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Putting the Whistle Back Into Your Work (Colossians 3:22-4:1)
46 Plays2 years ago
Colossians: The Preeminence of Christ
Sunday Message recorded 17 September 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Praise
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. It's great to see you this morning. Thank you so much for praising the Lord together like that. I almost blew a gasket. So I'm telling you, our God is so good. I mean, sometimes he'll just take you right over the edge. But anyway, I just,
00:00:21
Speaker
I love him and I know you do and that's why you're here. Thank you so much for being here. If you're visiting with us, we're so glad you're here. I hope you'll come again anytime. You're always welcome here.
Christian Living in the Workplace
00:00:32
Speaker
I would like to welcome you back to Christian living as it is described in the New Testament, especially in the book of Colossians. That's where we are. We're in Colossians chapter three. We're going to begin with verse 22.
00:00:35
Speaker
uh,
00:00:46
Speaker
of chapter three and go just a little bit into chapter four, chapter four and verse one.
00:00:54
Speaker
But we're in this study on the supremacy of Christ, talking about how great he is, how worthy he is. And certainly, there's something wrong if we're so focused on his supremacy whenever we're here together, and we're just praising the Lord. And then we go to our work sites, wherever you work. And then it's like, you don't even think about him. You don't consider, how can I glorify him in this place?
00:01:22
Speaker
You know, it's interesting on these verses we're about to read because it's about where you work, right? It's about the job. But I want you to notice how often the word Lord is mentioned in these verses. It's incredible. We're going to hear it five times in five verses. In verse 22, you'll hear him talking about fearing the Lord.
00:01:43
Speaker
in verse 23 about working for the Lord. Verse 24, rewarded by the Lord. Also in verse 24, serving the Lord. And then verse one, being under the Lord, you know, being accountable to Him. I heard about one stewardess
00:02:00
Speaker
And this man that was a Christian man was on the airplane and he kept seeing this guy that was really rude. He was complaining. He was griping. He was loud in all of this. And she kept on going over there and whatever he needed, she would serve him with kindness and so forth. So finally, after seeing that the whole trip,
00:02:19
Speaker
This Christian man said to the stewardess, he said, excuse me, young lady, could you come here? He said, I just want to know your name because I want to contact American Airlines and I want to thank them for putting stewardesses like you who are so patient with all of us in the public. He said, I am so glad that you work for American Airlines.
00:02:41
Speaker
And she said, oh, I don't work for American Airlines. And he looked at her uniform, and he said, oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were a stewardess. And she said, I am a stewardess. She said, I work for Jesus Christ. She said, American Airlines just picks up the freight. And so anyway, I was like, oh, OK. But anyway, what a great sort of perspective on things. In Colossians, the theme, like I said, is the supremacy of Christ.
00:03:07
Speaker
So it's great to worship him with fervency here together today, but don't let that go into dormancy whenever you go to the work, you know, tomorrow.
Workplace Engagement and Challenges
00:03:18
Speaker
So maybe in the movies,
00:03:20
Speaker
You know, when people are going to work, maybe they can sing, have you ever heard it? Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go. But you know what, I have a feeling, I have a feeling that there's some of us, instead of singing that song, we sing a different song. We sing, oh no, oh no, it's off to work I go, something like that.
00:03:42
Speaker
You know, a recent Gallup poll that was taken actually January 2023, at least that's when it was published, said that out of 15,000 Americans that were polled, 50% said, you know what, when I go to work, I don't feel engaged. My heart is just not in it. And so then another 18% on top of the 15% that said they're not engaged,
00:04:07
Speaker
The other 18% said, we are actively disengaged. And so if you were to interview them, what you would find is if they were honest enough to admit it, they're disgruntled and they're disloyal. There's nothing that is committed about these kind of folks at work. I don't know if you can see that guy, is he smiling or is he just kind of grimacing and he's doing his work?
00:04:31
Speaker
But you know, there's a new workplace phenomenon called quiet quitting. I don't know if you've heard anything about it, but it's sort of on social media right now. But they're saying, you know what? I'm not going to go all in for the company. I'm not going to go all in for where I am. I'm going to have boundaries because I've gone over the edge before. And so I'm just going to act my wage. And I'm going to say, no, wait a minute. I'm going to give what I should give.
00:04:58
Speaker
But there are people who have something called SAD. It's Social Anxiety Disorder. Do you know that this year, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, they say there's 15 million adults
00:05:14
Speaker
who are dealing with this condition called SAD, or Social Anxiety Disorder. Some of them, I wonder if it began during the lockdowns. But it's interesting, the historical context into which the song Whistle, Why You Work. That's another song, you remember? Not only Hi Ho, Hi Ho, but you remember Whistle, Why You Work? Well, that song came out in 1937, 1938, when the film Snow White was released.
00:05:42
Speaker
Do you know that a few years before that, in 1929, the stock market crashed. As a matter of fact, it had such a negative impact on the U.S. economy, it lasted for 13 months. But then things began to pick up. But in 1937, maybe unexpectedly, in March of 1937, all the way into April of 1938,
00:06:05
Speaker
They went into a recession and stocks fell 58%, employment fell 28%, payrolls and industrial production fell 43%. But in the midst of that, they heard people going around the United States singing
00:06:21
Speaker
I'm going to whistle while I work. I'm going to be excited about going to work if I have a job because two million people had lost their jobs. But somehow, through those little songs, they found encouragement not to quit. They found encouragement for their attitude toward their jobs. They began to develop gratitude.
00:06:41
Speaker
You know, during the lockdowns from March 17 to April 17, 2020, there was a four-week period of time. Do you know that there were 22 million people in our country who lost their jobs? It was unprecedented. That's 10 times higher than any other four-week period of time in our history.
00:07:00
Speaker
But if you have a job, how can you put the whistle, so to speak, back into your work? Do you like your job? Are you full of joy?
Applying Faith at Work
00:07:11
Speaker
Do people see what you were just singing about in the workplace? I mean, it's great that we come here together and worship the Lord like that. But you know what? I think...
00:07:21
Speaker
the same joy that you have today, it should go with you tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and so forth. And so I believe Colossians 3, 22 through chapter four, verse one, you know what I think? I think it'll put the whistle back.
00:07:38
Speaker
into your spirit so that you don't expect the job to make you happy. You're just so full of the Lord. It's overflowing and you can't help but overflow with the joy of the Lord.
00:07:53
Speaker
Would you stand in honor of God's word? Let me read, it's just a very short passage, but there's so much here that I want to share with you so that you can apply this in your work, whatever kind of career you're in. It says in verse 22, bond servants, why don't we say that means employees? Bond servants or employees obey in everything those who are your earthly masters or employers, supervisors, foremen, so forth. Not by way of eye service.
00:08:23
Speaker
as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
00:08:45
Speaker
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he's done, and there is no partiality. Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Let's go to him together and ask God to speak to us from his living word.
00:09:05
Speaker
Lord, I thank you for the time that we're here together. I want to make these moments really count for eternity. And the only way I know to do that is for me to get out of the way and just let your word speak to each heart. Lord, many of us in this room, we are employed. Even some students, they're employed. They have jobs. And so what kind of attitude are we taking into our job? Perhaps that can change as we look at these passages of scripture together.
00:09:35
Speaker
Perhaps, O Lord, we can find the lift that should come from your Holy Spirit, from being filled with the Spirit and magnifying Christ, whatever we do. And so, Lord, would you just pour joy into the hearts of your people, a joy that'll be so contagious that all across Columbus and all across Colorado County, when anybody comes into the place where we're working, that they'll sense there's something different about that one. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:10:05
Speaker
Thank you. You may be seated. You know, most of the music in the West is composed of seven notes. They call it a heptatonic scale. I looked that up. I didn't know it before. But anyway, I want to give you seven notes from this passage that I think will improve the music
00:10:24
Speaker
that you are enjoying as you go to work tomorrow. The first note I want you to try is to say I want to do my work conscientiously. I want to do my work conscientiously. You know, if you were to read the Old Testament book of Proverbs, you would find that there's a real contrast between those who are diligent
00:10:44
Speaker
in their work as opposed to those who are just outright lazy in their work. There are both types of people. And so what I want you to do is look sometime into the book of Proverbs and look up the word diligent in the book of Proverbs and see what it leads to.
00:11:03
Speaker
Do you know that if you're diligent in your work, you know what it leads to? It leads to you having more authority. If you're diligent in your work, you know what it could also lead to is more opportunity for you in your work. You know, I look at this and I'm thinking, okay, it's definitely talking about those who are under authority, to employees, to those who are on the job. He calls bond servants here because of the historical context in which they were living.
00:11:32
Speaker
But you know, I think we need to know which lane are we in. Are you the boss? Are you the supervisor where you work? Are you the one in charge? Or are you under others? Let's just be honest about our own personal work identity. Our identity in Christ is totally different. We just sang about how we are like royalty. We used to be prisoners to sin, but now we're free.
00:11:57
Speaker
So that identity, that's who your core identity is. But when you go to work, is there somebody that's over you where you work? Well, I think we should talk about that because whatever they're asking us to do on a daily basis, it should be included in what we do.
00:12:16
Speaker
That's why he says bondservants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers. So in other words, I'm going to say I want to be a man, a woman, a boy, a girl of integrity. And so I'm not just going to do the right thing whenever my supervisor is looking at me, but even when they're not looking at me.
00:12:40
Speaker
I'm going to do the right thing. And we're going to get more and more into that so that we see why should we do that? If we're disciples of the Lord Jesus, we should do that because we're following Him. And that's what He is asking us to do right here. He's commanding us to do it, actually. You know, in the Old Testament, there was a man named Joseph.
00:13:00
Speaker
in the book of Genesis. And he kept being promoted. You know why? Because of his diligence. Because he was conscientious. He was thorough in his work. Whatever they were asking him to do, he just did it. You know, he was that way with Potiphar. He was that way with the warden at the prison. He was that way with Pharaoh. It didn't matter where he went.
00:13:22
Speaker
Another great example from the Old Testament would be a man named Daniel. He'd be a great life if you're wanting to learn, how can I be the best worker for Jesus where I work?
Examples of Christian Business Ethics
00:13:34
Speaker
Well, study Daniel's life. Daniel was in the Persian government at one point, and he distinguished himself, it says, in chapter 6, verse 3 of Daniel, above all the other high officials.
00:13:47
Speaker
How did he distinguish himself? It goes on to say, because an excellent spirit was in him. And that's what I'm trying to get to. What is in you? That ought to make a difference, your job output. That ought to make a difference the way you are on your job.
00:14:05
Speaker
It's not just that it makes a difference in the way you sing a praise and worship song. It should. It should be from the heart. But it should also make a difference when you're out there doing your job and when they're asking you to do this or to do that. Well, you know, there was a group that didn't like Daniel because they didn't like the way he was being promoted. So in chapter six, verse four, it says they tried to find something. They tried to say, let's see what we can get on Daniel. He can't be that squeaky clean.
00:14:33
Speaker
But you know what? It says they could find no ground for complaint. He was faithful. There was no error. There was no fault found, get this, in him. Would they be able to say something like that about you? They will if you do your work conscientiously. Do you know what the word conscientious comes from? It comes from the root word, the conscience.
00:15:00
Speaker
And what it means is I'm gonna do my work according to my conscience. And our conscience was originally given to us by God to help us know right from wrong. Unfortunately, because we are fallen, because we've sinned against the Lord, our conscience has been sort of disrupted. And so it's dysfunctional sometimes. So that's when we have the word of God. So look into the mirror of God's word today.
00:15:27
Speaker
and let it show you what you really are like on the job site. Are you conscientious? Are you diligent? If not, why don't you do that for Jesus? Maybe you'd say, they're not worth it. The place where I work is not worth it. Well, why don't you say he's worth it?
00:15:46
Speaker
Let's go to the second thing. There's a second note that we can play, not only doing our work conscientiously, but doing our work sincerely. It goes on to talk about that, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
00:16:01
Speaker
I want to clear up what sincerely means. Do you know that sincerely comes from a Greek word that means without a fold? Without a fold like you fold a blanket, there's no fold. You know what it's trying to tell us? The person that is working sincerely says, I'm not going to have anything hidden. Everything's open.
00:16:22
Speaker
And so I'm not trying to hide anything from anybody. It's like when you go to a mechanic and you say, could you fix my car? And he says, yeah, I can fix your car. Is the mechanic going to tell you exactly what's wrong or is the mechanic going to make up some things just so he can make more money? He is not being sincere. He is being deceptive with those that's doing the work. And so it just talks about having no mixed motive.
00:16:49
Speaker
It means I'm a craftsman and I'm going to do my work as into the Lord. I'm going to do it honestly. It's talking about being real. I'll tell you a great cross reference is Ephesians 4 verse 28. Ephesians 4 verse 28.
00:17:05
Speaker
It says that if any of you, before you met Christ, you used to steal, you were a thief. He said, let the thief steal no more. But instead of ripping people off, what should the thief be like at work? Well, he goes on to say in Ephesians 4.28, doing honest work with his own hands.
00:17:29
Speaker
It means you're earning it. It means that when you're on the job, you're sincere, you're genuine, you're real. And you're saying, you know what, I want to be a person of integrity. Why should you be? I give you a reason because it says, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
00:17:48
Speaker
fearing the Lord. Proverbs talks a lot about fearing the Lord. You should look that verse up too. Google in there, fearing the Lord in the book of Proverbs and see what comes up. It's over 20 times. And as a matter of fact, in the whole Bible, it's mentioned over 100 times. So what I'm trying to say is, I don't think this is sort of a side issue. I think this is one of the main things that we need to respond toward God. We need to say, when I'm doing my work,
00:18:16
Speaker
I want to remember to respect God. I want to remember to revere Him and to recall to my mind, He's watching me. You know, there was a growing Christian businessman from the past.
00:18:30
Speaker
that actually served and worked and so forth in New Zealand. He was an entrepreneur. He started his own company. And where it all began for him was when he saw Montgomery Ward's catalog. How many of you remember Montgomery Ward's? Okay, we got a few in here. Montgomery Ward's, that's right. I'm not the only one in there. But this guy, this businessman, he starts a place like Montgomery Ward's in New Zealand and he called it, eventually it was changed to farmers. Farmers.
00:18:59
Speaker
His name was Robert Laidlaw. So he's like the entrepreneur. He's the founder, right? He's the man in charge. Listen to what he wrote in 1912 about the way they were going to do business in his company. This is a quote.
00:19:18
Speaker
to build the greatest business in New Zealand, to serve the farmers in the best possible manner, with the best possible merchandise, to simplify every detail of the transaction, to absolutely satisfy every customer with every purchase,
00:19:37
Speaker
To eliminate all delays. To sell only goods it will pay our customer to buy. To treat our comrades with kindness and our competitors with respect. To work as a cooperative whole because all at it, always at it, wins success. I think he knew something. Where did he get all of that?
00:20:02
Speaker
Once again, this man was a Christian businessman. As a matter of fact, he wrote a book. He wanted others to know Christ that were within his company and outside of his company. So he wrote a little tract, a gospel tract called The Reasons Why. The Reasons Why. It was published in 1914. Do you know that it was put into 30 languages and it sold 50 million copies? But here's the thing.
00:20:30
Speaker
Do you think it would have sold 50 million copies if the people that were in his company would have said, the guy's a crook. The guy's a thief. He doesn't care anything about us or anybody. He only cares about money. He only cares about his own profits. He only cares about his own self. Do you think that that would have ever crossed anybody's mind about this guy? This guy was living the Christian life in the way he did business.
00:20:58
Speaker
And so everybody that did business with his company said, you know what, that guy, he's solid, he's solid. What I found really fascinating is a book that was published a few years ago called Your Work Matters to God by Douglas Sherman and William Hendricks, Your Work Matters to God. And what they went, they went back to the scriptures to find timeless principles like these, like these that we're reading in Colossians. And here's one of the things that it says in their book,
00:21:27
Speaker
The key to bringing the culture
00:21:30
Speaker
back to the church, to renewing the workplace and reforming the church may well be a movement of people who are known for their hard work, for the excellence of their effort, for their honesty and unswerving integrity, for their concern for the rights and welfare of people, for the quality of the goods and services produced, for their leadership among co-workers,
00:22:00
Speaker
In short, here comes the kicker. For their Christ-likeness own and off the job, what could an army of such workers accomplish?
00:22:11
Speaker
I don't think we know the answer to that. If you're out there in the workforce, why don't you show us what that looked like? Why don't we start something very powerful that would be something that people are there every day of the week? And so show them through the way that you work.
Working Enthusiastically and Facing Challenges
00:22:28
Speaker
I'm gonna be conscientious. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be sincere. I'm gonna be genuine. I'm gonna do it because I love the Lord.
