 And our sermon title this morning is the character of Christian work the character of Christian work and we're working through 1st Timothy chapter 6 and today specifically in verses 1 through 2 Where the Bible says let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor So that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed and those who have believing masters Let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather let them because of those who are benefited are believers and beloved Teach and exhort these things and here in verses 1 and 2 We're gonna be looking at the perspective here from bond servant and slave the relationship between bond servant and slave And there is much to consider here for a perspective on these first first two verses in chapter 6 Then we need to set this up a little bit to set the stage if you will for what we're gonna be looking at in these two verses When you meet someone new maybe you go to a meeting and you're gonna introduce yourself Usually get three questions, right? What's your name? Where are you from and what's the third one? What do you do for a living? What do you do? Typical to get those three questions work is such a driving force in our lives and in our culture that work begins to Identify us as people one commentator said this the element of our lives That is taken up by work is so encompassing and time consuming that we tend to understand our personal Identity in light of our work now a person may be a Christian They may be a husband a father a student. They may be a friend a family member In an attempt to identify yourself by your leisure. You may say that you're a surfer You know an outdoorsman a fisherman a kid's soccer coach a great cook, right? But whatever else you are you are identified to some degree as a person by the work that you do an engineer a nurse Homemaker a teacher a salesman and that work has a tendency to say something about you Often we can fall into the trap or the mistake of thinking that work is somehow a punishment or a product of the fall And we need to remember that this is not the case, right? There is sin that impacts our work But work is not a punishment or a product of the fall and I want to take you back to Genesis chapter 2 And let's take a quick look at that Genesis chapter 2 Work is not a product of the fall. We serve a working God and we are to be at work and in Genesis chapter 2 Beginning in verse 1 The Bible says this Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished and on the seventh day God ended his work which we had which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work Which he had done and then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made and there's repetitive use Repetitive mention of work just in those first three verses God is a God at work God is not an idle God that sort of created everything and then sits back in the heavens and merely watches God is Actively at work here in creation and is actively at work according to his will and according to his providence Even now but look at Genesis chapter 2 drop down to verse 15 verse 15 And here the Bible says then the Lord God took the man and he put him in the garden of Eden to tend and To keep it and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from the day that you eat of it You shall surely die and this is where God puts man to work the Lord God put him in the garden to tend it and to keep It this was work given and this work came Before the fall right Prior to that in Genesis chapter chapter 1 Adam is to fill the earth and to subdue it having Dominion over every living creature that God brought forth from the ground. This is all work Adam names every living creature and then look down drop down to Genesis chapter 3 And this is where we see sin and the fall having an impact on the work that we do work He's already been given and work is good in the eyes of God God gave Adam the first man the first woman Work to do God himself was working, but then look at Genesis chapter 3 at verse 17 Here's where the curse comes in He said Adam because Adam sinned against God Adam had eaten of the fruit He says because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying You shall not eat of it cursed is the ground for your sake in toil You shall eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles It shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field in a sweat of your face You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it You were taken for dust you are into dust you shall return So here is where sin then comes in thorns and thistles in your work because of sin However, the work itself is not a curse the work itself is a blessing It's in a part of the blessing that God gives us in creating us He creates us and then puts us to work and he gives us a glorious work to do Work then is Central to our humanity work is central to who we are as created by God and in that then Work is a sacred and trust man a sacred stewardship. It's a sacred duty that we have now fast forward right now For the Christian there is a very real Responsibility that the Christian has to God through his work. This is something we need to understand in a very real sense a Christian is also identified in the work that he does Not necessarily by what he does But in the character the character with which he does it a Christian is also identified in a sense through his work He isn't he's to understand the Christian is that the work that he's