Imagine a father offering these words of advice to his new college graduate, who is seeking a job:
I want you to know it's a jungle out there.
College has been a cake-walk.
From now on, you'll be in the real world.
The language is money. And it talks loudly.
The goal is to get as much as you can, anyway you can.
Just don't get caught.
If you do, simply say that you did it for the company.
Now, go for it! Reap success!
Such fatherly advice would have caused Paul to cringe had he been present.
Paul had convictions about the Christian and his or her work.
These convictions were based on the premise that the lordship of Jesus included the workplace as well as the worship place.
God is just as concerned for Wall Street ... and the "Wall Street" of every community ... as He is for the street that runs in front of the church.
This truth means that God is concerned about management, employees, wages, profits, working conditions, sexual harassment, strikes, unions, and downsizing.
In other words, God is concerned with whatever affects the workplace.
And for good reason.
Our work consumes the best of our time, energy, and commitments.
Smart companies today realize that fundamentally they are in the people business.
The products they sell and the services they provide have people as their targets.
But more important, the creation of the products and services themselves depend on people.
Without good working relations between management and labor,
companies don't build cars, trucks, and mini-vans;
don't produce aluminum products;
don't build an airplane, fill an airplane, or land an airplane.
Without cooperation of management and labor,
our economy would simply bog down.
Basically, Paul addressed the two fundamental relationships of the workplace.
Consider first...
The Worker's Response to Management
Paul says,
"Slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ" (or as you obey Christ) (6:5).
Slavery was prevalent in the Roman Empire during Paul's time.
It is estimated that there were 60 million slaves.
Roman citizens considered work to be beneath their dignity.
So, practically all work was done by slaves.
Basically, the life of a slave was grim and terrible.
According to the law, the slave ... male and female ... was not a person but a thing.
It was universally accepted that the master possessed the power of life and death over the slave.
In essence, Paul does not seek to abolish slavery.
Any attempt to do so would have been suicidal for the Christian community.
Rather, Paul transformed slavery with his call for a Christian response in slave-master relations.
Granted, Paul is describing the Christian relationship between the slave and his master.
However, these principles can be applied to corporate America, including labor-management relations.
We need to examine these principles in detail and then put them into practice.
In verse 5-8, Paul defines the employee's responsibility to management.
Believe in your work
With imperative force, Paul urged the slaves to obey their masters.
Literally, the word "obey" (6:5) means to hear under or to listen to the one in authority.
Such obedience was expected of the slave, for the slave was the master's property.
In our present-day economy, such an exhortation refers to the willingness of the worker to affirm the vision and mission of the company where he or she works.
The reason many businesses fail is that corporate leaders either have not developed a vision,
have lost the vision, or, if they have a vision,
have failed to convey it to the workers.
Not knowing the vision or mission of the company, the workers cannot commit to it.
Too, sometimes corporate leaders have the company's vision and mission written down on paper, but they don't "walk the talk."
Their behavior makes it impossible for employees to believe that the lofty ideals of the mission statement represent the real mission of the company.
To obey means to agree with or to buy into the mission of the company.
It means to believe in the company's direction and in management's leadership of the company in that direction.
"With fear and trembling" (6:5) is the identical phrase Paul uses in urging the Philippian church members to work out their own salvation (Phil. 2:12).
"Fear and trembling" does not mean a paralyzing fear, but an existential feeling of serious and deliberate decision in forming a commitment.
In other words, you do not work flippantly.
Rather, you ponder and pray, and seek God's guidance.
The job is to be performed with "sincerity of your heart" (6:5).
Complete loyalty, not divided loyalty, is requested of the worker.
Talk to just about anyone in the work force today and you hear a constant theme,
"I dislike my job. I wish I could be some place else, doing something else."
Why does job dissatisfaction exist?
