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 Thank you Music Ministry. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Ephesians chapter number 6.

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 While you're turning there and you are looking upon the screen,

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 trust you've enjoyed having Kyle Abair here last week to preach. When Kyle and I greet

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 one another, we always say, "My brother, I'm another mother and the same heavenly father."

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 Now, I also always say to people when we're together, "Kyle was way worse than me."

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 Okay, Kyle was a real gangster. I was a pretend wannabe gangster. Real gangsters go to the penitentiary,

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 but that brother has had a remarkable work done in his life and so I'm thankful for him. Now let's

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 begin. Today, we're back to Ephesians. We're reading our text, which is going to be verses 5 through 9.

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 Ephesians chapter 6. The Bible says, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters,

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 according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ,

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 not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God

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 from the heart, with good will render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever

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 good thing each one does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters

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 do the same things to them and give up threatening, knowing that both their master and yours is in

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 heaven and there is no partiality with him." Now, this text, by way of application today,

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 is going to teach us a biblical way of thinking about and engaging in our work. So no matter

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 whether you're retired right now or you're actively working, if you're retired, you can even use what's

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 going to be said today to help others who are the other who are still working. So we can all benefit

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 from this. You've all heard the term the Protestant work ethic. And one definition I found for the

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 Protestant work ethic was this, I thought it was a pretty good one, a concept that a person

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 has a spiritual duty to work hard and use the money earned from that work in a disciplined

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 and careful way. It grew from the Calvinistic approach to religion and life as lived out

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 by the Puritan settlers in America in the 17th century. That's where it got its origin. Many

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 people don't know. I can't remember exactly something like that. Between 80 to 90% of the

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 original 13 colonies, the Christians were reformed in their theology and it came out of that.

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 And that Protestant work ethic is the work ethic that continued to build and to grow our nation.

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 And it continued on into the 20th century. But now, here in the 21st century, primarily,

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 not exclusively, but primarily within the millennial generation and on down the Gen Z. And now I think

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 it's Gen Alpha, whatever's after Z. I don't know who comes up with these names, but they do.

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 But these days, I don't think I have to tell you that the Protestant work ethic,

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 especially among our young people, has fallen on hard times. If you work with young people right

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 now, you know that to be the case across the board. Socialism has become something that,

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 unbelievably, is very appealing to these younger generation folk. We saw many people, do you

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 remember, back in COVID, especially among the young, how much they loved the fact that they were

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 getting money and they didn't have to go to work and they loved staying home and getting a check

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 from the government. What our society in America here has continued to continually find

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 more and more most important about life is leisure. Americans love to relax and Americans love to be

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 entertained. And of course, as we discussed often, the Marxist-Socialist worldview indoctrination

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 of young people in our colleges has played a large role in this serious dilemma amongst literally

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 millions of our young people. They are taught, hey, somebody owes you a living. They are taught

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 things like health care is a right. They are told you should make demands for what you want.

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 And really, we shouldn't have to work to make a living unless we just really want to. I've even

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 heard politicians left say things like that. Add to that, for so many people, work is just

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 nothing more than a necessary evil. It's what you have to do to pay the bills. Many, many,

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 many people hate their jobs. That's really a shame. And they come home continually complaining

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 about the ills and the workplace and all the things they have to go through and how tired

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 they are of dealing with it. And really, if you think about it, many children grow up in homes

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 and that is the way work is viewed. And they hear it constantly, the constant complaining about

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 having to go to work and what's happening at work. So what happens? Well, as children,

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 they form the same opinions about work. And oftentimes, that's how they go into the workforce,

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 complaining about it. So work has fallen on hard times. Work is not a popular theme. And you

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 combine this with socialism literally being on the rise, as you know well within politics,

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 as a viable system of government with our young folks. And you can't help but be deeply concerned

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 about what our nation is going to look like in the decades ahead. And especially after we're all

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 gone and our grandchildren from many of us are into adulthood. And that is why it is the church's

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 responsibility to preach from the Word of God a biblical view of our work. What does God have to

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 say about our labor? We can add to America's ills, and you know this from history, the rise of the

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 labor unions in America. And there are oftentimes where there are legitimate complaints, especially

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 in the early 20th century with the labor unions and all of that. But really more today,

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 I think it's greed that drives both sides. It's the employers want more profits and the employees

