“Building Quality Relationships: With Workers - Transform Your Workplace”
Eph. 6:5-9
Your job might be killing you—literally. More specifically, strained relationships with co-workers could be negatively impacting your health and longevity. That's the conclusion of a 20-year study conducted by researchers at Tel Aviv University. They examined the relationship between the workplace and a person's risk of death. In 1988 the researchers recruited 820 adults and asked them detailed questions about their workplace conditions. At the start of the study the participants ranged in age from 25 to 65 and they worked in a variety of careers.
For the next 20 years the researchers tracked the participants. By 2008, 53 of the workers had died. The study found that those who died were significantly more likely to have reported a hostile work environment. Surprisingly, the greatest source of stress came from the employees' co-workers, not their bosses. The workers who reported little or no social support from their co-workers were 2.4 times more likely to die during the 20-year study than those who said they had supportive bonds with their co-workers. The article concluded that the findings "add evidence that having a supportive social network decreases stress and helps foster good health."
Unfortunately, the same article noted another 2011 survey that provided evidence that workplaces are becoming less supportive and less civil. The American Psychology Association study found that 86 percent of nearly 300 workers surveyed reported incivility at their job, including rudeness, bad manners, and insults. (1) So how do we transform our workplaces? The apostle Paul sheds some light.
He wrote, first, that THERE IS A MANDATE. Ephesians 6:5 -“Slaves, obey your earthly masters…” To fully understand this mandate, we need to understand THE CONCEPT OF SLAVERY IN PAUL’S DAY. Tim Keller has shared interesting historical insight that is extremely helpful. (2) Slavery in the Greco Roman cultures of the New Testament is more like indentured servanthood. It's not what we think of as slavery. When we see the word "slave" in the Bible, we immediately think of 17th, 18th, and 19th century New World slavery: race-based, African slavery. When we do that, when we read it through those blinders, we aren't understanding what the Bible's teaching.
Historian Murray Harris in his book about slavery the 1st century Greco-Roman world, says that in Greco-Roman times, number one, slaves were not distinguishable from anyone else by race, speech, or clothing. They looked and lived like everyone else and were never segregated off from the rest of society in any way. Number two, in many cases slaves were more educated than their owners and many times held high managerial positions. Number three, from a financial standpoint, slaves made the same wages as free laborers and therefore were not usually poor and often accrued enough personal capital to buy themselves out. Number four, very few persons were slaves for life in the first century. Most expected to be manumitted after about ten years or by their late thirties at the latest. That is quite different from the slavery that plagued America for so many years.
So the point is that when we hear somebody say, "The Bible condones slavery," we can say, "No it doesn't—not the way you and I define 'slavery.' It's not talking about that." So Paul’s words apply to all workers in the employ of someone else. And, as elsewhere, Paul says WE ARE TO OBEY AUTHORITY. Paul talks about obeying authority in government, in the church, in the family, and, here, in the workplace.
What a message for our day, when there is such a need for respect for authority. AUTHORITY PROMOTES ORDER – even in heaven by the way! This emphasis on authority is not a new thing but applied in new way – in the workplace. Wherever you work, whatever you do, whatever your job remember your place in the order. Be obedient. That’s the mandate.
Secondly, Paul points out that THERE IS A MINDSET. There are three components in this mindset. Number one is INTEGRITY. “Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart…” Notice the attitude: Respect, fear, sincerity. It means to work and labor on your job with undivided attention and effort. Give it all you have. Work not with your eye focused solely to impress or gain the favor of people – your boss or coworkers. GIVE IT ALL YOU HAVE BECAUSE THAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Give it all you have not only when watched but at all times. It’s a matter of integrity.
Kevin Miller wrote about an experience of one of his friends. Joe was an executive who did a lot of business traveling. One day when Joe was on a flight, he commented to himself that he could not believe the flight crew. They were the most attentive, responsive flight crew that he’d ever seen. So, toward the end of the flight, he stopped one of the flight crew members and said, "Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, but I fly a lot, and I have never seen a flight crew this. You are the most engaged, enthusiastic, service-oriented flight crew that I've ever seen." The flight attendant got a little smile on her face as she bent down and whispered to Joe, "Thank you, sir, but for that you can thank the woman seated back there in 12B." She paused, nodded her head slightly towards seat 12B, and continued: "You see, sir, the woman in seat 12B is the head supervisor for all of the flight attendants for our airlines. And she's on our flight!" (3) Understanding that Jesus is in our midst through our employers and bosses profoundly changes the way we serve other people.
