In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 3:22-4:1 and the apostle Paul’s exhortation there as to how workers and bosses should live Spirit-filled, Word-filled lives in relation to one another.
Full Transcript:
Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Colossians 3 as we continue to move through this book. I’m going to be reading Colossians 3:18 – 4:1. It says,
18Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.20Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.21Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
22Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.23Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.25For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
Let’s pray. Lord, this morning, as we come to Your word, we pray that You would show us from the Word of God how You want us to live everyday on the jobs that we have, with the employees that we should be, and the employers that we are under. I pray that as we consider these things that we would always realize that whatever we do, and whatever person has authority over us, You have authority over them, and we actually serve You no matter what we’re doing. I pray that would always be on our mind. I pray in Christ’ name, amen.
The next set of verses that I just read have to do with how the Spirit-filled, word-filled Christian works. In other words, the imperative for transformed workplaces.
I think you can see the transformative power of the Gospel in each part of a believer’s experience as they walk in the Sprit and grow in the knowledge of the Word and of Christ and is led by the Spirit of God. Transformation takes place in marriages between wives and husbands, in families between children and parents, and of course, in families between fathers and children.
Today we will see the transformation of the Gospel in the workplace. Before I look at the text today, let me remind you of the principle. We have to deal with the principle that the Apostle has laid down for us in Scripture so far.
That is that a Christian is to lay aside his sin, put on the clothing of Christ, and let the peace of God rule in their heart and the Word of Christ make its home in the saved sinners inner most being. That is the principle.
Once that principle is understood and realized, then the practice of the outworking of that truth is noticed in a change in all believers, especially in an obedient and submissive heart.
The parallel passage in Ephesians records it like this: be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Submitting means to line oneself up under someone else. It has the idea of giving up one’s own rights or will doing so voluntarily.
Why do we do that? In the Ephesian and the Colossian passage (Colossians 3:22), it says the same thing at the end of the verse. It says: fearing the Lord. Everything the Christian does is done in the fear Christ.
This is not a horrifying fear. We had, as slaves to sin, a father who lied to us and kept us under the extreme fear of death, which was Satan. Our passage is pointing us to a healthy fear. A fear of God which we ought to have. The Bible teaches we ought to have it.
This fear is not the fear of slave nor merely a fear of a creature to the creator. This is a reverential fear of an obedient child to a loving Master. Yet at the same time not taking the Master lightly or with indifference. Christian reverence rests upon the knowledge of God’s holy character and in His plan of redemption.
A passage of Scripture that brings fear and holiness together is found in 2 Corinthians 7:1,
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
The fear of God has everything to do with what we do every day. The thing that marks off the Christian from the man who is not a Christian is not merely that he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation and trusts Him and His atoning work. He believes that, yes, but in addition, the life of a Christian is governed by Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord and Master at all times and in all areas of our life.
That means the Christian desires to please Him. They desire to please their Lord. At the same time, the believer desires not to disappoint, grieve, or hurt the One they love and submit to.
We must, from time to time, ask ourselves are we disappointing Christ today?
Wives, if we just look at the passage, are you disappointing Christ by not submitting to your husband as you ought to?
Husbands, are you not loving your wives as you ought to and disappointing Christ there?
Children, are you being obedient to parents with the proper action and attitude or are you disobeying the Lord there and disappointing Him?
Fathers, are you leading your family by taking the spiritual lead and treating your children properly – not causing them to be angry or exasperated by your discipline and your family model? Are you displeasing the Lord there?
All these areas of our life will bear the greatest tensions and stresses and strain. If you’re going to see the Word of prevailing in your heart and the Spirit of God leading you in your life then this is where you will see it. You will see it in these areas because these are the areas that we deal with the most every day. This is in-and-out living. This is a testing ground of how we are progressing in the Christian faith.
This next area that we are looking at from Colossians 3:22, where it says slaves. This area could be the most demeaning, distasteful, and lowliest that a Christian can be in when it comes to their position in this world. Relationship between slave and master. Something that is comparable to that is employer to employee and employee to employer.
Notice again in verse 22,
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masterson earth,not withexternal service, as those whomerelyplease men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Slaves is one who serves in obedience to another’s will. It’s a slave performing a service with unquestioning obedience. Either in a good or bad sense.
In any place, the believer is to find themselves with the conduct that they ought to have in that situation no matter what the circumstances would be.
Paul is dealing with the worst circumstances of the lowest place a human being could be. This is in a place where they are subservient to everything. They own nothing.
I want to note that first century slavery was not identical to what slaves faced in the earliest century of the settling of North Africa. There is also a difference between first century slavery and the modern employee.
