Living Life From 9 To 5 Series

Living Life from 9 to 5

Ephesians 6:5-9

Lay hands on Paul

Intro

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Have you seen any of these bumper stickers before?

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I am so poor, I can’t even pay attention

I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go

On my way to work, please kill me

I am sure you have seen many other work or bill related bumper stickers, but the point is, is that there are many people who view work as something that is completely dreadful or as only a means to pay the bills.

Our job was never meant to be that.

Some people think that work is part of the curse, but that isn’t true.

Even before Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them work to do. Work isn’t the curse. The curse that came because of our sin made work difficult and hard.

But regardless of your view of work, the fact of the matter is that each of us are going to spend a significant part of our life working.

If you worked 40 hours per week from age 16 to 65, you would work more than 100,000 hours in your lifetime!

That is a lot of hours.

If as Christians we are going to live a life that glorifies the Lord, we need to know how to live life from 9 to 5 in our work places!

So, turn with me to Ephesians 6:5-9

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And lets learn how we can live life to God’s glory in our working life.

Ephesians 6:5-9

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Pray

Ok, so in these verses we see Paul actually addressing slaves and masters.

Does the Bible condone slavery?

I think Warren Wiersbe does a good job of explaining the social system of the day under the Roman Empire and the effects of the gospel

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“Nowhere in the New Testament is slavery per se attacked or condemned, though the overall thrust of the gospel is against it. Paul’s ministry was not to overthrow the Roman government or any of its institutions, but to preach the Gospel and win the lost to Christ. Certainly the results of his evangelism ultimately led to the overthrow of the Roman Empire, but that was not Paul’s main motive. Just as the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield resulted in the abolition of slavery and child labor, the elevation of women, and the care of the needy, so Paul’s ministry contributed to the death of slavery and the encouragement of freedom. However, he was careful not to confuse the social system with the spiritual order in the church.”

Warren Wiersbe – The Bible Exposition Commentary, Volume 2 – Ephesians, pg. 55

Paul preached in the midst of a social context just as we do and he preached the gospel faithfully. The gospel is what has the power to change not only lives, but cultures for God’s glory.

So while this text today was originally written to bondservants and those in authority over them, this can be easily applied to our social system and context in regards to employees and employers, and that is what we are going to do.

So as we take a look at this Scripture for our day, what can we learn?

And I believe the first thing we need to learn

To live Life from 9 to 5 as an Employee…

You need to Obey your Boss

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Ephesians 6:5a - Slaves, obey your earthly masters…

Obey…we don’t like that word if we are the ones who have to obey. We like it a lot more when other have to obey us.

But the reality is that we all have people that we are in submission to that we have to obey.

I would imagine that a good majority of the people here today have a job with a boss.

Are you doing the job your boss is giving you to do?

Are you not seeking to undermine your boss, but to hear what it is he wants done and then doing it?

We need to do the job we have been given to do without complaining about it.