to do has been given to him by God he's to understand that the Testimony that his labor gives is a testimony of Christ in him He's to understand the testimony that a labor is labor gives is a testimony of God at work in him And the Christian is to serve God with his work The Christian is to serve others in his work as a representative of the kingdom We have a responsibility to work and we have a responsibility to work well And just listen to the commands now that that scripture gives with respect to this and what we need to do Is we need to build a good biblical theology of work I think as Christians there's another issue. We need to build a good biblical theology of our leisure That's a sermon for another time But we need to build a good biblical theology of our work And listen as we read through these passages listen for the attitude and the focus that we're to have Toward and related to our work And remember as we listen to this you spend most of your waking hours at work at the employment The work that the Lord has given you to do this comes from 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 10 Where the bible says we urge you brethren that you increase more and more That you also aspire to lead a quiet life to mind your own business And to work with your own hands as we commanded you that here's a purpose statement You may walk properly Toward those who are outside that you may lack nothing All right, think about the attitude with which we're to approach our work And the reason for which we work on behalf of the Lord in the job that he's given us This comes from Colossians chapter 3 Beginning in verse 22 says bond servants Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh in in our context your boss Not with eye service as men pleasers But in sincerity of heart Fearing God and often again that is simply a decision that you make Listen, I'm not going to serve here. I'm not going to do this as pleasing men Maybe that Motive or that thought or that concern rises up in your flesh And you think to yourself i'm going to get points with the boss here Listen put that motive down put that thought down repent of that as being a man pleaser And simply say listen i'm going to do this as serving the Lord. I'm doing this heartily as unto the Lord I'm going to do my work to the Lord as to the Lord and not to men it goes on in verse 23 Whatever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of your inheritance for you serve your boss No, it doesn't say that it says for you serve the Lord Christ In your work you serve the Lord Christ But he who does wrong verse 25 says will be repaid for what he has done and there is no partiality From second Thessalonians chapter 3 beginning in verse 10 the bible says this For even when we were with you we commanded you this If anyone will not work neither shall he eat for we hear that there are some who walk among you in a Disorderly manner not working at all but our busy bodies Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread Now we're commanded to work and in a very real very biblical way our work Represents that the fruit of our work represents us as christians goes before us as a testimony of the Lord at work in us Did you see In any of those texts a reference to what kind of work you're to do Is it more commendable to be an engineer a teacher a yogurt shop yogurt preparer? No, it's not reference to what kind of work you're to do. Does any of that of what is commanded there depend on your Circumstances what kind of job you have what kind of job you may want When you work No, you may not always be doing something that you want to do Or desire to do and what we do as long as it isn't sinful or leading someone into sin Isn't the issue as much as it is how We do it and this is the character of christian work. There will be times When you have to sacrifice We've been going through a rough economy where work is hard to find It's difficult to find and you may end up taking a job that you're not Desiring or well prepared to take but you have to take a job There are times when we'll have to sacrifice However, god here is concerned with the right heart attitude that we have about our work The right heart attitude that we have when we work in our work God is concerned here that we have the right perspective on our work It's in this that we build a theology of work that we see what work looks like for the christian Think about for a moment. You're calling as a christian You are called to do things in your christian life. It's sometimes you don't want to do right Right and you have to make sacrifices What do you do then if you take up the call to be a disciple of christ? You obey You deny yourself you take up your cross daily and you follow him you give up all that you have to be his disciple Otherwise as christ said you cannot be my disciple. You simply obey the lord You enter into the warfare that is the christian life And you battle and if you don't battle you're going to get run over You enter in to to serve the lord rather than to be served. You're called to sacrifice You're called into slavery to christ to be a slave of righteousness And it may not be all the time what you desire to do. It may but not be what you feel Gifted to do it may not be what you feel in the flesh like you Deserve to do or were made to do sometimes you're called to a job that you don't always enjoy doing However in all of this and you think about the christian life It's the same there is a