And amen. Coming this evening to Ephesians and chapter number six. And if you were here last Wednesday night, we have commenced this last chapter of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, although the subject we picked up is continued on with is really part of chapter five, as Paul has been talking about spirit-filled relationships. And we want to read again from Ephesians chapter six. And we're going to read the first nine verses together. So let's read Ephesians chapter six and verse number one. Paul writes, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good Thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him." See, we've been continuing looking at the relationships, the spirit-filled relationships, and we began looking at marriage, husbands and wives, and then we moved on to children and to parents and I don't know if you have left here in this last couple of weeks feeling unfit or unqualified or unable to fulfill what God is asking you and certainly I feel it's a tall task what the Lord is asking us in these verses but I read this little quote today and I thought it was helpful and it says that God's commandments always include His enablements. God's commandments always include His enablements. And I think it's really important that we remember that tonight, that God is not asking us to be a wife or a husband or a father or a mother or a child, that He expects us to be without enabling or empowering us. And as we are going through these different relationships together, it's really important that we remember that we are empowered and enabled by the Spirit of God. Ephesians 5 and 18 is that key and central verse to maintaining these Spirit-filled relationships, where Paul said, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. We will never be the husband, the wife, the mother, the father, the child, the employee, or the employer that God wants us to be, except we be filled daily with the Spirit. So it's really important that as we leave here, perhaps feeling challenged that we're not able to live what God wants us to live out. Remember that God's commands always include his enablements. And always go back to verse number 18 of chapter 5. As we've come into chapter number 6, Paul continues on this theme of maintaining spiritual relationships and beginning with the home place before he moves on to the workplace. And hopefully we'll get to the workplace this evening. But last time, To recap, we began looking at the home place, and we began looking at the subject of having holy homes, and we thought about the fact that Paul has a message for the whole family. God is interested not just in our marriages, but also in the homes that we have. Verses 1-3 we see Paul's charge to children. He speaks to the children who would have been listening. And of course it was a culture where children were treated wrongly, they were being abused, they were ill thought of. But Paul had a word specific for the children of that day. He says, first of all, in verse 1, the children are readily, you're to readily heed your parents. He says, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Children are to honor their parents, they're to obey them, they're to recognize them as God's authority figure over their lives. And so for that reason, heed them in all that they ask them to do. And then in verse number two we see that children are also called to rightly honor their parents. And Paul quotes from the Ten Commandments and he calls us to honor our father and mother, respect them, regard them, see them for who they are and for what they are. And we looked at the fact that the Lord done that. even on the cross, how that he honored his mother Mary. And this is a command without an expiry date. And the whole reason is that it may be well with us that we might live lives that are free from the consequences of disobedience. But as Paul moves then from his charge to children, he then in verse number 4 brings a principle for parents. He sets out some principles for parents. I read this and thought it was quite funny. An experienced parent once said, that before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories. And maybe that's how you feel, maybe having parented children, maybe you feel you're no further on or experienced with them. But thankfully, God doesn't give us theories for parenting, but he gives us truths for parenting regardless of our family size. We looked at the first half of verse 4 last week, and the first principle for parents, Paul says, is treat your children well. He says, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. He says, essentially, don't cause your children to resent you, how you treat them. And we looked at seven different ways in which we can cause our children to resent us by being too harsh or too hard or too busy and all of those other things. Paul begins with the negative in verse number four before switching to the positive. Because he says, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, treat your children well. And then he says, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His second principle for parents, and this is where we left it last week, is teach. your children well. Ball now switches to the positive and he encourages parents and exhorts them to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And I would say a great majority of us in this room tonight can be thankful to God for the fact that we have been brought up and had the blessing of being brought up in a home where we were nurtured and taught the truths of the Lord. Something never to be taken for granted. But here, Paul tells us that God has called parents to be teachers and has designated the home as the classroom. And he's not talking about teaching us just the things of life, but also the things of the Lord. God has called parents, those of us who have been given the privilege of parenting, that we see our home as a classroom. And that's a principle that goes way back almost to the beginning. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 19, where the Lord In his pre-incarnate form, he visited the tent of Abraham and Sarah, and as he took Abraham out to survey the land of Sodom, and as he told Abraham what he was going to do, listen to what it says in Genesis 18 and 19. He says, for I know him. That's Abraham. For I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him. And they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. The Lord, as he looked at Abraham, he says, here is a man who I know is going to teach his children, keep his household in order, so that they may keep the way of the Lord and do justice and judgment, that they will live right before the Lord. Then the question is asked, what are we as parents to teach our children? Well, we could sum it up like this. We are to teach our children the right ways of life and the righteous ways of the Lord. We are to teach our children the right ways of life. That's what the Lord spoke of in Genesis 18 and 19, to do justice and judgment, that they might know how to conduct themselves and live justly and uprightly. We are to teach our children the right ways of life, but we're also to teach them the righteous ways of the Lord. Or as Paul puts it here, the discipline of the Lord and the directives of the Lord. And I think there's a great challenge here for us as parents because sometimes it's very easy to put everything onto the church, that it's up to the pastor or the youth leader or the Sunday school teacher to teach my children the things of God. It is to a degree, but God expects us to start in the home. We can't put it all onto the church. The home existed before the church and God desires the home to be a classroom. Let's look here at the two things that God has asked us as parents to teach our children. First of all, he says, bring them up in the nurture of the Lord. We could class it like this. The nurture of the Lord is the discipline of The word nurture literally means discipline. It's a broad term that signifies whatever parents and teachers do to train, to correct, to cultivate and educate children in order to help them develop and mature as they ought. Let me give you that again. It's a broad term signifying whatever parents and teachers do to train, correct, Cultivate and educate children in order to help them develop and mature as they ought. Really what Paul sets before us here is a charge to keep children on the right course, to ensure they grow and develop and mature properly. You know, it's up to us as parents to set our children on the right course. It's our job as parents to help develop them and mature them. And you know, how do we do that? Well, it takes a mix of gentleness and firmness, counsel and correction, fine adjustments and large input. Somebody has told me, and I never forgot this, that the best way to sum this up is it takes, it's like holding a wet bar of soap. If you hold it too tightly, it jumps out. If you hold it too loosely, it drops. It takes that fine touch. And that's what we are to do as parents. In fact, Solomon captures Paul's sentiment right in Proverbs 22 and 6 when he says, train up a child in the way that he should go. Well, let me give you that another way. Set that child on a right course and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Invest time in your children, disciplining them, bringing them up. Sometimes that requires firmness, where we talk about chastening. Other times it takes explanation. Whatever it is. If we look at Eli, Eli was busy in the work of the Lord, but he failed to set his sons on the right path. Subsequently, they died having gone off course. What a challenge it is to us as parents to seek to set our children on the right course. If they deviate off that course at a later time, then the Lord will not hold us accountable if we've sought to set them first on the right paths. We're to teach them the discipline of the Lord, But then secondly, Paul says we're to teach them the directives of the Lord. He says, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The word admonition means instruction. It implies teaching God's ways through God's words. Again, I'm going to repeat it. It's not up to pastors, but parents. to teach children. It's not up to Sunday school teachers and youth leaders, but mothers and fathers to spend time teaching their children the Word of God. Not just teaching them knowledge, but how the Word is to be applied in their lives. break it down that they might understand it. I love what Albert Barnes says, and I don't agree with everything that he believed, but he did say this, and I think it's very helpful. If a man does not teach his children truth, others will teach them error. And unfortunately, depending on the class that they're in or the teacher they have, they may be being taught error from the youngest of ages. And that's why it's so important from their earliest days that they're taught the truth of God's word. What does God's Word say about creation? What does God's Word say about gender? What does God's Word say about marriage? What does God's Word say about the home? What does God's Word say about all these different things? And so that the children from their earliest days are bathed in truth, that at home they are taught truth so that when others try to teach them error, they've already got a barrier in place from their Bibles. Challenge to my heart, and I'm sure it is to yours, as we answer the question, how are we getting on teaching our children