WBC Daily Devotions March 14-18, 2011

A Study of Ephesians
Daily Devotionals for March 14-18

NOTE: This week we pick up our studies in the New Testament book of Ephesians, continuing our weekday preparation for the upcoming Sunday's sermon by Pastor Rob. As you read and meditate on the verses we'll study this week, invite God to speak through this text, praying as Paul did for the Ephesians, that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18).

We thank Mark Irvin, a member of WBC's Shepherding Team and a regular teacher in our Genesis Adult Class, for preparing this week's devotionals.

MONDAY, MARCH 14

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9And 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.

The passage for this week begins with Paul narrowing in on a specific group of people who live in Ephesus. Verse five starts with, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters."

Before we think through the application of these verses today, we need to take a short step back and note that Paul is not encouraging or condoning slavery. He is not giving slavery his or God's "stamp of approval." Slavery was as common in Paul's day as cell phones are in ours. That did not make it right, but God did not call Paul to take up the battle of the social injustice of slavery in the first century of the Roman Empire. That said, God did call him to raise the bar on how slaves and slave masters were to operate in their day.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul lays down principles that apply not only to his day, but also to ours. For us, it is reasonable to apply this passage to relationships between employees and employers. In fact, we can apply this to any work, whether we are paid for it or not. It is in this light we will look at the passage.

Paul starts by telling slaves to obey their earthy masters. We must start by examining how we think about work. For many in our culture, work is a dirty word. This was even truer back in Paul's day. The Romans, and the Greeks before them, thought of manual or menial labor as beneath them. In fact, we have to go to all the way back to Genesis to find a right view of work. In Genesis 1:15 we read, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

God worked. He worked as He created the universe and our world. He then made man and He gave him a job. Man was to work the garden and care for it. Remember, this is before sin entered the world. Work is a good and healthy thing. You and I are created to work. Work is hard due to the fall, but it is not inherently bad. The essence of work is good. When we work, we imitate God. In biblical terms, work is not just tasks we do to get paid. Work includes what you do at home or as a volunteer.

It is too easy to take on the world's view of work. When we do that, we give work, ourselves, and our God a bad reputation. Paul knew work was good. He labored to present those in his charge mature in Christ (Col 1:28). Today, let's start by simply praising God for giving us sound minds and bodies that enable us to work.

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things [good works] he planned for us long ago" (Eph. 2:10, NLT).

Father,
Forgive me for the attitude I sometimes have regarding work. Please help me to see work as a blessing from You. Help me to delight in my work and imitate You well. May that be the basis of my witness there for You. May my approach to work be something that points people to the God I say I love. Help my actions match my words.
Amen

TUESDAY, MARCH 15

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9And 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.

Paul's first command is simply to obey those for whom we work. But he adds something: We are to obey them with fear and respect. These are words that we don't like to think about. Why should I be afraid of my manager? Why should I respect my bosses? We can find at least a clue to the answer in Romans 13:1, "For there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." While this passage is talking about government authorities, the principle can be applied to other authorities in our lives, including those who supervise or manage our work.

As strange as it sounds, the basis of our fear should be our view of God. When God showed up at Mount Sinai, the people were afraid (Exodus 20). After God has shaken Mt. Sinai when He met with Moses, the people ask the question, "Now what?" The answer given is that we are told to fear God and walk in his ways (Deuteronomy 10:12 ). When Christ drove out demons, townspeople responded in fear (Mark 5). Even as Christians, we are to have a healthy fear of God -- to be in awe of who He is and who we are.

The problem with terms like fear and respect is that if we don't start with a right view of God -- and the understanding that he appoints the authorities in our lives -- then we miss the reality that God has placed those people in our lives for a purpose.

This is what Paul is driving home at the end of verse five. We are to fear and respect our managers just as we would fear and respect Christ. It is only when we see our managers as divinely appointed, and when we have a right view of the awesomeness of God, that we see Christ's ability to use them to impact us and our ability to impact them.

There are no caveats or exceptions here. We are not told to do this only if our manager is a Christian. You'll recall that God used Pharaoh's hardness of heart to accomplish His purposes with His people -- and He can use our managers to do the same with us. He wants to use us as examples of what true followers of Christ look like, in order to have eternal impact in the lives of our managers and co-workers.

Are we ready to see Him do that? It all starts by showing our managers the proper respect as we would Christ. We owe our bosses respect because they have been placed in our lives by God's sovereign hand.

Father,
Forgive me when I ride the wave of talking poorly about my boss in the work place. Forgive me for forgetting that these men and women are divinely appointed by You. Forgive me for not standing against the tide of negativity that can so easily develop. Help me to honor those You have placed over me -- and in that way to honor You in my work place. May others see that and choose to give You glory.
Amen.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16

This week we are focusing on Ephesians 6:5-9, reading today from the New Living Translation.

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don't threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Today, we want to look at another aspect of what Paul tells us about how we should work: serving sincerely, or, as the NIV says, with sincerity of heart. Other translations use the phrase with "in singleness of heart." All these wordings imply the same thing: When we work, we are not to have a divided heart. We are not to have half of our heart working for the right reasons and half our heart working for the wrong reasons. In Greek language, sincerity came to mean without wax. That terminology came from a practice of some pottery craftsman who covered up cracks in clay pitchers by putting wax in the cracks. The pitchers would hold water maybe the first few times you filled it, but eventually the crack or flaw would be exposed when the wax gave way.