governing Consideration that's at work here and it's a governing consideration that impacts your work It has nothing to do with circumstances and it's this governing Consideration in this that you begin to develop a proper biblical theology of work. I think about our example. Jesus christ himself He was an impoverished itinerant preacher Foxes have holes birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head Did he desire to have that kind of life? Well, yes and no Yes and no he grew he sweat great drops of blood in the garden before his crucifixion Did he desire that cup to pass from him? Certainly. Yes in one sense But he has a governing consideration that compelled him Christ's entire life was about going to the cross And that there was even a desire on the part of christ in the garden that that cup would pass from him But his governing consideration that compelled him in his work toward calvary Was doing the will of god the father You have a governing consideration in your work Regardless of what you do regardless of your Circumstances regardless of how much you're paid regardless of how much you enjoy it or don't enjoy it Regardless of how well prepared you are for it regardless of how whether or not you feel like you're gifted for it And that governing consideration in your work is doing the will of god the father Being a testimony of jesus christ being a representative of the kingdom The same applies here to the christian In his work honoring christ in our work serving the lord in how we work Giving testimony of christ in the heart attitude with which we work And that in mind it's not the circumstances of our work as much as it is the character with which we work It's the character of christian work and that identifies you That identifies you as belonging to the lord belonging to the kingdom That's where our title the sermon comes from It's the character of the christian's work no matter what he does That fulfills our governing consideration Which is honoring christ, which is doing the will of the father right for the christian There is more than a paycheck that motivates our work right Does a does a paycheck motivates your work? Well, yes it does There's more than a paycheck that motivates our work. There's more than enjoyment That motivates our work does enjoyment motivate the kind of work that you do Well, certainly it does if you enjoy your work, that's gonna motivate you But there's something more there's a governing consideration that overrides all of that It should drive our motivation. It should drive our sense of fulfillment It should drive your value for the job that you have And this is the character on the job with which god would be well pleased Let me give you a few points to clarify here before we get into our text specifically with respect to work Does all of this mean then that we're to have no other motivations for our work? No, there are many other motivations for your work, all right, but no other motive Can take precedence over our governing consideration, which is the lord Working hardly as unto the lord and not the men What sin can you think of that might result if money were your governing consideration? Yeah, what kind of sin might result if If time was your governing consideration if enjoyment was your governing consideration if personal fulfillment Opportunity for promotion if ease Whatever you do do all to the glory of god. That's your governing motive in your work Number two, does this governing consideration mean that everyone should be in full-time christian ministry Well, you know if we're to serve the lord and we're working hardly as unto the lord That means everybody should be in full-time christian ministry. No, it does not mean that You are to serve god in whatever work you do Now to clarify that can you serve god as a bartender? No, you cannot Can you serve god in the work of prostitution? No, you cannot So what you do in that respect respect has impact, okay But everything that you do whatever you do you should be serving the lord working unto the lord That work of a bartender or prostitute would violate our governing consideration, right? The work that you do you need to understand is a divine calling You are to find fulfillment In the lord in your work and we'll talk about that more as we go Think about all the work that the lord calls people to in the bible The lord called moses But the lord also called craftsmen The lord called those that could So tapestry together the lord called those that were musicians The lord called those to tend sheep to tend to cattle to grow crops The lord called those to build the temple at one point to cut down trees to go and labor in the vineyards The lord calls all kinds of people to all kinds of work and that happens all over the bible In that sense your work Is a sacred trust and it's a sacred stewardship in the sense in which you represent christ By living out your faith on the job And that's why the job your job is a sacred duty to the lord It's the context of your job is one area of your life in which you live out the christian faith And you're to well represent christ to a lost and dying world such that they don't blaspheme You're to live out your christian faith on the job Point three Should you choose a job? Based on how much it will make you sweat and toil Because we're going to fulfill the curse and you need to understand there are people that think this way No, you shouldn't purposefully pick a job that is most painful to you because somehow you're going to fulfill the curse in that sense No, this is not asceticism. You don't fulfill the curse in this way It doesn't make you more spiritual to do a job that makes you sweat and toil You know, i'm going to go out work among thorns and thistles because that's what the bible talks about Um, it's like the the pregnant woman who wants to have natural childbirth because they want to feel the pain If that's your motivation, don't do it. This is not asceticism There are motivations to having natural childbirth. You may have those but don't do it for that reason. This is not asceticism There's no more spirituality wrapped up in that This is not asceticism point four Are you to take a job? No matter how you feel about it. No matter what your motivation is Because your work is up to the lord. So minor motivations don't Don't matter my concerns don't matter how much i'm paid doesn't matter when i have to work What i have to do doesn't matter because i'm working heartily as into the lord Does it mean that you take a job no matter how you feel about it? No, it does not Think about the awesome grace of god in his wise management of the body of christ One he calls us to work that is not burdensome Our work in the lord is a joy. Amen It comes from a changed heart if you are in christ that work is a joy those commands are not burdensome And so you're motivated by a desire in your heart to do that work And he gives you the desire in your hearts for the work that you do It's the grace of god think about them the wicked hearts of men That undermine that grace that's a blessing from god that work is a joy that work isn't burdensome That work lines up with the desire that you have in your own heart as a christian to do And yet in our flesh we Make excuses and make excuses and make excuses and don't do it It's just a wicked flesh that we still contend with But secondly he then after giving you a work that's not burdensome It's a joy to you god and his grace specifically gives you gifts and abilities In order to do that work Specifically gifts you to do that work and then he empowers you by his spirit to do it In other words, you have skills and abilities And the lord wants you to use your skills and abilities you're gifting in working for him Thirdly, he then faithfully blesses our faithfulness in that work He rewards us first Timothy 4 8 says godliness Godliness is profitable for all things having promise of the life that now is blessings now And that which is to come blessings later lord rewards you in your work So he compensates you if you will right lord in his wise management of work in the body of christ But then he trains us in our work. He stretches us He grows us by giving us sometimes work that is really difficult to do or work that challenges us Makes us uncomfortable. Maybe difficult in the beginning But the lord is faithful and as you do that difficult work, he grows you and matures you Stretches you into that level of work now that you can do faithfully Enjoyfully in the lord without difficulty lord is just faithful to train us And then lastly he obviously gives us work that is fulfilling it meets the need our work is significant And so think about that With respect to your job The are you to choose a job regardless of your motivation? No Choose a job that you're going to be motivated to do might you have to take a job that you're not as much motivated to do? Yeah, but you have the liberty in christ to choose a job that motivates you to choose a job that's going to Line up with your skills with your competency with your abilities with your giftedness with your personality You can take a job that's going to well compensate you you can take a job that you're going to enjoy You can take a job that's going to train you in all this we can be faithful to the lord In choosing our job just understand there are times that will come when we don't have that luxury And in that our governing consideration takes precedence You know what happens in the christian life? If you don't faithfully do the work that the lord gives you to do You're fired in a sense, right? Um it proves you're not a christian if the fruit of your faith isn't there Means your faith isn't genuine On the work in the workplace the same thing you can get fired if you're not a faithfully do your job So you can obviously hear strive for work with similar circumstances work You can enjoy work that you're well gifted well suited for work that is rewarding and pay and rewarding otherwise And blessing work for which you will be well trained You'll always have a governing consideration and the the character of your work must remain intact An honoring the lord in doing the will of the father Your identity is found in the character you display in your work Now think about that governing governing consideration for a moment and think about the christian In his work, we should be excellent stewards of the gifts and abilities that god has given us We should be the most joyful in our work We should be the most honest the most patient the most hardworking the most self-controlled the most self-disciplined The most committed the most loyal the most contented the most grateful the best example We should be on time The most faithful you are to be the most light in a dark workplace You're to be the most salt in a decaying workplace And we should be doing our work with the greatest excellence with the greatest diligent And a christian is going to be thinking about his work in terms of the kingdom And how he on the job represents christ. This is the character of christian work A christian if you think about it this way can do more damage to christianity Or have no more impact for christianity than at the home or at the workplace Because it causes others to either rejoice or to blaspheme god And somebody help me now this the clock was wrong earlier. I want to think about what time what time do you have? I don't even have a watch up here. Well, it's good. You guys don't carry watches to church. Let's just keep going. It's awesome Thank what time Okay, my clock is very wrong. So somebody's gonna have to help me. We don't have a watch so we get that clock right I'm gonna have to bring my watch up here. Thank you, sister Otherwise, I'll just keep going. We just won't stop. Thank you. Thank you sister All right Um, forgive me for that. Okay. Now think about in light of that think about the ways that the christian works, okay? And think about work from the world's perspective the way a worldly worker works There was a 2013 gallop survey And here's what the gallop survey on work in the workplace found 71 of workers are actively disengaged from their work Actively disengaged that means that 71 don't care about their jobs 52 have the attitude that every day is monday That means you have people that don't care about their jobs and 52 of the people now who are unhappy every day at work 18 percent are in a category described by one ceo as walking the halls spreading discontent Got one fifth of your workplace actively spreading discontent in the hallways It is estimated that the attitude of the average worker cost the american economy $550 billion in lost productivity. That's laziness Losing productivity because of laziness younger workers only stayed a job on average one year The average is 4.4 years for all workers of all ages Only 44 feel they are in any way valued at work Which is a reflection on bosses at the job And ultimately this is the way that the world views work. It's a nuisance To most of the world. It's something that gets in the way of their own self-indulgence Gets in their way of their own pleasure their own leisure just a way to make a check so they can get out and do their own pleasure their own leisure The average worker wants to get paid for work. They do poorly or with a poor attitude The average worker is consumed with his own pleasure his own indulgence his own materialism The workforce demands more and more While delivering less and less Think about that for a moment the workforce those working Demand more and more while they deliver less and less The sad unfortunate reality Is that there are many There are many in this category who name the name of christ Who call themselves christians and yet they work this way and we are raising a generation that is getting worse Not better Or one person say that most teenagers day believe that manual labor is the president of mexico I don't know what manual labor is Work is work for the christian whether you're on the job Whether you're in the home as a christian If you indulge your own pleasure If you indulge your own leisure if you indulge your own desires too much then you fall into a lack of productivity You fail to be productive you fall into swath you fall into idleness you fall into apathy We've mentioned that a few times over the last several weeks in order to combat swath in the christian life apathy indifference in the christian life Idleness in the christian life get to work Get to work and be productive And in our text first Timothy 6 Verses one through two We see an example of that kind of character Which should dominate the character of our christian work and let's go to our text first Timothy Chapter six Verses one and two let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor So that the name of god and his doctrine may not be blasphemed And those who have believing masters let them not despise them because they are brethren But rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved Teach and exhort these things first thing that pops out here in the beginning of verse one is the word bond servant That word in the greek is doulas. It means a slave It means a slave someone who is in subjection to or in subjugation to someone else This is someone who simply obeys a master in all things. They do what is their duty The master the despot as here says to do this and the slave the doulas just does it All right, and paul here is instructed timothy and the church in emphasis with respect to how they are to relate Slaves to masters we've learned from here from paul How we're to relate with younger men older men with younger women older women with widows With elders and now slaves to masters and all of the concern here Is how slaves are related to masters it comes in two forms One is the slave to the unsaved master And then a slave to his saved master in our context today It has application here for employee and employer. This is employee employer Relationships today and let me give you a picture of what this relationship looked like in the new testament look back at lute chapter 17 lute chapter 17 Let's see a picture of this lute chapter 17 And let's begin in verse seven The bible says in verse seven in which of you Having a servant a doulas better translated slave, okay Which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheet will say to him when he has come in from the field Come at once and sit down to eat in other words You know this doulas this servant this slave has worked so hard in the field Sweating and toiling doing his duty all day And so he comes in from a long day at the field and his master says oh you've worked so hard It's a long hard day in the field. Why don't you sit here and let me get you dinner Let me get you something to eat. No, that's not how it works at all Okay, he goes on to say but will he not in verse eight rather say to him Prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk And afterward you will eat and drink He must remember here that he is the slave He's the servant. He is to serve. He's to serve He's expected to do to do his duty And he's to do his duty until it is fully and completely done All right, and then once he is done with his responsibility Then he can eat himself verse nine goes on to say Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not Jesus says you don't thank him. He was doing his duty In other words, you don't expect your boss to coddle you To hand hold you To meet all of your needs and all of your desires. You are there to work You're there to serve the boss to serve the company to work until your duty is complete You don't do less and less and less and demand more and more and more You do your duty fully and completely as unto the lord Your boss, you shouldn't expect to tell you how wonderful you are You shouldn't expect your boss to thank you You've done your duty and you're gonna be compensated for doing that You're done. You've done what you were supposed to do verse 10 So likewise you Likewise you When you have done all those things which you are commanded say We are unprofitable servants. We have done. What was our duty to do? This is the life of a do-loss It's the life of a slave It's the life of someone who does their duty who takes up their responsibility And does exactly as they're told to do until that is completely done Okay Now let me give you some background You can't look at slavery in the new testament Through the lens of slavery in our country with all the abuse and the racial discrimination that came from that There are two different things. It is just not the same thing exodus 21 Deuteronomy 24 puts the death penalty On what we saw in our country Under slavery and slave-like conditions It puts the death penalty on that. This is two different systems here that we're talking about What was going on here in the first century in emphasis? Was a socially acceptable economic system? Okay, there were do-loss Slaves that manage your household There were do-loss that cooked meals that managed your finances that helped with your business that taught Often taught your children There were no doubt. There were slaves at this time that were slaves by imperialism a country Conquered another country and took slaves The israelites were well familiar with that because that happened to them Some would sell themselves into this form of indentured servitude It was a way that they could earn a living to be cared for and a way that they could pay off debts In exchange for this service a do-loss was given food given clothing given compensation Given a place to stay they had money The slave the do-loss had civil rights They had protections and if a do-loss in a household were harmed in any way that do-loss was immediately free The do-loss could go free Was this system in the first century abused? Yeah, sometimes it was It wasn't the system mind you and this is what we have to consider It wasn't the system itself that was abusive It was the people in the system who were abusive the people that managed the the system that were abusive and often Prior to this time in the first century under roman rule you had wicked horrible abuses and slavery There's actually for the three centuries that preceded the first century in rome You had terrible abuses of slavery as rome took over more and more countries and more and more people came under slavery But it was said among historians that in the first century rome went through a renewal or revival in a sense in which they If you will in a worldly way repented of all those abuses and set free Hundreds of thousands of slaves. I think the number was a hundred and eighty six thousand slaves in rome at one time So there was an understanding of those abuses that had once taken place And reform was even in rome happening in the system. What was going on here in the first century was not like the slavery saw in our own country Here again, it's not the system itself at this time that was abusive. It was people who abused the system That being said this is an indication of the heart of the person The heart of the person christ didn't come to overturn social order christ came to change hearts Christ came to deal with the hearts of wicked men And you see some of this in paul's interaction with philemon regarding onesimus, right? You had philemon slave onesimus Who abandons his service to philemon and runs off and meets paul in rome After having met paul onesimus is genuinely converted genuinely saved paul Rather than writing to philemon to tell philemon to abandon slavery or abandon this form of indentured servitude paul sends onesimus back And sends onesimus back to fulfill his contract to philemon and asks philemon to receive him and to receive him with compassion In some similar respects now this understanding of of this social order in the first century is not unlike a contracted employee today You have a contract to