Ross West, who writes and leads seminars on job satisfaction, lists several reasons for job stress,
which often is the precursor of job dislike:
too much work to do,
work we are not equipped or skilled to do,
confusion about our role at work,
too many bureaucratic rules and regulations,
conflict between work life and personal life,
and the pressure of making decisions.
Some of you may find yourselves continually complaining about your job.
You may need to consider finding another job.
Now, I know that is easier said than done, but I find that too many people today are living with stress caused by their job and are not willing to make the sacrifices to go to school, to learn something new, that will enable them to change their situation.
To be happy and effective in your job, you must believe in your work and in the people with whom and for whom you work.
Else, you will be a miserable person.
Exercise self-initiative
Some people are self-starters.
Others have to be cranked.
Remember the old Model T's that had to be hand cranked in order to get them started.
Well some of you do, others of you are like I am, you've seen them in the movies.
Some people are like that Model T.
They have to be cranked before they come to life.
They have to be challenged strongly before they produce.
However, the self-starter, does not work only when watched or monitored by a supervisor but works conscientiously and consistently whether in public or private.
Paul uses the picturesque word eyeservice to describe the person who only works when watched.
Too, the self-starter does not work simply to gain the approval of others (literally, a man- or person-pleaser).
Rather, the self-starter puts his very soul into his or her work.
Paul worded it like this:
"...doing the will of God from the heart" (6:6).
Actually, Paul does not use the Greek word for "heart" but the word that usually is translated soul or self.
While soul food and soul music have been popularized in our day, Paul adds soul work.
Soul work is work that engages your total being.
Glorify God
The slave in the Roman Empire was resigned to his status as a mere impersonal tool in the hands of the slave-owner.
But Paul offered a new orientation or perspective from which to view slaveship.
Instead of being a slave of the earthly Lord,
the Christian slave was to think of himself as a slave to Christ.
How does that translate into our lives as employees?
It is not what we do but our attitude in doing it that often means the most.
By giving the slave a new perspective, Paul provides a different context for understanding your work.
Paul suggests that for Christians a job is more than a job.
A job is an opportunity to serve Christ.
A job is a way to glorify God.
Paul urged the slaves,
"With good will render service, as to the Lord..."
A literal translation is "with good will serving as to the Lord."
The word for serving is the verb form of the noun slave.
In essence, Paul rescued a term of deplorable character and created a new meaning into it.
Today, the terms serve and service are popular buzz words.
Companies compete to offer the public quality service, whether it be plumbing, photography, pharmacy, or pest control.
Strive for excellence
Paul continued,
"...knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free" (6:7).
The word for "good" can be translated as excellence.
Some slaves did as little as they possibly could.
Paul charged Christian slaves to do their best, since they were slaves of Christ.
As a Christian, you should always seek to do your best.
Sloppy or inferior work is not to be condoned.
Work reveals your values about yourself, the world, and even God.
My father taught me as a young boy:
"Any job worth doing is worth doing well."
In describing how to achieve excellence, authors Tom Peters and Nancy Austin wrote:
It's hanging in long after others have gotten bored or given up; it's refusing to leave well enough alone; it means that anything less than the best ... really bothers you ... It usually means sticking your neck out: daring to give your best shot to something you care about and asking others to do the same ... It asks you to pick sides, to wear your passion on your sleeve, to take a position and remain true to it even under the scrutiny of an audience...
When the great cathedral of Notre Dame was built in Paris in the Middle Ages, it represented the tallest structure of its kind in all of Europe.
Gifted stone masons worked hard to produce the stones comprising the edifice.
Producing a single unblemished stone required thirty days.
As the structure began to rise higher, some stone masons began to accelerate their production.
They increased from one to three stones per month.
Fellow stone masons noticed that one mason continued at his original pace of one stone for every thirty days.
They went to him and said,
"Don't you know that as you go higher with the stone, you can work quicker and produce more?
No one will ever see your imperfections up there."
The man replied,
"I am carving the stone for God. He will see it."