00:22:36
Speaker
Well, let's go to the third note. I think the third note would simply be, do your work heartily. Do your work heartily. That's what he says in verse 23, whatever you do, so it doesn't matter, the careers in this room are not all the same, but do you know that God's placed you where you are? So do whatever you do, work heartily, not half-hearted, right? Not half-hearted.
00:22:59
Speaker
Work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. Let them see your excitement. Let them see your gratitude to have a job. Let them see that you're passionate about the quality of your work. You know, the MIT Sloan School of Management, they did some research on workers. And you know what they found about those who walk away from jobs, those who quit jobs? You know what they said?
00:23:26
Speaker
They found out that 10% are more likely to leave their job over, here comes, toxic work culture rather than compensation. So you're thinking, if I just throw some more money at it, I know it'll get better. No.
00:23:42
Speaker
You know when it gets better? When you stop having drama and toxic work culture in the office, that makes a difference. That way, everybody wants to work there because they say, man, it is a joy to go in there.
00:23:59
Speaker
And so I got to thinking, what is toxic work culture? Well, this is the way it's described in that article by MIT Sloan School of Management. They said, well, toxic work culture would be low enthusiasm, negativity.
00:24:15
Speaker
Confusion about your role, your responsibility. Nobody knows what they're supposed to do. Nobody knows how to be trained for what they're supposed to do. Chronic and excessive stress. Office gossip and bullying. High turnover rates because nobody likes to work there.
00:24:33
Speaker
And so what difference would it make if when we go to work, we are trying to glorify Christ and we are overflowing with the joy of the Lord. We have the love of Christ in our hearts and we're saying, you know what, I'm going to do my work for him. Once again, it doesn't matter what kind of work, it's that I'm putting my whole heart into the work.
00:24:55
Speaker
But why? Once again, it's all about the direction. Who are you working for? Are you like the stewardess who said, you know what? I am not working for this airline. I'm working for Christ. Do your work as unto Him. That's where it's headed.
00:25:17
Speaker
That way your heart will be in it. I read where this man, I think he's a pastor or a theologian, but he went to SeaWorld. And so he's all excited about seeing the dolphins and the different kind of fish and all this kind of thing. He's got his family with him. And he was shocked because here down the sidewalk comes a parrot.
00:25:37
Speaker
on a pair of roller skates. And he's like, wait a minute, the pair of roller skates? And he said, there they were, you know, just kind of coming down the sidewalk with the roller skates. And he said, he made a comment about it that I thought was striking. And it reminds me of us sometimes. He said, it's not that the parrots couldn't do it. They were definitely trained to do it. But it just didn't look like their heart was in it. You know, it's like, I want to fly, man. I don't want to be down here.
00:26:06
Speaker
That's you. That's me. And what we do, our heart ought to be in it. We ought to say, Lord, I got so much joy. My sins are forgiven. I'm going to heaven. The Lord is in my life. We ought to say, I can definitely improve my attitude when I go to work this week. Let me give you a fourth note. Do your work expectantly, expectantly.
00:26:30
Speaker
I think for a lot of people, probably the most satisfying day at work is payday. Hey, payday, when they come and give you your pay. Have you ever noticed in Nehemiah, they built a big wall and it was such a massive project that it had to take everybody. So everybody there in Jerusalem just started helping and they all built this wall around their city so that they could be saved. Do you know that in Nehemiah chapter three,
00:26:59
Speaker
that the names, there are 38 names that are recorded in God's word. 42 different groups of people are recorded in God's word. And I'll never forget my evangelism professor, Dr. Roy Fish at Southwestern Seminary saying to us, I don't care where you start.
00:27:17
Speaker
He said, heaven always keeps a record for everything done for Christ and for his kingdom. So just know that Lord, the Lord's watching you. He's watching me the way we do our work. I'm telling you our reward, like it says here, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
00:27:43
Speaker
I thought, Ben, it's almost like you can see an eternal plane, and you can see not only an eternal plane, but an evangelical plane. Because when he talks about the inheritance, he's talking about something later, after this life. So maybe he'd say, yeah, I haven't ever been recognized for what I've done at work. It's not over. I mean, if you're a believer, when you go stand before the Lord, that's when the reward comes. Maybe not in this life.
00:28:11
Speaker
But then I thought, but then he says, you are serving the Lord Christ. So in other words, while I'm at work, you know what? I can be serving the Lord. Man, you don't have to have a name badge. You don't have to have a uniform. All you got to do is have Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You're born again. You've surrendered to Him. You're following Him. And I guarantee you, it's going to make a difference.
