I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning's message is taken from Colossians 3: 22-25, and also chapter 4:1. Allow me to read for you. Colossians 3:22–25, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” Chapter 4:1, “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” The Lord blessed the reading of His holy and sacred Word.
In a recent survey, approximately 90% of all people who came to know Jesus Christ were either introduced by a friend, a colleague, a relative, or someone whose life had impacted them. Less than 10% of the people who came to Christ came because of something other than a personal weakness. We are not very keen into surveys, but some statistics do help us to understand the importance of spiritual things.
In other words, all the mass evangelistic events, gospel crusades, and musical concerts intended to preach the gospel across the world simply cannot be compared to the effectiveness of the believer's personal testimony, demonstrated by the believer who named the name of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. We must realise that the average believer who lives his life on this earth will be living amongst the vast majority of unbelievers who are watching and observing us. Some would conclude that the gospel we preach is good and reasonable. But they are not sure if it is true or real. That is because one of the biggest obstacles to evangelism is the scandal of people who profess to be Christians and yet live as if they are not.
People who claim that they are saved by the gospel, yet they live a life in sin. No matter how zealous people may share the gospel, no matter how much effort they put in to distribute the gospel tracks, or no matter how much money they spend to spread the message of salvation, if there is no spiritual credibility in their lives, all their efforts would be in vain.
In our previous message, we have dealt with God's instructions for wives and husbands, for children and parents. And this morning we will be focusing on God's instructions for Christian employees and employers. It is common to hear of conflicts in the relationships between employees and employers. The employee wants less work, less hours, but more salary and more benefits. The employer wants more work to be done, more profit to be gained.
The employees aren't happy, and so they state strikes, which is a common thing in a country like Australia. They protest for more money and less work, and the employers are caught. The company has to negotiate and pay them more money, and somehow the whole thing will spiral into the final product being more expensive. The company goes into debt, inflation, unemployment rises up, higher taxes, and all that. It is all because people want more of everything for themselves. The root cause of the whole thing is greed. With all the scrollers, fights, office, politics, and problems we face in our workplaces, how can we be a good Christian testimony?
The solution is found in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. To be able to live a godly Christian life is a spiritual work. As we have learned in multiple occasions, every believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit at a point of his or her conversion. As Romans 8:9 says, “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” In other words, if a person has not the Holy Spirit, he does not belong to Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit's filling the believer is a continuous action. While the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a one-time event. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the complete control of the Spirit over the life of the believer when he totally surrenders himself to the sanctifying work of the Spirit. So when our lives are under the control of the Holy Spirit, first of all, there will be this joy that will cause us to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. There will be this gratitude in our hearts to give thanks unto God for all things.
Not only that, believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit will also have this attitude of submission manifested in the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and also employers and employees. Whether you are an employee or an employer, do you know what is expected of you in the workplace?
I. The Instructions To The Employees
Firstly, let us hear God's instructions for the employees. Look at verse 22, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God.” To begin, we must understand the term servants. The word servants, doulos, is sometimes translated as slaves. It refers to someone who is under submission, under bondage.
In the Roman Empire, about 50% of the population will fall under the category of a slave or a servant. Whenever we think of slaves, we think of a particular racial group, a minority group of people who were deprived of their freedom. But in the first century, that was not the case. Technically, about half the people were slaves or servants. Some of them sold themselves into slavery because of deaths. Others were captured in war and became slaves. They were highly educated and cultured. They were given great responsibilities to run the household and even businesses. Basically, the entire economy depended upon the slaves and the servants for all the work done. They made up the labour force of the Roman world, and they were an essential part of life in ancient times.
One classic example in the Bible was the person Joseph. Remember Joseph was sold into slavery and then later on he was thrown into prison, but ultimately, he became the second most important person in Egypt. It is true that many slaves were mistreated, cheated, beaten, and even killed. Scriptures strongly condemned all those abuses. But on the other hand, many slaves were also loved and cared for. So much so that when they were given the opportunity for freedom, they chose to continue serving the family because they considered themselves as part of the same household.
The main point in this passage is not addressing the condition of slavery or the justification of slavery. What it simply means is that if you are one of them, you have an obligation to live your life so as to manifest the power of the Almighty God in your life, and it must be demonstrated through your conduct. The equivalent term of masters and slaves, if we apply it in modern times, would be employees and employers. The Bible has a great deal to speak about how we are to conduct ourselves on the job, either as an employee or an employer.
Dear friend, if you are a person who starts work at the age of 25 and then you retire at the age of 65 years old, you'll be working for 40 years. And if you live up to three score and 10 plus another 10, 80 years, it will mean you have spent half of your lifetime in the workplace. So it is very important for Christians to learn how God wants us to fulfil our responsibilities in the workplace.
