Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to Telling the Truth, the ministry of Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Are you living for Christ in the workplace? Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe tells you how Christ wants to transform your attitude towards work, so you can worship God in everything you do.

But first, in their two-message series Worry Less, Stuart and Jill Briscoe help you break free from worry and experience the joy and peace God wants for you. We'll send you a copy of this resource plus Jill's booklet, Me Worry?, as thanks for your gift today to help others experience life in Christ.

So call today to request your copy of Worry Less and Me Worry? at 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with today's message, "God Has a Plan for the Workplace."

Stuart Briscoe: When you think about it, we spend half our waking hours at least in the workplace. So if we're serious about living Christianly, clearly, if half the time we're serious about living Christianly is spent in the workplace, we've got to think through this whole business of the Christian's approach to work and the Christian's attitude to the workplace.

One of the things that is very noticeable is that not infrequently, people's attitudes towards the workplace are not very good. Unfortunately, Christians are sometimes caught up in the same attitude. A business management consultant went to one place and asked the managing director, "How many people work here?" And he said, "About half of them." And then they said, "Well, how long have you worked here?" He said, "Since they threatened to fire me."

Now, when you think about it, that is not too far from the attitude of many people as far as work is concerned. And if a lot of Christians were honest about it, they would have to say that their attitudes are not all that different. And that clearly is not what the Scripture teaches.

Now, the passage of Scripture that we'll look into, Ephesians chapter six, verses five through nine, actually relates to people whose work situation was very, very different from ours. It refers to those who were slaves and those who were slave owners. The reason, of course, that Paul is addressing this is it was a very real issue in the churches that he was ministering to.

Now, it's important for us to recognize that the slavery that he was addressing in the first century in the Middle East was really quite different from the slavery that we are aware of that took place here in North America and in the Caribbean years ago. Obviously, there were marked similarities, but there were some very real differences.

Let me just point out something concerning the situation that Paul was addressing. It may seem strange to us, but in actual fact, when Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesian church, he knew that sitting in church when the letter arrived would be some slave owners. Some people would actually be in church who owned slaves. And at the same time, there would be people sitting in that same congregation who were themselves slaves.

Now, there was little similarity between their social status, and yet they had become one in Christ Jesus. Now, what did that mean? What did it mean for those people who were living in totally different social standings, yet to have a unity in Christ? That was the issue that had to be addressed. Now, clearly, it was a profoundly significant issue.

People became slaves in those days for a number of reasons. Some of them had been taken captive in war and brought back with the conquering army and simply sold into slavery. When you won a war, you brought back your prisoners and then you went down to the slave market and you got yourself some bargains. You could get some good, strong men and some fine young women there at a bargain basement price, and that was how many of the people found themselves in slavery.

Some of them were simply kidnapped into slavery. But probably the majority of the people who were slaves at that time were born slaves. In other words, their mothers, at the time they gave birth, were slaves, and automatically their progeny were slaves as well. But in addition to that, and this is very strange to us, there were some people who actually voluntarily sold themselves into slavery.

You say, "Why in the world would they do that?" Well, in actual fact, such was the lot of some of the free people living in those cultures in those days that they were better off as slaves. And so they would voluntarily sell themselves into slavery, particularly if they could get into the household of a prominent Roman. And eventually, they would be able to work towards their own freedom, and then they would be Roman freemen. At that point, their status would be considerably better than it was earlier.

And of course, some of them sold themselves into slavery for no other reason than they were totally bankrupt. They had sold up all their assets, and in the end, the only asset they had left was themselves, and so they would simply sell themselves as slaves. And so there were very, very many mixed situations that Paul is addressing here.

Now, these slaves were regarded as human beings, but ironically, they were not granted the status of legal persons. So for instance, it was fully recognized that they were human beings, but they were not allowed to contract a marriage. They were not allowed to be married. Accordingly, they were not allowed to regard anybody as their kin. They couldn't talk about their sons or their daughters or their brothers or their sisters or their fathers or their grandfathers. There was no legal standing.

They were not allowed, of course, to inherit anything because if their forebears, whom they weren't allowed to identify with, were slaves anyway and didn't have any property, of course they couldn't inherit anything. And they were not allowed to represent themselves in court. They had no legal standing whatsoever. They were simply regarded as the property, the chattel, of their owner.

However, we've got to recognize that a tremendous segment of the culture was made up of slaves. In some cities, one-third of the population would be slaves. So it's quite possible that one-third of the church congregation, or perhaps even higher than that, would be in this particular situation.

Sometimes they were treated very harshly indeed. In fact, the owners had the right of execution. If a slave ran away and was caught, if he wished, the slave owner could have that man put to death. No questions asked. And yet many instances, they were treated reasonably well even though they didn't have the fundamental liberties that we would enjoy.

As a result of that, some of them became highly educated. Because they were intelligent and gifted, they were a great asset to their masters. They rose to positions of considerable prominence and importance. But remember that whilst they had prominent and eminent positions, they weren't allowed to keep any of the resources that they earned. They were simply the property of their slave owner.

So their status of the slave and the status of the slave owner were dramatically different, and the situation, of course, is fraught with difficulties. Now, you remember that the Apostle Paul in the end of Ephesians is talking about the fundamental relationships of the household. He talks about the relationship between the husband and the wife, the relationship between the parent and the child, the relationship between the slave owner and the slave.

His point is this: that if they are Christian husbands and wives, parents and children, slaves and slave owners, because they're Christian, they're going to live their Christianity out in the status in which they find themselves. In fact, Paul says quite categorically in 1 Corinthians chapter seven that if you find yourself as a slave and you become a Christian, stay as a slave but be a Christian slave. But if you're a slave owner, you find yourself as a slave owner when you become a Christian, make sure you're a Christian slave owner.

It is not a matter of changing your status, says the Apostle Paul, it is a matter of changing your attitude in the status in which you find themselves. Now, of course, because slavery was just a given as far as the economics and the culture of the day was concerned, Paul's concern here is not the abolition of slavery. But we've got to recognize that eventually there was an abolition of slavery to a very large extent because of Christian convictions that are rooted in Paul's teaching here.

Guest (Male): You're hearing from Stuart Briscoe on Telling the Truth. He has more scriptural truth to help you transform how you think about work. But before we jump back into his message, anxiety, fear, and worry can keep you in a painful state of uneasiness and limit you from truly experiencing the incredible joy and peace God wants you to have.

We want to help you break free from worry and embrace God's abiding peace with Stuart and Jill Briscoe's encouraging two-message series Worry Less. This powerful series shines a critical light on the root cause of worry and gives you practical guidance on how to rule your anxieties instead of having them rule you. It's fresh encouragement straight from God's Word to help you overcome the stresses of life, whatever they may be, so you can start living with more joy.

We'll send you the Worry Less series as well as Jill's booklet, Me Worry?, as our thanks for your gift today to help share the healing truth of God's love with people around the world through the resources and teaching of Telling the Truth. So call today to request your copy of these resources when you give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

Use your phone to make a spiritual connection with the free Telling the Truth mobile app. Listen to daily programs, read and comment on devotions and relevant study plans, and share your thoughts and prayers on the community wall. Get the Telling the Truth app through your app store today. And remember, you can give to support Telling the Truth right on our mobile app. All right, now here's more from Stuart's message, "God's Plan for the Workplace."

Stuart Briscoe: They are secondly to see themselves from a spiritual perspective. Now, I'm going to read a few verses to you, but I'm going to emphasize some words to make a point. You'll see what I mean as I read them to you. Ephesians 6 verse 5: "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that He who is both their Master and yours in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him."

Notice what Paul is doing here. He is addressing these people from a spiritual point of view. What he's saying to these slaves is this: "Yes, you were created by God. Yes, you were created in the divine image. Yes, you are loved by God. Yes, you are the one for whom Christ died. Yes, you have received the Holy Spirit. Yes, you are members of the body of Christ. Yes, you have been gifted by Him. You are spiritual people. You are eternally significant in Christ. There's neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave or slave owner, all one in Christ Jesus."

"You've got to look at yourselves from that point of view. And because you're going to look at yourselves from that point of view, there are some ramifications as far as your attitude and as far as your lifestyle is concerned. Number one: Your attitude toward your masters is going to be different from the attitude of those slaves who are not Christians. For one thing, you are going to obey them respectfully, and this is the reason: You are going to obey them with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ."

Now, there's a given here. He assumes that because they're Christians, they understand that Christians obey Christ. That's a given. It isn't enough just to say, "Jesus is my Savior." We acknowledge Jesus is my Lord. When I think of Him as being my Savior, I think in terms of the benefits that come through trusting Him. When I think of Him as my Lord, I think of the responsibilities that come through obeying Him.

And so the given here is, "You're Christians, you obey Christ." Now, he says, "How do you show your obedience to Christ?" And he says, "One way you do it is by obeying your earthly masters." You say, "What's the connection? I'm very happy to obey Christ, but I'm not at all happy to obey this character over here because he's bad news." Well, the one thing Christians understand is this: that Christ is the ultimate authority, but He has delegated authority.

And that our attitude toward delegated authority or structures of authority is intended to be a reflection of our attitude toward the lordship of Christ. And so what Paul is saying to these slaves is this: "In exactly the same way that you are recognizing the necessity to obey Christ, so you demonstrate that obedience to Christ in respectful obedience to those who are in charge of you. You may not like them. You may not appreciate what they don't do for you. You certainly don't like your status and you'd much prefer their status to yours. But put those things on one side and live obedient lives as unto the Lord."

