TEXT: Ephesians 6:5-9

SUBJECT: Ephesians #12: Unity of the Church at Work

For three or four months now, we have been working our way through Paul’s Epistles to the Ephesians. By now, I hope you know what it’s about. It’s about the Unity of the Church. Other things are touched on, of course, but only insofar as they unify the Church or divide it. Paul wants us to know the Church has been united by the Saving Work of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But there is more to this unity than ‘knowing about it’. We also have to work for it. We have to do everything we can to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And do nothing to lose it.

This is a full-time job—and not only for the pastor. What every member does every minute of the day either unifies the Church or divides it. The man who thinks about women all day long, grieves the Holy Spirit and unfits himself for serving others in love. How can his thought life not hurt the Church? On the other hand, the woman who loves a husband who is not worthy of her pleases the Spirit, develops character, and sets a good example for others. How can her life at home not bless the Church?

Membership in the Body of Christ is not about going to church, tithing, and coming out for workdays. It’s about living your whole life for God and His People. At a time of fervent revival, the president of Yale University wrote—

What Timothy Dwight wrote more than two hundred years ago, we ought to feel today—and put into practice. Rejoicing in that we’re counted worthy to labor and suffer for Christ and His Church.

Thus far, we’ve seen three ways to unite the Church: first, by what we do at church; second, by what we do in private, and third, by what we do at home. There’s one more place most of us spend a lot of time, and what we do there will also either make the church healthier or make it sicker.

The place I’m thinking of, of course, is work. The economy then and there was a lot different than what it is here and now. But, even though we don’t have the slaves and masters they did, every working person here is either at the top, at the bottom, or somewhere in-between. Thus, the Word of God speaks to the church in Fremont with the same authority it spoke to the church in Ephesus.

There’s a line in the Book of Revelation we ought to remember and apply—

Catch the word, says—not ‘said’ in the past, but ‘says’ or ‘is saying’ in the present.

Paul’s first word is spoken to servants, and before we get to what he tells them, let’s think about the word itself, v.5—

The Roman Empire was built on slavery, but no master would speak to his slave, except to give orders and to issue threats if he didn’t carry them out. To the pagan mind, servants were less-than-human; if a man wasn’t free, he wasn’t a man. Even Aristotle referred to slaves as ‘living tools’ no different than shovels and picks, pots and pans. Tools have no value in themselves, but only in the work you can get out of them.

The Apostle, however, knew better. As a scholar steeped in the Old Testament, he knew the Law allowed some kinds of slavery, but it had no tolerance for mistreating servants or robbing them of their dignity. If a master cheated or abused his servants, they could take him to court; if the judges ruled against them, they could take it to the Lord who would hear their cries for justice and act to relieve them. No one can read the Law of Moses, and especially the prophets, and fail to see God cares deeply for the people at the bottom, Psalm 40:17 catches the spirit—

If the dignity of servants is plain in the Old Testament, it is even plainer in the New Testament because, well…God became a servant, Philippians 2—

Servants matter to Paul—and to the Lord. They are no less members of the Body of Christ than their masters are. Even though we don’t have the same economic system they did back then, we need to remember this: God is no respecter of persons. The ditch digger is as dear to the Lord as the doctor is. And—he ought to be as dear to us.

Human wisdom prefers the successful, the wealthy, the educated, the people who’ve got it all together. But, James says—

Christ welcomes everyone, and when he comes to Christ, he’s welcome in the Church. That’s the theory, at any rate, may God make it the fact!

What does the Lord want servants to do? We don’t have to wonder—

I don’t have to explain obedience; it means ‘doing what you’re told’. A servant was free to discuss things with his master. If the boss told him to make bricks without straw, he could protest the work order—as the Hebrews did in Egypt.

Quitting was not an option back then, but it is today, and if your boss is making your life a living hell, you can appeal to his boss or walk away without dishonoring the Lord.

But, if you’re going to stay on the job, you’ve got to do what you’re told. A man who won’t follow directions is not only a bad employee, he’s a bad disciple. And, he not only hurts the company, he hurts the church, by making the rest of us seem lazy or quarrelsome or undependable.

Back in the Reformation, there was a small group of Christians in central Europe called the Hutterites. These brethren were hated by Roman Catholics and the Protestants alike. For many years, they suffered terribly at the hands of their enemies. But, in time, the persecution tapered off, and the Hutterites were welcomed into places that wanted no part of them before. Do you know why? Because the quality of their work was second to none. By working hard, the won the respect of people who preferred to hate them.

There’s a lesson in here for us. The unsaved people at your work need to hear the Gospel. But to preach it effectively, you’ve got to have credibility. How do you win that at work? By passing out tracts during business hours? Or by doing your job and doing it well?

There’s a lesson in here for us. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Are these good works nothing but ‘witnessing’?

The believer’s first duty at work is to do what he’s told.

