A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall says how we do our job speaks volumes to those who are watching.

John Randall: When you show up at the job site, are you going to the office? Are you going to the classroom? Perhaps your conditions are not favorable. Maybe your boss is not a believer. Maybe her life is deplorable. But regardless, you still have the responsibility to live a Christian life before them.

And therefore, you, me, we should be the best employees there are. We really should be, of any company. I'm not saying you're going to have employee of the month 12 months running, but I'm working toward it. It should be my desire. Imagine if that is you and every month it is just you. That is good. That should be the goal, to be the best employee they have.

Guest (Male): At various points of our lives, most of us will be in the workforce. Whether you are a janitor, a doctor, or a schoolteacher, God wants to use you in a wonderful way. Today on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall will show us how to demonstrate the presence of God in our lives on the job. It is a highly practical study framed around 1 Peter chapter two. But before we get to that, let's see together what Peter has to say about liberties.

John Randall: In John chapter eight, Jesus said it this way in verse 31, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. If the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed." Real freedom, true freedom is found in knowing the word and knowing Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 3:17, Paul said, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Oh, we are free in Christ. We have been liberated.

When we talk about Christian liberty, it can refer to several things. The gospel of Jesus Christ provides liberty; we have been freed from the bondage of sin and death. But the Bible also speaks of a Christian's liberty in the context of what a Christian should be involved with and what a Christian should avoid being involved with. Peter gives a warning here concerning the tendency in human nature to use liberty in Christ as a license to sin. He said, "Don't do it. Don't use your liberty that you have in Christ as a cloak for vice."

When he uses the word cloak, it is the idea of Christian freedom that is masked for ungodly license. It gives you the appearance to cloak the real intention of the state of affairs, offering a false reason or a false motive, an excuse or explanation. In the book of Jude, Jude warns about such people that actually come into the body of Christ who do this very thing. He tells us in Jude chapter one, in verse four, he warns believers. He says there are certain men who have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation.

He says they are ungodly men. Here is what makes them ungodly: they turn the grace of God into lewdness and they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They come in stealthily and they use Christian terminology. They say the right things and do the wrong thing. They use it as a cloak for vice and they make excuses in the process. Paul said something along these lines as well in Romans chapter six, verse one. He said, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"

If God is glorified by being gracious—and it is true, God is glorified in the way that he shows us grace—then why don't I give him more opportunity to show grace by sinning? If I sin, God gets the opportunity to be gracious, so he can be glorified in this, and I will have a powerful testimony. No, that is a misunderstanding. You want to beef up your testimony? Go live in sin and then come back and tell everybody how gracious God was because now your testimony is legit. I am not ranting, I am just sharing with you for a second. You want a powerful testimony? Here is a powerful testimony: I got saved, I have lived with Jesus a pure life my whole life, and I have walked with him since I was a child.

That is a powerful testimony. It is just as powerful as, "I used to do drugs, I used to rob people, I used to beat up people, I blew up a few buildings, I was incarcerated for 25 years and now I am born again and God is using me all over the world." That is powerful, but not any more powerful than the person who has walked with Jesus their whole life. It is easy to sin; it is hard not to. Never underestimate your testimony. But the point is this: shall we sin that grace might abound? The answer to that is no, certainly not. That is the strongest negative you can use in the Greek language.

Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He said, "All things as a Christian, all things are lawful for me." In other words, I have liberty. But he adds that not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, I have freedom and liberty, but not all things edify. I do not want to use my liberty as a cloak for vice, which some people do, and it is a mistake. It is sin to do that. William Barclay said it in a profound way. He said any great Christian doctrine can be perverted into an excuse for evil.

He said the doctrine of grace can be perverted into an excuse for sinning to one's heart's content. The doctrine of the love of God can be sentimentalized into an excuse for breaking his law. The doctrine of the life to come can be perverted into an excuse for neglecting life in this world. He went on to say there is no doctrine so easy to pervert as that of Christian freedom. When the Bible says that we are free and God has liberated us, it means that he has liberated us from a life of sin. I do not have to do that any longer. I used to, but now I am free not to.