Now, can you see immediately the difference here? Instead of having disgruntled slaves who do all that they can to rip off their master who's ripping off them, now you've got some slaves who are respectfully going to obey their master, except when the master tells them to do that which contravenes the law of Christ. But then look at the second thing here.

Because these believers now recognize that they are slaves of Christ, they will work with great integrity. They will work with sincerity of heart, not only when the boss is watching them. What does this mean? Well, as far as I understand it, what it means is this: that when a person becomes a Christian, he recognizes the lordship of Christ and his status in relationship to Christ as the servant or the slave of Christ.

So these slaves get up in the morning and they could say to themselves, "I am the slave of Joe Boggs here. Now, I don't like Joe Boggs, and I don't like the situation I'm in. But I'm going to put that on one side because there is something that transcends my slavery to Joe Boggs, and it is this: I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. I serve the Lord Christ."

Now, if we begin to think in those terms, we can immediately see the difference. For now, instead of being a slave who gets up in the morning and goes to work for his slave owner Joe Boggs, whom he detests, now he is a slave who gets up in the morning and says, "Lord, I am going to work today as if I am Your choice servant. And I'm going to conduct myself in such a way today, Lord, that You will derive pleasure from what I do."

"I don't know about my slave owner Joe Boggs over here. It's impossible to please him. But I know that if I live my life before You with sincerity of heart, with a great sense of integrity, doing the will of God as unto You, whatever my slave owner Joe Boggs might think about me, what really warms my heart is I know that Your smile of approval will be upon me."

Think of the difference here. Think of the difference of the slave who works as unto the Lord. I heard a story some time ago about one of the Renaissance artists who was doing a magnificent work of art on one of the great domed cathedrals. And of course, he had to climb up the scaffolding to do the painting. And because the perspective was so difficult as he was lying on his back doing the painting, to check it, he would have to climb all the way down because he wanted to see it from the point of view of people who look at it from down below.

And then he would go back up again and make some adjustments, and then he would come down again, and it was an endless process. And somebody said to him on one occasion, "Why do you go to all this trouble? No one can see the difference up there." And he said, "The Lord can. The Lord can." And there is somebody who is working as a slave of Christ with integrity, doing the will of God from the heart.

But read on. The Apostle Paul then also suggests that they should be enthusiastic about what they're doing because they are serving the Lord Christ. They are serving the Lord Christ. Now, of course, there is a situation where the slave goes to work for his master, and he knows that the master is making a bundle out of him. And here he is with his back bent and his hands calloused, and he has no rights, and he can't even call a wife his own, he can't even call children his own. He can't even regard his father and his mother and his grandfathers as his grandfathers, mothers, and fathers. And he has no representation, he can be abused, and there's no sense of appeal, and it's a rotten, sinking situation.

And he gets up in the morning and he says, "Well, I've got to go and work for that guy again. And I'm not terribly enthusiastic about working for him today." And then he remembers one thing: "But I'm going to serve the Lord Christ. I'm going to serve the Lord Christ. And at the end of the day, I'm going to take what I have done and I'm going to present it to Him. And I'm going to wait until I hear from Him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'"

Can you imagine the difference between this Christian slave and a non-Christian slave? And then the Apostle Paul reminds them of something else. He said, "Now, you Christian slaves have got to remember something. You may not get much reward down here, but I'll promise you something: that it doesn't matter whether you're a slave or a master, if you serve the Lord Christ, the Lord will reward everyone according to whatever he has done, whether he is a slave or the master."

So what are they thinking about? They know as far as earthly reward is concerned, forget it. Forget it. None, zilch, nada. But there's something that keeps them going. And the thing that keeps them going is they honestly, genuinely believe that to the extent that they do these things serving the Lord Christ, there will be eternal ramifications and there will be an eternal reward for them. Can you imagine the difference between the Christian slave and the non-Christian slave?

If you put together these three simple principles: Number one, you regard the workplace as a place of worship. You regard work as being innately, intrinsically of eternal value. And you regard people as being created in the divine image. It will utterly transform your work day. And if it transforms your work day, I promise you something: it transforms at least 50% of your waking hours. And that's an offer that nobody would refuse.

So let me encourage you to ask yourself this question: What difference would there be to my attitude in work, my production, and my workplace if I introduced these spiritual principles on Monday morning? Think about it, pray about it, and do what you need to do.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much. Before we go, just a reminder that when you give to support Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one, we'll send you the Briscoes' two-message series Worry Less and Jill's booklet, Me Worry? These encouraging resources will help you start to worry less and live with more joy.

So please request your resources when you call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thank you for listening today. Join us again as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's Word. Come back and experience abundant life in Christ next time on Telling the Truth.