What might it look like if we have the wrong heart? It may look like verse six. We may work hard when people are watching and then slack off when no one is paying attention. That is a divided heart. You or I may say we are Christians, but if our actions show us to be manipulative and playing to the crowd, we are giving Christ and His followers a bad reputation. But Paul cuts even deeper. He says we are to work as slaves of Christ and thereby do the will of God.

Wow! So often we ask what God's will is, but here is one place we don't have to wonder. God's will is that each of us will do our work as unto Him. You may think you are working for your boss, but that's not the perspective that is driving Paul. Paul wants to be viewed as working for Christ. To think of this visually, when you look at your manager, who do you see? Paul wants us to see Jesus standing right next to our managers. Only when we see Jesus in this way will we see ourselves working for Christ.

Outside the "paid work" environment, the same can be true. We can be working for the praise of people and not the praise of God. Ever do a task at home and feel that your spouse didn't properly thank you, or fulfill a difficult ministry assignment and not feel appreciated? Our response to that perceived lack of praise or appreciation can reveal our true motivation.

Verse six reminds us that how we work is a heart issue. Only when God transforms our hearts to be like His will we be able to work in the way Paul is describing. Thank God that He has made us new -- a whole new creation -- in Christ.

Father,
Forgive me for times I have been lazy in my work. Forgive me, too, for times of wanting to appear productive and slacking off when no one is looking. Jesus, help me to see my work as working unto You. Help me to remember that others are watching to see if I play to the boss or not. May I work hard no matter if anyone is watching or not. May I have the reputation of being a hardworking person who believes in You. I admit I can only do this in your strength and not my own. May working this way bring You glory.
Amen

THURSDAY, MARCH 17

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9And 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.

When it come to your job -- the work you do -- what motivates you? People are motivated by many different things. Many are motivated by money. They want a bigger salary and will move from one company to another to achieve that. Others are motivated by prestige or promotion. (Even two of the disciples, James and John, pushed for a position of honor -- one on Jesus right hand and one on His left -- as He ushered in His kingdom.) When it comes to work, it is too easy for us to be caught up in the world of money, positional prestige, and power grabs.

The problem is two-fold. First, when these things have been our primary focus and we achieve any degree of success, these goals -- once achieved -- prove to be hollow. While money, position, and power promise satisfaction, they never live up to their promise. We may have viewed these things as by-products of working hard, but when we are too focused on them, we have become enslaved to them. The road of work is littered with many people who were trying to climb the corporate ladder only to find it was leaning against the wrong structure.

Second, people are watching what defines us. When we let people know we are Christians, they watch what our lives are about. We are ambassadors for King Jesus. Just like earthly ambassadors, we can be known as someone people admire and look up to -- or we can be known as those who only serve their own self interests.

Paul wants us to know there is a better motivation. That motivation is the reward that will be waiting for us in heaven. Each of us, as followers of Jesus Christ, will be judged on how we live our lives. If we do good, Paul says, we are laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven that King Jesus will personally give us. As Joe Stowell has said, "You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead." Are you laying up treasure where moth and rust can take it away or where it will last for all of eternity (Matthew 6:19)? There are no better dividends than those found in heaven.

Our co-workers are watching what to see what we really live for. What would they say about what motivates you?

Father,
Help me to be rightly motivated in my job. Forgive me when that is not the case. Forgive me for those times I have not been a good ambassador for You. Help me to remember that You will reward those who serve You well. I want to bear the name Christian in a way that brings honor to You. Help me to do that today and in the days ahead.
Amen

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

9And 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.

So far this week, we have looked at how employees can bring their faith into the workplace. Today, we come from the opposite side of the roles. Some of us are fortunate enough to be in places of leadership where we manage others. Paul has a word for us in that role as well.

Paul starts by telling masters to treat their slaves in the same way. So, what is "the same way"? It seems like Paul is telling managers to serve those in their charge wholeheartedly as unto the Lord. But wait, employees are to serve managers, right? Doesn't Paul have that backwards? The short answer is no. Throughout the scriptures, God understands that those "over" others will be tempted to take advantage of those under them. We can see this back in Deuteronomy 5 when God gives His people what we commonly call the Ten Commandments. In verse 14, He tells the heads of households that not only are they to make sure they observe the Sabbath themselves, but they must also make sure that everyone under their care -- including servants -- also have a Sabbath to rest. Likewise, in Deuteronomy 17, God tells Israel's kings to not amass great wealth at the expense of those they serve.

In the New Testament, Jesus himself is the greatest example of someone of power that took the role of servant. While this is addressed in several places in the Gospels, we see Christ's "servant-leadership" demonstrated most powerfully just before His crucifixion as Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.

In this week's verses from Ephesians, Paul explicitly tells masters not to threaten those in their charge. If you are a manager, the question is: how do you motivate others? Are you one who motivates your employees by fear? Do they worry about your volatility? Are you constantly threatening your employees to do what you want, or else they will lose their jobs?

None of these behaviors will draw people to you or to the God you represent. Paul reminds masters that their Master is watching. And He is a just Master.

Whether in the workplace or in other leadership roles, are we leading as Christ led? Are we honoring our Master as we supervise others in our homes, on teams where we volunteer and serve, and on the job?

As you lead others, do they feel that they have experienced good and positive interaction? Listen to what they have to say. Do those you lead see evidence in you of a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ?

Father,
Help me to be the type of leader You want me to be. Help me to follow Christ's example and lead with a view toward serving those You have placed in my area of responsibility. Keep in my mind that I will one day give an account to You -- as my Heavenly Master -- of how I have served and led. Help those in my charge, see You flowing through me, and may they sense something in my life that causes them to ask about You.
Amen