Colossians so far: I am thankful for the way the Gospel is at work in the world (Col 1:1-8), so I am praying for God’s will to be done in the church (Col 1:9-14), which is all about Jesus, because He is sovereign God (Col 1:15-20) who reconciled us and made us perfect (Col 1:21-23), giving us the ministry of proclaiming Him (Col 1:24-29), and a burden to see the church succeed (Col 2:1-7), by avoiding false teaching (Col 2:8-10), because Jesus provided a total victory in your salvation (Col 2:11-15), so don‘t let people bully you into trying to add to Jesus (Col 2:16-23). Therefore, keep your mind on things in heaven (Col 3:1-4) and put to death anything that could hurt you or your community (Col 3:5-11) while putting on the character of Christ (Col 3:12-17), which should be seen in every role in the home (Col 3:18-21)...
The job description for employees: Sincere Diligence (Col 3:22-25)
- My obedience is thorough (in everything)
- My dedication is thorough (with sincerity)
- My effort is thorough (heartily)
I am motivated by My Real Boss.
The job description for supervisors: Fairness (Col 4:1)
Obstacles to fairness:
- Friendship
- Faith
- Flirtation
- Family Situation
- Frugality
I am motivated by My Real Boss.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
Open up your Bibles with me please to Colossians Chapter 3.
00:05-00:07
Colossians Chapter 3.
00:11-00:16
If you do not have a Bible, you forgot your Bible, any of the above.
00:16-00:19
There are Bibles on the book table up there in the University.
00:20-00:21
If you'd like one of those.
00:26-00:28
Colossians Chapter 3.
00:29-00:35
We're going to pick up in verse 22 and read down the chapter 4 in verse 1.
00:40-00:57
Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, But with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
00:59-01:04
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
01:07-01:11
Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
01:12-01:14
You are serving the Lord Christ.
01:16-01:22
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
01:24-01:33
Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in Heaven.
01:35-01:39
He is addressing two groups here in this passage.
01:39-01:44
He is addressing slaves and masters.
01:46-01:49
The Greek word for slaves here is doulos.
01:49-01:52
Actually, in the Greek there were six words for slaves.
01:52-01:56
This is the most servile of the names.
01:56-01:59
This is the lowest of the names you can say.
02:01-02:03
Kourios is the word for masters here.
02:03-02:11
It could also be translated "lord" or "authority." It was actually a word that was used for pagan gods.
02:13-02:15
Now slavery was a horrible thing.
02:16-02:18
Especially when the Apostle Paul wrote this.
02:18-02:27
Understand that in the Roman Empire, there were estimated to be about 60 million slaves.
02:29-02:32
That was about half of the population. Think about that.
02:32-02:38
Half of the population of the Empire was estimated to be slaves.
02:40-02:43
Slaves were called, they were treated as property.
02:45-02:46
It wasn't a person, that was a tool.
02:48-02:50
And there were no codes for working conditions.
02:51-03:00
It wasn't as if the slave could say, "Well, you know, this doesn't meet OSHA's standards of safety here." There was no code.
03:02-03:10
Now understand in scripture here that the Apostle Paul is not defending slavery and he's not endorsing slavery.
03:11-03:14
He's just simply dealing with a situation that existed.
03:14-03:21
There were slaves and Paul said, as such we're just going to address the situation.
03:22-03:27
This is a real thing so we're going to deal with it in a godly manner.
03:29-03:35
Not only was slavery a reality, but slaves receiving Jesus Christ was a huge reality.
03:35-03:36
And you can understand why.
03:37-03:44
Because here Jesus Christ has come to teach and preach freedom in Himself.
03:46-03:48
Now what better word is there for a slave other than freedom?
03:49-03:51
So Jesus Christ has come to set them free.
03:52-03:54
A lot of slaves were coming to Christ.
03:55-03:57
The apostles were going to address that.
03:58-04:03
You might be sitting here saying, well, Pastor Jeff, I don't remember you then.
04:05-04:08
But you realize that we don't have slaves anymore in the United States of America.
04:09-04:18
Well, the principles that the Apostle Paul is giving here certainly carry over to employees and employers.
04:19-04:26
The principles. You see, it's not like we get to this passage of Scripture and say, "It doesn't apply next, it doesn't apply next." we'd be cutting out most of the bottom.
04:26-04:33
You see, so often the Lord gives principles that dealt with that time, that context, that situation.