However, the basic principle of labor and one’s attitude about labor is transferrable to those who make up today’s workforce and to whatever situation a person may be in. It is about our inner-heart and our relationship to the Lord as the Master of our life and how we are to respond to that.
The Apostle Paul’s concern is not to overthrow the societal structure that one finds themselves but he is concerned about the salvation and sanctification of individuals. The progress of the Gospel and the visual transformation of those who have Christ as their Master.
They should be different than the general population no matter what circumstances they are in. His concern is to be Christ-like in your behavior to the true Master Jesus Christ.
If you notice in verses 22-24 it has these little phrases about slaves fearing the Lord. Verse 23, as for the Lord. Verse 24, from the Lord. Verse 24 again, the Lord Christ whom you serve. Chapter 4:1, master you too have a Master in heaven.
All of these things are what the believer is focused in on. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The principle in Colossians 3:22, slaves in all things obey, and then Ephesians, slaves be obedient to those who are your master according to the flesh. You are going to have earthly masters but you have one Heavenly Master – that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are responsible as believers to the Heavenly Master. However, how we respond to our earthly master will tell how we are doing.
The principle is obvious. The Christian is to conform to the circumstances and condition in which they find themselves. He is not automatically to break loose or free just because he has become a Christian.
There will always be differences in social status even though all believers are in Christ. Never does Christ or the Apostle Paul tell anyone to change his social standing just because they are converted. In fact, the Bible’s instructions are just the opposite. Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians 7:20. This passage of Scripture does lay out some principles here.
1 Corinthians 7:20-22 is a very informative passage on the principle. It says this,
Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22 For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freeman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.
In other words, if a person was under this position in the first century as a slave and they became a believer, then they were actually free as slave in their heart to the Lord. If they were called as a free person then they now become a slave to Christ. This is not the slavery of modern history. In Paul’s time, servants really were bondslaves who could not call their life their own.
This is what is meant when Christ took upon Himself the form of a bondservant. It tells us in Philippians: He emptied Himself taking the form of a bondservant being made in the likeness of men. Our Lord made Himself a slave so that we can be free from the slavery of sin and its condemnation.
If the characteristic of a bondslave is contrasted with Christ taking the form of a bondservant then we really are called to be this bondslave. A bondslave had no rights as a citizen. Christ laid aside His glory in the presence of God to come into this world who hated Him. A bondslave had no redress in injury. Christ opened not His mouth before His accusers and murderers.
A bondslave had no property. Christ had no place to lay His head and was the poorest of men. A bondslave could be sold. Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver – the price of a slave. A bondslave could be tortured and killed. Christ suffered for us – He was beaten and publicly humiliated and killed, the just for the unjust to bring us to God. Jesus was the greatest example of what it meant to be under slavery – a willing slave who willingly did that.
What was the Apostle Paul’s view of being a slave? Romans 1:1, this is what Paul said,
Paul, a bon-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.
Saul was a rebel of a man and persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. Once the gospel arrested Paul, he became a willing and obedient bond-slave of Jesus.
Where did this whole concept of bond-slave come from? It comes from the Old Testament. Exodus 21:1-6. It’s an interesting passage. It says something that relates to what I am saying here. In Exodus 21:1 it says,
Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. 3 If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
This is a person who willingly says, I will be under the authority of this person permanently. He had the mark of a pierced ear for that purpose. Everyone who saw him knew right away that he was a willing bondservant.
Isn’t that really what happens to all real Christians? Even though we don’t all have literal pierced ears, we move from being slaves to sin to being slaves to righteousness. We are now enslaved to God who is our good and loving Master.
That is exactly what we read this morning where it says in Romans 6:22,
But now having been free from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
Christians have a Master in heaven they are to please. The Apostle Paul chose to have his ear pierced as a gesture of his permanent surrender to Jesus Christ, his Master.
Galatians 6:17 says,
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.
That’s the word stigma. It could mean tattoo mark. It could be brand mark. The brand mark for slaves were a pierced ear. In fact, the only people who are branded are slaves. Paul bore willingly the slave brands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, back to Colossians, who is the founder of the Colossian Church? Epaphras. What does it say about him in Colossians 4:12? It says,
Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.
Everywhere you look in Scripture, you have this phrase that when you become a believer, you are actually a slave to Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus is a good and kind Master. He is a Master that you want to have.
If you consider yourself a bondslave because you have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and confessed Him before others, and have walked in the waters of baptism in obedience to Him, and now you desire every day to live for Him no matter where you find yourselves on this earthly level, then we are to have a certain behavior and demeanor on our jobs.
