Streams of Living Water

It is official – according to the Economist, the British work longer hours than anyone else in the European Union, with nearly a third of our working population working more than 48 hours per week. If that is true, then that third of people devote nearly 50% of their waking hours to their work. If it important that we, as Christians, know how to live holy, Gospel centred lives in our homes, then it is just as important that we know how to live Gospel centred, holy lives in our workplaces. The Bible has much to say about how a Christian should view work and how she should conduct herself in the working environment. Such is the thrust of Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3:22-4:1, where he talks of issue of practical holiness between slaves and their masters –the modern equivalent of which, is the relationship between employers and employees. And so this forms the basis of our study of God’s Word tonight – what impact should the Gospel have upon our attitude to the workplace, and our conduct in the workplace?

Before we begin our study into workplace holiness, or how to live a holy, God-honouring, Christ-pleasing life in our workplaces, I want to remind you of the five introductory comments I made last week which govern all of the relationships listed between 3:18 and 4:1: first, heavenly mindedness results in earthly effectiveness, where we see that having our heads in the clouds of heaven will result in us having holy feet firmly placed on the terra firma of daily life; secondly, gospel freedom results in faithful service, where we discovered that having been liberated from fear and guilt by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are freed to live and serve in true contentment; thirdly, gospel service is reinforced by gospel command, where God most often explains to us the benefits of living according to His Word; fourthly, great thankfulness results in mundane duty, where, if we are thankful to God for all He has done for us in Christ Jesus, we will live our day to day lives, even the small things, for Him; lastly, household (or workplace) holiness requires complete involvement, where all members of the house or workplace must play their part.
I want to add tonight a further two introductory comments to these five: first, the role of slavery in Christianity. You might find it surprising that Paul does not condemn the practice of slavery here – he does not back a slave uprising against their masters. Indeed, together with this letter to the Colossians, Paul sent another letter, this time to a master called Philemon concerning a runaway slave Onesimus. Paul does not explicitly condemn slavery. But having said that, the seeds of the destruction of slavery permeate his writings. Even in Colossians 3:11, we have read that in Christ there is no distinction between slave and free. The whole ethos of the Christian Gospel is the transformation in human beings which comes about through the liberating message of the cross of Jesus. Change men, and the men will change the institutions. And so, finally, men of strong Christian principles, like William Wilberforce, moulded by the liberating Gospel which saw no distinction between slave and free, moulded the British institution and slavery was abolished. So slavery, whilst not explicitly condemned in the writings of Paul, is barely tolerated, and the message Paul preached eventually led to slavery’s destruction.
Secondly, I want us to note the order of priority Paul gives to our various relationships, because in our society they seem to be all askew. First, comes our relationship with God through Christ (3:12-17); secondly, comes our marriages (3:18-19); third, comes our children (3:20-21); last, comes our work (3:22-4:1). We need to keep these priorities, and the order in which they are presented, clear in our heads. If our work becomes more important to us than our relationship with God, with our wives, or with our children, then we have gone wrong. Successful and contented Christian living comes when we keep these priorities in careful order.
But more than that, we should see those things with a lower priority as serving those with a higher priority. For example, we should be careful about feeling guilty when, for a time, we have to work hard and we aren’t able to spend as much time at home as we would like – perhaps we think that we are ignoring God by doing that; but that’s not necessarily so – God calls us to work out relationship with Him through our relationships with others – with our wives, children and in our workplace. We often feel guilty about working so hard – in what basically amounts to slavery conditions – but we need to realise that in working hard, in a Christian and honest fashion, we are serving God. By loving our wives, we are serving God. By encouraging our children, we are serving God. On one hand, we need to make sure that we have our priorities straight, but on the other hand, we need to make sure that we aren’t causing ourselves grief and guilt by squaring them off against each other. This can be a particular problem for students, who are tempted to square their studies off against their commitments to the church. We must remember that God has called us to both but, somewhat counter-intuitively, you give God as much honour in the lecture theatre by your diligence, your honesty and your winsomeness, as you can give Him in the Church. In fact, I believe it dishonours God when someone He has called to study and learn, spends all their time in the Church, but ends up failing all their exams because they haven’t put in the work.
Having made these two introductory comments, I now want to move on to discuss what Paul says to both these groups in the working environment; first slaves, or employees; second, masters, or employers.
[A] Employees - Your Relationship to God should govern your working life (vs. 22-25)
One of the things people often say is that we should keep our religion to ourselves, or to put it another way, we should so compartmentalise our lives that religion stays on a Sunday and that every other day is fair game. I’m sure many of us can testify to working with people who say they go to church, but in their working practices, they are lazy, poorly spoken and unfair. Christianity is for Sunday, but not for the rest of the week. But we simply cannot think like that – if we are Gospel Christians then everything belongs to God – our Sundays and Mondays – our weekends and our working weeks. Our Christianity must affect the way we work, and the kind of people we are at work, or it is no Christianity at all. Paul is at pains to point this out in these few verses. Notice how many times he refers to our relationship with God – in vs. 22, we are to work ‘fearing the Lord’, in vs. 23 working ‘as to the Lord’, in vs. 24, working ‘for the Lord’ and in vs. 25, although the word Lord is not mentioned, the inference is clear ‘being paid back by the Lord’. All of these suggest a relationship with the Lord. Our relationships to God must govern our working lives. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ has taken firm root in our hearts, it is inevitable that it will show itself in the whole of our lives – including our lives in the workplace. What difference then will knowing Christ make to your working life:
1. It gives us Stickability (vs. 22a, 24a) – in vs. 22a, Paul commands slaves to obey their earthly masters in everything. Now this can’t have been easy for the slaves of Paul’s day – they were being called on to do any number of horrific tasks – things which we would blanch at. They had to work long hours in very poor conditions for no pay. Often, they were poorly fed and housed, and there was no provision for their healthcare if they got sick. Frequently they must have felt like running away or even ending it all. Although our working situations will never be as bad as these slaves, there may be times when we also feel like running away – some of the things we are asked to do at times may either seem so far beneath us, or so far beyond us whether in terms of time or talent, we just want to get away.
Going on now to vs. 24, slaves are reminded that their obedience in all things will lead to them receiving what Paul calls ‘the compensation of their inheritance’, translated by the NIV as ‘an inheritance from the Lord as a reward’, but really the ‘reward’ is better translated as ‘compensation’. What did slaves have to look forward to? No good accommodation, food, recompense for all their hard labour, nothing. And in return Paul is commanding them, in such circumstances, to obey their earthly masters in everything. Their compensation will come from the Lord. But what is this compensation – it is ‘the inheritance’. Now who receives an inheritance? Slaves inherit nothing from their masters; only the children of the house receive an inheritance. What is Paul saying here? He is reminding these Christians that they may be slaves in this world, but to God, they are not slaves, but sons, because only sons receive the inheritance of their father. And what an inheritance it is - the inheritance of eternal life – a life which begins now, full, rich and textured with the favour of God and the contentment of the human soul. When we feel unappreciated and like running away, underpaid and overworked, remember that the compensation we are receiving from the Lord is more than words can begin to say – we aren’t His slaves but His sons, having as our inheritance the glory of His loving presence. In other words, raise the eyes of your hearts to heaven and, in view of all God has for us, both now and afterwards, stick at it – keep going and obey in everything.
2. It keeps us from working to please men (vs. 22b) – in this verse Paul commands slaves to ‘obey in everything – not in eye-service, as man-pleasers’. In other words, he is talking about a whole range of activities, but each one with the stated aim of pleasing other men – just as long as something will look good, then it is good. It’s all spin and no substance. The outside looks great, but the inside is rotten. Corners are cut, operating procedures are ignored, but it all looks good to the eye because the whole aim is to hear the applause of our earthly masters. It doesn’t matter whether the report you write is factually true, just as long as it looks good. It’s all about appearance because we aren’t trying to please God at all – for all that it affects our working ethic, there could be no God at all – we are working to please men, because ultimately it is men who hold the keys to our future – our pay increases and our status increases.
The same kind of thinking dominated the Pharisees’ thinking about religion – it’s all about being seen to be praying, fasting, giving charitably and so on. It’s all about eye-service, not heart service, to please men, and not God.
I was very fortunate in my short working-life to have worked besides more mature Christians than myself. One day I was fretting because I had been passed over for a pay rise, or a promotion, I can’t remember quite which. One of my colleagues, a mature Nigerian Christian, sat me down and we talked about it. He reminded me of God’s sovereignty – that sovereignty which is ultimately responsible for my career advancement or otherwise. God is finally in charge of the hand and mind of our managers, and therefore we should work for God first and foremost, and not for the eyes of men. So don’t cut corners, because, as Paul says, we are to work ‘fearing the Lord’; not just a good sell, but a good product you are selling, for when a person buys from you, and then realises that your product is poor, it will reflect upon you and your Christianity. Eye-service and man-pleasing, which is at the heart of religious legalism, is a poor motive for doing anything. After all, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Colossians 1:10, we are ‘to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.’ Ask yourself the question therefore, who am I ultimately working to try and please – God or men? And how does my choice of who I work for affect the quality of my work, bearing in mind that if we are working for God, then it should enhance the overall quality of our work – only the best for the best of Gods.