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 want more salary and we have these strikes and we have these labor disputes. And that causes all

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 kind of problems in our economy. And then after that, our government's wonderful way of handling our

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 economy no matter who's in charge and constantly overspending and printing money that we really

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 don't have, which causes massive inflation. And then you combine all that with this massive

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 welfare state that the government finances. And what does all that do? It results in all kind of

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 issues for the working class. And unless somebody in here is secretly absolutely uber wealthy,

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 I think we're all in the working class here at Providence. And you know well that the biblical

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 reality is the love, not money itself, right? The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

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 And economic trouble is one of those kinds of evil. Add to that the sin of selfishness. Add to

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 that the sin of greed and materialism. And we have quite a mess here in the land of plenty.

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 Money hungry people actually drive a large portion of our economy. If they didn't,

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 things would be different. But they work for man centered reasons. They work for selfish reasons.

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 The reason, the motivation that they have for getting up in the morning and going to work

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 is they are wanting to acquire the American dream, the big house, the fancy cars, the extended

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 vacations. And look, there is absolutely nothing sinful at all about having nice things that you

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 have worked hard for. But the can be, if you're motive for getting them and acquiring them is

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 sinful, if that is the reason for why you are working to gain such things. What we're going

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 to learn today is God's perspective on work. It's not driven by greed. It's not driven by selfishness

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 or self-fulfillment or a hunger for power or any of those man centered motivations. There is a much

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 bigger picture in play for how it is as Christians we are to view our work. If we are going to be

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 obedient to the word of God, then we have to come to settle conclusions when it comes to work

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 out of this very text. And as we come to this text, dealing with the issue of work, this is what

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 we're going to find. The principle of submission. That was the same theme that you remember was so

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 important with the structure of the family. That same principle of submission is going to continue

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 in this text. Remember we learned back in Ephesians 5 about a mutual submission that believers to have

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 toward one another. Remember 521 of Ephesians chapter 5 verse 21. Look what it says. How are

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 we to do it in the fear of Christ? Very important. That carries over into the family. Remember we

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 went through those where that's true for the husband and for the wife. A mutual submission,

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 just like we have for all believers, but also at the same time that's done in the context of the

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 authority structure that God has ordained. We went through that. Remember, what's the authority

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 structure? Wives submit to your husbands. Husbands love your wives. Children obey your parents. Well,

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 guess what? That principle of mutual submission is going to continue to be the theme in this very

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 verse. That's why I look at verse 5. It says, "Slaves, be obedient to your masters according to the

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 flesh with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ." Now, let's lay this

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 groundwork first. Slaves, by way of application for today in our situation here in America,

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 that's workers, okay? Employers. Be obedient. Submit to masters, employees. I'm sorry,

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 employers. The masters, by way of application for today, are employers. The worker is to submit

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 to the one who is over him. And as we see, the employer also exercises a kind of submission

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 in the sense that he, the employer, is to seek what is best for the employee. That is his role

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 as a Christian boss, if you will. Just like everything we've studied so far here in Ephesians,

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 we're under this heading in Ephesians at this point, chapters 4, 5, and 6, of the subject of

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 Christian living. This, right here, what I'm going to give you today, and I've already apologized

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 to Sonia in advance, what I'm going to give you for today is the gold standard for how we are to

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 behave as Christian employees and Christian employers. Now, first, we have to deal with the

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 term "slaves and masters" found in verse 5, if we're going to approach this from a historical

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 basis. And I've read through a ton of historical material, and I just put it in my mind, as I

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 always do with all the materials, especially from MacArthur, just to condense this in a very

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 summarized statement. So I'm not going to be anywhere close to exhaustive on this subject,

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 but I'm going to give you a very summarized statement on the issue of actual slavery,

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 because those are the words that Paul is using here. Number one, Scripture never advocates

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 slavery, not in one verse, but it does recognize slavery as an element of ancient society,

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 as Paul is doing right here in this text. That could have been more beneficial if slaves and

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 masters had treated each other properly, as Paul calls for in this verse, but for us,

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 especially here in America, when we hear the term "slavery," what's the first thing we think of?

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 Well, most people automatically think about American 19th century chattel slavery, the

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 slavery of Africans in the Civil War time. But guess what? That is only one form of slavery

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 amongst many down through history, many different situations. In ancient times, guess what?