Attitude component number two is SPIRITUALITY. “Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ…like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.” Columnist Terry Mattingly has an interesting perspective. He says that “Work is brutal. Work is a four-letter word. Most people don't think that work could possibly have anything to do with spirituality. They assume that these two worlds cannot mesh. But if we bring our souls to work, then we can transform our work. That is when our work can begin to transform us. The problem for most people is that their work transforms them into something bad, something bitter and tired and broken.” (4)
That’s why it’s critical to remember the bottom line: OUR WORK IS A TEST OF OUR OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. We work with an attitude of respect because of Jesus. To do it out of fear does not mean we fear Jesus, but that we fear failing Him and misrepresenting Him. And since we are to obey Christ we should work with passion, energy, and enthusiasm! To recognize we are obeying Jesus elevates our work to higher plain. It’s precisely what Jesus did. Jesus saw Himself as a servant in obedience to God His Father. He repeatedly claimed that He came to do His Father’s will.
Whatever we do is based on and reflects Jesus attitude. So let Jesus determine the way we work. Author and educator, Howard Hendricks, sat in a plane that was delayed for takeoff. After a long wait, the passengers became more and more irritated. Hendricks noticed how gracious one of the flight attendants was as she spoke with them. After the plane finally took off, he told the flight attendant how amazed he was at her poise and self-control, and said he wanted to write a letter of commendation for her to the airline. The stewardess replied that she didn't work for the airline company, but for Jesus Christ. She said that just before going to work she and her husband prayed together that she would be a good representative of Christ. Doing it for Christ's glory adds another dimension to submission. We are submitting not just to our employer or husband or parent, but to the Lord, because of our love and gratitude for him. (5)
Attitude component number three, according to Paul, is MUTUALITY. “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.” Research in England revealed that bosses who treat their employees unfairly can cut their lives short. Sixty-four hundred civil servants in London were studied and asked questions like: "Do you ever get criticized unfairly?" "Do you ever get praised for your work?" Ten years later, it was discovered that men who reported low scores on their bosses' fairness were 30 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease. This disease is the number one killer in Western societies, and continual stress is a major contributor to this affliction. Labor experts say the toll taken on employees' health might be even greater in the United States than in Britain, since workers in the U.S. spend more time at their jobs than their counterparts overseas. (6)
It’s no wonder that Paul tells masters to be godly in their treatment of their employees. Bosses and managers are not to lord it over anyone, but to TREAT THEIR EMPLOYEES AS CHRIST HAS TREATED THEM. It points us to the cross where we all brought to same position – the same level – the same solution – Jesus Christ!
In Verse 7 Paul stresses THERE IS A MOTIVATION. “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men…” This is a great theme of the Reformation! Work is part of created order. Remember the old bumper sticker that read “I owe, I owe, It’s off to work I go?” That’s the way many people feel – that labor is mainly for earning money to buy the things we need and want. And certainly getting paid for labor enables us to do that! But Genesis provides a much healthier foundation. The whole creation account demonstrates that God was a worker. Day by day, stage by stage, He created the world. Then, as the climax of this new, perfect world, he created male and female in His image and told them to share His dominion over the world: “Be fruitful…fill the earth and subdue it. Rule…” LABOR IS THE RESULT OF GOD’S CREATION, NOT A RESULT OF THE FALL OF HUMANKIND. God created a garden and then created humans to tend it. Labor is not a bad thing, it is good. While it is true that the fall meant labor would be harder – “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you…By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” – that doesn’t negate the original design for labor.
Creative LABOR AND WORK ARE PART OF OUR GOD-LIKE HUMANNESS; without labor we are not fully human. Labor is part of our make-up. As the preacher in Ecclesiastes wrote (5:18), “Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given Him – for this is his lot.” The need to till and to keep is part of our nature. That’s why unemployment can feel so degrading and lead to depression and pessimism.