04:33-04:44
And today, we can take these principles and just very easily say, yes, that certainly applies in some ways today in the way that these principles apply, certainly.
04:45-05:05
Employees and employers, I would suggest to you, perhaps even more so, if this was directed at slaves in harsh conditions, how much easier should it be for us to honor the Lord in comfortable pain conditions?
05:06-05:07
Should be.
05:08-05:15
So what I want you to do now is I want you to think of your workplace, all right?
05:17-05:18
I just want you to think of your workplace.
05:18-05:24
You're like, "Man, it's Sunday, I'm in church." That's the last place I want you to think about, That's what we're talking about today.
05:25-05:27
But I want you to think of the place where you work.
05:30-05:31
You have that place in your mind.
05:34-05:38
I want you to just kind of picture showing up at work, wherever you work.
05:38-05:40
I know young people work now, I don't know why, good days.
05:41-05:43
Totally not dealing anything with us, right?
05:45-05:46
Students, that's your job.
05:47-05:49
So young people, tune in, yeah, keep elbowing.
05:49-05:52
Tune in, we're talking about students here too.
05:53-05:56
Students, that's your job.
05:58-06:00
What you think about showing up at your job.
06:01-06:03
I want you to think about your coworkers.
06:04-06:06
I want you to think about your fellow students.
06:09-06:14
I want you to think about the place that you spend about 30 percent of your week.
06:16-06:23
Thirty percent of your week, about a third of your time every week, I spent at this workplace.
06:23-06:26
I was thinking, you're just knowing many people here.
06:27-06:43
In some of your minds right now, you might be thinking about a restaurant, or you might be thinking about the healthcare field, or the automotive industry, or something to do with retail or sales.
06:46-06:59
Some of you that's in the field of education as a student, Or as a teacher, think about the customers, the people you've crossed paths with.
07:00-07:12
I'm sure a lot of you right now, as you're thinking about your workplace, and you're thinking about the people, something that may have crossed your mind is, you know, those people need Jesus more.
07:15-07:17
Those people need Jesus more.
07:17-07:19
I got a great reminder from you this morning.
07:22-07:30
If you're a born again believer in Jesus Christ, then Jesus is where you are.
07:31-07:34
Because He's living through you, right?
07:35-07:36
He's living through you.
07:37-07:38
That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
07:39-07:43
Christ is living in you, but He's also living through you.
07:44-07:47
So those people who work to be Jesus, guess what?
08:06-08:22
I'm going to tell you talking about, he must have believed, but he was really interested in some biblical things.
08:22-08:23
I'm sharing some biblical things.
08:24-08:40
He looked me in the eye and he said, "Dan, you are Jesus's neighbor." I remember I was just like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." I said, "Look, man, I'm not Jesus." And I gave some like, "I'm just trying to point to Jesus," kind of thing.
08:41-08:42
But that really stuck with me.
08:42-08:46
I thought a lot about that over the years, because you know what the reality of it is?
08:47-09:07
I was Jesus to him. He was saying, "Okay, you've made a claim that you believe in Jesus, and it seems that, from his perspective, it seems like you're trying to follow Jesus." But to him, I was a representative of the Lord.
09:09-09:12
But I want you to understand, I'm not saying that story to highlight me at all.
09:12-09:14
The reason I'm saying this story is to highlight you.
09:15-09:16
Because guess what?
09:16-09:16
Are you working?
09:18-09:21
They might not say it, but here's what people are thinking.
09:23-09:29
"Oh, he's a Christian?" Well, in a sense, to the unbelievers, he is Jesus.
09:30-09:31
Right?
09:34-09:38
So, Christ at work, at work, is the name of this message.
09:38-09:46
Christ at work, at work, is Jesus first where I work.
09:48-09:54
I came across some very interesting stats that I wanted to share with you about the workplace.
09:55-09:58
If you want to jot these things down, you can.
09:59-10:00
You might not want to.
10:03-10:09
You know the average worker wastes three out of every eight hours a day.
10:10-10:10
Did you know that?
10:11-10:16
But an eight hour shift, the average, three hours are wasted.
10:18-10:23
They've also found, I can totally get this, but the older the employee, the less time is wasted.
10:25-10:27
The younger you are, the more time is wasted, right?
10:27-10:29
Well, what are the distractions?
10:31-10:32
What's the number one distraction?
10:32-10:33
Shout it out.
10:34-10:35
Cell phone.
10:36-10:40
Now that's fun, I'm thinking, is the Radio Free One even above the cell phone?