00:28:35
Speaker
And even if it doesn't make a difference, Jesus said these words in Matthew 5, 10 and 11 and 12, even though others will revile you, persecute you, say false things against you for Christ's sake, here's what he says, your reward is great in heaven. Your reward is great in heaven. So if you're being overlooked, if you're not being promoted because of your faith in Christ, just know that God's saying that's all right.
00:29:03
Speaker
will settle up later. Your reward is great in heaven. I encourage you to study passages related to rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. One of the first ones, if you want to see, what do you mean rewards at the judgment seat of Christ? Every one of us in here that's a born again believer, we're going to stand before the Lord and all of our works are going to be tried by fire.
00:29:26
Speaker
It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 10 through 15. Everything that we do for Christ is going to be tried by fire, and it says some of that is going to withstand the fire. But what he's testing is the quality. Why did you do it? What was the motive? What did you really do that for? So it's all going to be laid up there on the altar, and what's left is what God's going to reward us for.
00:29:50
Speaker
So the question is, will you have anything that withstands his fire? His fire. He knows the whole story. He sees everything. Well, let's go to the fifth note.
Accountability and Fair Leadership
00:30:01
Speaker
Do your work cautiously. Do your work cautiously. Yes, conscientiously. Yes, sincerely. Yes, heartily. Yes, expectantly. But also, do your work cautiously.
00:30:15
Speaker
Well, because of what verse 25 says, for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he's done and there is no partiality. One of my favorite pastors and preachers that I listen to is David Jeremiah. If you've never listened to him, I encourage you to listen to him sometime. He's got great things, but here's what he says about this verse. He says, when we confess our sins to God, he forgives the guilt. That's great, right? He forgives the guilt. So you're all cleansed and forgiven. But he goes on to say,
00:30:46
Speaker
He does not always remove the consequences. Sometimes the consequences remain. So you want to just kind of let her fly toward your supervisor? Well, you can say to God later, I'm so sorry, Lord, please forgive me for that. You can even go back to your supervisor and say, I was wrong the other day when my anger built up and I let it go, you know, whatever. But you know what? Sometimes.
00:31:09
Speaker
We will go ahead and we will see the consequences for our wrongdoing. You see, it's all based on conduct. It's not based on color. It's all based on conduct. How did you live? How did you work? He says the wrongdoer is going to suffer the consequences for the wrong he has done.
00:31:30
Speaker
And I think it's amazing because the one that's gonna really see to that in eternity is gonna be God himself. And he says there's no partiality with him.
00:31:41
Speaker
You know, the Bible shines the light on those who misuse their positions in life for abuse, for evil, you know, to be mean to other people. Don't worry about it, because in the book of Esther, there's a man named Haman, and he was a bad man. He was an evil man. He wanted to use his position in government of Persia to plan and to plot the destruction of the Jews.
00:32:07
Speaker
But by the seventh chapter of Esther, Haman himself was the one who was hanged on the gallows. So all I'm saying is, do your work cautiously because God's watching and God will settle up eventually. Let's go to the sixth note. The sixth note is to simply do your work justly and fairly.
00:32:26
Speaker
If you're in management, let's say you're a supervisor, let's say you're in leadership and so forth, do you know that there are a lot of men in scripture who are also good examples? Let me give you some of them. Look up Abraham, look up Joseph, look up Moses, look up David, look up Daniel or Nehemiah. There are many who were in positions of authority and they didn't misuse their authority. They were godly men.
00:32:56
Speaker
And you know what? I know you well enough, because I've been here several years. And I know that there are some of you who are in leadership. You're maybe even the leader of your organization. And I know that you're so genuine. You're so real. You apply Christian principles where you work. I could list them off just like that, those that are listening to me right now. So I know that not everyone who is in authority abuses authority, right?
00:33:26
Speaker
But supervisors should heed what is mentioned in chapter 4 and verse 1. I think it addresses the man in authority first, the man in authority. He says, masters, we said that could be a supervisor, an employer. Treat your bond servants justly and fairly, like he put them both together. So that's what I'm going to do, put them both together.
00:33:51
Speaker
And I thought, okay, what's the difference between justly and fairly? I think justly means doing what's right, doing what's right. And then fairly would be doing what is equitable, doing what is impartial, doing what's honest. I remember when I went to Thailand with a mission team, I taught a Bible study to men.