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 Slavery was a way of life, especially in Roman and Greek culture. It was very different,

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 very different from American 19th century chattel slavery, and just like any kind of

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 employment situation, it could be both good or bad, depending on the character of the people

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 involved. And in our text, really, as we get into this, you're going to see this. Really,

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 slavery is not the issue in this text at all. There were good masters all down through history,

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 and there were bad ones. There were good slaves, and there were bad ones. There were definitely,

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 definitely many, very cool masters of slaves who treated their slaves absolutely horribly

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 and abused them in unspeakable ways. But there were also slaves who abused good masters and

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 stole from them, masters that were being good to them. And so what I'm trying to get across to you

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 is that there were all different kinds of situations between slaves and masters, which was

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 very much in Paul's day. Again, it was the lifeblood of their economy, just exactly like the labor

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 force is today. That was the way things worked in Paul's day. There was the indentured servitude.

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 You remember that from school, maybe, where they would work off their debt, and then when that was

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 over, they were free to go. There were cases where the slaves, excuse me, the slaves were treated

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 so well, the slaves and their families, so well that a slave would not even dream of leaving

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 their master, because that was how they lived. That's how they had sustenance. That's how they

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 lived their lives out. Now, listen, very important. I am not glazing over the very

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 inhumane treatment of slaves down through history, from chattel slavery in America and all through,

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 including Old Testament times, you can go back and read that. What I'm doing is for time's sake,

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 what I'm trying to give you is just this summary of the subject of slavery historically,

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 because really, Paul is using these terms, and he's writing in his day as what is going on in

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 his day as really, when most laborers were slaves, really what he's getting at is this relationship,

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 this relationship that exists now in our day between an employer and an employee, and that's

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 how we apply it again today. This was a workable system in Paul's day. Just like in our day,

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 where most employers provide salary, insurance, and retirement, most employers,

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 the slaves in Paul's time had housing and food and all the necessary care provided by the slave

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 owners in the same way. So the issue biblically, again, is how do people interact with one another

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 in this relationship, no matter what period we're in and time, no matter what context we're in,

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 and when it comes to the Word of God, just remember before we go forward, the Bible doesn't

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 advocate slavery, but it does deal with the reality that it exists, and most importantly,

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 whatever form of employment might be, it must be regulated by the right.

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 That's going to be the linchpin here. That's what we're going to learn about.

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 Also, one more thing before we get started into this text, very important, remember this truth,

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 look at Galatians 3/28 with me, and you know this one. There is neither Jew nor Greek,

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 slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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 This means when it comes to the spiritual realm, within the body of Christ, there are no inequalities.

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 Everybody is equal in the body of Christ. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, as we

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 always say. Today, we're not going to be talking about spiritual differences. We're only going

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 to be talking about the things that apply to the ordering of society, this area of work down here

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 in responsibility land. It's only our response to this subject and how we behave with this knowledge

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 that would take us into the spiritual realm. And in particular, we're going to again apply

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 slaves and masters to employers and employees. You're with me? On this. All right. Now,

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 as you can imagine, again, the gold standard is for Christians to be filled with the Spirit

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 and carry into the workplace an attitude of joy, an attitude of gratitude, an attitude of submission.

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 So, workers, get ready to be very convicted, as was I, because I have failed miserably many,

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 many, many times over to meet the standard that I am fixing to preach to you out of this text.

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 First, we'll start as the text does with slaves, employees in our day. And let's just read again,

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 because that was a long introduction, I know. So, let's read again this text in five to nine.

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 "Laves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,

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 and the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of eye service as men pleasers,

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 but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will,

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 render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does,

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 this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free, and masters do the same things to

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 them and give up threatening, knowing that their master and yours is in heaven and there is no

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 partiality with him." Now, folks, that's pretty, a lot of that is self-explanatory, right?

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 I mean, that's the pattern for all employees and employers who want to engage in the workplace

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 in God's way. And by the way, do you ever read in the New Testament anywhere where Jesus or Paul

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 tries to abolish slavery? Anybody come up with that verse? You won't find it. Now, what they do

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 is they try to deal with the abuses of slavery, and that's what Paul is doing right here in this text.

