Redeeming Work

Those closest to me know that I love to shovel snow. I really, really love to shovel snow. There is just something about putting on big boots and a warm hoodie and facing down my powdery enemy on the field of battle that is the driveway and sidewalk. I like the feeling of internal warmth from my layers, counterbalanced by the brisk air cutting into my face as my breath pours out in visible bursts. I like the feeling of serving my neighbor by making sure the sidewalk is spotless, and I love to think of new ways to do the job quicker, and more efficiently. I also delight in the feeling of a job well done, even if occasionally more snow falls and ruins my finished work. 

If you have ever seen the TV show, "Parks & Recreation," then you are no doubt fond of the character Ron Swanson. Ron is a brusque, no-nonsense, whiskey-drinking, wood-working, patriotic, libertarian man's man. 

In discussing work in one episode, Ron says, "I got my first job when I was 9. Worked at a sheet metal factory. In two weeks I was running the floor. Child labor laws are ruining this country." 

I don't agree with Ron's comical outlook that child labor laws are what's ruining America, but I have always valued hard work. I have not always been a good employee and co-worker, and admittedly still struggle with that now. 

In the first half letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul has laid out his great treatise on the gospel, reminding the Ephesian followers of Jesus of their status in God's family and their call to be new, redeemed people whose lives are centered on the knowledge of Christ's love. 

Paul calls the Ephesian believers who have received and believed in the gospel to do many different things as they put off their "old self" consisting of their former ways of living, and put on their "new self" which is the person they are now. He reminds them that, having received the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus, they have entered into the process of renewing their minds to be like Christ Jesus in true righteousness and holiness.

The Holy Spirit empowers those who have believed the gospel to be renewed and redeemed from the inside out, to pass from the old to the new. 

"you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:21b-24 ESV)

Having received the Holy Spirit and being born into God's family, believers are not only called to renewed behaviors, but also to renewed and redeemed relationships. God wants those who have put their faith in Jesus to glorify Jesus in how they relate to their spouses, their children, their parents, their masters, and their bondservants. 

The gospel renews and redeems our relationships to glorify Christ.

I want to focus in this post about how Paul says our work relationships can be redeemed. Now, it is important to note: Paul is writing to slaves and their masters who have both put their faith in Jesus Christ. No matter how challenging our bosses may be, they aren't our masters, and we are not their slaves. We may have authority in the workplace or we may simply be employees, but at the end of the day we go home to our families and our freedoms. So although this context was for the much more challenging relationship of bondservants and masters in ancient Ephesus, it still holds relevance for us today. 

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. (Ephesians 6:5-9 ESV)

I want to look at what Paul is telling followers of Jesus to do:

• obey your earthly masters
• with fear and trembling
• with a sincere heart as you would Christ
• NOT as eye-service, not as a people-pleaser
• but actually as a bondservant not of a master, but of Christ
• Bondservants are to do God's will from the heart
• Bondservants are to render service with a good will as to the Lord with the knowledge that whatever good one does, he will receive back from the Lord

If we apply this to our work lives, we are to work and serve and obey our earthly masters as if we are working and serving and obeying Christ himself, with fear, with trembling, from the heart, with a good will, knowing we will receive good back from the Lord. 

When I was 16, I was made part-time manager of a local pizza place in my hometown of Merrill. When I first was given that responsibility, I obeyed my boss with fear and trembling. I wanted to do a really good job! But as time passed, those shifts got more and more boring. I began to slack off, I wouldn't answer phones, and I would just eat all the pizza! I was a terrible employee!

This simply would not pass if at the time I had been a follower of Christ. Instead of losing that earthly fear and trembling the way I did, my work would have been done unto the Lord! My desire and delight would be that I was not serving just my boss, but Jesus Christ himself! And I would be sincere in that work, doing that labor from the heart, not as eye-service or to please my manager (thought it surely would!), but to please Christ! I would be infused with energy to serve Christ!

How can we serve and do our work with a sincere heart? The gospel gives us a sincere faith in God, a sincere value of Christ as the supreme worth in our lives. Empowered with this, we have this life-changing desire to glorify and serve him with our work! We also have the very help of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives - as Paul describes when he discusses his toil and labor in ministry:

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Colossians 1:28-29 ESV)

The gospel tells us that Jesus bought us with his blood. Jesus went to the cross for our sins that we could be reconciled to God and brought into His family. When we put our faith in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit who empowers us from within to be renewed people made in the very likeness of Jesus. Nothing is out of the gospel's reach, God wants us to be wholly like Christ. 

Jesus went to the cross and lives again so that we can be like him in every aspect of our lives, including our work lives. 

The same standards apply to the masters, Paul says. Masters and those in authority are to treat their bondservants or employees as they were serving the risen Christ, with sincerity from the heart. Given their authority, they are to not lose sight of the fact that God is their master as well, and that God does not play "favorites." The gospel tells us that bondservants and masters have equal standing before God in Christ. 

What does this mean?

This means that as believers, we can labor and strive with the very power of God helping us, as we work and serve unto Christ. We can work with sincerity, not focusing strictly on promotions and raises and awards, although those things are certainly good and can be sought after, but working with sincerity because we are focused on serving our great Lord Jesus Christ who has brought us into such a great salvation. Our work lives can be redeemed by our relationship with Jesus and our desire to serve and please him!

What does this look like?

• This can be the teacher, staying late and sacrificing of herself for her students' sake, knowing that Christ's sacrificial love will receive glory - even if she doesn't receive recognition, Jesus sees her and is pleased and good will be repaid to her by her Lord.
• This can be the janitor, cleaning with a joyful song in his heart, even though the same mess will be there tomorrow, because he is serving his Lord with gladness and sincerity!
• This can be the pastor, toiling away at his sermon, even if he is to be scorned or critiqued by its content, because he is working unto Christ
• This can be the nurse who is pulling a double shift but magnificently finding energy because she delights in showing love and care to her patients knowing the tenderness with which Christ went to the cross for her!
• This can be the stay-at-home mom or dad, focusing their lives not on their own needs but on the needs of others because they live in the knowledge that their Lord came not to be served but to serve
• This can be the factory worker, the CEO, the football player, the fry cook - it simply doesn't matter because the power of God and the gospel of God transform us to be people who work with sincerity because we have the great Savior Jesus Christ and we work to glorify his name!

Have you put your faith in Jesus?

How can your work life be renewed to glorify Jesus?