So the principle carried over by Paul is WE ARE SERVING THE LORD. God calls every person to his or her vocation. John Henry Jowett wrote: “The Lord throws a halo over common toil. Even Christian people have not all learned the significance of the angels’ visit to the lonely shepherds. Some of us can see the light resting upon a bishop’s crosier, but we cannot see the radiance on the ordinary shepherd’s staff. We can discern the hallowedness of a priest’s vocation, but we see no sanctity in the calling of the grocer, or of a scavenger in the street. But the very birth-hour of Christianity irradiated the humble doings of humble people. When the angels went to the shepherds, common work was encircled with an immortal crown.”
Every job has significance. In January of 1995, John Ashcroft was sworn into US Senate. His father had less than 48 hours to live but held on to see his son sworn in. At private reception following the ceremony his father asked him to play on piano, while all sang along, “We are standing on Holy Ground.” He said, “John, I want you to know that even Washington can be holy ground. Wherever you hear the voice of God, that ground is sanctified. It’s a place where God can call you to the highest and best.” (7) As Charles Spurgeon once said, our motto should be “as to the Lord and not to men!” Labor so every single piece of work is good enough to show God!
The ultimate end of our labor is not wealth or profit – it is FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. God calls us to our labor so our labor is a response to God. So we can labor with enthusiasm. The English word ‘enthusiasm’ comes from the Greek words en theos, which means ‘in God.’ So we can labor in God, with enthusiasm! Paul wrote (Eph. 6:7-8): “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”
ANY AND ALL LABOR CAN HONOR GOD. One of the reformers, William Tyndale, said: “…there is no work better than another to please God; to pour water, to wash dishes, to be a cobbler, or an apostle, all is one; to wash dishes and to preach is all one, as touching the deed, to please God.” Your labors, whatever they may be, can be an arena for glorifying God; they can be an expression of your devotion to God. Think of it this way – we know, if we value our labor at all, that it is important to make our boss look good. Any wise employer, in fact, will hire employees that will make herself look good. So, if God is our boss, should we not labor in a way that makes Him look good? A good question to repeatedly ask is “How would Jesus do this labor?” Paul told the Corinthians (10:31): “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Theologian and former Rector of All Souls Church in London, John R. W. Stott told a story of a man who took a walk down a country lane and came across a stone quarry in which a number of men were working. He questioned several of them about what they were doing. The first replied irritably, “Can’t you see? I’m hewing stone.” The second, without looking up, told him how much he made per week. But when the same question was put to the third man, he stopped, put his pick down, stood up, stuck out his chest and said, “If you want to know what I’m doing, I’m building a cathedral.” He saw his work as for the glory of God. What a difference it makes!
One of the great Reformation principles states it well. TO WORSHIP IS TO WORK; TO WORK IS TO WORSHIP. When we see all labor as worship it transforms everything. Paul wrote (Rom. 12:1) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Bill Hybels once wrote “Our job site becomes a temple. Each project we undertake becomes an offering to God.”
Paul concludes by stating that WE WILL BE REWARDED. “…because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” Jesus will say (Mt. 25:23): “Well done, good and faithful servant…Come and share your master’s happiness.” One hour with Jesus is worth more than any lifetime of hard labor in this life. As a hymn states it: “Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving everyday; just one glimpse of him in glory will the toils of life repay.” It might just transform your workplace.
(1) Copyright © 2012 by the author or Christianity Today/ PreachingToday.com.
(2) Timothy Keller, in the sermon Literalism: Isn't the Bible Historically Unreliable and Regressive?, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, New York (preached 11-5-06); source: Murray Harris, Slave of Christ (IVP, 2001
(3) From Preaching Today.com
(4) As seen in Terry Mattingly's Washington Bureau religion column, "Spirituality in the Workplace?" (11-20-02)
(5) Lorne Sanny, "The Right Way to Respond to Authority," Discipleship Journal (March/April 1982
(6) "When the Boss Is a Jerk," The Week (11-11-05); submitted by Ted De Haas, Bedford, Iowa
(7) Gary Thomas, ‘Working for All It’s Worth’ Moody/July/August 1998, 13