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 What is God most interested in? God is most interested in changing hearts,

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 where there is a true heart change. Guess what? Injustice disappears, where you have

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 spirit-filled people in a workplace. Right relationships can actually be cultivated. So,

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 what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is teaching all generations of time is that

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 whatever the present structure of your workplace is right now,

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 here is how you are to act in that workplace. All right? You ready for that, Joey?

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 Pretty interesting that there were an estimated six million slaves in the Roman

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 Empire during Paul's day. And yet again, I will tell you that nowhere in the New Testament

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 is slavery ever attacked. In fact, slavery is borrowed as a proper analogy of Christian's

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 relationship to God. What are we called? Slaves. Duelos. Paul happily called himself a slave of

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 Christ. We are called to be slaves of Christ as well. So, rather than overturn all of that,

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 Paul makes it the analogy by which we can identify our own service to God. Now, the first part I

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 want to call your attention to in this text, number one is this. Right behavior. Look at verse five.

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 It starts out with slaves be obedient. That is the same exact great word from verse one here in

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 chapter six. Children obey your parents. Same word. Again, pretty simple. The principle here

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 is apply to our day. If you are employed by someone, you are to obey them. If you are a spirit

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 field Christian, that right there should be just automatic for you. This is another one of those

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 present tense verses. What it really is, is keep on continuously obeying. That's the principle.

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 You don't know my boss. You don't know my situation at work. The man is so unfair.

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 I have every right to protest. I mean, really, at my work, we should go on strike is what we

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 really should do. We should go on strike. Let me tell you something. If that is your way of thinking,

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 then I have some tough Bible news for you. Turn with me over to 1 Peter chapter two.

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 Let's just all get throat punched by Peter together, shall we?

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 1 Peter chapter two verses 18 to 21.

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 Look what Peter writes. Using the same language. Servants, be submissive to your masters with

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 all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

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 For this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows

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 when suffering unjustly. Well, what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated,

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 you endure it with patience, but if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently

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 endure it. This finds favor with God, for you have been called for this purpose since Christ

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 also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Sorry, uh,

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 that is some serious Christian living right there. Go back tonight and read that one again.

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 Uh, after you're done, read it a third time. When Peter wrote this, all right, when he wrote this,

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 he was well aware that there were slaves who had become Christians, slaves, actual slaves,

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 and then think about this. They were getting worse treatment than you or I ever will.

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 In any job that you could possibly think of when he wrote those words there,

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 these were actual slaves. Some of these slaves were being beaten. You think about this and look

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 what Peter says, but guess what? As he wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

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 the principle of how to behave didn't change. Servants be submissive to your masters with

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 all respect. Now go back to Ephesians six, one same exact thing Paul is saying here in Ephesians

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 six, one slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. Sorry,

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 but this principle will never change. And it actually is a principle that holds

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 society together for heaven's sakes. I mean, you think about it. I mean, our society cannot survive

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 anarchy and constant protest and rebellion. We see how much damage those things do in our day

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 right here in the measure that they do. My son Jeremy sent me a video yesterday,

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 airline, highway, all these protesters protesting ICE and it's all these foreigners who are here

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 hating our country and hating the fact that people who are here illegally are getting sent back home.

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 We can't have that constantly. So what I'm giving you is just the Bible truth

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 that we are to be, as Peter says, submissive to our employer, no matter what kind of employer

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 we have. And that's the linchpin right there in Peter's text, right? And what he's getting

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 is this. This is our Christian witness work when we're under this. Peter uses the example of who?

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 Jesus in this text that we just read who was the most mistreated person in the history

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 of humanity. That's Peter's example for how we are to behave when we're mistreated. The Christian

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 employee is called to, I'm sorry, yeah, employee is called, we're called to demonstrate to the world

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 that being completely changed by saving faith makes you no longer a disgruntled employee,

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 but a person who is diligent in their work, no matter what the circumstances are. Now,

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 just like I said in the other text with marriage, that is a general principle,

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 that is a general rule. Of course, there are nuanced times that we could think about where, hey,

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 it's time to go, all right? But this is a general principle. Let me be quick to say this. It'll

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 be very clear that I, me, I have failed in spectacular fashion many times in many different

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 work situations throughout my employment career. My wife can be quick to tell you,

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 I like to structure how I am going to work at the workplace, and I like to set it up,

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 and I like to be in charge of it. Here's how I'm going to work for you, and you're going to obey

