for the victory that's ours through Christ and we can certainly be strong in the Lord. We'll dismiss the youngins to go to class with Mrs. Shore. The rest of us please take our Bibles and turn to 1 Timothy and I'm just trying to make sure, yep, chapter six. We're on to our final chapter, 1 Timothy, chapter six is where we're at. And so praise God, it's been a good study. I've really enjoyed our study of 1 Timothy. Pray for wisdom, where to go after this book, that God'll make his mind known to us, and we'll get on with it in another book. But we're not across the finish line just yet. All right, one of the joys of parenting is seeing your children grow up. We've had a lot of firsts in our family in the past year, year and a half. Things have been happening, you know, taking the kids out, actually very close to here. Kaylee and then Benson, teaching them to drive. And, you know, that's one of the things you wonder as a parent, do I have the ability to do that? And you wonder if your kids have the ability to do that. And exciting to get on with that first. About two years ago, we had our first time that our kids were separated from us by distance as Kaylee and Benson went off to camp in Europe, and that was a good test run for us when they went to camp in the United States and worked at camp last summer. And again, a first. Another thing that we've prayed a lot about as a family is their first job. Years in advance, it felt like just praying and asking God to provide, and then God provided the job for Benson at Dunham, and then Kaylee at Ambassador, and now Logan just started working at Dunham this past week, so we thank God for that. But as somebody gets into employment, and they begin to work, They find out very quickly that they have an employer, and I like the term boss, and I don't know if that's socially acceptable anymore. I mean, boss just kind of sounds kind of bossy, but that's what it is, and we understand that. They are the trainer, the instructor, and the overseer, so they have the power to hire and to fire. And the Bible teaches that there are good bosses and there are bad bosses. 1 Peter 2, 18 says, servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. You know, sometimes you might work for somebody that's really a joy to work for. Other times you might be like, ah, this person is not a delight to work for. When I think of a gentle boss, Mr. Renninger comes to mind. He was a man that hired my brother and I on Saturday afternoons. or mornings to come over to his property by our university and just pick liriope spicata. You might not know what that is. I didn't really know what that was either. It's monkey grass. And he'd go around with a spray paint can and he would spray that liriope spicata. He was really a nice boss. We didn't have to work very hard. We'd walk around with him. He'd be like squirting the spray paint everywhere. Then we'd go back and pick up everything that he spray painted and kind of clean up his garden. He was a landscape architect, and he paid $10 an hour back then, and that was a lot of money. Then he hired my wife, then he hired my brother-in-law, and God was just good and using him, but he was a gentle boss. I've had bosses, again, that were difficult, and so we're gonna get both at times, and so the Word of God here, 1 Timothy chapter six, gives some instruction about how to be an employee, and so, As Paul speaks to Timothy here, he's gonna instruct on being the best employee that you possibly can be. And so our text here, let's just read it, 1 Timothy chapter six, verse one and two. It says, let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service Because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit, these things teach and exhort. And I just wanna encourage us tonight, whatever our job is, now or in the future, to be the best employee that we can be. To really seek to work as unto the Lord and really have that good testimony. And so let's pray, ask the Spirit of God to help us as we consider this topic tonight. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the time that we have to spend in it this evening. And Father, we've already enjoyed seeing these hymns about obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. And it's a grand thing to be a Christian and to be strong in the Lord. And Father, these things encourage us, they strengthen us, they help us. And so thank you for that. And Lord, thank you for the children tonight that are here and able to go to their class. be taught the Word of God. And I pray that the Spirit of God would give Katie wisdom as she instructs them in Bible truth. And Father, we pray that that kid's class would grow and that the Spirit of God would use that to be a blessing to many families. But Father, tonight, as we look at this topic, may the Spirit of God give us grace to have insight into this as it is important in our church that we have members that are good examples of Christ outside of the church. And so I pray, Holy Spirit, that you speak to our hearts tonight and help us in our walk with you in some practical areas. And Father, as always, I can't speak without your enablement. And I do pray tonight for liberty as I express the truth of the word of God. And Father, you help us in our walk with you and that you'd be glorified to do good work in our hearts here tonight. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, and so two points tonight. Respect your unsaved boss, and respect your saved boss as he deals with both of those things. Now, most often in our day, we're gonna be working for the unsaved. We would love, in a sense, and we'll see that at the end, I think there ought to be a desire in our hearts someday, maybe, to be able to work for somebody that is a godly person that understands our worldview, where we're coming from. But generally speaking, it's probably gonna be somebody that's unsaved, and that's okay. because every time you go to work, you're gonna be entering into the mission field and have that opportunity to be a witness. James Stewart, who's a Scottish evangelist that in his teen years, a hundred years ago, was traveling all over Scotland from 14, well, 16, probably up to 19 years of age. Then at 19, he went to Europe. and God used him as a revivalist in Europe, and it's an awesome story. If you ever want to read a really good book, James Stewart Missionary, God used it to call us, partly to call us to Scotland. But he had a remarkable testimony for the Lord, but at 16 years of age, he left a grocery store, and he would, by the way, when he delivered the messages, he would knock on the door, hand them the messages, and then witness to the people at the doors as he did that. But he went to work in a tailoring plant, which employed about 1,000 workers. This opened to me a wide open door, he says, for witnessing. When I went there, I asked the manager of my department if he could secure permission for me to go to the various departments with my gospel tracts. One of the directors said, if you have got the nerve enough to do this, you can do this. Can you imagine? I mean, that takes a little bit of courage in a secular environment to say, I'm gonna go with the gospel and I'm gonna take it in to my other employees that are there. And yes, he properly asked, they said, that's fine. So he was able to do that on his time there as he worked. And so again, it's a mission field that we can consider. And so as you go into work for a secular unsaved person, recognize, first of all, their authority over you. It says in verse one, let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Okay, so a master is the one who gets to lead and give the responsibilities. They're the one that is over the yoke. servant, as it were. You know, Nathan, right now, he's away, and if I understand correctly, Molly, he's getting training to be a sergeant, if I'm correct. And so he's learning how to lead men and how to also train new recruits as they come into the military. You know, one of the things that he's gonna do with that is to help his new recruits recognize that he has authority over them. The armed forces are also gonna enforce that and help them recognize that he has authority over them, all right? Because the boss, as he would be there, has that authority. You know, there are many authorities that God's given us in life. And if we reject that authority, whether it's the pastor, whether it is our parents, whether it is a teacher, whether it is a boss, if we reject that authority, then we're a rebellious person in our heart. There's another authority. The greatest authority is who, by the way? God. And so God is the greatest authority. And rebellious people, how do they feel about God? They feel like he's a tyrant, right? They're like, I don't wanna, they don't wanna yield to God. Okay, that's rebelliousness is not gonna submit to authority. If a parent has a rebellious child, how's that child feel about mom and dad? They reject them, right? They're pushing away from them. The government, you got, if you feel like somebody's against the government, you got criminals that are against the government. They fret about the police. They fret about the judges. They fret about, that authority that's over them. Educators, you got teachers, and if you've got rebellious young people, again, they are fretting against that authority. What are they doing? Not recognizing that authority. Again, in a church, pastor has some authority, deacons have some authority, and to fret against that is to reject that authority, correct? Okay, so but God's given us those authority, and in the home, there is an authority that God's given as well. And the authority is the husband of that home has the authority in that home, and then a mother also has authority in that home under her husband and over the children. And I wanna use Ephesians chapter five, which speaks about that to help us understand the mindset that we need to have under all authorities that God has given to us. And so verse 21 says, about the wife and her position under her husband and vice versa to one another. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, working together. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife. And let me just change the authority structure of that verse and say this. Employees, Submit yourselves unto your own boss, as unto the Lord, for the boss is the head of the employee." Okay, and I could say the same with parents and children. I could say the same with pastors and church members. I could say the same with government and citizens. What I'm trying to do with that verse is just help us to understand that to do right under authority, we must submit. We got to put ourselves under that authority. Verse 24, therefore, as a church is subject unto Christ, okay, it's below Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Now, we've talked before about authority is both a privilege as well as a responsibility. A wife is not gonna give an account primarily to God for the children, the husband is. The wife is not gonna give a response for the leadership of the home, the husband is, because that's the authority that God's put there. It's the same within a church. I'm the one that's gonna give an account for this church and the members that are in this church, I have the responsibility of overseeing a church. It's a big responsibility that God has given to me and I've gotta exercise that, but as a church we gotta recognize authority. In a school, it's the same. A teacher has a great responsibility. It may be a privilege, but there is responsibility with that. And so those under that authority need to recognize that authority. And so our flesh doesn't want to do that, right? Our flesh naturally resists authority. But is, let me ask you, is that of, that resistance, is that of God or is that of the flesh? It's out of the flesh. So let's recognize it for what it is and say, you know, God, by your grace, if there's an authority that's there, I want to put myself under that authority. Why? Because that is best for me. And so here right away, dealing with working for somebody that is unsaved, God says, recognize their authority, as he says it through Paul here to Timothy. And so recognize their authority over you. Secondly, recognize your duty of servitude, of servitude. Now going back to the beginning of the verse, let as many servants. Okay, in Paul's day, there were still slaves, and that was part of their culture. And it wasn't in the terms of what we think, where somebody was kidnapped or something like that. Most often, definitely not at all the case, generally speaking, in Paul's environment. It was more one of these things. They may have become a slave to pay a debt. You think of the, remember that woman that had two sons that was a widow woman and she was running out of money and the creditor came and was gonna take away her sons to pay the debt. Okay, that's an example of that. They may have chosen to remain a servant. They were a servant paying off a debt or something like that and they decided, hey, this is pretty good. I will stay a servant to this master because I love this master. So they became something called a bond slave. A bond slave was voluntary. He would get his ear bored through with an awl. You can see it in the Old Testament. and they were up into that servitude. They may have been forced to serve because of a crime. They did something, they committed a crime, and so that's it. And so they didn't get to choose maybe their employer or anything like that, but they are a servant to that master, okay? Now I grew up listening to old, Western music, and I want to be very careful how I say this because I am not speaking about country Western music at all. I'm talking about Roy Rogers, Sons of the Pioneers, and I hope you maybe know a little bit of the difference of that, the campfire songs that they used to sing back in the 1930s sitting around playing a classical guitar, not anything about a dog dying, your house burning down, losing your job, or anything like that. All right, just fun music like that. But there was one song that I remember hearing the Bardi Wranglers sing, and it says, 16 tons, what do I get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Say Peter, don't you call me, cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the country store. All right, or something like that. Well, yeah, you know, you don't owe your soul to the company store, but I'll tell you this, you do owe your time. You do owe your effort. You do owe your diligence, right? If you're employed by somebody, then yes, there is servitude that ought to be given to them. So we gotta think about that, okay? I'm under their authority. I've got a responsibility to work for them. And then third with this first point, recognize the need to pull your weight. Recognize the need to pull your weight. It says in verse one, let as many servants as are under the yoke. All right, now Jesus' yoke is easy. His burden is light. We're yoked in with Jesus Christ. But a yoke, generally speaking, isn't easy, is it? I mean, you don't see an oxen in a yoke. You know what a yoke is? That thing that goes around their neck and hooks them up to the other oxen. I mean, that's what they're harnessed in with. They're pushing against that. That's not an easy thing. And so when you think about work, There's a responsibility. It's not easy. You don't go to work to get a nice break. You don't go to work to have a holiday or anything like that. It's to get in there and get something done and to pull your weight. Now I want to remind us that work itself is not part of the curse. Genesis 2 15 says, and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And so that's pre-fall. The fall doesn't happen until chapter three. And so, but God, when he created and designed us, and I'm enjoying somewhat working out in my, our garden, the kids are working out there as well. And I said to my neighbor yesterday, as he walks by every day and sees the progress that we're making on our wall, and I said, God made us to work in the garden. He was talking about working in his garden. God gave us that desire. That's a good thing. But difficulty in work, and I know you know this, it's part of the curse. That's part of it. To men, God said to Adam, Because you hearken unto the voice of thy wife, and have eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shalt bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face. Shalt thou eat bread till it return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Do you like thorns? Aye, they're pretty, but you don't want one stuck in your hand because you reached down and you didn't see it. Thistles? You know, I mean, that's tough stuff and sweat. I don't like to sweat. That's why I like Scotland. I went back to the States, your pores open back up. It's like, you kind of forget what sweat feels like, you know, but that just is talking about is tough. It's hard work. You're getting sweaty. And again, we've been doing a big project at our house. We've got a hundred foot retaining wall. That's at some point three, three feet high. And praise God, you know, my family has been getting out there with me. and working hard, everyone pulling their weight, getting in there because it's a huge project and it's coming along nicely. So it's both really tough and it's really rewarding when you look at it and you see what you have accomplished. You know, there's satisfaction in a job well done. But I pity the person that goes to work and has a lazy attitude and is just kind of just there, hardly gets anything done, can't really look at anything and say, I did that. They're not striving to be the best of anything. They're just seeking to exist and get a paycheck. I feel bad for that person. Because that's not what work's about. Work ought to be about getting in there, pulling your weight, achieving something for your employer and the company, whatever that company is, so that it's better because you're there and you're working for them. Ecclesiastes 5.12 says, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. It's a nice thing to lay your head on your pillow at night and say, I put in a good day's work. I wasn't lazy. I got it done. And that's a good thing. All right. And so pull your weight and then recognize the testimony you have as a believer. Recognize that your testimony is at stake. There's no environment as open to the scrutiny of the world for a believer than we're. You're put under the gun there with unbelievers, you're under the same pressure, and guess what? Hopefully, as a believer, you're gonna respond differently. Hopefully as a believer, your language is going to be different. Your attitude is going to be different. Your investment of effort is going to be different. It ought to be. Why? Because they're not saved. But I'll tell you this, there's some unsaved people that work hard. There's some unsaved people that have a great spirit. They have a great attitude. But the thing is, a Christian is representing somebody that unsaved person is not representing, and that is God. And so we need to be very careful that we guard God's testimony. Because your testimony affects their understanding of God, who God is. Notice what it says in verse one. All honor. That the name of God. Be not blasphemed. Okay, we'll look at the doctrine side in just a second, but the name of God, be not blasphemed. It's a very sad thing if somebody could look at our life and go, I despise God because of what I see in that person's life. If that's what a Christian is, that's the last thing I wanna be. If that's what God is all about, I want nothing to do with that. That'd be a very sad thing if that was the case. Now, praise God, many times it could be the very opposite of that. Our church in Wisconsin, where I grew up, Hudson, Wisconsin Bible Baptist Church, I think we had, I wanna say like 16 of us working at McDonald's at one point. There were adults, there were teenagers, teenagers started it, they opened a new McDonald's. So they just kept hiring us. And that's the way it happened down at Bob Jones as well, it's the way it happens at Ambassador Baptist College. When they get those young people there and they see their good work ethic and they look at that and they go, they're honest, they're here on time, they don't call in sick when they're not sick. They're trustworthy, they say something, if you tell them to do something, they get it done. When they start seeing that, if it's right, the way it should be, they look at that and say, that's great, that's commendable, that's what we need here as employees, and that's the way it should be. But if we fail, then we fail to represent God to them. James Stewart said this about going in and doing that evangelism. He said, then I spoke to the men in my own department and gave them my personal testimony. One of the directors came to me soon after and said, look here, Jimmy, pity help you if you're a hypocrite. Pity help you if you don't live this. My advice to you, he added, is to keep your mouth shut now. You have told them you are a Christian. Now you must live Jesus Christ every day in this place or you're gonna have an awful time. You know what, my advice to Jimmy is different. It is not don't say that, it is do say that and now keep that. Now keep that. You know, let me ask you, do your coworkers know that you're Christian? You could go to work and never say anything about God, never say anything about Christ, just be nice, be a good person. Don't really talk about church, don't really talk about your interest in the things of God. You could do that, but that's not what we ought to do. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. There is no way that they can glorify God if they have no idea that you're saved. No idea that you are a Christian. But if I'm going to say that I'm a Christian, guess what? I've gotta live it. Then I gotta back it up with my life. I can't curse, I can't swear, I can't take God's name in vain, I can't dress in a way that's not appropriate for a Christian, I can't go to places and talk about movies and talk about things and talk about music and talk about worldly stuff that even the world knows that that ought not be in a Christian's life. And so all of a sudden, I gotta live up to it. And so, neither one's okay. It's not okay not to say you're a Christian, and definitely it's not okay not to live like a Christian. Why? Because it impacts God's name. And so, Paul gives a warning. Hey, and by the way, he says to Timothy, enforce this with your church. Not