at home? As we look at our home life, have we spent time explaining God's Word? On a Sunday afternoon, do we sit over the dinner table and talk about the sermon Not to be critical, but to ask your children what they picked up. Do we spend time asking them what they're learning in Sunday school? Do we spend time going through God's Word and asking what they were learning about in school? Do we counsel, comfort, and correct them from God's Word? You know, I have had the joy, and I'm sure you have, of teaching my children many things. Unfortunately, I didn't teach Jonah to ride a bike. Rachel will take credit for that. But it's great to teach our children how to ride a bike, how to pick up an instrument, how to play a sport. Wonderful thing, and it's so important that we spend those times with our children. But somebody has said this. They've said, make sure the temporal events are seasoned. with a healthy dose of the eternal words. It's great to spend time in sport and music and all these other things, and it's really important to have that family time, but make sure they are seasoned with a healthy dose of the eternal word. As we move on then from verse number four, Paul takes us from our homes to the place of work. He takes us then from the private place to the public place, because in verse five, he moves out of the front door, he goes into the office, and he begins to speak to servants. He says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, and so on. And Paul, from verses five to nine, begins to set out for us what we could call some workplace guidelines. If any one of you this evening works for or has worked for a well-established, well-run company, you no doubt will have received workplace guidelines of some sort, perhaps alongside your contract. Maybe a document of a company policy, a code of conduct, a document that details what's expected of an employee by their employer, A document that sets out working conditions, workplace behavior, disciplinary procedures, and what is and what is not acceptable in work. I don't, probably most of us, whenever I was in work I filed that in my drawer, didn't really read it. But, you know, that's a really important document, because on the one hand, that document acts as an instruction manual for employees in their workplace, but on the other hand, it should also act as a protection manual, too, for the management who put that document in place are bound to operate within their own code of conduct. Similarly here in Ephesians chapter 6 and verses 5 to 9, Paul sets out some workplace guidelines. A code of conduct for all Christian employees and employers that supersedes any company policy. Simply, if you go to work in any kind, whether you're self-employed, whether you're employed, or whether you own a company and employ other people, Ephesians 6 verses 5 to 9 supersede any other standard that you may hold to. Just as with the other areas Paul has touched on, he deals with the workplace for good reason here in Ephesians. Employer relations were at an all-time low in that society. While some Roman masters were kind, they were largely abusive to their servants and in turn treating them like dirt. Subsequently, servants were largely abhorrent of their masters, viewing them with disdain. So there was real tension in the workplace between employers and employees. Now while Paul couldn't fix all the factions in all the workplaces in Ephesus, he could make an impact on the Christians who sat on both sides of the table, who were employers and employees. Which is why we find Paul here in verses five to nine delivering first of all a word for workers in verses five to eight and then he gives a mandate for masters. Now we're not going to get through all of that this evening but we're going to start off tonight as we consider now as we move on into workplace guidelines we're going to consider first of all a word for workers. Verse number five, Paul starts off by addressing servants. That word more literally means slaves. Paul says, slaves, be obedient to them that are your master. If you know anything about ancient Roman history, the Roman Empire contained millions of slaves. Some have estimated up to 60 million slaves worked in the Roman Empire. It's estimated one out of every two people were a Roman slave. In fact, often bondmen outweighed freemen in many of the cities. Practically all the work in a Roman Empire was done by slaves from the very menial tasks right up to the very skillful. In fact, even professional educated people like doctors and teachers were slaves to the Romans. With such a high population, slaves undoubtedly would have been in the audience that listened to Paul's letter being read in Ephesus. While today we thank God that in our part of the world slavery has been abolished, Paul's principles still apply to all who are in employment. If you are collecting your pension and you're not in employment, you can thank the Lord perhaps that you're not in the workplace today, as it is a difficult environment to work in. Paul here addresses those who are still in employment. Three things Paul addresses concerning the worker in the workplace. He speaks of their manner, he speaks of their mindset, and he speaks of their motivation. First of all, in verse number five, we find Paul addressing our manner. in the workplace. Look at what he says, the genius Albert Einstein had a formula for work. He says, if A is success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y plus Z. X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut. If you want to be successful, work, play, and keep your mouth shut. That's pretty good advice. There's no doubt about that. But you know, Paul's advice here is even better. What does Paul say? Well, what kind of