This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're studying Ephesians
chapter six together this week, day three, verses five to nine of our look
through this chapter. As we begin our look at verse five, I want to go all the way
back to last week.

Remember we talked about being filled with the Holy Spirit. And we talked about
the fact that that's evidenced in our singing. It's evidenced in our thanking,
the way that we thank God.

It's also evidenced in our submitting, the way we are unselfish in our
relationships. And then we began last week talking about three examples of being
unselfish in our relationships that Paul talks about. First, husbands and wives,
we talked about that last week.

And then parents and children, we've just talked about that the last few days.
And now today we're going to look at the third example, slaves and free. And
remember the principle in all of these relationships that we're to be mutually
unselfish in our relationships.

There are different roles that we have in our unselfishness, but we're to be
mutually submitting, mutually unselfish. And the Bible talks about how slaves
and free should be unselfish, slaves and owners. Now, by the way, even as we
begin this, there's a big question behind this.

Is the Bible condoning slavery by just talking about it? Absolutely not. If you
do a close study of the Bible, you realize this is true.

In 1 Corinthians chapter seven, the Bible says if you have the opportunity to be
freed, you should do so. In Galatians, the Bible says that God sees and loves
slave and free alike. The whole book of Philemon is written to encourage an
owner and a former slave to have an entirely new relationship because of Jesus
Christ.

So why does the Bible even talk about slavery and owners? Because there were
slaves and there were owners. And God says, here's how I want you to relate.

It's interesting to me that instead of fighting the institution of slavery, the
scriptures, God's voice through the scriptures instead chooses to emphasize a
change of heart because God knows. God knows that a change of heart would take
this beyond a political argument to a moral argument. A change of heart would
not only give people eternity, it would also eventually abolish slavery, which
is exactly what has happened in every culture where there's been a change of
heart.

When slavery is a political issue, hearts don't change and slavery remains. When
it becomes a moral issue, a Christian issue, hearts change and slavery leaves.
So the Bible has some things to say to slaves and owners, but to you and I, we
look at this and think, what does this mean for us?

Well, it's all about somebody working for somebody else. And although you may
get paid for what you do, there is still a relationship that you have there. And
there are principles in verses five to nine for our work life.

There are principles for success in your work life. I don't know how you're
thinking about your job right now. You might see it as a necessary evil, or you
might see it as an opportunity for good.

A survey done a while back said that as high as 82% of people don't like the job
they're presently in. That's a huge percentage. I believe that figure could be
significantly reduced by beginning to live a few simple principles that God
teaches us in the Bible.

Six simple secrets we're going to talk about today that will increase your
enjoyment at work, whatever job you have. Now, I didn't say that these
principles are going to get rid of your boss or guarantee you a raise or get you a
corner office or get you a new job, but they can change you. They can change
you.

And in changing you, they can change the way you see your daily work. What I'm
saying is this, you don't have to wait for a transfer or a new job to have joy.
There are some things that you can do right now, right where you are, to begin
to transform your attitude towards your place of work.

What does the Bible say about this? Well, let's just walk through this principle
at a time. Ephesians 6.

5 has the first two of these principles. Slaves obey your earthly masters with
respect and fear, with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. You
want to enjoy your work more?

Secret number one is you respect those you work for. Now, I know as I say this,
some of you listening to this, you have terrible bosses. And I'm not saying
you're required to respect their lifestyle or even their leadership style.

Respect for their position is what's needed. You recognize that leaders are a
part of any work and that my attitude towards that leader will greatly increase
my joy and in the other hand, it could greatly amplify my trials. What does it
mean to respect somebody's position?

It means that I don't go behind their back. It means that I don't gossip. It
means that I do as best as I can what they're asking me to do, even though I may
not understand it.

You see, when you respect those you work for, you're going to do two things.
You're going to maximize their effectiveness and you're going to minimize your
anxiety. I know, some of us are working for bosses and you think I don't want to
maximize their effectiveness.

Well, the Bible says one of the things you do in a work relationship is you have
respect for the person you're working for. That's being unselfish. Selfishly, we
don't want to make them look good.

But the Bible says in every relationship we're to be unselfish, even in our work
relationships. Now, if this goes to the extent of slave and owner, obviously it
goes to the extent of the person that you're working for. When you respect those
you work for, you maximize their effectiveness and in doing that, you minimize
your anxiety, that lack of peace that you're living with every day at work.

Secret number one, you respect those you work for. Secret two, you work with a
sincere heart. Now, how do you see sincerity in the way that you work?

You see it in desire. You see it in the fact that you want to do it. All of us
have seen it.

You know the difference between a sincere person who's waiting on your table at
a restaurant and an insincere, or a sincere clerk at a store and an insincere
one? Somebody who, somebody's expressing the fact that they want to be there and
they want to do the best job that they can in that situation. Work with a
sincere heart, giving yourself to that and not to something else.

You want to enjoy any job in a greater way? Ephesians 6:6 has a couple more
principles. "Obey them," it says, "not only to win their favor "when their eye
is on you, but like slaves of Christ, "doing the will of God from your heart.

