Work and Life Advice
Col 3:22-4:1
22 Slaves, 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.
4 1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
This passage is of course a continuation of the previous passage and a continuation of the principle that your whole life should be impacted by the work of Christ in your life. Your life, when you are walking with Christ, will communicate that you are different than the people who are around you.
Just about every presentation I looked at for this passage stressed the point that there are distinctions about the life of the Christian. Faith in not something reserved only for the weekend. Christians are different in the home, in their relationships and of course in their work. When I was just beginning to work in the workplace, I came across the teachings of Steven Covey when he talked about integrity in the workplace. I was amazed to hear anyone talk about ethics and morals as a part of the normal fabric for leaders in business. I was actually so surprised that I sought out the organization and thought that this would be something I would like to teach to business leaders. Later when I found out that the course was $4,500 to be certified, I backed down from that vision. Next I found out that the organization was located in Utah and I began to understand where he got his morals. That doesn’t make it true for business, but that also meant for me, I could not affiliate with someone who is a strong leader in the Mormon Church. But the point is that it is revolutionary to work with morals and ethics. People need an external seminar to be reminded that they should hold up to standards. When I listened to this, I was amazed that the message of morals was so clear. Why should we be surprised about a teaching like this in our secular life? Because it is so unusual.
The Christian’s Worker’s Attitude in Work – the principle is about the attitude that believers are to have in relationship with those who rule them on this earth. I know that the text refers to slaves and we are not slaves. However there is a sense in that when we are employed, they do own our time. We have all worked with that guy. That person who leaves things behind for others to do, doesn’t carry his own weight in the group. The Christian employee should not be the bitter, clock watcher of the group. And as hard as it is to remain positive when all around you are running towards complaining, you have a great opportunity to stand out as the contrast between your life and others will stand out when your aim is to work as unto the Lord.
Believers should not attempt to pass through their day by doing the minimum. Just the other day, I got a copy of a note that was sent to my manager. One upper level management asked me for help and I helped. In his note he made reference to my assistance (after all that is my job) and then added this note. Not only did Bob assist me, but he actually sounded like he enjoyed helping me.
Notice the motivation for working for the Lord. You get your paycheck from your boss and if your boss is God the Father, there is still a payday coming. You might work as unto the Lord and not get any recognition. I can’t imagine that any of us have escaped that difficult situation where we were trying to do a good job and then things back-fired on us that were out of our control. Maybe we had that rare boss that understood, and maybe we had that guy who needed to fire someone over the incident. But when we can get into the mindset that we work for the Lord, we have to remember that we have not been called to cash that paycheck yet. Our rewards have not yet been delivered. Don’t think that living with the right attitude at work will always pay off with personal success at work. God sometimes permits us to see the fruit of hard work, and at the very minimum, we have the confidence that God will reward those who diligently seek Him.
You will spend about half of your waking hours at work. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is our boss, and all our actions on the job should bring glory and honor to Him. If you make your employer a billion dollars yet disgrace Jesus in the process, you’re a failure. The strongest work ethic you can develop is to imitate Christ. If you leave Jesus at home when you go out the door, you’re only a part-time Christian. Laws may prevent us from evangelizing in the workplace, but you can’t go wrong if your example is so attractive that others want what you have. At the end of your career, you won’t be carrying your money with you into eternity, but you will be able to take your Christ-like character. That’s the real meaning of success.
Everyone asks questions about morals and what to do when a boss asks you to do something that you know is wrong. Walk away. We are blessed with the opportunity to determine our own vocational situation. Choose a job where they won’t ask you to violate your personal convictions and trust that God can provide outside of what you presently see before you.
The Christian Boss’s Attitude in Work –
Summary – Paul’s primary concern is Man’s Relationship with God. He is concerned that the person might first find the correct relationship with God, and thus then have the proper relationship with others. Boss, Employee, Wife, Husband, Child, Parent. Everything is unique and different. You are a new person.
If there is one piece of Christian advice I can give you, it is this: What do your employees see when they look at you, their boss? Do they see the fruits of the Holy Spirit –love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
If you profess to be a Christian, is that evident in your speech, your supervision, your ethics and your relationships? Or do your employees see you worship one idol at work – profit – while attending church and claiming to worship Jesus Christ during your off hours?
In the book Lifestyle Evangelism, Joseph Aldrich writes that “We must be Good News before we share Good News.” If you find yourself violating Christian principles at work, you have no chance of persuading your employees or others that Christ should be imitated. God promises that He will open the door when the time is right. You don’t need to try to force the door open.
Final Thought about this:
In a stroke of good fortune, the Lucara Diamond firm discovered the world’s second-largest diamond of gem quality in Botswana. This 1,111-carat diamond is second only to the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond found in South Africa in 1905. This diamond (Karowe AK6), the largest found in over a century, has yet to be evaluated and thus far has no price tag or potential buyer. The diamond rates as a Type-IIa stone and is roughly the size of a tennis ball. I couldn’t find the article, but when I first read about this diamond, I remember that when the worker showed the man next to him what he had found, it was dismissed as junk by the co-worker. Looking at something worth $66.9 million, the value was dismissed. And these men were professionals at looking for diamonds. What makes a diamond more interesting? It’s the shine and the polish. There will be people who might dismiss the value of our new life, the life we have within us because it gets covered with the grit and the grime of the world. They would look at it the same way the co-worker looked at the dirty diamond. He dismissed it because of what hid the true worth of the stone. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to help us remove that grim and it is our job to not hold our new life under a bushel, to be that city on a hill in a world full of gullies and valleys and ruts.