Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Ephesians 6:5
A west coast winery had an extremely bad problem with one of its employees. The man accidentally left a large valve open and thousands of litres of valuable grape juice had run out of the vats and into the sewage system. The winery attempted to fire the man because of the loss, worth many thousands of dollars. But the union stepped in to defend the man, and the company reluctantly agreed to give him another chance. Bad move! Within a short time, the man committed the same costly mistake, actually resulting in an even greater monetary loss. This time, the winery fired him on the spot. Again, the union stepped in to protect the man, and actually took the case to court to try to force the winery to give the man his job back. Fortunately, the judge had some common sense, and quickly dismissed the union’s application. But the case is an interesting example of the attitude of many unions, and of many employees, that the employee has more rights and protections than the employer. That attitude would certainly not have gone over well during the day when the apostle Paul penned today’s text. And it is an attitude that is in total violation of the text.
It is true that the word ‘servants’ in our text is actually translated from the Greek word for slaves – doulos. But most slaves at that time in history were in many ways the equivalent of employees today, with rights and privileges that were much different from those of, for example, the human chattel slaves in the United States before the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865. Many of the Christians in the Assemblies in the city of Ephesus, to whom Paul is writing this letter, were slaves. Some no doubt had significant responsibilities in those Assemblies. Under the preaching of evangelists such as Paul and Apollos, these Ephesians had acknowledged Jesus Christ as both Saviour and Lord. And it is to this lordship that Paul is directing them in our text.
Like those Ephesians, we have acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord. We belong to Him. That means He is given the highest priority in every aspect of our lives. No plans that we make, no actions that we take, no interests we pursue, are outside of His will. At least, that is how lordship is supposed to work; like me, you are still working on that, right? Our text tells us that we take that same approach of submission to Christ and His authority and apply it to our earthly employers. Unlike an ancient doulos, we have the right to leave an unfair or cruel employer when appropriate. But while we are working for an employer, we have no right to regard that employer with disrespect or dishonesty.
A good employee is a good testimony. The Lord Jesus was the perfect Servant; we can copy His example. -Jim MacIntosh