Africa for a hunting trip. When the ship pulled into New York harbor, he looked to see if anyone had come to welcome them back home. Thousands of people were there cheering. The bands were playing. There were signs, banners, and billboards everywhere saying, “Welcome Home.” Henry and his wife were so excited about the crowds of people that were there to welcome them home. When they went to get off, they realized that the people were already gone. They had come to welcome Teddy Roosevelt. Henry Morrison went to his hotel room with a heavy heart. As he sat there on the bed, he asked his wife, “Honey, I just don’t get it...for 40 years, we poured our lives into ministry and service. And yet we come back to America, and not a single soul comes to welcome us home!” His wife came and sat down next to her husband; she put her hand on his shoulder and comforted him with words that he would never for get, “Henry, you have forgotten something; you’re not home yet!”
Often, we don’t get our reward while we are here on earth. But we must never grow weary of serving the Lord, He will be faithful and just to always reward our faithful service to Him (1 Corinthians 15:58).
I trust that our message this morning will cause us to evaluate how we are working today in the places God has sent us to serve Him. Are you a good testimony for Jesus Christ in your workplace? Think of it this way, if you ever apply to another place of work, would you have the boldness to put Jesus Christ as one of your references? Would He be proud to recommend you to a new company? If not, I pray that you will seriously make some changes to start honoring the Lord in your workplace.
April 30, 2023/Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana