The following text is from notes for a sermon delivered in July 2003.

The sermon is based on Colossians 3:22-4:1.

During the middle 1800’s there was a popular set of rules for the office that showed up in one form or another across the nation. They all resembled something like these which were posted in Zachary Geiger’s establishment:

1. Office employees will daily sweep the floors, dust the furniture, and showcases. Each day they must fill lamps, clean chimneys, & turn wicks.
2. Windows must be washed once a week.
3. Each clerk will bring in a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s business.
4. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle your nibs to your individual taste.
5. This office will open at 7:00 am and close at 9:00 p.m. daily, except on Sunday, on which day it will remain closed. Each employee is expected to spend Sunday by attending church and contributing liberally to the cause of the Lord.
6. Men employees will be given an evening off each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go regularly to church.
7. After an employee has spent 13 hours of labor in the office, he should spend the rest of his time reading the Bible any other good books while contemplating the glories and building up of the kingdom.
8. Every employee should lay aside, from each pay, a goodly sum of his earning, so that he will not become a burden upon the charity of his betters.
9. The employee who has performed his labors faithfully and without fault for a period of 5 years in my service, and who has been thrifty and attentive to his religious duties, and is looked upon by his fellowmen as a substantial and law-abiding citizen, will be given an increase of 5 cents per day in his pay providing a just return in profits from the business permits it.

How many of you would enjoy having a job like that? Well, back in the days of the Colossian church… that’s pretty much how the “workforce” lived. The primary workforce was composed of slaves:

• People who were owned by others,
• Who had no personal property,
• Who had no control of their destiny,
• Who did pretty much what the slave owners desired.

Now, while there are distinct differences between the life of a slave and that of a laborer in our day, the principles that Paul laid down for the behavior of workers and owners still hold true today for bosses and laborers today.

I.

First – Let’s consider the owner, or the boss, or the person in management.
To you, Paul writes: “provide your (employees) with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven” - Colossians 4:1

Now, I don’t know if there’s anyone here who is in a management position… but I do know, it’s not always an easy job.

My brother Jack is a vice-president for a company out East that makes aircraft engines. At one time, one of their principal customers was the U.S. government. But, because of budget cuts, his company lost business. When they lost that government contract, they made fewer engines… and thus they needed fewer workers. That meant some of their work force had to be let go. And it fell to my brother to decide who would be fired. My brother struggled with those decisions because each man who was fired had bills to pay and a family to support. He realized he wasn’t just cutting “costs” – he was responsible for the possible ruination of the lives of each of those workers. BUT the decisions had to be made. It came down to a choice of whether the company shut the doors (and everyone lost their jobs), or if a portion of the workers lost their jobs and others could still support their families. Despite that reality, my brother had nightmares over the decisions he had to make.

Being a manager or the owner of a company isn’t always an easy job, because many of the decisions you have to make affect the lives of the workers in your factory or your office.

The problem that Paul is addressing here in Colossae is that of the slave owner (manager or the boss) who forgets who they have a responsibility for. He is warning against forgetting the value of the people he is responsible for. Paul is warning the persons in authority to be careful how they treat their laborers, because there is a tendency (for some in positions of authority) to look down on those they supervise. They tend to say things like: “I’m the supervisor… I’m the boss… you’re just common laborers.”

Paul is writing to the Christians of his day and warning them: Don’t you dare behave like that!… because – as far as God was concerned - not only was it not true (these workers were important, especially to God), but it was also a dangerous attitude.

Paul says Remember, “you (employers) also have a Master in heaven” – Colossians 4:1.

What did Paul mean? He meant: the way an employer treats his employees will be how God will treat him. God will respond with the same mercy or harshness as that manager gives his employees, both now and in the coming judgment.

So Paul advises Christian bosses: “provide your (employees) with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” - Colossians 4:1.

II.

And the working man said: “Amen, brother.”
“All right, Paul, preach it man.”
… “I mean, if my boss treated me that way, I could respect him a lot more.”
… “if my boss treated me with respect, I’d work harder.”
… “if my boss was fair to me, then I’d even come in early and work longer hours.”
"But he’s such a jerk… I hate going in and even being near him."

Sorry slaves… (I mean) those of you who work in a factory or office… God holds you accountable too.

To you God says this: "obey your earthly (employers) in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" - Colossians 3: 22-24.

