Who’s The Boss? | The King’s Cash | Session 3
Series: The King’s Cash | Session 3
Text: Colossians 3:22-4:1
Let the Master be the motivation for your work.
Scripture pushes us to rethink our everyday work by asking a deeper question: Who am I really working for? Rather than seeing tasks, deadlines, and supervisors as the ultimate drivers of our effort, Paul calls believers to recognize Christ as the true Master behind all faithful labour. When our work becomes an act of worship, excellence stops being optional and gratitude reshapes our attitude.
Here’s a thought: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. exhorted, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
“Who's the Boss?” is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1984 to 1992. Widower "Tony" Micelli (played by Tony Danza) is a former second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals who was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. He wants to move out of Brooklyn to find a better environment for his daughter, Samantha. He ends up taking a job in upscale Fairfield, Connecticut, as a live-in housekeeper for divorced advertising executive Angela Bower (played by Judith Light) and her son Jonathan. In early development, the series was titled “You're the Boss”, in reference to Angela employing Tony and the highly unusual gender role reversal where a woman was the breadwinner and a man (although he was not her husband) stayed at home and took care of the house. Before the fall 1984 premiere, the producers changed it to “Who's the Boss?”, an open-ended title which hinted that any one of the leads could get their own way and be the "boss".
Who’s the boss in your life? The Apostle Paul instructs followers of Jesus in Colossians 3:22-4:1:
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favouritism. 4 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. NIV
Whatever you do:
Work With All Your Heart
Work for the Lord
Work Not for People
Whatever you do:
Work With All Your Heart
To work with all your heart is to work with singleness or sincerity of heart. It is possible to be a decent employee in comparison to the majority of others but to miss the spirit of what Paul is saying in Colossians 3:23. To work with all your heart is more than showing up and quitting on time. To work with all your heart is more than doing the minimum that is required. The call to follow Jesus in the workplace is a call to go beyond a half-hearted effort.
The sign in the store window read: NO HELP WANTED. As two men passed by, one said to the other, "You should apply - you'd be great."
I have had several jobs when I punched a time clock. I know what it feels like to look forward to coffee break, lunch and quitting time. I have looked busy when the assignment was tedious and when there wasn’t much to do. It is hard to be motivated when you are watching the clock. The Lord, however, wants us to be motivated not by the clock but from within.
This is a call to go the extra mile as Jesus says in Matthew 5:41, “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” NIV
The motivation to go two miles when only one is required comes from your freedom to choose. You are required to go one mile but no one requires you to go the second mile. You suddenly become free to travel the second mile with inspiration from above. You no longer have to live like most of the world around us who does just enough to get by. Such freedom can put a spring in your step and inspire you to higher quality work.
Note also that Paul says we are to work with reverence for the Lord. We equate reverence with being quiet in church on Sunday. This passage points to our behaviour not on Sunday but on Monday and the other days we work!
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. exhorted:
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
Are you happy with doing just enough to get by? Would you commit to doing more than what is expected every day?
Whatever you do:
Work With All Your Heart
Work for the Lord
At first look you might think the Bible condones slavery, as we know it. Actually, there are two kinds of slavery described in the Bible: a servant or bondservant who was paid a wage and the enslavement of an individual without pay. The Bible condemns the latter. The Mosaic Law commanded the Israelites to remember that they were once slaves to the Egyptians so they were to treat slaves or servants in a way that they wanted to be treated (Deuteronomy chapters 5, 15, 16 and 24). Paul taught masters in Colossians 4:1 to pay their slaves what is right and fair. Their employment position did not affect their standing in the church. (From “Doesn’t the Bible Support Slavery?” by Bodie Hodge and Paul S. Taylor)
We find a godly businessman and employer in Ruth 2:4-9:
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The Lord be with you!" "The Lord bless you!" they called back. 5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?" 6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter." 8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." NIV
While most landowners would have been relaxing in the shade, Boaz showed interest in his workers and greeted them warmly with a prayer, “The Lord be with you!” The workers showed appreciation for their boss with a heartfelt blessing in response. While most owners would not have noticed a new employee, Boaz saw Ruth and treated her with dignity and respect. Unusual behaviour 1,300 years Before Christ and unusual behaviour today!