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 how I say it needs to go, right? And it's just like we studied with the structure of the family

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 in chapter five and chapter six. What we're looking at right here is God's design for Christians

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 in the workplace. Now, think of what else we learned. We learned that God has designed

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 authority in marriage, right? We learned that God has designed authority in the family, parents

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 over children. He designed authority in the church with the elders of the church over the

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 congregation. He even designs authority in government. That's Romans 13 that you know

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 well. Government is to punish the evil and benefit the good, and we are to follow their

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 instruction as long as we're not commanded to do something that's contrary to the word of God,

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 of course. And then there's also authority given in the workplace. And as Christians,

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 our testimony for Christ has to be seen on a daily basis in the faithfulness that we carry out our

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 daily task with. If we are lazy at work, unfaithful, disobedient, malcontent, whining and complaining,

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 every job I have ever worked on, there's always at least one person who continuously

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 never stops complaining about the job that they currently have. When we act like that,

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 we bring reproach on Jesus. Why? Because on the other hand, we sit there and profess

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 with our lips how he changed our lives. But we're not acting like it. And if your employer is actually

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 a Christian, a genuine, regenerate Christian, and you should never abuse that wonderful privilege,

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 in fact, you should be even more diligent to have that privilege of having a Christian employee.

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 You should be more faithful to that employer, even though you're both one in Christ, right?

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 Even though you're equals spiritually, you don't take advantage of that relationship.

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 But no matter what your relationship is with your boss, what I'm saying to you is this,

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 the principle remains the same. And it's found multiple times in the tip. You want another one?

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 Here we go. Look at Titus, Titus chapter 2, verses 9 through 10, again, using slaves for employees,

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 urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well pleasing,

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 not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. So that, look, here's the reason,

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 so that they will adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in every respect.

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 And as I said earlier, in many cases, these slaves that they're being written to in that

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 time period were under far, far harsher situations than any of us have ever experienced in any

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 workplace. But notice again, notice again how Paul ends Titus 2.10,

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 but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in every

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 respect. How in the world are you ever going to convince an unbelieving boss that God is a saving

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 God who transforms people's lives if you are a disgruntled employee who's always just complaining

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 about your work? It's not going to happen. Now, secondly, we have to, we have to have the right

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 perspective. Go back to Ephesians 6-5. Look at that phrase, "According to the flesh,

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 be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh." And here we're talking

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 about specifically nothing more. This is a, this is a human temporal relationship. According to the

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 flesh, the right behavior is submission. The right perspective is simply this, this human

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 fleshly relationship that we have with our employer. Your boss has authority over you

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 only in that area, only in that human fleshly area, not in the spiritual realm. Now, if he's a

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 Christian, yeah, you can pray with him. You can even disciple him if he's not a mature believer,

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 or vice versa. If he's lost, certainly you can present the gospel to him. But I'm talking about

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 as far as the relationship itself, it's according to the flesh. That's the right perspective. We

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 are to be obedient. And then thirdly, the right attitude. Look next in verse 5, "With fear and

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 trembling." Now, does that mean we're supposed to be living in terror of our boss? Absolutely not.

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 This is not fear and trembling of the boss, folks. This is fear and trembling of the one who ordained

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 him to be your boss. That's what Paul was getting at with fear and trembling. The real boss who works

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 behind him. We should always have a healthy respect and a healthy reverence for the fact

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 that in the big picture, God has ordained this kind of order and structure for human life to

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 flourish on the earth. And we should have a healthy biblical fear of offending our employer,

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 knowing as Christians that he has been given this place of leadership on purpose, ordained by

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 God in our life. And then next we come to number four, the right commitment. Look again

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 at verse five, "In the sincerity of your heart." The only way you can really be a great employee

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 is when it comes from your heart. That means you really care about what you're doing.

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 You care about your workplace, about doing a good job. I love 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 to 12. Look

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 at this one. "And to make it your own ambition, to lead a quiet life, and attend to your own business,

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 and work with your hands, just as we have commanded you, so that," here's the reason,

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 again, "so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need." So important.

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 It's just simple. You give eight hours of work for eight hours of pay. Serity of your heart.

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 That means you're at work, work, the work, the boss, the structure has your undivided

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 attention. There's no division in your loyalty. And then lastly, most importantly,

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 right motive. Look at verse five, "As to Christ." And really thinking from this perspective, really,

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 there's no distinction between your Christian life and your work life.