00:34:12
Speaker
And these men worked so hard. They were very impoverished, but they worked. And their wives worked. And they worked in the tea gardens in Bangladesh. And these men, while they were in the privacy of that Bible study, I said, are there any other questions that you guys have me about the Christian life? And this one guy says, I got a question. And he was going to represent that whole group. And he said, here's the question.
00:34:38
Speaker
He said, we can't do without our jobs. Our families would starve. We can't even work hard enough to make enough for our families to survive. So that's why our wives have to go and our wives have to work. But here's the problem. The supervisors on their break take our wives into the house and they tell us later what happens.
00:35:01
Speaker
And he said, what should we do? And I tell you, for the first time in my life, I was stumped. And all I could do was weep with those guys. All I could do is pray for those guys. All I could do is point them to God, because the truth of the matter is, not every employer, not every supervisor is a good man, a godly man. Not everyone does what is right.
00:35:27
Speaker
So I just got to thinking, oh, Lord, please help us. I heard when I went to Thailand about how they would go to the north and they would say, hey, is your family struggling? And all the families in northern Thailand are struggling.
00:35:41
Speaker
And so they would say, well, here's the good news. We can take your young daughter and we can get her a job in Bangladesh, not Bangladesh, in Bangkok. We can get her a good job in the city. She can send back money to you and take care of you. So the father would think about it. He would talk to his daughter. He would talk to his wife. Does this seem like a good deal? And they would say yes. So then they would let that daughter go away with that stranger that they never knew.
00:36:08
Speaker
And of course, you know where it went. It went into slavery and sex marketing and so forth. And so it was a trick. And they never heard from their daughters again.
00:36:20
Speaker
And my heart was burdened, but I was so glad because there was a center there that was trying to equip women so that they could sew, so that they could cook because they rescued some of those ladies in Bangkok. And they said, you don't have to be in this industry. We can train you, we can teach you to make a better living. And that's how I knew about this story. But James chapter five, verses four, five, and six talks about some that were employers
00:36:50
Speaker
And they had employees that mowed their field, that harvested their crops. And instead of paying them, they withheld their wages. Well, what did they do with their wages? Well, they used their wages on themselves. They just kind of lived in luxury while the people were saying, you owe us. We worked hard. Why do you not pay us? And so it was so wrong. The last part of verse one of chapter four says, knowing that you also have a master in heaven,
00:37:21
Speaker
You see, I think that those who are in authority should remember that we are all under authority. There's no one that's not under God's authority. And notice the singular and the plural. Did you catch that in verse one? He says, master is plural, treat your bond servants justly and fairly knowing that you also have a master, singular, a master. Where is he? He's in heaven. Whoa.
00:37:48
Speaker
You know, it's the same thing that said in Ephesians 6, 9. It's calling every employer, every supervisor, every foreman, those who are over others in authority to the accountability that I'm going to give account someday for how I treat those who are underneath me. How many of you have ever eaten at Chick-fil-A?
00:38:09
Speaker
Anybody? Yeah, we got some.
Personal Stories of Integrity
00:38:11
Speaker
Okay. Do you know that Chick-fil-A's founder was a man named Truett Cathy? He was a godly man. He was a generous man. He's in heaven now. But there was a man named Larry Julian who decided, I'm going to write a biography about that man because I don't think he should be forgotten.
00:38:27
Speaker
He wrote a book about Truett Cathy's life and how he lived for God. And you know what he titled the book? God is my CEO. That was the theme of Truett Cathy's life. I may be the CEO of Chick-fil-A, he would say, but God is my CEO. And so I just thought, what a great thing to remember. As I studied this passage this week,
00:38:51
Speaker
I realized that I grew up watching somebody live out a healthy Christ honoring work ethic. It was my father. He lived every single day. And I got to thinking, wow, you know what? He was a diligent,
00:39:07
Speaker
factory worker. And as a matter of fact, my dad eventually came to know Christ at work. He was singing. He touched me talking about Christ and he just began to weep and he gave his life to the Lord and his life was so changed after that. He became a deacon. He became a soul winner. He would do so many things to serve other people. He was just a man full of joy, but he was promoted eventually. Were you?