In the New Testament times, many slaves became Christians. The children of God enjoy as with Christ. Therefore, the natural response of many Christian slaves was to look upon their bondage as inconsistent with their new standing before God. They reckon that as God's children, they should not be subjected to any human being, let alone the pagans employers. But the Apostle Paul said to the Colossians, “Servants, obey in all things your masters.”
The first obligation of a Christian is to please the Almighty God and be a faithful testimony to Him. And one way to do that is to be obedient to the one whom God has ordained that you work under, regardless of who he is and what his character is like. God is the one who has ordained this law of authority and submission. Without authority and submission in this present world that we live in, it will be anarchy. Without this law of authority and submission in the family, it will be dysfunctional.
The word obey is a military term which means to fall under, and it is in the present tense, which means you must keep on obeying. It is often translated as submission or obedience. The same word is used in verse 20. “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” So you and I must know our positions in the order that God has ordained. Whether He has placed us in a position of authority or in a position of submission.
If you are the general manager of a company and you have several employees working under you, and you send an email to tell them what to do, you would expect them to obey. This is the order because you happen to be their employer. But all of a sudden, the phone rings, and on the other end is the chief executive officer, and he says to you, ‘I would like to change the details.’ Well, you know, the plans would have to be changed because the CEO happens to be your employer. Initially, you are directing the people under you, but now you have to be subjected to the one who has the authority over you. And obedience is the key to disorder in the economic structure.
So when you obey and submit, you know the order, who is the master and who is the servant, and you act accordingly. You may be an employee and you have a boss over you, but perhaps you also have several subordinates working under you. You have to learn how to respond to the one above you and to relate to the one under you. And the way to do that is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate your Christian faith.
Believers are to obey not simply because the employer is generous, kind, and reasonable. Praise be to God. If your employer is such a person, in fact, the Apostle Peter said, ‘You are to obey your employers even if they happen to be very difficult people.’
1 Peter 2:18 said, "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward." The word froward means perverse, even to the one who is unreasonable. You are to obey. Today, in our modern society, you have the freedom to choose what work you want to do.
If you have chosen to stick to the job, then you have to obey. Believers are to obey in all things, everything, and at all times. The only exception is when you have been asked to do something sinful, immoral, blasphemous, and contrary to the Holy Scriptures. In that kind of situation, then you should follow the biblical principle given in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men." In that context, the apostles were told not to preach Christ, which is something contrary to the Word of God. And so their response was, "We ought to obey God rather than men." The phrase according to the flesh implies that it is only temporal, last only in this life. Your boss has authority over you only in the physical realm, not in the spiritual realm. In the spiritual realm, you are one with Christ.
If your employer is a believer, sometimes there may be an employee who is an elder in the church, and his boss happens to be a member of the same church. On the spiritual level, the employee has oversight over the boss to counsel him, to disciple him, to guide him, and even to confront him if he has sinned and to help him to grow spiritually. But that does not affect his relationship with his boss in the workplace. In the workplace, according to the flesh, he has to be obedient.
There are some Christians who believe that if their employer is a Christian, they have less obligation to please and respect him. Others believe that if their employers are Christians, then they ought to be treated specially or given special treatment because Galatians 3:28 said, "For ye are all one in Christ." Now that kind of thinking is very carnal and unscriptural.
1 Timothy 6: 1-2 says, "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort," said the Apostle Paul. If we are to respect and be obedient to our unbelieving employers, how much more should we do so to our brothers and sisters in Christ who happen to be our employers?
An employer is an employer no matter who he is, and he deserves the best in whatever work we do for him. When a believer sits beside his boss in a worship service, he does so as a complete equal brother and sister in Christ. But on the job, according to the flesh, he must submit to the authority of his boss, and that will show his submissiveness to the higher authority, and that is God because God had ordained that order.
The right attitude is that of fearing God. Believers must have the fear of God. When you show respect to your boss, you obey your boss, you know that it is God Himself who has ordained that relationship. In the singleness of heart can mean in the sincerity of the heart. It is not hypocritical and superficial, but a genuine obedience.
Allow me to give you this illustration. In ancient times, there were many people who were involved in pottery. The cheapest pottery was thick and solid and did not require much skill to create. It could be found everywhere. But the finest pottery was thin. It had a clear colour, and it was extremely expensive because it required a lot of skill to make it. Fine pottery was very fragile, and often it will crack. There would always be dishonest dealers who will try to cheat by filling in the cracks with wax, which would blend in with the colour of the pottery. This made the cracks practically undetectable in the shop because it had been covered up, painted over with wax. But when you put this potteries against the light of the sun, the wax would immediately be detectable. So those honest dealers who wanted to distinguish themselves from those who were dishonest, they would often mark their fine product by this caption, ‘without wax or sunproof’, which means it was pure. It was faultless. It was sincere.