10:40-10:41
We have to be in it.
10:41-10:42
(audience laughing)
10:44-10:45
The internet, who said internet?
10:45-10:48
All right, Mark and Bob, both stars.
10:48-10:50
The internet is the number one distraction.
10:53-10:56
44% say the internet as their distraction.
10:57-11:07
Socializing with coworkers, and I'd also put cell phone with that because if you don't work at a desk, that's pretty much a (mumbles) Sneak out the back door, party, whatever.
11:07-11:09
But internet, number one.
11:10-11:12
Number two is socializing with coworkers.
11:14-11:15
23.4%.
11:15-11:21
Just hanging out with my pals at work, talking about ESPN, right?
11:22-11:23
I got a kick out of this.
11:23-11:26
3.9%, this was the second distraction.
11:27-11:28
Spacing out.
11:30-11:31
Spacing out.
11:33-11:36
That percent's a little higher for church, by the way.
11:36-11:38
But that's just sort of a...
11:41-11:42
(audience laughing)
11:43-11:44
You know that book?
11:45-11:45
You've done that?
11:48-11:53
Okay, 1.3% say that this is their distraction, that we're applying for other jobs.
11:57-11:57
I don't know.
12:00-12:01
Another statistic.
12:03-12:03
Excuse me.
12:04-12:11
It says approximately 18 hours a week were spent surfing the net during work hours.
12:14-12:16
18 hours a week, that makes sense.
12:16-12:20
If you work five or six days, three or four hours a day, some people work seven less.
12:21-12:27
They estimated approximately 18 hours a week spent surfing the net during work hours.
12:27-12:31
That costs employers, do you wanna guess how much that costs employers that time wasted?
12:34-12:37
759 billion dollars.
12:37-12:42
Not million, billion dollars.
12:44-12:45
Like, is that a lot?
12:48-12:58
That's 50 billion more dollars than the entire 2011 defense budget of the United States of America.
13:01-13:06
Money wasted because employees are wasting time.
13:08-13:10
So what are they doing online? I'm so glad you asked.
13:10-13:16
Did you know 60 percent of online purchases are made during work hours?
13:16-13:22
You know that? All the Amazon.com and what are the other ones?
13:22-13:24
What are the other three? eBay, yeah.
13:25-13:29
60% of all online purchases are made through your work dollars.
13:31-13:40
65% of all YouTube videos were watched between, guess which hours they were watched between, I can't believe it's nine to five, did you know that?
13:41-13:46
Between nine and five, all the videos that are watched on YouTube, 65% of them were watched between that time.
13:46-13:47
It wasn't that many.
13:50-13:51
This was today.
13:54-14:01
77%, 77% of workers with a Facebook account use it to order work.
14:04-14:04
77%.
14:05-14:06
Oh wait, it gets worse.
14:08-14:09
Here's another survey.
14:11-14:14
How would you answer this question, yes or no?
14:14-14:19
I would quit my job if Facebook was banned from where I worked.
14:20-14:22
I would quit my job if Facebook was banned.
14:22-14:25
Do you know they surveyed 18 to 24 year olds?
14:26-14:27
39%.
14:28-14:33
39% said if they banned Facebook from work, I would quit.
14:36-14:39
25 to 65 year old, only 16%.
14:42-14:44
So why are people wasting so much time?
14:45-14:47
Well, they did a survey for that too.
14:47-14:48
You did an extra survey for everything.
14:50-14:51
That's how I'm wasting my time.
14:52-14:53
(audience laughing)
14:56-14:59
The percentage of pastors' time that we got from surveys.
15:00-15:02
Reasons for wasting time.
15:04-15:05
This is the number one reason for surveys.
15:06-15:07
This is the first.
15:07-15:08
Underpaid.
15:10-15:16
Underpaid, 23.4% says, "I just didn't get paid enough for one and eight hours.
15:16-15:19
I get paid for like five hours.
15:21-15:27
33.2% said the reason for wasting time was they just didn't have any work to do.
15:27-15:28
There's nothing to do.
15:29-15:30
There's nothing to do.
15:32-15:33
Everything's done.
15:34-15:35
Sean, is it like that where you work?
15:36-15:37
Like everything's done?
15:38-15:39
Nah, not hardly.
15:39-15:40
Paul, how about you?
15:40-15:41
Is it like that where you work?
15:41-15:43
You guys are just like, dude, we got everything done.
15:44-15:46
Everything's done.
