Ephesians 6:5-9 is full of talk about masters and slaves. It is the kind of thing that can cause the most ardent bible believer in America to cringe just a little. Our country’s tattered past with slavery makes it nearly impossible to read the word slave or servant without imagining grave evil. It is not possible hereto tackle the whole question of what the Bible says about slavery and why it says it. We should note quickly that most slaves were in Jesus’ day were not forced into slavery against their will as many were in our country. They were largely people paying off a debt by working for the one they owed.
In our day, we do not have a system of masters and slaves. But we do have a system with employees and employers, a system in which one person has authority over others in the workplace. And in those relationships, the order described in the Ephesians passage applies. While we might often like to think that God does not concern himself with what we do at work, it simply is not true. God tell us how his people are to live as employees or employers in this world.
Employees are to hear these words, “obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord.
Yes, employees are not only to obey their boss in order to ensure their job security. They are not just to grin and bear their ways, all the while holding hate for their boss in their heart. They are not to do it just to impress others. They are to obey their boss solely because they desire to walk in the ways Christ. Christ says that employees should obey their bosses with all their might and without being argumentative.
They do all of this with a promise. Even if their boss does not recognize their hard work, their father in heaven does. He rejoices in their work because it is the work God has given for them to do in service to others. He has promised to reward them for their service.
Employers are to pay attention to these words, “Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.†Yes, masters are also called to render service. They are to direct this service to their employees. They are not to lord their authority over them. They are not to threaten them with force. They are to care for their needs.
In Jesus’ day, almost everyone lived in the household where they worked. Their masters were also in many ways their fathers. Our situation is nearly the opposite. Hardly anyone works inside the place they call home. And this being true, we have often forgot that the Bible assumes that the relationship between employer and employee is intended to run along the model of the father-child relationship. But it is. Employers should treat their employees with a fatherly heart. Yes, they are called to lead, but to lead for the benefit of the employees. They are to worry first about making sure those entrusted to their care are well.
So where do you fit? Some of you are employees without anyone under your authority. Some of you have some people under your authority and others who have authority over you. Still others may solely be employers with people working for you. In each relationship you have, you must determine the role you have and then hear the Word of God given to that role.
Whenever you are under someone’s authority, you are to obey them and do what they ask assuming they do not ask something God has forbidden. You are to do so as one who understands that whatever your job is, it is holy work given to you by God to do. You are to do so without griping and without disdain for your boss.
However, it is so easy to be frustrated with a boss, isn’t it? It is so easy to chuckle at the millions of jokes made at bosses’ expense. It is so easy to ignore their words when you know no one will know that you did. But sinning is often the easy way. When you do these things, it is good to confess it before them and required that you do so before God.
Whenever you have others under your authority, you must treat them as a father treats his child. Your first thought should not be profit or how to squeeze the last drip of production out of each workers, but that your workers are well cared for, that their work is recognized, and that their wages are fair and given promptly. And when you do not, you too ought confess that before them and must before God.
It is only as we admit that we are not perfect as employees or employers that we can truly receive what the crucified Christ wants us to have. Only then are we found at the cross where our sins are forgiven and the Spirit given. And only then can we be raised to live at God desires us to live in our lives and workers and masters in this world.