God did not free you so you could go back to it; he freed you so you did not have to go back to it. That is what Peter is saying. Don't use your liberty and your freedom as a license for vice to get involved in something and say, "Hey, I'm a Christian but God is good, forgiveness, hey, I love to be forgiven." Of course we do, and God is gracious. But there were Christians that Peter was writing to that felt that their freedom in Christ now made them free from the laws of the land. They felt moral laws no longer applied.

Some felt they could take advantage of their freedom in every respect, and some of them even gave themselves over to all kinds of sensual indulgence by casting off every moral and civil law. Peter saw this danger and so he said not to use your freedom to go back, but instead be good examples to those around you. When Paul wrote to Titus in chapter two, verse seven, he said, "In all things show yourself to be a pattern of good works. In doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you."

It is a consistent message. Live in such a way so that you are above reproach. They will see you as a good witness, whether that is in a political situation where you submit to the governing authorities. Recognize that their authority comes from God and do your best to lead a peaceable life before the Lord. But not only in the area of civil authority, but also in a Christian's vocational life. Look at verse 18. It says, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief and suffering wrongfully."

Some of your translations may read "slaves." In the first century, there were many slaves—an estimated 50 to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, which was one-third of the population. Cities like Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome were made up of mostly slaves. Some of them were treated well; they were professionals who were brought into the family and welcomed in. Others were treated like garbage, pieces of property that could be thrown away. But many of these slaves had gotten saved. They became Christians and discovered the truth of God's word that they were free.

The Bible says there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, but all are one in Christ. Slaves, although employed by a master, were free men in the Lord. And yet they were still to be faithful where they were. Today, we do not have slavery in this context and no man or woman should be a slave to anyone. The Bible speaks against that. But it is important to understand this application for us in terms of employer and employee relationships. Employees, be submissive to your employers with reverence and respect. Not just to the nice boss, the gentle kind, but also to the harsh.

When you show up at the job site, perhaps your conditions are not favorable. Maybe your boss is not a believer or her life is deplorable. Regardless, you still have the responsibility to live a Christian life before them. Therefore, we should be the best employees there are for any company. I am not saying you are going to be employee of the month 12 months running, but that should be the desire. That should be the goal, to be the best employee they have. There are places that God sends you that I will never have the opportunity to go.

There are people that work next to you that I will never have a chance to sit down with at lunch and share Jesus. You are with them every single day. Right outside those doors right there, there is a massive sign. You could walk by it and not see it, but it says, "You are now entering your mission field." We walk out those doors, and that is the field. Jesus said the fields are ripe with harvest; pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his field. We go out from this place in order to sow the seed of the word of God.

Do you look at your workplace like a mission field? Ask the Lord to change your perspective to see it as an opportunity. Ultimately, being the best employee is because you do not just work for the person that signed your check. Ultimately, I work for Jesus. My work is to be done as unto the Lord. So no matter what position he puts me in, I want to glorify the Lord. If you hate your job, see it for right now as an opportunity to be a light and a witness.

Peter says to be submissive not just to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. You may have a boss who is not very nice. You are not sure how your boss is going to be and you are bracing for impact when you walk in. What do you do if you have a harsh boss? You pray for them. I used to have a very harsh boss who was critical and mean. He would have me do things that nobody else wanted to do just to try to break me down. Some people can handle authority and some people cannot.

I was getting frustrated at first. In my mind, I was thinking I was tired of it. This was a long time ago, like 30 years ago. But the Lord started ministering to my heart and said, "John, I want you to pray for this guy. Every time he says something, just start praying for him in your heart." I started praying for this guy and I realized his marriage was a mess and his kids were struggling. This guy was so frustrated and he needed Jesus. That was the problem. A change happened, and it started with me.