a manner does Paul ask us to have in the workplace. First of all, he calls us to be a submissive worker. He says, when you go to work, be obedient. Be a submissive worker. The word obedience there is connected back to verse number one, where children obey your parents. It's connected back to wives. in chapter 5 and verse 22, and it's the whole idea of submission. It's the whole idea of recognizing someone who is an authority over us, seeing them for who they are and what they are. And so what Paul is saying here is recognize your master, recognize your boss in work, see him as an authority figure from 8 to 6, from 9 to 5, whatever it is. You may not like him, you might loathe him, But at the end of the day, he is your authority figure. And so as a Christian, as you go into work, you seek to be submissive. The word here means listening and following instructions. What Paul is saying here is in a culture in Ephesus and in the Roman Empire where slaves were dragging their heels, were seeking to be rebellious, they really had such an abhorrence for their masters. Paul says, listen folks, be a different kind of worker. Don't be a rebellious worker. but be someone who seeks to do what's expected. Someone who doesn't, and you know, I used to work with people like this, that they arrived into the office at 8.59, they left the office at 4.59, they done the bare minimum, they scraped through, they huffed and puffed when they're asked to do their job. And when you think they applied for the job, they knew the job role. And Paul says, you be different. He says, you go in and you do what is asked of you. Do what's expected of you. Get on with your work quietly. However, here's the but. As with the other relationships, disobedience is only up to the point of being asked to do something that's sinful. If our boss is asking us to do something that breaks the law, or even more, God's law, then we have no obligation to obey. Paul, as he talks about our manner in the workplace, he says, be a submissive worker, be obedient. But then he also says, be a satisfying worker. For he says, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling. Not literally fear and fret. I don't know if you have a scary boss. Some bosses are scary. Probably not allowed to give the hair dryer treatment now. The idea here is wanting to make sure we do our job right so as not to let our master die. Dwight Pentecost defines it as working with a passion to plea. If you think of the analogy of hosting a dinner party for a distinguished guest, imagine a distinguished guest, somebody who has a very high standing in society, someone who maybe is a celebrity or whatever it is, if you were having them over for dinner, you would probably be a little bit uptight, you'd be going to great lengths to make sure everything is just right, that the children are dressed right, that they're in their best behavior, that the table's nicely laid, that the food is perfectly cooked. and you fret over something not living up to the expectation, not because you're scared of them, but you just want it to be right. That's the idea here. Paul says you should be the best kind of worker a boss can have because you're working with a different attitude. He says, we are to approach our work in the same manner, respecting our boss as our superior and making our ambition to do our jobs right. Do the job right. Don't cut corners. Don't have the boss being disappointed in our performance. This is the opposite of being careless and uncaring. It's taking our job seriously and wanting to be conscientious as we do it. What kind of manner are we to have in the workplace? We're to be submissive? We're to be a satisfying worker? But thirdly, Paul says we're to be a straight worker. He says, in singleness of your heart. The phrase means to work with sincerity and with a singleness of purpose. He says, essentially, when you get up in the morning and you go to work, go to work to get your job done full stop. Have no ulterior motives. He says, do your work rightly, do your work above board, stick to the company policy, keep out of company politics, and don't seek to bend the rules. Whatever everybody else is doing, let them knock themselves out. You're a Christian, you be a straight worker. have a character that contrasts the person who's always working to get one over on the boss, who's always playing the system, who's having double standards, he says, you be different to that. J. Vernon McKee puts it like this. There should be no two-facedness. There should not be licking the boots of the employer when he's around and then stabbing him in the back when he's away. Such action should never be in the life of a Christian. You know, folks, it's so important that our yes be yes and our no be no in the workplace, that our word is true and that we can be trusted. What kind of manner are we to have in the workplace? We're to be a submissive worker. We're to be a satisfying worker. We're to be a straight worker. I don't want to just leave it there yet because we start a little later this evening. So I want to move on. Not only does Paul, as he has a word for workers, speaks of our manner in the workplace, but when we come to verses 5 to 7, he then brings before us our mindset in the workplace. Because he says at the end of verse number 5, as unto the Lord. not with eye service as men believers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to man." Oscar Wilde once said, the best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one. It's a pretty good mindset when it's not nice getting up to go to work. He says, just imagine if you didn't have a job. Good mindset, but again, Paul's counsel to Christians is even better. And just like in the other relationships with husband and