Sermon Title: How to love your workplace
Call to Worship:
"You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" - Luke 10:27
What God says:
For employees:
Slaves,
Your work is a …….. Part of Gods
Kingdom
obey your earthly
masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would
obey Christ.
Your work isn’t horizontal, it’s ………………
Obey them not only to
win their favor when their eye is on you.
‘What can I get ………. with’ is the wrong question
Serve wholeheartedly,
as if you were serving the Lord, not people,
If you still serve people you won’t be ………….. to serve God
and love them
because you know that
the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave
or free.
Make sure you pick the right ……………..
For employers:
treat your slaves in
the same way….there is no favoritism with him.
You are no ………………. Treat others the way you think you ought
to be ………..
How we respond:
Live for ……….. Love ……………...
Growth Group Questions:
- What did God do in your heart during our services today?
- Do you feel your work/job is as important as ministry you do in the church? What are some ways you can bring Christ in the work relationships you have?
- What is your estimate of our work ethic today? What is the Bible’s standard?
- Can you give personal examples of the trap of viewing your work as ‘meaning’ instead of ‘mission’? Go one step deeper: Did either the approval of men or the approval of your self through work take the place of God’s love and approval to you? How is He changing/has He changed you in making you live for Him only?
Intro slide ‘Radical Love – Radical Lives’
Uncomfortable passage today – ‘reeks’ of social injustice
Uncomfortable passage that day – masters weren’t always
fair. Slaves treated wrong
Reminder 5:21 –
The submission principle
Just like:
- Kids obey parents – even though parents aren’t always right
- Wives submit to their husbands – even though h don’t always earn that right
- Husbands love wives – even though they may not be respected
- Slaves obey their masters
Why? We live in upside down world. New Kingdom .
As Christ came and gave everything/himself for us; we are called to give
everything for others – “what do you need/how can I serve you’ is our big
question. We have found that relationship/business/family actually thrive in
this environment of service vs. selfishness
Core of this – our selfish heart – thing that prevents
healthy relationships because it is all about you meeting my needs, me being
successful, are DEAD.
We have been raised to a whole new life in Christ – What
does that new life look like:
Last week – kids. This wk workplace
Slaves – was 2000 yrs ago main source of work. Today we
could call it ‘cubicle workers’ or ‘farmers’, or ‘teachers’ or…
Great discrepancy church – God is Sunday, Monday is a
different story. ‘Where is God on Monday?’
A.J. Sherrill – pastor Manhattan
Dorothy Sayers: ‘How
can anyone remain interested in religion which seems to have no concern with
the nine-tenths of his life?’
Platonic thinking results
Abraham Kuyper –
‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over
which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: “It is mine””
Bible begins with God at work – ‘in the beginning God created’, who quickly seems to commission
humans in joining the narrative ‘subdue
the earth, rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds of the air and over
every living creature that moves on the ground’ – ‘the Lord took the man and
put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’
And ends with work – serving Him in the new Heaven and earth
obey your earthly
masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would
obey Christ.
Your work isn’t
horizontal, it is vertical
Remember last week we asked kids: Do you honor your parents
– even when they are not always right. Answer: yes, because God placed them
there – in spit of their imperfections.
Same with workplace: Do we obey, serve, give – even when the
boss isn’t always right – wrong strategy of operations, ineffective, wrong tone
of asking, - yes: because God has placed them there AND asks us to serve them
just as we serve the Lord
We see horizontal – I will give if…. (I get treated right,
if the command makes sense, if I agree, )
Paul sees vertical – your relationship with Christ is
transferred to earth.
- People/Relationships
Greatest employer to your boss:
à Boss doesn’t have to earn your service or loyalty,
he already has it
Greatest colleague to your peers:
à Transferring Grace to messes, Serving – doing the
work
May not feel ‘incredible’ – sometimes slow process, but it
is a big deal. Giving a cup of water in Christ Name still counts hugely!
- Product/Bottom Line
Excellence in WHAT you do – as unto the Lord.
Big Q: Doesn’t that open the door to workplace abuse?
Obey them not only to
win their favor when their eye is on you.
“What can I get away
with’ is the wrong question
What can I get away with and:
- Still keep my job
- Still be approved by my boss – extend breaks a little longer
- Still look better than my colleagues
= wrong, because at the heart of it is the selfish heart:
How can I get the best deal. ‘How can I gain the most with the least
sacrifice?’. Christ made most sacrifice not for his gain, but for your gain.
Appl: Issue of control.
Nobody takes away my freedom. I am my own man. It’s 5 o’clock . Nobody owns me. I do what I want to do. à
No submission, teamwork
‘but like slaves of
Christ, doing the will of God from your heart’
If you serve yourself, you’ll end up losing. (Submission
principle)
Serve wholeheartedly,
as if you were serving the Lord, not people,
If you still serve
people you won’t be free to serve God at work
Richard Rohr – Fransican – wrote: “When you get your ‘Who am
I’ question right, all the ‘What should I do’ questions (begin to) take care of
themselves
2 Bondages/Jokes - ways we serve people:
1. Ourselves – by our performance. ‘I am okay because of
what I do’. Selfish: I work for me. It can burn you out
2. Others – by their approval – “I am okay because they
approve of me. Scary: I work for them. It can enslave you and destroy you
because you know that
the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave
or free.
Make sure you pick
the right boss
Ill – earpiece –
Byron, tune things out, tune other things in. Who am I listening to?
Submission is made full when:
The company’s success is bigger than my personal comfort –
think of us, the best of the boss
à Am I concerned about ‘our’ success – more than my
own comfort?
For bosses:
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.
You are no different.
Treat others the way you think you ought to be treated
‘no favoritism’ – see Acts 10:36
– in God’s eyes all are equal. Equal love for sinners, equal solutions to their
problems.
Equality finds it’s roots in the Gospel – equal before God
Constitution – all men are created equal – right out of
Ephesians
Our world: I made it. I am special. No, you are gifted. BHy
creator.
We are all the same in his eyes
Unequality gap – bosses exploiting them
Application: Live for God – Love Others
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