There are four things connected to being a transformed employee under one major imperative. The major imperative is found in verse 22, it says,
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masterson earth,not withexternal service, as those whomerelyplease men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord
The imperative is submissive and willing obedience. It’s the same word that is used for children to obey your parents. I like how he stresses ‘on earth.’ The primary teaching for the Christian is that his conduct and character are to be obedient.
It’s to be obedient within the system in which he lives. Even though it may at times involve doing things in which he/herself would not choose to do or a place you would not choose to be. Employees are to be obedient, but not with eyeservice or external service, as those who merely please men.
That means you look like you are working when the eyes of the boss are on you or do it only when you can be seen, then when the boss or master are absent, or not watching, the slave, the employee, becomes slothful.
In other words, the Christian employee must not merely do the minimum, just enough to get themselves out of trouble. They are to do the maximum. There is a type of employee/slave that whatever they are doing, their eye is on the Master Jesus Christ, with whom they desire to please.
There is another. If the boss is watching, he works hard and shows himself a very dutiful person, but as soon as the boss is gone, he does nothing but the bare minimum. This person doesn’t have his heart in his work. This attitude is completely unsuited to what is truly the Christian attitude.
What is the Christian employee to do? Especially when the job is less than favorable and the boss is inconsiderate with his employees. The Christian employee is to be obedient to the boss, work hard, and give a day’s work regardless of the conditions and pay. The Christian employee does this because he is working for the Lord as a God-fearer.
Some people will ask how can I serve the Lord? You can serve the Lord right where you work by having that attitude. God-fearers reverence God to the point where they care deeply about what He says and desire to submit to His authority.
Part of His authority is His placing you where you are at. If we believe in the sovereignty of God then it’s no mistake where you’re at right now. You can kick at that all you want but that’s not the way to deal with it.
We have a fear of God that encompasses reverence and submission to his and awe of the Lord. I like how the Apostle Peter put it: Servants, he said, be submissive to your masters in all respects, not only those who are good and gentle but also those who are unreasonable. That’s to be like Christ.
The first thing that’s connected to a transformed employee is that bondslaves of Christ should do their work with obedience. The second one is found in Colossians 3:23. It is that bondslaves of Christ should do their work from a single and sincere heart. It says that in verse 22, but in verse 23 it says,
Whatever you do, do your workheartily,as for the Lordrather than for men
For who? My boss? No, as for the Lord, rather than for men. A Christian is to work hard within any system they live because they are working as a willing slave of Jesus Christ. Singleness of heart means that you do what you have to do with undivided attention. A sincere heart means the motive should be do to do the best work possible in the best way possible because we are Christians and we want to please the Master.
That’s how we witness to our bosses. That’s how we are a good example to the employees around us. We work hard and we go above and beyond. That means, for the employee, that their time is not their own, it’s the masters. His money, property, equipment, supplies are not his, they are the company’s.
We have no right to use our employers’ time even to evangelize on company time. Your lunchtime may be the time you can talk to people when they find you coming into the lunchroom reading your Bible. Let them see it. Sometimes when you’re on your phone they don’t know that you’re reading your Bible. You have to bring to your Bible – your big ol’ paper Bible. You can start witnessing to them this way.
We are not to do our work grudgingly. Some jobs are not very pleasant. They can be dirty, smelly, and just plain tedious. You’re wondering, Lord, why am I here? The Lord has you there. You can witness to people that I can’t or the person sitting next to you can’t. You’re there to witness and be an example. You have to consider your life like that. Wherever I am, God wants me there.
If you’re going to be grumbling, complaining, and whining about your boss and job then you’re not being an example. That’s the bottom line. We all have jobs that we didn’t like. All of us at some point in our life.
I had a job one summer on a hot-dog wagon on the side of the road. It was a little stinky hot-dog wagon. It was our job to sell hot dogs. I said, okay, we can do this and make some money by doing this. We ate more hot dogs than we sold. Of course, I wasn’t a believer back then, and it didn’t turn out very well. We gave that up quick but it was an experience back then.
We’ve all had times and jobs like that. As Christians, you can thank God for your job and glorify Him by working to the best of your ability and dedicating your work to Him.
Colossians 3:17, what did that say up there?
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
You want people to say to you, why are you always thankful? Why are you a person who always has a good attitude? You’re annoying me. Isn’t that what you want them to say? That is, again, an open door for the gospel. All of them are. You’re just not like everybody else. That’s how we adorn the gospel.
Do you know what Titus says about this? Listen to this passage. It’s Titus 2:9-10.
Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
That’s what we’re to do as Christians. It changes our whole outlook on the work that God has given to us.
