Some of the ideas and structure for this sermon came from
Joe Harding’s sermon - "WORKING FOR A LIVING"
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=52492
EPHESIANS 6:5-9
November 19, 2006
New Covenant EPC
“SERVE WHOLEHEARTEDLY”
Body Life The Book of Ephesians
I. A minister dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates.
A. Ahead of him is a taxi driver.
a. Saint Peter says to this guy, "Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
b. The minister takes his turn before St Pete.
c. He says to the minister, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
2. "Just a minute!" says the minister. "That man was a taxi driver, and he gets a silken robe and golden staff. How can this be?"
a. "Up here, we give rewards on how your work helps people spiritually," says Saint Peter.
b. "While you preached, people slept.
c. While he drove, people prayed."
B. The way we work reveals the true God we believe in - either the god of mammon or the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ.
1. As believers in Christ, we are always being scrutinized by the unchurched.
a. They are looking at us and watching how our supposed faith makes a difference if any.
b. There is no more inspected place for Christian than at their place of work.
2. Our witness for Jesus Christ is either helped or hindered by what we do at our place of employment.
a. Many of a Christian came to know Jesus by the witness of a Christian employer or employee.
b. At the same time, some of the loudest critics of the church and Christianity have seen the hypocrisy of Christians on the job.
II. # 1 - A Christian who witnesses for Christ works with integrity
A. He seeks to do the Right Thing Verse 5 “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” -
1. What does this text about slaves have to do with our work place today?
a. Most employment in Christ’s day was slave or indentured servitude.
(1) You worked because you were indebted to a master.
(2) And you continued to work in order to have food and shelter for your family.
b. Though we are not slaves, we are dependent on our employers as they are dependent on us.
c. We exchange our work and our labor for the money which sustains our physical well being.
2. Here is that word again, OBEY.
a. The word in the Greek for OBEY is õðáêïõù hupokouo which means literally to listen under.
b. It means to listen attentively and follow what you hear.
3. How many of us truly listen to our employer and understand their needs and what they are trying to accomplish?
a. Employers need employees who understand their business and what it to succeed. Employers need employees who can be trusted.
b. As employees are we looking only for the pay check or do we see our jobs as a calling from God?
c. Are we doing the right thing, fulfilling our job description or maybe even exceeding it?
4. “. . . with respect and fear,”
a. These words are often synonymous.
(1) To fear someone is to respect their authority and their position.
(2) Christians who bad talk their employer give a poor witness.
b. Remember that some of the first Christians were servants in the home of the Emperor of Rome.
(1) He was surely not the most likeable person.
(2) But the Christian slaves under his authority had such an impact that several within his family turned to Jesus.
B. A Christian works for the right reason. Verse 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.”
1. When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior all of our lives are to be under His lordship.
2. Our jobs are not there just to pay the bills and give us money for recreation.
a. In fact it is quite the opposite.
b. Our recreation is to give us relaxation to strengthen us mentally, physically and spiritually to go and serve Christ in the work place.
3. For a Christian, it is not just a job, it is a vocation. - a calling from God!
a. 1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (NIV)
b. Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (NIV)
c. Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, (NIV)
III. #2 - A Christian who is witnessing for Jesus, works with a proper perspective.
A. A Christian employee knows his place and role.
1. We are not employees of a company or a boss; we are employees of the living God, regardless of our vocation!
2. We are to obey, just as we would Christ (V. 5)!
3. We must remember, as verse 6 states, we are “Slaves” of Christ!
4. The term is doulos and can be translated “Servant,” or “Slave”!
5. Verses 7 & 8 make it all too clear, we are to “Serve… as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does…”
B. A Christian employer knows his place and role as well.
1. Notice verse 9 begins with “In the same way, . . .”
a. Employer, you have a role at work but in God’s eyes you have no more value than your employees.
2. A Christian employer does not motivate through intimidation “NOT THREATENING!”
a. You know, I think Christian employers have been hoodwinked by the World’s view.
b. The World says, “Increase your bottomline, cut cost, pay your employees the least amount you can.”
c. Colossians 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (NIV)
d. Your employees serve God and help produce for your company, you serve God and He wants you to provide for them as He wants.
3. There are many Christian business leaders who cherish their employees as they do their customers and are a fantastic witness for Christ..
4. Chick-Fli-a and Truett Cathy is an example.
a. Cathy is the Founder and Chairman Chick-fil-A, Inc.
b. He is a devoutly religious man who built his life and business based on hard work, humanity and biblical principles.
c. Based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A’s restaurants operate with a "closed-on-Sunday" policy -- without exception.
d. When not managing his company, Cathy donates his time to community efforts and teaches a Sunday school class to 13-year-old boys, as he has done for nearly 50 years.
e. There is a Chick-fil-A restaurant Boardman.
IV. #3 A Christian who witnesses for Christ in the work place knows work is a matter of the heart.
A. It is working from a heart which is right with CHRIST
1. Notice in this passage how often the word “HEART” used.
a. Verse 5 “Sincerity of heart,”
b. Verse 6 “from your heart,”
c. Verse 7 “wholeheartedly”
2. Our hearts are to be focused in all things but especially at work on Christ.
a. Verse 5 “Just as you would obey Christ,”
b. Verse 6 “But like slaves of Christ,”
c. Verse 7 “As if you were serving the Lord,”
d. “Because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does.”
3. Hear again God’s Word in Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith . . .” (NIV)
B. It is working from a heart which is right with OTHERS
1. When we give our lives over to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He gives us His heart, a heart that wants to serve others like the savior
2. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: . . . made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant . . .” (Phil 2:5, 7)
a. Work which is a witness for Jesus is work which has a servants heart.
b. We serve others, not because we expect them to give us anything in return but because our Christ calls us to serve
c. Our nature and our calling is to serve whether or not those we work for give us any praise or are easy to work for.
d. Our hearts says serve because of the Savior.
3. And from that heart we reveal the Lord our God in our work!
V. When we work wholeheartedly as God desires, we proclaim the God we believe in.
A. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967, six months before he was assassinated;
1. “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.”
2. “Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.’”
B. Years ago, the cleaning of Michelangelo’s frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was undertaken.
1. As the workers carefully removed the buildup of dirt and stain accumulated over the centuries, they marveled at some of the treasures the grime had hidden.
a. Among these unseen portions of the paintings were fingerprints of the artist left unnoticed through time.
b. Now they stood in testimony to the painter’s identity. Here was the evidence that the master artist had done the work.
c. A part of his identity remained with the product.
2. What fingerprints are people seeing in our work? Are they seeing the Master’s fingerprints?
C. As we work, we are revealing the God we truly believe it?.
1. Are we revealing the god of mammon or the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ?
2. As Christians in the workplace, is our work a witness - a testimony for Jesus Christ to all who are searching?