enforce, but emphasize this. You'll see that at the end. These things teach and exhort. Make sure that this happens because it's vital. Your testimony affects their understanding of God. Secondly, your testimony affects their understanding of God's word, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Again, people are gonna say, I want nothing to do with that salvation thing. I want nothing to do with this idea that there is a God or that there is a heaven and a hell. I despise that person. Let me say, they could despise us because we are Christian. That's okay. But if they despise us because we're not living like a Christian and we profess Christ and they hate the doctrine because we're not living it, that's a great problem. James Stewart says, I knew that two things were essential. I knew I had to have an anointing, and he's talking about being filled with the Spirit of God. A fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit every morning so that through my very life my fellow workers would be convicted of their sin of Christ's rejection. Then I knew I had to breathe the fragrance of Christ wherever I went in that plant, so I rose every morning from my bed around six o'clock to have an hour and one half alone with God. How old is he? Do you remember? It's in the same part in the story. 16. He's getting up at 16 and getting on his knees and seeking the face of God because he recognized, I've got to live Christ. You know what, he was serious about reaching his coworkers for Christ. He was serious about evangelism. He was serious about his testimony. Again, it's a good challenge for us to look at that and say, well, you know, I mean, we may not feel like we could lift Christ in front of our coworkers, and we can't, if we're not also spending a good amount of time in prayer, a good amount of time in the word of God, because it's not gonna happen without that. And so he gets, I prayed for grace never to lose my temper, that I might keep sweet in every possible circumstance, You see, you can't afford to talk about the Lord Jesus and then lose your temper when they provoke you. You can't retaliate. You've got to keep smiling. So I prayed for grace. Naturally, I was taunted and teased. Many of these were church members, but they had not the saving power of Christ in their life. They just went to church. Others were just plain irreligious. And he said, I'm gonna live this in front of them. I just wonder today, what do people think about your God and his doctrine because of your work ethic at work and your testimony for Christ at work? Okay, we're gonna work for some unsaved people, and unsaved people are gonna be observing us and say, I know that's a believer, I know they go to church every Sunday, they oughta know that. and they're faithful, and they're active, and they're involved, and they talk about the things of God, and they talk about doing these things, but if our life doesn't back it up, heaven help us, because we've heard the testimony of God, and the testimony of His word. So we don't wanna do that, so we need to respect our unsaved boss. Get under that authority, get into that harness, have a good work ethic, and remember that we have a testimony, okay? So guard those things. Okay, so respect your unsaved boss. Let's move on now. Respect your saved boss. Respect your saved boss. I had saved bosses when I was a student, especially at Bob Jones, and I became a graduate assistant. I would work 30 hours for the university, and then do work on my master's degree, And so I thought, you know, this is great. I'm going to be working. And I had already worked there at Bob Jones, but I'd never worked as kind of a staff person with other staff people, adults, you know. And so I remember we'd have meet for prayer and stuff. And I just remember recognizing that it really takes the grace of God for a lot of Christians to come together and agree. You know, you think it's just gonna be like heaven, all those Christians, but there can be carnal Christians as well, and it really takes the grace of God, but it's a good thing to work for. Psalm 133 says, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. All right, does Satan want our church to be unified? Does Satan want your family to be unified? No. Any of that relationship, if you're working for a saved person, does he want unity there at work? He absolutely does not, so he's gonna attack that. And so we need the grace of God to protect that. And so what can help us with that? Well, respect your saved boss. Recognize their authority over you. And I know we've already considered this, but verse two, it says, and they that have believing masters. Now, if I'm saved and they're saved, are we brethren? Yes, we're brothers in Christ. We're sisters in Christ. So we're equal. There's equality there. I mean, they're not better than me. I'm not better than them. There's equality there. But just because they are saved, Don't I still have to recognize that they're over me when it comes to work? They're still my boss. They're still the one that is gonna answer to God for that business or whatever it is. They still have the authority, they still have that leadership, and so you gotta remember that position that is under them. As an assistant pastor, obviously my pastor was saved. You do expect that, right? He hired me. And there was some disunity, sadly, in the church. And he said, I just want you to know that there's one thing that matters, and that is that you're loyal to my leadership. I thought that was good. Why, because he hired me. He's the pastor, I'm the assistant pastor. It is a work relationship, even though we understand