fulfill and you were to fulfill that contract to Depart and to leave is to breach your contract and there are consequences for that, right? It's not unlike a contracted employee today. Now the point of this is for us Is clear here We're to be a good employee We're to do our complete duty The character of your work Should be such that god and his doctrine Is not blasphemed Should be that god and his doctrine is not blasphemed So how does this view of doulas? or slave Impact your understanding of your proper relationship to christ as lord Now think about it for a moment. We have such a horrible connotation of that word in our culture because of our history But there was something in the first century Positive enough about that connotation to them that paul refers to himself as a slave of christ That the apostles slaves of christ How does that impact your understanding of your relationship as a doulas of christ? As a slave as an indentured servant of the lord jesus christ. Do you live that way? When you live that way, do you live in light of luke 17? Lord gives you many commands Lord gives you many things to do to labor in his kingdom that you're to do for him And you're to do with the right heart attitude because you're love him and you're grateful to him for all that he's done for you in christ That he gives you the joy To do his commands are not burdensome That he rewards you for doing there are blessings in serving the lord He gives you the right motivation to do right because of christ And we are living and worshiping christ He gives you Everything that you need to be able to do it. He gives you specifically gives you the power by his spirit to do it So how does this view of doulas impact your service to the lord? The call to come to christ is a call to be a slave If you say i'm a christian you're saying i'm a doulas of jesus christ i'm a servant of jesus christ it is to enslave yourself What motivates you in the work that you do? On the job What motivates you to do the work that you do? Does that motivation depend upon your circumstances? Does it depend on how much you enjoy or don't enjoy your job? How much you're paid or not paid? In our text here, we're looking at those in slavery With that mindset of we're gonna do our duty until our duty is fully done And at the end we can only say that we're unprofitable servants because we've only done what was our duty to do And what should motivate you and your work in the christian life? Next week as we get into this we'll look at Two contexts that paul has in mind here to instruct us The two contexts are one the employment of a christian by an unsaved employer and two the employment of a christian by a saved employer Both of those are with the intent or the purpose of honoring your employer Honoring the master and both instructions have a purpose to that honor That the christian bias actions on the job wouldn't cause Those who are not saved to blaspheme god God is not to be blasphemed and that those christians serving a believing boss are to serve them as a believing boss Believers and beloved How are you on the job representing christ representing the kingdom? On the job, are you doing your work such that others around you would see christ in you and give glory to god? Or are you doing your work in a way that Causes others to blaspheme god because of you if they know you're a christian And you're giving horrible testimony on the job. You're giving horrible testimony of christ. You're bringing a reproach on the name of christ Same thing with a christian life if you're a christian How are you doing your work to the lord? Are you being faithful in that? Would others see you as the hypocrite? Because of the way that you fail to work and to serve the lord in the way that you should And in that are you bringing reproach on the name of christ? Do you handle conflict quickly and rightly? Do you love one another? Are you actively loving one another? Are you sharing the gospel as you should? I remember seeing a youtube video of a person giving a testimony of how christians should be sharing the gospel And people are going to hell and people are dying And he gave a passionate plea for christians to be outsharing the gospel basically said that christians are not And they're being hypocrites because if they believe in hell and they're not sharing the gospel They're hypocrites and then he himself professed to be an atheist And saw the hypocrisy and what christians believe and saw the hypocrisy and what professing christians weren't doing How are we serving the lord? We just serve the lord and do what is our duty to do and at the end of the day We can say to ourselves we're no better than unprofitable servants because we've only done our duty But at the end of that day, we'll have the lord who will be well pleased to say to us well done good and faithful servant And is that the reward you want? Amen. Let's pray I'm father in heaven. Thank you for this text. Thank you for this time together Gotta pray that you'd apply these truths to our heart lord and help us to Serve you on the job in a way that is faithful Got in a way that bears testimony of christ and the power of christ to change a life But also lord that we would serve you in a way that is honoring to you Got in a way that testifies To the power of christ to change a life. Thank you lord for this time. Thank you for these brothers and sisters And thank you for your word most of all lord. Thank you for christ in jesus name. Amen