15:51-16:03
14.7% said that the reason time was wasted where they were is because they were distracted by coworkers.
16:04-16:04
(audience laughing)
16:06-16:07
It's not my fault.
16:08-16:09
It's not my fault.
16:09-16:11
Jimmy keeps coming over to my table.
16:12-16:17
(audience laughing) Yeah, it's his fault.
16:18-16:18
Okay.
16:20-16:26
So, take these principles for employees and employers, wherever you work, whatever you do.
16:27-16:30
Number one, just got two things for you this morning.
16:30-16:32
Number one, the job description for employees.
16:33-16:34
What's the job description?
16:34-16:35
He gives it right here in the text.
16:36-16:38
I just summed it up by saying sincere diligence.
16:39-16:41
That's the job description, sincere diligence.
16:42-16:46
Christians, Christians, how should you work?
16:47-16:51
The answer is with sincere diligence.
16:51-16:55
Christ at work, at work, means this.
16:56-16:59
Number one, jot these down.
16:59-17:01
Number one, my obedience is thorough.
17:02-17:03
Did you see that?
17:03-17:04
My obedience is thorough.
17:05-17:08
Now here, he's talking to slaves, okay?
17:10-17:15
But employees, oh, she can work, so you realize I'm getting paid for this, right?
17:16-17:18
These people work and they're paid.
17:18-17:19
You're getting paid to work with that.
17:21-17:26
This is obey in, what's the next word?
17:28-17:28
Everything.
17:30-17:30
Everything.
17:31-17:32
That's why my obedience is thorough.
17:34-17:36
Oh, okay, so you're like, you want me to be a problem.
17:37-17:38
Is that what you're saying?
17:39-17:41
you want me to kiss up to the walls.
17:41-17:43
Is that, look at the next phrase here.
17:45-17:48
Where he says, not by way of our service, as people, believers.
17:49-17:50
That's exactly what he's thinking.
17:50-17:56
Now we're not talking about kissing up, we're not talking about being teachers' pets.
17:59-18:05
It's thorough obedience in everything, whether you're being blessed or not, right?
18:06-18:07
Whether you're being blessed or not.
18:09-18:15
Now when I was in high school, I had a scary gym teacher.
18:15-18:17
Jane Auer, you know who I'm talking about.
18:17-18:19
I had a scary gym teacher.
18:20-18:25
But for some reason, he wasn't so scary that we weren't stupid, right?
18:26-18:33
So he would walk around and all the guys would be lined up in rows and they'd be doing pushups, right?
18:34-18:39
And he'd just be like, "Up one, up two, up three." You know, we're just down here, like, if he was standing right there, we're just, boom, boom.
18:39-18:41
I mean, you were just like Rocky Balboa.
18:42-18:46
What do you think we did when he walked past in his backless tips?
18:46-18:47
It was just like.
18:49-18:49
(audience laughing)
18:52-18:53
And then it looks like he's gonna turn his head.
18:55-18:57
Same thing with sit-ups, but I'm not gonna demonstrate that.
19:00-19:01
I only did one sit-up a day, though.
19:02-19:04
The first half was in the morning and the second half was at night.
19:06-19:08
But that was eye service.
19:09-19:13
Like if he's not looking, I ain't doing pushups.
19:15-19:17
Well, some people are like that at work.
19:18-19:20
The boss is around here, Mr. Industrious.
19:21-19:24
Cranking it out, cranking it out, cranking it out.
19:25-19:29
Boss isn't around, boss didn't bring the dough.
19:30-19:32
Facebook.com, here I come.
19:35-19:37
2) My dedication is thorough.
19:43-19:49
That's why he says, "With sincerity of heart." With sincerity of heart. How sincere?
19:50-19:56
Look at the next phrase, "Fearing the Lord." You see, that's the theme of this passage.
19:56-19:57
We're going to talk about that in a second.
19:58-20:04
But, "My dedication is thorough." How can you tell if you have a certain attitude?
20:05-20:10
If I said, "Show of hands, who here has a certain attitude?" Probably most of you, put your hand up.
20:10-20:12
Do you know how you can tell if you have a certain attitude?
20:13-20:15
It's how you react when you're treated like one.
20:16-20:18
That's how you can tell if you have a certain attitude.
20:21-20:23
Some people might be saying, "I'm not working too hard.
20:24-20:27
It's just a temporary job." I've heard so many people say that.
20:27-20:29
Yeah, I work there for a while.
20:29-20:31
It's just temporary, I'm not staying there.