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 There is this sense, now listen to me, sense in which you don't have a spiritual life over here

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 and a secular life over there. You understand what I'm saying? You just have your life.

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 Okay? Now, sure, I refer to my job at Baton Ridge Industries as my secular job. And by itself,

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 that's what it is. It's my secular job, and this is my pastoral job. But for Christians,

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 there is an added sense to this. Everything we do, no matter whether you're working in a plant,

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 whether you're working as a secretary or a teacher or a accounts payable or construction

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 or sales, no matter what you're doing, what this verse is saying is whatever it is,

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 all that you do in your workday is to be done. It's unto Christ. That's how we're to look at it.

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 Our whole life, every minute of every day, has to be viewed that way. You know well,

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 1 Corinthians 10, 31, and that's exactly the point of this verse, whether then you eat or drink,

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 put it in caps or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I'm telling you,

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 if you can get this, as R.C. says, down into your bloodstream, it will change your whole

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 experience as an employee at your workplace. I promise you it will. Understand that as a Christian,

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 your job is your service every day, most of all to King Jesus. Just as much as praying,

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 just as much as reading your Bible, just as much as coming to church. You are to work and offer

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 your service to this earthly employer that God has ordained for you as if you are serving King

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 Jesus, because you are. View yourself, as God's Word makes clear here, and you get up in the morning

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 as working for God's glory. Let that be the first thing you think about. You are in full-time Christian

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 service to Jesus Christ, no matter what job title you hold. I don't care if you're digging ditches,

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 doesn't matter. Again, any Christian who is discontent with their job, who's a poor worker,

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 who's lazy, who's not diligent, who's not always looking to get out of doing as much work as they

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 actually can. You ever work with people? They work harder at not working, at trying not to work,

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 and if they just go on and do the job, they get things done, right? Let me tell you something.

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 If you're a Christian and that's how you act at work, you are a dishonor to the Lord Jesus Christ

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 when you act like that at work. Then Paul goes on next in Ephesians 6-6, "Not by way of eye service

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 as men pleasers, but slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart." That's right

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 back to the singularity of the heart. So important, and maybe we could call this the right diligence.

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 Paul says, "Not by way of eye service," and you know that drill.

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 Like putting on a show when the boss is watching, when it's time for that evaluation or that raise,

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 but then as soon as that little time period is over, you go back to sloughing off.

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 Don't go hard only when somebody's looking. Go hard all the time, every day.

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 Don't be looking to just do the absolute minimum you could possibly do and still have a job.

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 Work the exact same way every day whether somebody's looking or not, and don't even be

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 watching to see who's looking. It doesn't matter. As a Christian, you keep in mind who's always looking.

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 The real boss of Paul says, and that's God himself. He is always watching. Paul was very

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 intentional and serious about this subject. Look over again at Colossians 3. Look at Colossians 3

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 verses 22 to 24. Slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external

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 service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord. There it is

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 again. Whatever you do, do your work heartily. How and why? As far the Lord rather than for men,

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 knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord

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 Christ whom you serve. That says it all. Right there. That's how we'd review our work. Just think

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 about what you're doing at your job every day at serving the Lord, because in the big picture,

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 the Bible is making clear that that is exactly what it is. And you can do this.

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 You can, but the only way, the only way that you can, is in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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 And I'm telling you, I promise you, I promise you, it will change everything about how you

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 experience your work day. And then Paul keeps this up. Look next in verse 7, "With good will,

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 render service as to the Lord and not to men." Again, we could say the right diligence here.

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 He's saying here that we are not just to go to our work, grating our teeth, just, "Oh, man,

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 I got to go over there again and just get through this." Get up early. Read your Bible. Drink your

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 coffee. Hit the ground running. Ready to get at it with the thought, "I'm going to serve King Jesus

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 today." Look at your job that way. It doesn't matter if you're hammering nails, teaching kids,

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 flipping hamburgers. Doesn't matter. I don't care what it is. Your mindset is I am serving the Lord

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 doing this today. I'm not working for men, as Paul has said several times. I'm serving Christ.

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 And I'm serving Christ right in front of a watching world and so oftentimes in front of a

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 world of unbelievers. And I'm his servant. I'm going to tell you, this is an undefeated

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 perspective. If you can keep it going on your job and you can, you can in the power of the Spirit.