There’s a third thing that is connected to this major imperative. It is found in verse 24. It’s more in the positive sense. Slaves of Christ have an inheritance.
You might think that slaves have no inheritance nor are they in a place to receive it. That’s true unless you are Christ’ slave. Notice what it says in Colossians 3:24,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the rewardofthe inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom youserve.
It is the inheritance that believers will receive that will be the nature of the reward – a fair recompense from a faithful service to the Lord. The slave of Christ has an unceasing line of thought. That means that they look beyond their earthly life and their immediate circumstances to the Lord and the reward that He has for them.
Galatians 4:7 tells us this,
Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
If you’re a Christian slave then you own everything. You are the richest person on earth because you are connected to Christ. We don’t have everything yet. We haven’t experienced everything yet but the Scriptures are saying to lift up your eyes and look beyond this life to a life that is coming.
It’s not the first time we are introduced to the thought of an inheritance in Colossians. Colossians 1:12 says this,
Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
The Father qualified us. Something has already been done for the saints. God has qualified us. That means He made us capable, able, suitable, and fit for the kingdom of God. God made us fit to share in the inheritance through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Why did He do that? Because we have no fitness. We never could have done this on our own. None of us are fit for salvation. None of us can enter the kingdom of God without going through the door to the Kingdom, Jesus Christ.
There is definitely an illusion to the Old Testament again concerning inheritance of the ancient Israel when they entered the Promise Land. Each Israelite had an inheritance. An inheritance is something allotted.
It’s something assigned or conferred by right position or relationship. It is not by one’s own effort else it is not an inheritance at all. An inheritance goes to those who are in the family. Who can claim this inheritance? All bondservants of Jesus Christ.
When you’re in that circumstance, the Lord says to look to the reward. There’s nothing wrong to have a reward, to look to it, and to desire it.
Our inheritance is salvation. This is what we inherit. It is what God gives us. It is what we participate in with all of the saints. Our inheritance is also the Kingdom of God.
Brethren, salvation is so grand that we ought to wrap our minds around what we have as chosen in Christ Jesus. A persecuted slave-Christian may not have very much while living as an alien and a stranger in this world so we have to be reminded from time to time about the magnitude of our inheritance.
Someone who does this in a masterful way is the Apostle Peter. He says to us that we have a sure inheritance that flows out of our salvation. This is what he says in 1 Peter 1:4,
To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
It’s wonderful to obtain inheritance which is imperishable. That means there is no destructive force like a moth, rust, thieves, or any corrosive thing that can destroy it. He also says that it is undefiled. It is pure. Nothing can stain it, make it dirty, or impure whatsoever.
God ensures that our inheritance will be free from death and decay. He ensures us that it will be free from uncleanliness, immorality, and spiritual impurity.
Also, Peter says that it is certain. It’s an inheritance that will not fade away. It cannot whither or become worn. It will never be lost. It will never lose its vibrancy or delight. God assures that our inheritance will be free from the ravages of time – whatever time can do to you, it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t change your inheritance.
Our great God of mercy ensures His children of the eternal validity of our inheritance that it will never be polluted or subject to decay. It will never be destroyed.
Some people will say that this sounds too good to be true. And you know what they say, if it sounds too good to be true, then it’s probably not true. That is true most of the time. However, in this case, something that sounds too good to be true is true because it’s backed by the character, promise, and power of God. That’s why it’s true.
As a matter of fact, Peter says three other things about this. Number one, it’s reserved in heaven.
To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
That means it is guarded in an eternal place. The word there is a military verb. It’s a military metaphor referring to a fortress with strong walls being guarded by a battalion of soldiers. It also says there that it’s guarded by God.
This is the power only that God and the Godhead shares. God is the only who guards and keeps our inheritance for us. God is the guardian who keeps it safe for us. He keeps us safe to receive it in its fullness.
It says in Peter that it’s not far off. It says in verse 5,
Who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Everything is ready, brethren. Everything is ready and complete for full salvation to be revealed at any moment. Our eternal salvation will be made visible to all of us.
The people of the world, the people without Christ, have no inheritance waiting for them at the end of their existence on earth. Bondslaves in Jesus Christ are promised this inheritance. I don’t know about you, but in the midst of all of that it is encouraging to hear that coming from the Lord Himself.
There is a last thing back in Colossians that is connected this imperative of employees. It’s that bondslaves of Christ have an impartial judge. Colossians 3:25 says,
Forhe who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, andthat without partiality.
I can say it like this, no one’s getting away with anything. In this case, who are those who do wrong? It could be those slaves of Christ who wronged their masters.
