We will be talking about work this morning.
If you took 5 of your friends who have work, how many of them do you think would say they are not happy with their job??
If you google “not happy at work”, recent surveys indicate that 55% of people are not happy with their work! It is interesting, though, that 10 years ago, over 80% of people were happy with their jobs! The workplace today has become a place of stress. And for Christians, the workplace has become a war zone with the devil! The devil is impacting many areas of our lives today! Christians are in a warzone in the workplace against the devil!
Of course there are many reasons for being stressed out at work. What are some reasons which cause stress at work??
For those of you stressed out at work, I found some good suggestions from the Internet humanresources.about.com.
Now, even though they are secular, they are not worldly, selfish suggestions; so I think they are worth mentioning:
1. Choose to Be Happy at Work
2. Do Something You Love Every Single Day
3. Take Charge of Your Own Professional Development
4. Take Responsibility for Knowing What Is Happening at Work
5. Ask for Feedback Frequently (unless of course you fear it)
6. Make Only Commitments You Can Keep
7. Avoid Negativity (and negative people)
8. Practice Professional Courage
9. Make Friends
10. If All Else Fails, Job Searching Will Make You Smile
I hope those suggestions were of help to you.
But we need to hear what God says about how we are to deal with our jobs, don’t we? We are to be Biblical! All of those 10 suggestions I mentioned would create more harm than good if not done God’s way!
What does the bible say about work? Let’s first look at the basics.
Does God Himself ever do any work?
Turn with me to Genesis 2:2-3…….
God loves to work!
Genesis 2:15…………
Is work a result of sin? It is God’s plan for people to work, even before sin. But what happened to work after sin?
Genesis 4:12… Sin made the environment of work hard.
John 4:34……. Jesus worked for God!
2 Thessalonians 3:10……..
Work is part of God but sin will create an environment that will be difficult!
Let’s pause for a moment to pray for those who are stressed with work and for those who have no work at this time…….
Please open your Bibles now to the Letter to the Ephesians.
Remember that the letter is from God and is meant for every Christian. We will finish Ephesians next week; then we’ll start a new series with the Letter to the Romans.
Let us review the main points in the Letter to the Ephesians:
We note at the very beginning in Ephesians 1:1…. 1:3…. 1:16….. 2:19-22…. 3:10…… 3:20…… 4:1….. 5:1….. 5:21…..
And we had noted in the past that a Christian has to be totally committed to verses 1 and 21 of Ephesians 5 in order to follow the instructions in the rest of Ephesians 5 and 6.
And so, before we proceed with the instructions for employees and employers, let us pray quietly right where we are and make a commitment to the truths in Eph. 5:1 & 21…
Let us remind ourselves of the people in the Ephesian Church.
The church body which is one was made up of:
- young and mature Christians
- Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews)
- people with various specific spiritual gifts
- family members and neighbors
- people with different temperaments
- married and single people
- parents and children
- slaves and masters
The church is quite diverse but called to be one. And again, this letter is meant for all Christian churches including us; and so, we are to apply the instructions to our lives today.
We can and should apply the instructions to slaves and masters to employees and employers. And so, read along with me Ephesians 6:5-9…
In general, what is God saying to slaves or employees?
Slaves/Employees are to obey their Boss. And God tells us how to obey bosses. But before we talk about those, let us understand what the word obey means.
In the Greek, obey is hypakouo, which means to give attention and to follow. Christian Slaves/Employees are to obey (give attention to and follow) their Boss.
Slaves/Employees are to obey their Boss.
How are they to obey? It is clearly stated in v5-6……
Slaves are to obey their masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart.
Slaves are to obey just as one would obey the Lord Christ.
Slaves are to obey even if the boss is not watching; obey as Jesus is watching.
And verse 8 tells us that slaves are to serve, in other words carry out the work, wholeheartedly as to the Lord.
We can summarize all of this by saying that, Christian employees are to always work pleasing Jesus Christ!
Now, if employees are to always please the Lord Jesus Christ, should that employee obey the boss in sinning??
Christians should always obey their boss unless it is a sin! Jesus Christ is the final judge of a slave’s work! Do we think about the Lord Jesus when we’re working? Think about Jesus Christ while working! What’s the first piece of the full Armor of God that we have to put on daily??
God also addresses the Christian Masters or Bosses/Employers. Look again at v9………
Masters/Employers are to treat employees the same the employee works and serves. In other words, Christian Employers/Bosses are to treat employees to please Jesus Christ. Christian Employers/Bosses are accountable to Jesus Christ in how they treat their employees. If someone works for us, we are to keep in mind how Jesus Christ would handle our workers!
A couple of questions to think about:
If you have a Christian boss, do you have a right to judge??
What if your boss isn’t a Christian, do you have a right to judge then??
What should you do for a non-Christian boss??
We are to pray for oue non-Christian bosses and look for opportunities to share the Gospel with them!
Work is part of God’s plan for all people but the focus for the Christian is to always please Jesus Christ.
What pleases Jesus Christ at our workplaces?
Our work is God-ordained!
God placed you there at your workplace!
If you don’t think God placed you there then pray and look for another job! But right now, your current job is God ordained and you are exactly where God wants you right now.
Pay attention and follow your Employer and Boss unless it is a sin.
Our attitudes towards work should be serving God.
Employers and Bosses are to treat workers as Jesus would treat them.
Sounds too difficult to realize?
Lets us remind ourselves of what God said:
Again in Ephesians 1:3 - We are blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 2:19-22 - We are citizens of eternal heaven and we are being built to be a dwelling for God!
Ephesians 3:20 – God’s power is at work in us!
Ephesians 5:1 – We can imitate God!
Ephesians 6:10-18 – The full Armor of God is available to us!
Let us avail ourselves daily of God’s love and provisions! And if we do that at work, in God’s eyes (which is the only thing that really matters), we would be doing well!!
Depend on God with your work and God will tell you “well done, good and faithful servant!”