20:31-20:33
It's not like I'm actually gonna work.
20:34-20:35
You're employed there now.
20:37-20:38
So your dedication is to that now.
20:38-20:40
I'm not gonna stay here longer, but you're there now.
20:41-20:43
So your dedication has to be there now.
20:45-20:47
As long as you have a job, you're dedicated to it, right?
20:48-20:52
You know, sometimes people take different jobs, different positions, people do whatever.
20:53-20:55
We're talking about the job you have right now.
20:56-20:57
My dedication is thorough.
20:59-21:01
3. My effort is thorough.
21:06-21:10
Whatever you do, work heartily as you would an upper man.
21:12-21:14
My effort is thorough. It's not squeaking by.
21:15-21:17
It's not to my shame.
21:17-21:22
The way I conducted a lot of things when I was in school and some places that I had worked.
21:25-21:27
Most results by minimum effort.
21:29-21:31
I'm ashamed to say that. I have gone through them.
21:31-21:46
I did that. You have maximum effort to try to get maximum results, and a lot of times, I don't know if I can say that I was wrong, what's the least amount of work I can do to still get the most results?
21:46-21:48
It's the people who are skilled at it.
21:49-21:53
He says, "Work harder, mate." That means I'm on time.
21:55-21:57
That means I stayed the whole shift.
21:58-22:01
That means on the clock means on the job.
22:03-22:04
Let me encourage you to something else.
22:06-22:10
This is something, again, I appreciate myself here for listening.
22:11-22:13
But when you're at work, you work hard.
22:14-22:16
When you go home, you leave work at work.
22:16-22:19
And God, I think most men have a hard time with that.
22:19-22:20
Right, ladies?
22:21-22:25
Ladies show his husbands have a hard time with that, leaving work at work.
22:26-22:27
I'm not gonna say anything right here.
22:28-22:30
A lot of guys have a hard time with that.
22:32-22:34
I'm the biggest defender here, I can tell you.
22:36-22:40
Dealing with church stuff, and having a particularly bad day.
22:40-22:47
I'm just having a grump, and she's like, "Snap out of it." This is family time.
22:48-22:56
Your family time shouldn't have to be the overflow of whatever's, we ought to be a little tizzy about the church, right?
22:58-23:00
Work hard, but need work at work, guys.
23:00-23:04
Notice in this passage we talked about last week, he addressed the home.
23:05-23:07
You know why the home comes first?
23:08-23:11
Because that's the most important institution.
23:11-23:13
You're not defined by your work.
23:15-23:22
If your identity's in the Lord, The institution that the Lord created first is the home.
23:23-23:27
And if work comes after, okay, so don't go work behind me.
23:29-23:32
You'll never see a guy who's death-drowned in Michigan, he just had one more day of work.
23:35-23:38
But what is it usually, just wishing that I had one more day, right?
23:40-23:41
What's my motivation?
23:43-23:45
Justice, I'm not motivated by my group wants.
23:47-23:48
I'm motivated by my real boss.
23:48-23:51
You saw that in verse 24, 25, we wrote over there.
23:54-23:57
Know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as you report.
23:57-23:59
You are serving the Lord Christ.
24:00-24:02
See, there it is, I'm motivated by my real boss.
24:03-24:05
What's this inheritance thing?
24:05-24:06
What's he talking about here?
24:06-24:13
Well, understand that in Paul's day, slaves would not have had an inheritance, okay?
24:14-24:18
It wasn't like, hey, you know, When so and so dies a slave, they're going to leave you something.
24:18-24:23
You don't get an inheritance at all if you were a slave.
24:24-24:29
So some slaves might be saying, "Well, what am I going to do with my marital debt?" It's not like you're ever going to get ahead.
24:30-24:34
It's not like you're ever going to have a net gain of anything.
24:37-24:38
But you see, Paul reminds us of some things.
24:39-24:43
He's not talking about your salvation is on the line, depending on how you work.
24:43-24:46
your fall of Christ, your salvation is in the bed, okay?
24:46-24:47
So to speak.
24:47-24:52
That's when you say, "Listen, slave, "you might not get an earthly inheritance, "but I wanna remind you of something.
24:53-24:55
"You have an eternal inheritance coming from the Lord.
24:55-25:03
"Can I just remind you of that?" Okay, so don't get so caught up in what am I gonna get this side of heaven.
25:04-25:07
Keep your mind on, you know, there's a reward coming on the other side.