I’m going to get into a little bit another time but one of the reasons why Paul is writing Colossians is because he has a slave with him. That was Onesimus. What did he do? He ran away from his master. When he ran away from his master, he ended up getting saved because Paul witnessed to him. Paul is now bringing Onesimus back to his master.
That’s why Paul includes this section in Colossians. He wants to make sure that everybody knows it’s not just about Onesimus and his wrongdoing, but now it’s about when he gets saved, he is coming back and making it right with his earthly master, since he already made it right with his Heavenly Master.
If I read to you from Philemon it says in verse 16,
No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Paul is saying that Onesimus is no longer a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother. That’s what he says there.
The second thing would be the masters of Christ who have abused their authority and have not treated their employees with justice and fairness. The Christian master is responsible, too.
It could also include the wrongdoers that have committed the list of Colossian 3:5 and 8-9 where it talks about abusing the body in immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed that amounts to idolatry and so on. I believe it could mean all of these categories.
In any case, everyone must be responsible for their own actions under the authority of Christ. Every Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for their life. Do you know that, Christian? You won’t be judged for your sin to condemn you but you will be judged for your works.
Slave and master stand on level ground before this impartial Judge. This discerning Judge to answer to their conduct. The Judge is none other than Jesus Christ.
How are you doing in this area as a bondslave? Are you the employee that you ought to be to your employer? Or if you are an employer, are you what you ought to be to those who are employed by you? If you look at Colossians 4:1, which I won’t spend too much time on, notice what it says there,
Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness,knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
The master could abuse his authority very easily. He can do it in a very simple way that the slave has no recourse to be able to refute what the master is doing. The Lord says to the master that you better watch out how you do it because you will also be judged. In other words, no one is getting away.
Earthly masters are reminded that they have a Master in heaven who they are responsible to. They ought to be bosses that treat their employees rightly. Christian masters are to view themselves as under-masters with the Master Jesus Christ as the one they submit to and wholeheartedly serve.
Masters are responsible to a higher Master who will show no favoritism. Christian slaves, Christian masters, employees, and employers serve the same Lord if they are a Christian.
Are you submitting to the lot that the Lord has placed you in today? He placed you there to adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a bondservant of Jesus Christ. One that you are willingly obeying. One where you have an attitude that is single and sincere. One that is a hard worker — whether you ever get complimented for that hard work or get any kind of benefits for it.
We need to live before the Lord even if you never get any of that. Maybe you are the hardest worker on the job but never get noticed because you are a Christian.
We Christians are to live as third-class citizens. There’s a little story that goes with this. In the days of the stage coach, a man undertook a journey where he was informed that there were first-class, second-class, and third-class passengers. However, all of the seats on the coach looked alike to him, so he purchased a third-class ticket, which was a cheaper ticket. All went well for a time and the man was congratulating himself upon having saved some money.
Presently, they came to the foot of a steep hill. When the driver stopped the horses and shouted ‘first-class passengers stay in your seats, second-class passengers get out and walk, third-class passengers get out and push.’
We need kingdom-workers that want to be third-class passengers and are fine with it. Those who will push. First-class passengers do nothing, they just sit there. The second-class passengers walk away from the real work. The third-class passengers are willing to bear the burden in the heat of the day are the ones we need.
Work for the night is coming when no one could work. We need workers in the kingdom of God who are not willing to be noticed, have rank, or be praised – just workers. What do you want me to do? I am willing to do it. That’s what we want. A bunch of bondservants working together. Take off your rank.
My son is in [], where there are small units, so when they get together, they don’t wear any rank. They are in a place where they don’t have to do that. They just want to make sure the other person knows their job well enough to keep them alive. That’s what we ought to do.
Do we know our job as Christians well enough to be able to serve the Lord in this way that He is talking about? So that we honor Him and adorn the gospel? Whether we are working on our job or we are coming to the service of the Lord and doing work in the church, it’s all the same. We can’t be sitting down having our arms folded and say ‘let somebody else do it.’
Just like Mark Twombly was talking about in Sunday School, which you ought to be going to, with the fundamentals of the faith. He has been talking about spiritual gifts and using that gift in the body because I need your gift and you need my gift. We work together to build the body strong and healthy. But if you’re not using your gift then you’re like the first-class passenger. The third-class passengers are using their gifts. That’s what we need in the body of Christ.
I pray this morning as we think of these things that we will consider our own life, our own situation that we find ourselves in, and thank God for what He has given to us. If we have work, praise Him for it, because some people don’t have work. If He’s given you work then have the attitude that is going to adorn the gospel on your job. Amen?