This is where we get the word sincere or singleness, which comes from a compound of two Latin words, without wax. In a similar fashion, our lives must never be a cover up or painted over with wax, so to speak. We may be able to hide our sincerity from the eyes of the people. We may fool our bosses, but we can never escape from God who says into the innermost of our hearts. And once our lives are measured in the light of His Word, it will show whether or not it is a life that is sincere.
In the singleness of your heart. Our lives are not perfect. We will always have flaws. But we do not pretend. We do not disguise ourselves artificially. We are not hypocritical. We do not live a double life. But a life that is through this singlenness of our hearts. Most people will go to work and they will do what they have to do if the boss is watching. They will do what they have to do if they know someone is checking. Others will go beyond that. They will work hard whether the boss is watching or not. Perhaps because they want to receive more money or a promotion. But all these fall short of the standards expected for Christians. We obey our employers. We work because of our reverential fear for God. We work with the singleness of our hearts because we are looking beyond our employers and onto God who is ultimately evaluating our works.
Sometimes we hear people say, ‘I want to serve the Lord full-time.’ And we understand that they mean serving God in the full-time ministry. But if you take a moment and think about this about your life, is there really such a thing as serving the Lord part-time? Is there a distinction between your Christian life and your working life? There is nothing in your life that is secular. You don't have a spiritual life and a secular life. You have only one life to live. A life that is committed to the Lord.
So whether you are a doctor working in a hospital, a technician, an administrator, or a factory worker, whatever you are doing is to be done unto the Lord, committed to the Lord. You are to work and to offer your services to your earthly employers as if you are serving the Lord. Your whole life is an act of worship. That is why the verse went on to say, not with eyeservice, or menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ.
There are some employees who are full of actions when the boss is around, paying eye services as man pleasers. But once out of his sight, they'll be chit-chatting in the pantry, or they will be surfing their own internet, buying things, doing online shopping, etc. They put on a show while the boss is looking or pretend to work hard to please the boss. Are you such an employee? There should be no pretence. Do not try to look good on the surface. That is completely inconsistent with our Christian lives. Because all of us as believers do know that there is always one who is watching us at every moment, and that is our Almighty God. And He gave us this command, “You are servants of Christ”. So look beyond your employers as you do your work and do it as unto the Lord.
It is not wrong for you to work hard and attain a certain level of excellence in your company for the sake of your promotion, for the income, for the security of your job, and to please your boss. Those motives are legitimate, but they should never be the believer's highest objectives. Above all these things, there should be this sincere desire to be pleasing and acceptable to our Lord.
So what kind of work would you do if you know that the Lord Jesus Christ is watching you and He is evaluating your work at all times? Do you really believe that if your profession is a nurse or a teacher or an administrator, it is God who has placed you there? And if He has placed you there by His sovereign will, He has a purpose for you to be a good testimony in your workplace. And He's watching you at every moment as you do your work.
Pastors, preachers, and ministers are not exempt from this principle. Though they are responsible to submit to the board of elders, but nonetheless God is still the ultimate overseer. One pastor was asked, ‘To whom do you prepare your sermons?’ The pastor replied, ‘For God. Because whatever service I render, whatever duty I have to the board of elders, whatever obligation I have to the church is very minimal in terms of measuring it against the responsibility I have to the Almighty God who has placed me in this position’. What an answer.
That is why the Apostle Paul said in verse 23, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;" Which means from the deepest recesses of your hearts, as unto the Lord and not unto men. Remember this, your boss certainly has a lower standard than God. And if you operate on this divine standard given to you, you will overwhelm your employer, whoever he is. Though most of the time you will be rewarded for your obedience and submissiveness. Yet it is inevitable that sometimes your efforts may go unrewarded. You may not be appreciated or recognised. Sometimes your boss may be indifferent or the credit might go to someone else.
But there is one who will never short-change you, and that is the Almighty God who commands you to obey your employer. Verse 24 said, "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." So though he was speaking to the employees, the slaves, the servants, he was telling them that ultimately you are serving the Lord Jesus Christ who had placed you there. So God knows what you and I have done, and He will reward us not only the physical blessing but more importantly the spiritual and eternal inheritance. No work done in His precious name and for His glory will go unnoticed. He will surely reward the faithful believers.
I believe I've shared this testimony previously, but allow me to do it again. A story was told of an elderly missionary couple who were returning home on the ship after many years of sacrificial services in Africa. On board the same ship was the President of America, Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning after completing a successful game hunt. As the ship docked in the New York Harbour, thousands of well-wishers and dozens of reporters lined up along the pier to welcome the President home.
But not a single person was there to welcome the missionaries. As the couple was returning home in a taxi, the husband was very quiet, and he complained to his wife, ‘It just doesn't seem right. We give 40 years of our lives to win Christ or to win souls for Christ in Africa, and nobody knows and nobody cares when we return. Yet when the President goes for the weekend to kill some animals, the whole world takes notice.’