the spiritual dimensions of that. But it's important for me to recognize, he's the one that's over me, God's put him over me. I say again, it's good for us in a church to understand the position of pastor that God's given to us, and the spiritual leadership that he's put within our church, that that is a good thing that God has given, but that doesn't always happen in a church. And so in this case, he was saying, if everybody else rebels, you're under my authority in this position. And that was a good reminder that he was my, a believing master, as it were. He was my authority. And then recognize God gave them authority over you. Verse two. Let them not despise them because they are brethren. Again, this has the idea, this is equality. Now, could it happen that with that, could there be jealousy towards that brother that's over you? And the answer is yes, just like with Joseph. Joseph, the youngest of the brothers in a physical family. He was told by God that he was gonna be the, you know, over his brothers through a dream. And he told his brothers the dream and they didn't go, oh, that's great, you're gonna be my boss. That's great that you're gonna have authority over me. What'd they do? They tried to kill him because they thought, who are you to put yourself over me? And again, praise God for people that are believers that can work for another believer and put themselves under. I know of a pastor that pastored a large church, a very large church, has a large radio ministry. And I don't know if they do television or not, but they got a seminary and they got other things going on there at the church. But when he resigned and they hired a new pastor, the new pastor knew him well and said, pastor so-and-so, I'd like to ask you to come back and we'll make a position for you here at the church. because I need you here, I need your counsel, I need your insight. But you know, in doing that, basically he was the pastor, which was the chief man of that ministry, but he came back under a younger man, and as an older man, put himself under to serve that man. And that's a great example of what it's speaking about. Not despising the fact that, you know, there's a brother in the Lord, but I don't despise you because you're a brother. You know, again, it could be a very good thing to work for a believer. And so then recognize the need to work hard for them. It says in verse two, but rather do them service. Okay, they're your brother in Christ. Don't despise them and think enviously about them like I wish I was the boss instead of you. but rather I'm going to make you look as good as possible. Again, just thinking about pastors and assistant pastors. I know some men that were assistant pastors for years and were content in that second position in ministry. My youth pastor growing up, Reggie Coleman, he was a youth pastor for 20 some years. I know of other ones that, same thing, 20 years. I know of one man that I can think of in Michigan, he is still an assistant pastor. His whole ministry, he's been an assistant pastor, and that's kind of like being content to play second fiddle your whole life and never get up to that first position, but they are servants and they are making the person that's at the top, as it were, in our mindset as we think about that, look good. and promoting them and serving them. That's a great thing. If you're an employee, again, what should your desire be? To do so well that your boss looks good. Help them look good. That's a good way to look at it. So do them service. And so just some points to encourage us in that, that he gives to Timothy, a believing boss ought to be a great boss. They ought to be a great boss. Now, maybe they will be, maybe they won't be, but they ought to be. Notice what it says, because they are faithful. They're part of those that, if they're right with God, they're going to get it right. Maybe not all the time, maybe not going to have perfect personality, but they're certainly not going to say to you, hey, you got to work on Sundays. They're not going to say to you, hey, you want to go out and have a drink after work? I mean, there's gonna be a lot of things that are consistent in their life, that are consistent with God. Again, they're not gonna have a perfect personality, but they're gonna be a believer, and they're not gonna try to get you to do things contrary to God. What a blessing to be in an environment like that. They're not gonna have wicked music that's blaring over the radio. if they have control over that. And so it's gonna be a good environment. They're not gonna allow modesty and wickedness into that business because they're gonna protect that. So you can stop and think about it. You go, you know, if I'm working for a believer, even though I could be jealous of this, there are a lot of good things about this. And maybe I'm making us a bit jealous because frankly, again, there's gonna be very few opportunities for us to be able to work for somebody like that. But you can be that person for somebody else. Maybe you'll start a business and you can hire people from our church, who knows? Maybe someday, but we got to recognize that and say that would be a good thing to be able to work for somebody that's a believer. Maybe God will allow some of us the opportunity to do that. And so a believing boss ought to be somebody that is a faithful person. And then a believing boss is the apple of God's eye. Faithful and beloved. That's a person that God loves. Now the unsaved boss that you've got to yield to and you've got to obey, let me say it this way, are they part of the beloved? No. The beloved are those that are saved. There's a special love that God has. God loves the world. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But men are not loved in this sense until they get saved. And so if I've got a saved boss, just think about this, God cares deeply about them. Now, if God cares deeply about them as part of his beloved, his child, I need to be very gracious in the way that I treat them. Right? That's God's child. God has a special love for it. They are faithful and beloved. By the way, so am I, faithful and beloved. Ephesians 1.6, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Praise God for that reality, right? That we're loved by God, and so is our boss. And so that's a great environment too, because that would have the blessing of God. And then a believing boss has tasted the goodness of God, again, like you. It says partakers of the benefit. They're enjoying the same blessings. They know what it is like to be saved. They know what it is to be a Christian family. They know what it is to get on their knees in the morning maybe before they come to work and to pray and to say to God, oh God, help me to lead the business correctly. They might have a vision about how to use that business for God and for God's glory. They might have been looking into eternity thinking, today I want to work as unto God, I'm going to lay up treasures in heaven and they're feasting on the same things as us. And it's just a reminder to us, it is the same family and you're on the same team. It's frustrating as a parent if your kids don't get on. Now, praise God, many families aren't like that, but there are a lot of families that are, where the kids are just at it all the time, they're all the time attacking each other, and the parent goes, hey, come on, we are in the same family. It shouldn't be like that. And again, Paul's just saying, hey, you're on the same team. You're on the same team. You're going for the same goals. You know, again, and a Christian employer is a great thing. It's a great thing. In the United States, I can think of three that are Christian employers. Chick-fil-A is a restaurant that, you know, It advertises with cows that have spray painted on them, eat more chicken. This is how they advertise. They sell chicken sandwiches, all sorts of chicken stuff. But it's a Christian owned restaurant. And they hire a lot of Christian young people. And guess what, they're closed on Sundays. They're not open. You can't work on Sundays if you work for Chick-fil-A. There's another one that is Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby, Same thing, it's a Christian business. And they're closed on Sundays. And so you can't even, you don't even have to work on the Lord's Day. The Ark Encounter is another one. You've seen that, the big ark that they've made? The Ark Encounter is a Christian employer. Now praise God for these places. You know, and if you're a believer, this business, it's a great environment. And I wanna say this about those businesses as well. Those businesses are thriving. Those businesses are doing really well because they have the blessing of God. What a great place to work for. And so maybe someday again, God will give us that opportunity to have a Christian employer. And so now Paul says at the end of verse two, he says, these things teach and exhort. He emphasizes, do not let your churches think that it's okay just to be a bad employee. That's not okay. He says to us and says to the church, be the very best employee that you can be. Our mindset ought to be, if I'm gonna work for somebody, if I'm gonna do something for somebody, then whether that person is saved or they're unsaved, I recognize their authority. And I recognize that I represent Christ, especially to the unsaved. And that when people see me and the way I work, they look at me and they make a judgment call about God. They make a judgment call about the word of God. And so my life impacts that. And then if I'm in a Christian environment, I don't despise that Christian and think, well, who are you to be my boss? I work hard for them. I try to make them look good because that's what a Christian ought to do. You're on the same team if that's the case. And so God help us just to say, you know what? I want to be the best employee that I possibly can be and really glorify the Lord. And that's a good, it's a good practical challenge for us tonight. So let's pray as the spirit of God to bless the word of God to our hearts tonight. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would give us grace to consider the truth here tonight. And Father, I praise you that the Word of God has power. And Father, it might be the Spirit of God really put his finger on something with regard to our employment. And Father, our work ethic, our submission to authority, Our spirit, our testimony, what we say, what we do, we might have to go to somebody at work and say, I'm sorry, I'm a Christian. I should have said that before. But I want you to know that I love God and that I don't want to listen to those stories anymore. I don't want to be around that kind of language anymore because I want to honor God. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God give grace to us as a church, let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. There's no better place for that to take place than for a godly Christian in a secular workplace. And Father, if we have the privilege of being a Christian boss, we ought to be the best boss. And so Spirit of God, just take the truth of the word of God, put it deep in our hearts and bless your word now. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, we will continue on here I have written