25:08-25:10
The Lord has inheritance for you, okay?
25:13-25:16
Confirming and reminding of what's already taken place.
25:17-25:35
Then he says in verse 25, "For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality." Again, this isn't a salvation thing, is it? To say, "Well, you do a bad job at work, you're a great person." He's not saying that at all. You've covered that.
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Your salvation is based on the promise of the Lord.
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It's sealed.
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Nothing can take your salvation from you.
25:44-25:49
If something could take your salvation from you, God Almighty, it would have to be stronger than God.
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Do you get that?
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Jesus said you're in His hands.
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If you're in Christ, and you were to somehow lose that, that means that somebody stronger than God Almighty you have to come along and take your salvation.
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It's not going to happen.
26:08-26:10
Right? So what is he talking about here?
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The wrongdoing will pay back for the wrong he has done, if there is a bit of partiality.
26:15-26:21
When I was studying this, I was thinking, well, is this talking about if the slave does something wrong in the job?
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Or is this talking about if the slave is being wronged by an abusive master?
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Well, I guess the answer is right there in verse 25.
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So I guess it doesn't really matter which the case is.
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What he's saying is sin has consequences.
26:40-26:42
Sin has consequences.
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If you make a choice to sin, you've made a choice to suffer in some way.
26:49-26:55
And for God's children, do you know God has a loving, heavenly Father who disciplines His children?
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Did you know that?
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Not to punish you, but God's discipline is meant to redirect you.
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Discipline is never a fun process.
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Sometimes God will allow hardship into our lives because He said, "You're in it this way, and I'm going to steer you this way." So I'm going to allow some things in your lives.
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I'm not going to I'm not going to You ready?
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Job evaluation.
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I'm gonna ask you some questions.
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We kinda did this last week with the household thing, but since this text kinda flows together, especially since the slaves would have lived in the household with these people, I want you to give yourself a job evaluation here.
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Answer these questions.
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Draft number two, pencil.
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Answer these questions.
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Number one, would my employer have any complaints about my job performance?
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That's your first question.
28:54-29:02
If I sat down with your employer, what would they say about your effort and your job performance?
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I'm not talking personality clashes, things like that.
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You know, as a Christian, if you're a Christian in a non-Christian workplace, that's top of the list.
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I know some of you deal with issues because of that, trying to save the price of a hostile environment.
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We're just talking about your job.
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Jake's right. If I said that with your boss and said, "How do you work out the work for me?" Would he have any complaints?
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You don't have to answer what complaints he has.
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What would you say about it?
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What's Jake's effort like?
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Do you have any complaints about him?
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What would your employer say?
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Number two, do I work just as hard, But it won't be noticed, as I do what my boss is sure to do.
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And that's the whole "I serve as people, please your Savior" thing.
29:58-30:00
Yeah, what if there was a hidden camera?
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You need to know about it.
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And we said, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do in church this morning." "We're gonna watch Ken Frederic at work." "And see what he did the past week." "We're gonna get to parts for his community." I don't know if the other seven take us out if we fast forward or Christ returns all of a sudden.
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Anything, earthquake? I think you'd be pretty proud.
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You'd think.
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Alright, I need your blossoms.
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Actually, I probably would give you that.
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Next question.
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Do I work a full day?
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Do I work a full day?
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Or do I waste time and resources at work?
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Do I work a full day?
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Do I waste time and resources?
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How do you do on the job?
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All right, here's the clincher.
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Would my co-workers be surprised if they found out that I think Christ is my Lord and Savior?
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If I sat down with one of your co-workers and said, "Hey, did you know that she's a Christian?" Would they be like, "Oh, that makes sense. I totally see that." Or would it be like, "Did you know that she's a Christian?" I'm like, "Oh! What? Her?
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Are you talking about the same person?
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Really?
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She's a Christian?
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Oh, like, just not a very good one? Or, like..." Would they be surprised?
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As a Christian, listen, your workplace should be blessed just because you're there.
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Do you realize that's the reality?
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Jesus said you were the soul of the earth.
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Your workplace should be blessed just because you're an employee.
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And I don't mean that in a pump you up, arrogant, cocky, braggadocious way.
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I just mean, if Christ is represented through you at work, I wouldn't it be a blessing if you went to work and Jesus showed up?
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Wouldn't that be such a blessing?
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Like, I'm working with Jesus today.
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That's how people should feel about you.
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Like, oh, I'm so blessed that she works here.
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I'm so glad that he works here.