" You bring greater joy to any job when you add to the first two secrets we look
at, secret number three, stop trying to impress your boss. You see, these verses
say that our motivation should not be the eye that's upon us, but the heart
that's within us. Don't do it to win their favor when their eye is on you, but
like slaves of Christ, do the will of God from your heart.

When it's always to impress someone else or to win points, of course you're
going to be miserable. It's got to come out of the heart. And you think, well,
the job that I'm doing is pretty mundane, how can I do it from the heart?

Well, secret number four is this, you find God's will in your work. Like slaves
of Christ doing the will of God from your heart. How in the world do you find
God's will in an unsatisfying or a difficult job, or in what might be a mundane
job?

Well, you certainly can't find it wishing all day long I was somewhere else,
constantly expending energy, resisting this urge to escape my job. How do you
find God's will in any job? Well, here's two ways you can recognize.

Number one, it is God's will for you to grow even through this difficulty. And
number two, recognize it as God's will for you to minister to those around you.
You can say that about any workplace.

If you're going through a difficult time at work, maybe God does have something
for you in the future. Hopefully he does. But as long as he leaves you there, it
is God's will for you to grow through that difficulty.

We grow through trials. And we grow through, we spend a lot of time at work,
eight hours every day. So there's going to be some trials at work so that God
can grow us through those trials.

It's God's will for you to grow even through this. And it's also God's will for
you to minister to those around you. Usually when a job gets tough, you tend to
focus on yourself and begin to forget the people around you, and then you lose
all joy in your work.

No, there's some people to minister to. And likely if you're having a tough
time, other people are having a tough time. Instead of gathering together to
gossip and complain, minister to the people that are around you.

Give them encouragement. Give them some hope. Let them know that they're an
important person.

It is amazing how an interest in people can transform the most mundane work into
an opportunity for love and effective ministry. So we walk through these
principles for effective work. The fifth one is in verse seven.

Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not men. I think it's the
most important one. It is to me at least.

Secret number five is you picture God as your boss. As if you were serving the
Lord, not men. That's the secret.

That's the secret that enables you to be wholehearted in your work. I'm not
doing this just for people. I'm doing this for God.

And whatever I do, even if it's making this little widget, or if it's coming up
with this great big idea, or it's designing this huge project, whatever it is, I
want to do it, I want to do it as an outgrowth of my relationship with Christ.
He made me to be good at this. So as I'm good at this, I want to take joy in the
fact that he rejoices in the fact, God rejoices in the fact that he made me to
do this.

And I want to serve him in this. I want to serve him. Picture God as your boss.

And recognize that even though that human leader that you have may not deserve
any honor from good work that you do, God deserves honor. And God will get
honor. You picture him as your boss.

And then in verse eight, there is a sixth secret to enjoying your job in a
greater way. Secret one was respect those you work for. Two, work with a sincere
heart.

Three, stop trying to impress your boss. Four, find God's will in your work.
Five, picture God as your boss.

And secret number six is look to the Lord's reward. A basic truth of human
nature is we're motivated by rewards. As believers, our goal is to be motivated
by the right rewards, not just the things that happen on this earth.

Oh, it's nice to be motivated by those things, but the truth is they're not
going to last. The greatest reward that we have, Colossians three talks about
this, is an inheritance from the Lord. An inheritance is not something you get
immediately.

And so in your job, you may be doing the right thing and not getting any
immediate benefit from it, but the greatest reward is an inheritance from the
Lord. One you're going to get in heaven that lasts forever. And as much as you
would like a raise, maybe deserve a raise, and I'd even hope for you to have a
raise, that inheritance from the Lord is the true reward.

You may have to wait for it, but the full reward of serving him that comes when
you get to heaven, that is a reward to rejoice in. And before we pray today
about our work life, I'd just like to remind you of verse nine. Verse nine talks
about bosses.

It says, "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. " First in these verses, God clearly says that
he doesn't agree with slavery.

There's no favoritism with him. But he also says to those of you who are bosses,
here's some principles. Develop people skills.

Treat your slaves in a loving way. Watch your leadership style. Don't threaten
people.

Keep your perspective. Know that God's the Lord of us all. Stay humble.

There's no favoritism with God. That's the way to be a good boss. But I want to
focus on us because we all have somebody we report to in our lives, most of us
do.

I want to focus on us as workers as we pray today. And I want to encourage you
as you pray to say, Lord, thank you for the boss that I have. Even through
gritted teeth, you might need to pray that.

Thank you for the boss that I have. I know this is the boss that I have for this
time. So help me to grow.

Help me to find places that I can respect him, respect her. Lord, I know, just
say this to Jesus, Lord, I know that ultimately I work for you in anything that
I do. So I picture you right now as my boss.

I look to your reward. And I just want to let go of that burden of trying to
impress people. Because I know, God, that more important than anything is
serving you.

Give me the strength to do that today, Jesus. I pray in your name, amen. Well,
join us tomorrow.

We're going to take a look together at how you and I can face the battles of life.