When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian church 2,000 years ago there were no laws or courts of appeal to protect slaves from harsh, unjust masters. Today’s labour unions were born out of a need to protect workers from greedy and unfair business owners and corporations.
Despite an atmosphere of hostility, by the end of the 1850s local unions had become established in many Canadian centres, particularly among skilled workers such as printers, shoemakers, moulders, tailors, coopers, bakers and other tradesmen.
The labour movement gained cohesiveness when unions created local assemblies and forged ties with British and American unions in their trade. In 1872 workers in Ontario industrial towns and in Montréal rallied behind the “Nine-Hour Movement,” which sought to reduce the working day from up to 12 hours to 9 hours.
As a result, an adversarial relationship has been fostered between employers and employees for generations. The Lord says there is a better way.
Who works for you? Treat them well and pay them well. Let your employees share in the growth and prosperity of the business. My blood boils when I read and hear of corporate executives who make exorbitant salaries while many of their employees struggle to make a living on minimum or low wages.
Perhaps you have seen the television show “Undercover Boss”, where a corporate executive puts on a disguise to work alongside the people on the front lines of the company. Sometimes they discover staff members who are going above and beyond the call of duty while other times they are disappointed by the employees and conditions that had gone unnoticed before. If there was ever a boss who knows our everyday victories and challenges, Jesus is the One!
Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:24 that we cannot serve two masters. Whether it is serving God or money or God or people we must make a choice. I will serve you but you cannot be my master. You are called to serve others – including your boss – but no human can be your master.
If you supervise others do you pray for them? If you are an employee do you bless or curse your boss.
Whatever you do:
Work With All Your Heart
Work for the Lord
Work Not for People
It is easy to succumb to the pressure of coworkers or a corporate culture to work hard only when the boss is watching. We poke fun at a group of city workers leaning on their shovels and watching their colleague digging in the middle of their circle. It is easy for the work ethic to change in the office while the boss is out for a meeting.
A retired man became interested in the construction of an addition to a shopping mall. Observing the activity regularly, he was especially impressed by the conscientious operator of a large piece of equipment. The day finally came when he had a chance to tell this operator how much he'd enjoyed watching his scrupulous work.
Looking astonished, the operator replied, "You're not the supervisor?"
When I talk to business owners their biggest headache is typically getting good, dependable workers. The irony is that you are not called to work for people but, as you go the extra mile in working for the Lord with all of your heart, your supervisor will notice and you will be more likely to prosper in the workplace. When you do more than what is required of you every day there will probably be earthly rewards and there will certainly be heavenly rewards. Followers of Jesus should be amongst the best workers on the planet!
Someone has noticed, “We are often so caught up in our activities that we tend to worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.”
The Lord is not a cruel taskmaster; instead He invites us to come to Him to find rest (Matthew 11:28). With this in mind take a fresh look at Proverbs 23:4, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. NIV
If you work to the point where your health and family life suffer then you are not working for the Lord but for some other god. You might be working to sustain a lifestyle that is beyond your means. You might be working to earn the approval of your father who never thought you would measure up. You might be working to impress others with how busy you are or how many nice things you own. You might be working for perhaps the cruellest taskmaster – you. If you are overworking it is time to take a step back, evaluate why and make a plan to get your life back into balance.
Who or what motivates you to work? Do you consider work to be drudgery or an act of worship?
A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants. But this was America and there were no hall servants.
Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist at the time began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.
When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined and they never knew by whom. Moody told no one but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.
Whatever you do:
Work With All Your Heart
Work for the Lord
Work Not for People
Let the Master be the motivation for your work.