God was changing my heart. God put this guy in my life to teach me something about his love and to change me. Peter says, "What credit is it if, when you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?" In other words, you did something you were not supposed to do and then you got corrected for it. That is not persecution; you blew it. On the other hand, when you do good and you suffer and you take it patiently, that is commendable before God. That is something that God takes notice of and blesses.

If you go to work and you are a lazy worker, you are not showing up on time or you are trying to cut corners while claiming to be a Christian, do not think you are being persecuted if you get written up. You are being corrected because you showed up 30 minutes late. Do not use your faith as an excuse. Be a hard worker. On the other hand, if you are doing your job and you are being persecuted because you are a Christian, let the way you work be a demonstration of your faith.

If you were not hired to be a full-time evangelist, then do the job you are called to do. Then, on your lunch break, evangelize. Invite them over for dinner or look for opportunities off the clock to share your faith. Look for an opportunity to bring the words after the fact. God will give you those opportunities. But if you are evangelizing when you are supposed to be working and you get called out for it, that is on you.

Also, if you are a Christian businessperson and you publicize that you are a Christian with your favorite scripture on your card, but then you rip people off, take the scripture off. It is a bad witness. If you are going to be a Christian, then be it. I say that because people will tell me that someone who goes to my church ripped them off. You should hold them accountable. Make sure that we are living out our Christian faith in a way that pleases God and is a good testimony. That is our mission field.

When I make mistakes, I apologize and own up to it. Peter is saying to these believers to do their best to live a life that honors God with civil obedience. So when they come against you, you withstand it by your testimony. Do your best with your boss or your manager to work in such a way that honors God, so that those who are unbelievers will see your example and recognize what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you will be the one that God uses in their life to lead them to Christ.

It is such a powerful opportunity and such a blessing to be able to do that. Peter tells them in verse 21, "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, he committed himself to him who judges righteously." We look to the example of Jesus.

He came to this earth, he did what was right, and they crucified him. He suffered for doing what was right, but he did not revile. He had every opportunity. In the garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers were coming to arrest him and Peter sought to defend him, Jesus said, "Don't you know that I could call down legions of angels right now if I wanted to?" One angel would be enough to wipe them out, but he did not.

He bore our sins in his own body so that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. He has healed us by his stripes. There is the example to follow. If you are in a situation in your job or your life where you are surrounded by people who are hostile or difficult to work with, or a family situation that is toxic, you follow the example of Jesus.

Guest (Male): Jesus is the ultimate example for us to follow in our daily walk. Pastor John Randall has just polished off 1 Peter chapter two as we continue through the Bible on A Daily Walk. His message called Living Out Your Faith can be heard again at adailywalk.org or through the Calvary South OC app. It is always encouraging to hear from our listeners. Even just a brief email letting us know you are listening and where means a lot.

It is an opportunity to say thanks to God for what he is doing. Share a praise report or a prayer request today. You can email that to us at adailywalk@gmail.com. We've picked out an encouraging book this month from John MacArthur titled Twelve Ordinary Men. John uncovers how the Master shaped his disciples for greatness and how he wants to do the same with us.

You don't have to be perfect to do God's work, and the 12 disciples are proof of that. We're making this available to our A Daily Walk listeners for the special price of $12 at adailywalk.org. You can also call 877-242-0828. A Daily Walk is heard on stations like this one all across the nation, but we can't do this alone. We rely on the Lord to make this happen.

Perhaps he's stirring in your heart a desire to get involved in what we're doing. People are being blessed and helped in their daily walk, and your gifts help to make that possible. Again, to make a secure donation, drop by adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. Before the day is done, check out the A Daily Walk devotional. These short, powerful videos are released each day at adailywalk.org with the aim of helping you grow in your daily walk with Jesus.

We've seen how we're to live on the job today on A Daily Walk. Next time, our focus shifts to how we're to conduct ourselves in our marriages. Pastor John Randall will share a word for wives with 1 Peter 3 in view. Until then, let's be living for the glory of God in every area of our lives with Jesus as our example.