wife, with children, we find again Paul's favorite phrase reappearing as it has done. Three times in three verses we find this little phrase, as unto Christ. In other words, here's what Paul is saying, and this applies to everyone, whether you're the boss or not. He says, start your day remembering, as a Christian, you're going first to work for Christ and not accomplish. When you get up tomorrow morning to go into that factory, to go onto that building site, to go into that school, whatever uniform you put on, he says, as soon as you step foot into your office, you are first working for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 and 20, we're told, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Stories told of a man called Fred. He was a clerk, or what we would call like a shop assistant in a retail store. He was rude to the customers and lazy. On several occasions, his boss was about to fire him, but he didn't follow through because of his concern for Fred's wife and children, who would suffer from his dismissal. One day, a regular customer stopped in and noticed that Fred wasn't there. He asked the manager about him and was told that he had taken another job. The customer asked, are you planning to replace him? The manager replied, no, it isn't necessary. Fred didn't leave a vacancy. Fred's work was of such poor quality that the business was better off without him. And the person that wrote that said, that should never be true of any employee, especially a Christian. Our workplace should never be better off without us. Why? Because if we're working first onto the Lord, then our work will be of very highest standards. Verse number six emphasizes this point where Paul says that we work not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Paul says in verse number six that we are not just doing our job for masters who see it on earth, but for the all-seeing master in heaven. Again, a story's told of a retired man who became interested in the construction of an addition or an extension to a shopping center. Observing the activity regularly, he was especially impressed by the conscientious operator of a large digger. The day finally came when my friend had a chance to tell this man how much he had enjoyed watching his scrupulous, careful, and skilled work. Looking astonished, the digger driver replied, what, you mean to tell me you're not the supervisor? I think there's something in that story, that it's working, realizing that our savior is always our unseen supervisor, watching over our screen, seeing us as we go about our workplace on a building site, in a school, in our classroom, in our office, whatever it is, when nobody else is looking, when we feel undervalued, maybe whatever it is, we've got to realize that there's an unseen supervisor who's higher than any earthly boss. It's our Savior. And Paul says, as the servants of Christ, then, it is our duty to work with the mindset of Christ. Verse 5, by showing by doing his will, or by doing his will in work. That's fulfilling, verse number five, that's God's will for us in work. And by showing goodwill in the workplace, verse seven, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to man. What Paul is saying is where others are griping and grumbling, complaining and criticizing, Christians are to do their work with a willing Christ-like heart. Remember, in this context, what a challenge Paul's words were in an environment where workers were being mistreated, conditions were poor, tasks were tough, bosses were truly horrible. Paul says, no matter how tight you're getting it, he says, remember, you're working for your master on earth, not for your master on earth, but for your father in heaven. I say to you tomorrow, no matter how tight you're getting it in work, remember you're not working for your master on earth, but your father in heaven. And thus Colossians 3 and 17 is to be our model for the workplace. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father by him. Do you know, folks, when we do our jobs with the mindset of Christ as unto the Lord, it will help us find joy in our jobs, even when our jobs are not joyful. I've been in the workplace. I know it's not always joyful in the workplace. But when we do it as unto the Lord, that makes all the difference. With this, I close. One commentator has said this. The great message of Christianity to every man is that it is where God has set us that we must live out the Christian life. The circumstances may be all against us, but that only makes the challenge greater. Christianity does not offer us escape from our circumstances, but it offers us a conquest of our circumstances. What a challenge that little saying is. It is where God has set us. I don't know where God has set you. He has set us all in different places. Yes, you're there to do a job, to bring home the bacon, to provide for your family. But he has also put you in your workplace to live out the Christian life, to be an ambassador for Christ. And so, as we seek to do our work, we do it first as unto the Lord, that others might see the hope that is within us and ask us of the reason of it. There's one more thing that I want to say next week to workers. Our motivation in the workplace from verse 8, and then we'll move on to verse 9 where Paul has a mandate. for masters. But I think that'll do us this evening. A bit of a muddled message finishing off from last week and moving on, but hopefully it was helpful to our hearts as we consider this second relationship or third relationship of a workplace relationship. Let's stand together and sing before we come to pray. Since Christ my soul from sin set free, the world has been a heaven to me. Amidst our sorrows, on its way to heaven, my Jesus here to know.