3. It keeps us simple (vs. 22c) – the word the NIV translates as ‘sincerity of heart’ carries along with many different meanings. For example, in 2 Corinthians 9:13 it is used to describe the generosity of a gift – carrying along with it in our present context, perhaps the idea that we shouldn’t grudge our employers our energy and time. Again, in 2 Samuel 5:11 the word is used to describe ‘innocence’ – carrying along with it in our present context, perhaps the idea that whilst not being naïve, we should be unwilling to enter into office politics, choosing rather to remain innocent of the gossip and the criticisms. The KJV translates the word in Colossians 3:22 as ‘singleness of heart’ – carrying along with it the idea of ‘unmixed motives’ – a very similar idea to that of sincerity. What does it mean to work with unmixed motives, with simplicity and sincerity of heart? In a nutshell, it first means working from one clear motive – that is thankfulness to God in Christ for the Gospel – and isn’t that the motive for all we do anyway; it means secondly working according to the laws God sets down for us as His new people, or in other words, we are to be careful not to defraud anyone, not to step on heads to get to where we want to go, not to slander anyone, not even to entertain envy towards our senior colleagues – to love God and our neighbour in the workplace. And thirdly, it means working for the glory of Christ – by the quality of our work and the quality of our character. It may not always be easy, or even possible, to speak with words for Christ in our workplaces, but that doesn’t stop us witnessing by the way we work and by the quality of our Christian character.  Keeping this motive, this Gospel law-code, this ultimate aim, in our minds will keep us simple and unmixed – it will keep our minds uncluttered and focussed.
4. It keeps us working hard (vs. 23) – a Christian in the workplace should never be lazy. In vs. 23 Paul uses a certain construction of words which doesn’t really come across in the English – he says, ‘out of soul work’. We may not be the sharpest tools in the box in our workplaces, but our fellow employees, and our employers should always be able to rely upon us to work hard and to give 100% effort. This idea is reinforced by the word Paul uses ‘work’ – in other places in this passage he uses the word ‘do’, but here he uses a word which means toil or effort – it’s the same word which is used of how God created Adam to work the ground in the garden of Eden. This is what God created us as human beings to do – not to be lazy – but to work wholeheartedly. No wonder then we are tired after our day’s work – that’s the way it should be. Laziness in work does no justice to the Gospel which transforms our hearts and returns us, and even elevates us beyond, what we were created to be in the first place by God.
5.  It keeps us from taking matters into our own hands (vs. 25) – lastly, in the duties of holiness required of the Christian in the workplace, is Paul’s rather quizzical statement in vs. 25 about God repaying unrighteousness. The idea is that slaves of the day often repaid harsh working conditions with poor work and bad behaviour. But Paul is saying here that just because we may be treated badly at work, that doesn’t give us the right to repay that bad treatment with some bad treatment of our own. Just because someone bad mouths us at work doesn’t give us the right to bad mouth them; nor when someone cheats us at work should we cheat them in return. Slaves may have felt that God was on their side because they were poor and oppressed and that therefore God would be easy on them; but consistently in the Bible, although God is presented as having a soft spot for the poor and oppressed, His judgement of us isn’t based upon our social condition or our working environment, but on the basis of our character and conduct. In other words, don’t take God for granted – you cannot sin with impunity and still think that God will be on your side.
The study of our responsibilities as employees would take us all year, but here, in these five points, we have a potted analysis of Paul’s teaching here in Colossians 3. Does this describe your work ethic? Is it a picture of your attitude to work and the way you work? The Gospel is liberating in that even if it isn’t, there is forgiveness available with God for all our shortcomings, and there are special resources of strength and wisdom available from God for the asking.
[B] Employers – you also have a heavenly master (4:1)
If the key word which applies to an employees attitude to work is ‘obedience’, the key word which applies to an employers attitude to work is ‘fairness’. We are going to treat this subject very briefly since we don’t have too many employers here – but the key issue is that of fairness and righteousness. Now this in itself was a revolutionary idea in the society of Paul’s day, since slaves had no rights – a master could abuse them in any way he saw fit with complete impunity and with no legal repercussions. And so how counter-cultural and egalitarian Paul is here begin by commanding masters to be fair and righteous to their slaves. If we are employers, we must be fair to our employees – we must expect them to work, but be generous to them in return both in terms of financial remuneration and working conditions. Christian masters should never be unjust or unfair.
After all, we have a master in heaven. When Paul uses this kind of language, he wants masters to think of Jesus in two ways: first as a stimulus and motivation to be fair to others, since He has been hyper-abundantly generous to us in the Gospel and there are no slaves and masters in His Kingdom; but secondly, to think of Jesus - the Master – as a pattern for our own working behaviour – asking what kind of a master Jesus is to us, and then, by His strength and power, trying to be that kind of employer to those who work for us.
We can think of our workplaces as places of temptation and drudge, or we can think of them, in the Gospel, as places of service to God as an expression of our thankfulness to Him for Christ. But perhaps you aren’t thankful to God for anything, because perhaps you haven’t trusted in Him for your salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offered to you this evening – a Gospel which transforms every area of your life from home to workplace. Come and receive Christ this evening, and bow the knee before the fairest of masters. AMEN