Bondservants, 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. 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. Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. Colossians 3:22-4:1 ESV
Closing out Colossians 3 the Apostle Paul gave clear and concise instructions for Christian husbands, wives and children. He then moved into proper behavior in the working environment.
As we begin,it’s worth noting that bondservant is more precisely translated as slave and therefore it’s important to consider the cultural context of this passage. Slavery was extremely common when Paul wrote this letter; it’s estimated that as much as 30% of the population in major Roman cities, like Colossae, was in slavery. This also means there were many slave owners (ie: masters), so Paul’s instructions impacted a good portion of the local church. In today’s society, our earthy master might be considered our manager, boss, or anyone who has authority over us in the workplace environment.
Paul tells slaves (workers) to “obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart.” As with the instructions to husbands, wives and children, we find this is a shorter version of what Paul expounded more deeply upon in his letter to the Ephesians. In that passage, Paul explained how we are to behave as though we are slaves of Christ and to serve those above us with sincerity and a good attitude because ultimately that is God’s will (ref: Eph. 6:5-9).
Sometimes it takes a lot of humility and fortitude to obey the boss with sincerity of heart, especially when he is difficult, prideful, or ignorant, but that’s probably why Paul immediately followed this with, “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 see, as Christians, we are not just working for ‘the man’, we are working for the Lord. When we remember this, it makes it easier to humbly obey those who are over us in the workplace and to do our work heartily because God is watching and it is God who rewards (ref: Eph. 6:8).
And this is a call to do things for the right reasons… we should not be working so hard only to be noticed or get promoted, lots of people do that – they are the people-pleasers Paul says we should not be. Instead, we do our work heartily because we “are serving the Lord Christ.” Serve with all your heart because it’s the right thing to do and let God take care of getting you promoted.
And for managers and bosses, Paul says, “Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” If the Lord has placed you in a position of authority over others, you are given a greater responsibility and accountability for how you treat those who are subject to you. Ruling over others with harshness, creating an environment of fear, manipulating people, or using your authority for unfair gain is a sin and must be dealt with. As Paul says, remember that you also have a Master in heaven so it is wise to treat others as you want to be treated by God (ref: Matt. 7:12 and Eph. 6:9).
Our lesson today is that each of us has an earthly master of some kind (usually in the form of a boss or manager), and it is our responsibility to serve them as though we are serving the Lord Himself. Our boss will never live up to Jesus’s standard (and neither will we), but if we commit ourselves to work heartily for them as though we were serving the Lord, it will do us well in this life and in the next. And in the same manner, just like husbands are to love their wives and be gentle with their children, managers and those in charge are commanded to be just and fair to those God has entrusted them to oversee.
Let’s therefore approach each task, whether in the spotlight or unseen, with the joy of serving the Lord, who sees all things, including our heart. As we work with sincerity and lead with fairness, our daily labor becomes an offering of worship to the One who rewards faithfully.