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 Now, we know, we know that we have to have money to survive and to live in this world.

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 But money shouldn't be your motive on top of the joy of serving Jesus in your role. Serving Jesus

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 is even ahead of money. It's right at the top. If you're only chasing after money,

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 it will corrupt your motives. If you do your job for God's glory and your motive is right,

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 God's going to bless you. Look at verse 8, knowing that whatever good thing each one does,

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 he will receive what? Back from the Lord, whether slave or free. Man, that is big

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 time. That was surely more difficult if you were a slave, but the same is true.

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 Whether you're a slave or free, God will reward you for what you have rendered to him with your

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 work with the right motive. Jesus is the ultimate payroll boss.

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 And Christy can tell you this. It's quite a ride to be on in the car with a bivocational pastor.

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 He ain't ever riding in a Mercedes, right? And over the years, it's been wild to observe this

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 for me. We, Christy and I, have had amazing changes in our overall gross income up and down

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 in 24 years of ministry because of the struggle to find the right job to fit with doing this work.

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 One time, I will share with you one time that I went from making $50,000 a year to $10 an hour.

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 That, ordinarily, you would think, man, that would be a disaster, right? But what do we do?

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 We stepped out in faith, and we've always done this through all my day job adventures.

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 Nobody has been more amazed than me to watch God just sovereignly make it work.

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 Same bills. The bills didn't change. We're blessed. Our needs are met, right? Not rich,

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 but the bills are paid. We eat every day. We live comfortably in spite of however my particular

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 circumstances may seem from the outside, even now, to this very day. But I'm here to tell you, that's

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 God. I can't explain that any other way. I really can't. I marvel at it all the time.

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 Now, there's one final word for today, verse nine. It starts out masters and masters. And this is

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 the other side, okay? This is employers. This is the boss. Look at verse nine. And masters

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 do the same things to them. That sums it up pretty good, right? What does that include?

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 Well, that includes what we just read. Serve them with honor and respect. Employer, boss,

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 serve them sincerely. Serve your employees just as if you were serving Jesus, boss man.

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 Do what's good and beneficial for them as unto the Lord and not to men. Treat your employees

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 in such a way that it will bring about your eternal reward. That's an act of service to King Jesus.

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 Same thing. Don't use them just to make yourself rich. Look in verse nine and give up threatening.

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 You know what that means? Don't yell at your people. Don't abuse your people verbally, boss man.

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 Don't do that. That's not how a spirit-filled, spirit-controlled employer operates with his people.

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 That has no value. Be encouraging to your employees. Be rewarding. Why? Again, it's the same motivation.

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 Look next. Same motivation for the boss. Verse nine. Knowing that both their master and yours

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 is in heaven and here he's focusing on both parties being Christian. This means simply

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 God is watching. He's watching every day and he is the final authority. Let me tell you,

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 for all those bosses out there, CEOs, people running companies, whatever their level of authority is

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 on the workplace, your boss, God is not impressed at all with your accomplishments at all. Anything

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 you got, you got from him, whether you realize it or not. He's not impressed with your power.

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 He's not impressed with the politician's power. If you have those again, he's the one that gave

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 them to you. What God is impressed with is how you treat your employees, boss man. Now, look lastly.

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 Verse nine. And there is no partiality with him. Did you love that? All earthly distinctions

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 are leveled in the presence of the King. All God is really interested in these relationships is

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 very simple. How do you treat one another? What is your motive for why you do what you do in your

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 workplace? And how do you behave when you're doing it? Christian understand whether you are an employee

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 or an employer. If you don't get anything else of what I said today, it is your spiritual service

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 to Christ that you do in your work. Show the evidence at work that God really has changed your

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 life through regeneration and saving faith. And then you can really preach the gospel,

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 not only in deeds, but with words, because you will have built capital with that

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 boss in the way that you behave. So that's the theology of work. Don't be mad at me. I'm just

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 the mailman. I just deliver the mail. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day.

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 I pray that we would take these great truths of Paul's theology of work, apply them to our lives,

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 that we might go to work tomorrow with a new sense of purpose of serving King Jesus above all

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 things. And we pray that everything we've done here today has been done in such a way as to bring

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 you maximum glory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.