But his wife wisely said to him, ‘Dear, do you know why you haven't received your reward yet? It is because you are not home yet." One day all of us will go home, our eternal heavenly home. And if we are faithful, we will receive our heavenly inheritance.
Finally, verse 25, "But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons." Here again, it was spoken in the context of God. In other words, if you have not obeyed this command, if you have not been submissive and obedient to your employer, you may escape this, escape the scrutiny of your bosses, but you will never escape the eyes of God.
If you have done wrong, you have been disobedient, disrespectful, unsubmissive, how to name it, one day you have to give an account to God because He is no respecter of persons. Everyone, every believer will be treated justly.
II. The Instructions To The Employers
Finally, the Apostle Paul turned to the instructions for the employers. Look at 4:1, "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." This is a reference to the Christian employers because they both share the same Master in heaven.
They both have the same motivation, whether employers or employees, and that is a desire to please the Almighty God. Both the employer and employee are to do the will of the Lord and to manifest Christ's likeness in their lives.
So the employer makes his business decisions on the basis of God's standards of truth, righteousness, and honesty. He deals with his subordinates on the basis of caring for their welfares and for their best interests. He deals with them fairly because he knows it is God's will. He treats them with respect because that is the thing to do. He knows that he is serving the Lord.
And when he does that, he will honour God. He is just and equal. He does not abuse his authority. He does not throw his weight around. He is never abusive or inconsiderate because he realises that God has given him this authority, and this authority is only temporal according to the flesh. So he knows that both he and his workers are under the supreme authority of God. They are accountable to the same Master who is in heaven, and He is watching over the things that they do.
Dear friend, in the eyes of the world, when you are the CEO, you are an important person compared with the average worker in the multi-corporation. If you are the manager of a company, you will be esteemed more highly than the clock. When it comes to wealth, when it comes to culture, when it comes to education, when it comes to social status, people do not view one another on the same level.
But in the eyes of the Almighty God, doesn't matter whether you are an employee or an employer, when it comes to the spiritual level, when it comes to the body of Christ, the church, we are all children bought by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is no respecter of persons in God.
Have you been a good testimony in your workplace throughout church history and even for many Christians today, including all of us sitting in this room? One of the most important places for evangelism is the place where we work. That is our mission field view. It is the place where the unbelievers have the opportunity to observe us in day-to-day situations and activities. They will see whether we are patient or impatient, caring or uncaring, honest or dishonest, clean or vagal in the way we speak. They have the opportunity to see how well we live up to the faith we profess to believe in and the principles of the Bible that we will often share with others. Inviting our unbelieving colleagues to church is important. Most certainly that is part of evangelism. But it will be useless and even counterproduct unproductive or counterproductive.
If our attitudes, reliabilities, and honesty on the job are questionable by our lives, you and I cannot make the gospel more real and true. No man can do that. The gospel by itself is already absolutely real and true. But we can make the gospel believable by the way we live our lives, by our transformed lives. Whether as an employee or an employer, because the people will look at us and wonder why is he so different, so respectful, so honest, so hardworking, so kind, so loving, so dependable.
And when he hears that we are Christians and our lives has been transformed by the power of the gospel, they will realise that all the things we have shared with them regarding the gospel truly have substance in it, and it is worth listening to.
Dear friend, what is your motivation in life? What is the reward you are looking forward to? For more profits? If you are an employer, for more money or promotion, if you are an employee, our most important reward is the one that will last forever and ever. Our eternal inheritance in heaven. And that will come if we are faithful to obey God's instructions.
Revelation 20:12 said, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." If we are true believers, our names will be written in the book of life. There is no question about that. We will not be judged for our sins and be sent to the eternal lake of fire, but we will be judged for our works.
So, let us obey God's instructions. Wherever God has placed you, whatever vocation you may be in, be faithful to obey Him. And as you serve in the position that you have been placed in, do not just look at your bosses. Look beyond them and unto the Almighty God who has placed you there. And when you do your work, you do your work faithfully because you want to place please your God. That is the way all of us should live our lives. May the Lord help us to obey His commandments.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, as we have been considering Thy instructions for the wives and for the husbands and for the children and for the parents. This morning we have come to Thy instructions for the Christian employees and employers, of which many of us have found our place in either of these two, and we know what is expected of us now.
We want to obey Thy precious Word because ultimately we know that this life that we live is temporal. Even the employer whom we work for is only in the physical realm. What is more important is in the spiritual realm. And what is more important is not the physical blessing, whether it be money or promotions, but it is the everlasting inheritance that we have in heaven.
And the only way we can receive that reward is that we must be faithful to obey Thy instructions. So as we live our lives and work in the different vocations that Thou has blessed us with, may Thou find us faithful and may we do as according to Thy instructions, all to the glory of Thee. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.