00:39:33
Speaker
He worked to quality control and my dad had always been on the line. He'd always just been on the line, you know. And so when he got quality control, he was really excited. So he had to study really hard. It took several months for him to work through the manual. So finally he got on the job and he was so excited. I remember when I was a college student, him telling me about it. But then I remember the day that he told me, he said, I'm not in quality control anymore.
00:40:01
Speaker
And I said, why? What happened? And he said, well, he said, my supervisor came to me and said, James, you know what? We're behind on those parts that we need to send to Detroit. And he said, what I want you to do is don't check them for quality. Just put them on through. And my dad said, I got to thinking about it. I thought, no, if I put my name on there, it's going to be right. It's going to be done right. And so he said, you know what?
00:40:27
Speaker
I can't do that. He called the name of his supervisor. He said, I can't do that. He said, as a matter of fact, if you're not going to let me check the quality control, then put me back on the line so I can make sure that the quality is good before I send it on up the line. And I'm telling you, I couldn't be more proud of my father. I also couldn't be more proud of my father-in-law.
00:40:51
Speaker
Jody's dad also shared with some men on a barge. There were five men that were a part of the crew that would transport liquid sulfur from Corpus Christi in Houston all the way across the Gulf Coast. And so when he would be there, he would try to tell those men about Christ. And he said they'd laugh at him. They'd make fun of him. But he said that finally one day,
00:41:16
Speaker
He was jolted himself, my father-in-law, by a heart attack. So they admitted him to the hospital in Corpus Christi. I remember when Jody and I went there to see him. He had all kinds of tubes and helping him breathe and all these kinds of things. And he could not contain the excitement.
00:41:34
Speaker
He said, all five of those guys that I've been sharing with, he said, they stood around my bed and he said, they wept like little boys. And he said, they said to me, if we were where you are, we would be scared to death. But they said, you have such peace. You have such hope, such joy.
00:41:54
Speaker
And so I thought to myself, thank you God that right there in the hospital room, my father-in-law led all five to Christ. He said it was so easy when I was able to just lead them to Christ. What would happen this fall?
00:42:08
Speaker
If each one of us, just like the examples that I've given, just like the principles that we've read, what would happen if each one of us said, you know what, I'm gonna go to work and I'm gonna glorify God.
Conclusion: Glorifying God in Work
00:42:22
Speaker
In everything I do, I'm just gonna glorify God. I believe that that right there would restore enthusiasm. It would lift our perspective so that we're looking at our work. What we do every day, we're looking at it in a whole new way.
00:42:37
Speaker
If we said, OK, well, when I go, I'm going to whistle while I work because I'm going to play the note of conscientiousness. I'm going to play the note of sincerity. I'm going to do my work heartily. I'm going to do my work expectantly knowing that God's going to be the one that will really reward me. I'm going to do it cautiously, justly and fairly and humbly. Oh, let me tell you, I think that could be where the awakening could happen. That's where the awakening could happen that would change this country and this county.
00:43:06
Speaker
Let's all stand together. I want to give a time of invitation in case there's someone here that you don't know Christ. That's where it all starts. You know what's amazing is He did the work for us, for me, for you. You know, we trust in His finished work that He did for us on the cross. You may be saying, I'm trying to do the best I can. You'll never make it. Our righteousness is as filthy rags.
00:43:32
Speaker
What makes it is when we say, I put my trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross. He perfectly obeyed the Father. And that's why we should trust Him in the finished work of Christ. He rose from the dead because the Father said, I accept that. And so the Father raised Jesus from the dead. He can make such a difference in your life. You'll be singing with joy just like the rest of us were today. Let's pray together.
00:43:59
Speaker
Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. I know that your word is like a mirror. It's gonna tell us the truth. It's gonna show us reality. For some, maybe we feel encouraged, we feel affirmed. We're doing the right thing, even though others may disagree with our faith, are trying to live for Christ, trying to glorify Him. So maybe we were encouraged today. But there could be others, even though a Christian, maybe they realize, I'm not doing that.
00:44:26
Speaker
I'm not honoring Christ where I work. I need to repent. I need to ask God to forgive me. I need to realign myself with these principles in God's Word. So, Lord, help us. Maybe you're waiting for salvation on some that are in this room, but it could be you're waiting before you'll send the awakening until we get this right. So, Lord, you got us as we go into this invitation. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:44:58
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.