Paul doesn’t leave it there, with following orders. He adds—

To obey, with fear and trembling, doesn’t mean being afraid of a beating (back then) or of being fired (today). Every lousy worker feels this kind of fear. It means ‘respecting’ the boss, if not his character, then his position. Believers can do this because we know—no matter how unworthy our bosses are—they’ve been put there by God. And so, respecting them is respecting Him.

To do this with sincerity (or singleness) of heart means to really respect them, and not to fake it to win their favor.

You know what eye-service and men-pleasing are: working hard while they watch you, and slacking off when they’re not.

The most important thing Paul says here, however, is not ‘be sincere’, but ‘Serve them as you serve Christ because in serving them you are serving Christ’.

For most of Church History, people didn’t have jobs or careers or professions; what they had was a calling. They were farmers or doctors or preachers or maids or nurses because that’s where the Lord put them. And having put them there, He expected them to serve Him. This transfigured ordinary work. It made the fisherman’s work every bit as holy as the missionary’s work. Why? Because each man had his work from God.

The German scholar Max Weber coined the phrase, The Protestant Work Ethic, by which he meant, ‘hard work’. But this is nonsense, for there’s nothing distinctly Protestant or Christian about hard work. Look at the Japanese, for example, less than one percent Christian, and nobody puts in more hours than they do.

The Christian work ethic includes hard work. But what it really means is mowing lawns or splitting atoms for the glory of Jesus Christ!

If the servant, in serving his master on earth, is also serving his Master in Heaven, he can expect a good return for his efforts. Earthly masters are often unfair and greedy. We’re lucky to get anything out of them. But—Paul says in v.8—

This shows that Paul’s teaching is not for slaves only, but for everyone who makes a living. The work he does may go unnoticed on earth and not fairly paid. This is wrong, of course, and when we can take recourse, we’re free to do so. But, whether we get what we work for here, we will not be shortchanged in heaven! The cries of the cheated have gone up to heaven for many years, and one day, they will be answered in full—and then some!

When my dad was a boy, his parents told him he didn’t have to be the smartest student in class. But he had to be the best-behaved. Whether he was or not, you can ask him.

His parents were right! Christians do not have to be the most talented people on their jobs, but—because we are Christians and are working for something more than a promotion—we ought to be the best workers, the most respectful, the most cooperative, and the hardest working. May God make us the kind of workers He wants us to be!

Since there were far more servants in church than masters, Paul spends most of his time on them. But he doesn’t leave the bosses on their own. He has a word for them, too, a word from the Lord, v.9—

The first part of our verse is rather puzzling to me. What does Paul mean when he tells bosses to do the same things as the workers? Is he saying they have to take the slaves’ orders in the same way the slaves have to take theirs’? That makes no sense at all.

The same things he wants bosses to do are: to treat the workers (1) with respect, (2) from the heart, (3) and with good will, (4) as they would treat Christ if He were their worker.

This means the Christian boss cannot be proud of himself and he cannot look down on the people below him. He has to remember that his authority is not inherent or permanent. He has it by God’s gift and the Lord is free to take it away any time He wants to, and in the world to come, He will take it away.

To help him remain humble, the master is told he too has a Master, and He only cares what a man does with his authority, not with how much of it he has.

If you’re above others at work, you need to remember you’re way below the Lord, and one day, He will call you to account for how you’ve treated the people below you. On that day, being the hardest-driving boss with the highest profits won’t matter nearly as much as being a boss who feared the Lord and treated people fairly.

Servants should obey their masters and masters should treat their servants fairly. Everyone should be this way, but Paul knows most people won’t be, and says nothing to society at large. He says these things to the Church, to the people whose sins are forgiven and who have had the Law of God written into their hears, and who have the Holy Spirit residing in them, and the Word and brethren t help them.

If you believe in Christ, these words are not human advice, they’re the Will of God for you. Whatever you do and whoever you do it for. Do you put in a day’s work for a day’s pay? Do you treat the people under you as you would be treated if you were under them? I pray you do. If you don’t, I urge you to remember Christianity is not a religion; it’s a way of life. Christ’s way of life, and a way we’re called to live.

There’s one last thing I ought to say about what the Church was back then and what it ought to be now. The Church back then was not a club made up of people who had ‘things in common’, like income or race or politics or age.

Today it is, to a very large degree. We have black churches and white churches. We have white collar churches and blue collar churches. We have churches for baby-boomers and churches for Gen-Xers. We have Republican churches and Democrat churches.

While these divisions make things easier for us, they also make things worse. In the New Testament you didn’t have Jewish churches and Gentile churches and slave churches and free churches. Because what united the Church back then was not organs or guitars and not suits or shorts, but Jesus Christ! If He was enough to bring the People of God together back then—and to keep them together—He’s still big enough. And we ought to love one another, not because we’re voting for the same candidate in November, but because we worship the same Savior.