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He's trustworthy.
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Your co-worker should absolutely be giddy when you show up.
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Your boss should cry if you left the job.
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You're like, yeah, I took another position.
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Your boss should be sackcloth, ashes, and weeping.
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That's the kind of worker you should be.
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Your obedience, your dedication, your effort on the job, 100% all the time.
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Why?
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Because you're serving the Lord Christ, et cetera.
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That's your real boss, right?
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That's your real boss.
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If you can picture that, you know, get, Pastor Jim, my boss is a jerk.
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You know what?
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Your reminder, you're serving the Lord Christ.
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He's your boss.
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Are you reflecting His grace, His love, and His truth to that jerk of a boss that you have?
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Are you looking for ways to bless that boss?
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Maybe that's why God has you in that job.
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And number two for the day, the job description for supervisors.
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God's description for supervisors, one part of fairness.
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That's what he says here.
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Masters, treat your slave justly and fairly.
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So you might have been listening to the message as far as you know what, I hear what you're saying to these lowly employees.
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I'm a manager, I'm a boss, I'm a supervisor.
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The head chief's the big lunch head, I'm the big middleman.
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That's what I am.
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I'm the short of this, though, you're the business part.
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But God has a part for you too.
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It's sort of like the home thing where husbands do your part, wives do your part.
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There's this beautiful thing that happens when Christ is glorified in all these lives.
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Well, it's the same with employees, employers, the same as slaves and masters.
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It's treating others like I've been treated by God.
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That means if you're in a supervisor role, that means you don't ask for unreasonable things from your employees.
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You don't ask for unreasonable things.
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And it also means that it's equal work for all.
34:43-34:46
I can sit in the auditorium right now and really drink my stream of salt.
34:48-34:50
Okay, a little, I'm at the Burger King.
34:51-34:55
And it was the worst three months of my life.
34:57-35:00
And if you're here and you like bone burger feet or something, I apologize.
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It was the worst three months of my life.
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And I say that with full sincerity.
35:10-35:22
But I would be in the kitchen by myself, you know, making the waffers, the chicken things, fries, the other chicken things.
35:24-35:48
By myself, and the manager would have all these young girls up running the register, it was like five people, it was a cash register, and the manager would be all, "Can you get a swap out there with the ladies?" And I'm back there, you know, sweating my face off, and I was just telling her, I was like, "Man, this ain't right, send one of those people back." And I can't get a heads up, but that's what we're talking about here.
35:48-35:49
Keep the work for all.
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Fairness.
35:53-35:53
Fairness.
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There's some obstacles to fairness.
35:57-36:00
Jot these down, just a few words, they all begin with the letter F.
36:00-36:02
Here's some obstacles to fairness.
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If you're an employer, if you're a manager, if you're a contractor, if you have a supervisory role.
36:06-36:08
Obstacles to fairness, one is a friendship.
36:10-36:19
If you have a tendency, if you have employees that you like and make you more than you like other ones, and I don't hate them, I hate other ones, I just made it a friendly thing, right?
36:19-36:20
Like, that guy's a good buddy.
36:21-36:31
Even though his boss and our families get together, or our kids go to school together, and I like that guy more, maybe you're not there because you have a kinship with that person.
36:31-36:35
I really like that guy, so maybe you don't treat him like you treat the others.
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Not good.
36:39-36:40
Maybe it's a faith issue.
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You cater just to your Christian friends, Or the Christian workers, rather.
36:51-36:51
And that's wrong, too.
36:52-37:02
If you say, "Well, that person's a pagan, so I'm going to give them the worst jobs, and that person's a Christian, so I'm not going to make them do any work." That's wrong, too. That's not fair either.
37:05-37:08
Another one is flirtation. I think I kind of covered that one.
37:09-37:33
It's, "I like her, she's cute, I got this little flirtation thing going on, so I'm not gonna make her work." "He's ugly, it's her ugly." "Three score." Family situation. Maybe family situation's another one.
37:34-37:50
"Oh, there's poor people, they really need the money." Hey, there's nothing wrong with showing grace and compassion, but you have to watch that that doesn't show up in the workplace and avoid that you're catering to people just because maybe they have a different family situation.
37:50-37:53
You certainly want to help them in one of the last ways, don't misunderstand me.
37:54-38:05
But there's a problem when you have two people working equally as hard, but they're not being treated fairly, because maybe they have different family situations Bless that family, but do it outside of work.
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You know what I mean?