We need that kind of integrity in our work.
We need that kind of integrity with God and with each other.
Now let's consider the relationship of slave and master, employee and management, from another perspective.
Management's Response to Workers
Having devoted four verses to slaves' responsibilities to their masters, Paul then devotes a single verse (6:9) to masters' responsibilities to their slaves.
Comparing the number of verses devoted to each, we might think that God was the unqualified advocate of slave-owners.
Actually, this one verse is a bombshell that rocked the rafters of the Roman Empire, when read in the churches.
From slave-owners the verse calls for ....
A Reciprocal Response
Paul declared,
"And, master's, do the same things to them ..."
This is not a subtle suggestion to the powerful masters.
Rather, it is a command that is in the imperative in the Greek language.
The social system expected the slave to obey the slave-owner.
So both slaves and slave-owners would have expected Paul's words that slaves should obey their earthly masters.
But no one, not even Christian slave-owners, would have expected Paul to command the slave-owner to do anything.
After all, the slave-owner owned it all ... farm, houses, status, and the people known as slaves.
However, Paul commands the masters to do "do the same" to slaves.
So, if the master expects honesty from the slave, he too should practice honesty.
If the master expects quality service, then he too should provide it.
If the master expects respect, then he too should offer it.
If the master expects cooperation, then he too should demonstrate it.
If the master expects profits, then he too should share them.
This passage suggests an important principle for the relationship between management and employees today.
Management is obligated as human beings and as people in leadership positions to treat employees with humanity and to "walk the talk" of integrity.
Managers who are Christians have an even greater obligation.
Warning to slave-owners
Paul said to the slave owners,
"... give up threatening them."
Literally, the Greek word means to relax or loosen the threat.
Instead of treating slaves like cold, inanimate objects or like animals, the masters should treat them like people, real people.
Paul next gives an important reminder that provides a powerful reason for slave-owners to exercise greater humanity.
Reminder of commonality
While the master considered himself superior to the slave, Paul reminded him that God was superior to both master and slave.
With God, there is no partiality.
A literal translation of this word "partiality" is "face-receiver."
God does not judge a person on the basis of his or her face, referring to all the ways human culture ranks people.
God does not see the bronze face of the slave, created by the blistering hot sun, and consider that person to be of lower rank.
Too, God does not see the stern, authoritative,
well-kept and well-fed face of the slave-owner and consider that person to be of higher status.
He does not look at the face, determine the person's status, and then pronounce judgment.
Rather, God looks on the human heart.
God judges each of us for who we are and what we have done, not by the status that we hold.
God judges both the person in the factory and the executive sitting behind the mahogany desk on the tenth floor.
Think About This
The 3M Company has ranked consistently among the top ten in Fortune's annual list of America's most admired corporations.
Two Stanford business professors studied eighteen visionary companies in our country.
They stated,
"If we had to bet our lives on the continued success and adaptability of any single company in our study over the next 50 to 100 years, it would be 3M."
What is the secret to this company that makes 66,000 products as diverse as fire hose, surgical gowns, bingo supplies, and Scotch tape?
Why does it merit such lavish praise?
One of the reasons for the sustained success of 3M is the company's high regard for its work force.
For example, 3M encourages technicians to devote at least fifteen percent of their time to any research project that they wish.
Some spend fifty percent in such projects.
There is also a culture of cooperation by which everyone is encouraged to call any other employee and tap into that person's expertise.
They talk to each other either in person or by E-mail.
One official stated that this approach breaks down walls and discourages private turf.
The company also listens to ideas from its employees and responds to them.
Management knows that big things often evolve from little things.
Management pays careful attention to each employee's suggestion.
Paul has a similar message to slaves and masters, to employees and management.
In fact, it's even more powerful.
It's this: Remember, you're all human beings, you're all supposed to live and work with integrity, you all can be on the same team, and you all need to practice mutual respect and trust.
This message counts double if you're a Christian.