Here's an illustration: A minister explained about a young man named John who had just become a new Christian. Shortly afterward, John went to work for a local department store and greatly enjoyed the opportunities he saw there. In time, however, John shared with the minister that he was afraid that he would soon be fired. He couldn’t understand it, but it seemed his boss was growing increasingly upset with him, and he thought it might be because of his Christian witness. So the minister went to speak with the owner.
The owner gave an entirely different story. John had been an excellent worker to begin with, but in time he got too good at meeting with the customers - particularly with his friends. John was spending so much time talking with his friends that he was neglecting paying customers.
Returning to speak with John, the preacher wisely began "John, if you were working for that department store and Jesus Christ himself were your employer, would you work any differently?"
"I sure would!" exclaimed John, "I’d work a lot harder."

We are ALWAYS to work as if we were working for Jesus … obeying our employers as if we were doing the job for God Himself:

- Our work should always be the best we can do.
- Our conduct should always be that of a person… entering worship.
- Yes, worship.
- If we are going to work for Jesus, then every workday is a day of worship.
- A time to declare to our God the love we have for Him.
- And thus, each day at work should be filled with anticipation and excitement.

Because this is a time of worship for us, we should be finding ways to be worshipful:
- We should be building up the people around us, and
- working to make our managers successful.

And we dare not be guilty of griping or complaining.

You see, how we conduct ourselves at work is a reflection of our faith.
We get to witness by how we behave.
We show in the workplace that our faith makes a difference in how we live our lives.

But, if we behave at work like unbelievers… why should anybody want to be like us?
Why should anybody want the Savior we say we follow?

III.

But Jeff, do you mean…
…that I have to behave this way even when my boss is a harsh and ungodly man?

Well, of course.. those are the people who need your witness the most! Those harsh ungodly men and women need Jesus – or they’re going to hell. Your witness on the job may be the only chance they have to see Christianity in action.

You mean… I have to behave this way even in a dead-end job?
Ah, now… for the Christian there is no such thing as a “dead-end” job. Those are simply opportunities. Opportunities to show God how faithful we can be in the small things of life.

Another illustration: Let me tell you of a man in the Old Testament that held a couple of dead end jobs. His name was Joseph. His brothers beat him up and sold him into slavery. That’s about as dead a dead end job as you get. But for the next few years, he was the best slave he could possibly be, and it tells us that God rewarded him in everything he did.
But wait. Didn’t Joseph get thrown into prison on a false accusation? Yes. That’s an even more menial position in life. And yet because Joseph was faithful to God even in this terrible situation, God rewarded him even in prison and ultimately raised him up to take a position of great importance.

That’s what Paul meant when he wrote: “…you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” - Colossians 3:24.

Oh… you might say… that’s just talking about a future reward in heaven. “Pie in the sky, by and by.”  But it’s much more than that. It’s not just the “pie in the sky by and by…” it’s also “steak on your plate while you wait.” God will seek ways of rewarding you even in this life for your faithfulness in small things.

Jesus says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” - Luke 16:10.

A person who is faithful to Jesus in a (supposed) “dead end job” can also be trusted by God with greater responsibility

AND… when you serve as big a God as we serve…do you REALLY think He can be restricted/hampered/shut-down by “dead end” anything?

CLOSE:

The sign in the window read: "Boy Wanted". Young John Simmons, though he was lazy, saw his opportunity and applied. He was quickly hired by elderly Mr. Peters. The pace was leisurely so he enjoyed the job. Toward the middle of the afternoon however, he was sent up to the attic -- a dingy place full of cobwebs and infested with mice.

"You will find a long, deep box there," explained Mr. Peters. "Please sort out the contents and see what should be saved." John was disappointed. It was a large container, and there seemed to be nothing in it but old junk. After a few minutes he went back to the ground floor. Asked by the proprietor if he had completed his work, he replied, "No, sir, it was dark and cold up there and I didn’t think it was worth doing." At closing time he was paid and told not to return.

The next morning the old sign "Boy Wanted" appeared in its usual place. Crawford Hill was the next to be employed. When he was asked to tidy up the same box, however, he spent hours separating the usable nails and screws from the things to be discarded. Suddenly he raced down the stairs all excited. "At the very bottom I found this!" he exclaimed, holding up a 20-dollar bill. At last, the store owner had discovered a conscientious boy to whom he could entrust his business when he retired. Years later Mr. Peters said, "This young man, who is now my successor, found his fortune in a junk box!"

Excerpted, with minor editing.   sermoncentral.com    Jeff Strite pastors at Church of Christ, Logansport.   Content distributed by HisChurchatWork.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.

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