38:07-38:10
Give them some money for your own clock, or minister to them in your own house.
38:11-38:14
But don't let unfairness creep into the workplace, alright?
38:15-38:18
And the last one is frugality.
38:18-38:19
And yes, frugality is horrible.
38:20-38:23
But what we mean by that is just simply this.
38:24-38:34
Sometimes you go to somebody and say, "They just waste my money." with money, that happens in the workplace.
38:36-38:38
I don't agree with the way he spends money.
38:39-38:44
So I'm not going to promote that he's working twice as hard as everybody else, but I don't agree with the way he spends money.
38:46-38:47
That's not really fair either.
38:49-38:51
So I'm motivated by what?
38:52-38:53
Again, by my boss.
38:54-38:56
My real boss, do you see that?
38:56-39:00
Knowing that you also have a master in heaven, the same principle here.
39:00-39:02
Everyone is under someone.
39:02-39:03
Everyone answers to someone.
39:05-39:06
Don't let the authority go to your head.
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Everyone is under authority.
39:14-39:16
We're all under authority.
39:16-39:19
There's a reminder, there's an ultimate authority, masters.
39:22-39:24
Too far shall it go.
39:30-39:37
So if you're in a supervisory manager, clerical, here's your job evaluation.
39:37-39:39
I don't think those should get more than that.
39:40-39:43
Number one, do I committee God's impartiality?
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Do I treat all those under my supervision the same?
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Can you say that?
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Can you look at the people that work under you and say, "I treat them all the same"?
39:56-39:57
You'd like to say that.
39:59-39:59
Do you?
40:02-40:06
Would my employees say that I am impartial in my interactions?
40:08-40:09
Or would they quit on me?
40:10-40:15
You might say, "Well, I treat them all the same." Okay, look at this scenario in your head.
40:15-40:18
What if I gathered all the people that work under you?
40:19-40:21
So I want to talk about your boss.
40:24-40:25
Does he treat you all the same?
40:26-40:27
What would they say?
40:33-40:41
So as I close I want to remind you that Christ's residency in you is permanent.
40:41-40:45
And His work in you can free you 24/7.
40:45-40:55
And the reason I'm reminding you of that is because sometimes I think that, I know that, we have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives.
40:58-41:11
Meaning, okay, someday, Christian, spiritual, Bible, but then when I go to work, it's, I leave that stuff aside.
41:12-41:17
I'm not saying you go to work and all of a sudden you're drunk and bad. I'm not saying that at all.
41:19-41:23
But listen, if the Holy Spirit is residing in you, He doesn't check out when you go to work.
41:25-41:30
People should still be seeing the character of Christ in you on the workplace.
41:32-41:33
Alright?
41:34-41:36
We can't compartmentalize.
41:36-41:43
I want you to look again at your workplace and not look at it as a place I have to go just to pay the bills.
41:45-41:51
Or a place that I'm going until something better comes along.
41:53-41:59
What I'd like to call you to today is to look at your workplace as God sees it.
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And it's a mission.
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Jesus is first.
42:10-42:11
Jesus is first.
42:11-42:16
In the universe, in the church, in the home.
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Our Father in Heaven, we thank you so much.
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You've blessed us with jobs.
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There might be some people here who are between jobs or recently unemployed, but you're still providing for them.
42:48-42:54
Father, I pray now that people will take a step back and do a little self-examination.
42:57-43:11
As your word is a mirror, how does it look when we look at ourselves, not as the family person or the woman who in turn is a person, but Father, help us to see how do we look look where it works.
43:13-43:21
Have we tried to shut you out or somehow deny your presence in this apartment?
43:23-43:32
Have we made excuses, Father, why it's okay for us to waste time and resources, maybe don't treat everybody the same, don't be diligent?
43:32-43:33
Have we made excuses for that?
43:35-43:40
Father, we know you haven't called us to a lower standard.
43:43-43:46
Living in your grace, you've called us to a higher standard.
43:49-43:57
Father, I pray that we would strive to be the most excellent employees wherever you have us.
43:58-44:03
The people see the life of Christ in us and the people will have an opportunity.
44:04-44:10
Father, if you would open the door for an opportunity, we can share the hope that's within.
44:11-44:22
Help us all, Father, today to reexamine our places of employment and to see them instead as fields waiting to harvest, as a mission field.
44:25-44:31
Glorify your name, Father, in your church, in our families, and in our churches.
44:31-44:34
We pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 3:22-4:1
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.