How Should a Christian Act in the Workplace?

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to see everyone back, and as I've explained before, I usually open that way because of our coffee break between our programs. But anyway, for those of you joining us on television, again, we'd just like to let you know that we're just an informal Bible study. We have no denominational handle that we adhere to, and we are certainly members of a local church, but we are simply teaching the Word in a way that we trust anyone can search the Scriptures and learn to study the Bible, because this is where it's at. Don't depend on that Sunday school quarterly, don't depend on what I say, don't depend on what anyone else says, but learn to search the Scriptures and see what the Word of God really says. And that's my only criteria for teaching, is to teach people how to read and understand their own Bible, and we're getting such response to that. And so we do feel that the Lord is blessing that approach. And again, we always like to remind our listening audience that all the past programs, from Genesis up to where we are now in Ephesians and going on into Philippians, are available in the six-hour videotape, or the same little content in a little book, the same twelve programs, and also available on the audio cassette tape. So if you're interested in any of those vehicles, why, you call us on the 800 number or drop us a note and we'll get the information to you. Again, I always like to let you know we appreciate your letters. We read every one of them. I can't answer every one. I wish I could, but hopefully we answer the ones that have pertinent questions. But keep writing, because we do appreciate hearing from you so much. We just had the best time in a couple of seminars back in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and it was such a pleasure to meet those folks that we had only known by phone or letter. But whatever, we do appreciate so much our television audience. All right, now I didn't feel that I had finished verse 4 in Ephesians chapter 6, so I think rather than going on into verse 5 as I had first contemplated, we'll come back to verse 4 for a few moments, and dealing again with the relationship between parents, fathers in particular, and the children, where children are the most important part of the next generation, of course, because I remember years ago, Iris and I and a couple of our friends were having breakfast while we were all on vacation together, and one of us had made the statement that we have to realize, and at that time our kids were still small, they were little 3- and 4-year-olds, that we're always just one generation away from paganism. And I still adhere to that, that if parents do not teach their children the Word of God, their children are not very likely to ever come back and say, hey, I want to pick up where you failed. They'll continue on in that same lifestyle, and of course we're seeing it all across America, where our younger generations have absolutely no knowledge of the Scriptures. You can talk about a Damascus experience, and they look at you with a blank look. And you can talk about some of these other things that a generation ago everybody knew what you were talking about, even though they weren't believers, but at least they knew that it was in the Book. But that's not the case anymore, because our younger generation, I'm afraid, is so close to paganism. Now when I say paganism, I don't mean that they're out there bowing their knees in front of idols and doing all this kind of crazy, but they just have no concept of spiritual things. I always have to look at the masses, wherever we are. How many of them ever stop to think about eternity? Not many. It just never crosses their mind. Well here again it all boils down to how are these children being raised. Are they being raised, as Paul says here, bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord? See that's the instruction from Scripture, that we are to raise our children under those set of circumstances. Now again, as I was preparing this in my mind, I can't help but go back to Acts chapter 16. And you want to remember that as Paul and Barnabas came into the city of Philippi, clear up there in northern Greece, there weren't even very many Jews to give that community a semblance of a knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so it was primarily pagan. They knew nothing of the one true God. And into that pagan city Paul comes with the gospel, and of course because he was proclaiming the gospel, he ended up in prison, and we'll be looking at that when we go into the book of Philippians. And you remember the scourging and the beatings that he took as they threw him into the dungeon. And so then we pick it up after he had survived the earthquake, and the Philippian jailer is just amazed that his prisoners are all still there, and he comes and literally falls at the feet of Paul and Silas, I guess it wasn't Barnabas, Paul and Silas, and he says, "...sirs," now I'm dropping down to verse 30, "...he brought them out," that is out of the dungeon, and he falls in their presence and he says, "...sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Now whenever I read this verse, I can't help but always compare it with another verse that says a lot the same, but yet totally different, and that is back in Acts chapter 2, verse 38. And whenever I teach 238, I've got to use Acts 16, and when we use Acts 16, I've got to go back to Acts 238, because the point, I think, is well made. But in Acts 238, this is the day of Pentecost, and Peter is preaching his heart out, you might say, to the nation of Israel, which is so obvious up in verse 36, where Peter winds up this sermon, or whatever you want to call it, with the words, verse 36 now of Acts 2, "...therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly." So he doesn't mention Gentiles, he's preaching to the Jewish nation. And so he says, "...let the whole house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ." Then you come down to verse 37, "...they were so totally convicted that they now ask, men and brethren, what shall..." What's the pronoun? "...we, what shall we do?" Well who's asking the question? The nation, see? And I always make the point that God deals with the Jews on two levels, individually and nationally, and always keep that in mind. Well now here it's a national question. What do we, the nation of Israel, have to do? Because they had just crucified their Messiah. All right, look what Peter's answer is. This is Peter, and Peter says, "...repent, and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, and then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Now that's Peter, preaching to Israel, and that was the answer. But now look at the difference in Paul's answer again in Acts chapter 16, as this Gentile Philippian jailer comes and asks almost the same question, and yet it's not the same, because he doesn't say, "...what shall we do?" He says what? What shall I do? Now it becomes a personal thing, see? God isn't dealing with the Gentiles as He did with the nation of Israel on national ground. Every Gentile is being dealt with personally, and that's why we always emphasize that salvation is not just bringing in people wholesale. Salvation today is that one at a time, as the Holy Spirit convicts and opens the understanding and that person believes, and that's why a lot of people use that term, a personal Savior, because we have to be saved as an individual. So now this is exactly the way the Philippian jailer, as a Gentile, a pagan, an unbeliever, that's the way he puts it. And he says, "...sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Not we, I. And Paul doesn't say, "...repent and be baptized." Paul says what? Believe, see? Believe, and that's Paul's theme all the way through his letters. Romans 1, 16, "...I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that is repenting and baptized." No, to everyone that what? Believeth, see? The preaching of the cross is to them who are lost, foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God unto salvation. And how do we attain salvation? Believing, not repenting, believing all the way through. So now then, that's a side drag, but I want to come back and see the family of this Philippian jailer was also involved. It wasn't just a one-man deal, and so we pick it up now then in verse 31, and Silas, no doubt Paul was the speaker, and he said, "...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Now, these next three words throw a curve at a lot of people, "...and thy house." Well, does that mean that when a father is saved, his kids are automatically saved? Well, of course not. But what's implied? That if you have believing parents, you have a Christian home, Christian influence, Christian upbringing, as Paul puts it in Ephesians, the nurture and admonition of the Lord, what are the chances of those children becoming believers compared to kids in an unbelieving home? Well, it's far greater. I'm not going to say 100% greater, because even a Christian home can have kids that will end up rebellious and so forth. But percentage-wise, when you've got a Christian home, a Christian father, a Christian mother, their kids are more apt to carry on to their home, to their kids, than when you have a family with no concern about spiritual things. All right, so now then, come on into verse 32 of Acts 16, "...and so they spake unto him the word of the Lord, but they didn't stop with the jailer..." Who else did they include? "...and all that were in his house." Now, we don't know how many were in the family of the jailer, but certainly his wife and some children, see? "...and so he spoke to all that were in his house, and they must have..." All! "...the whole family must have become believers that very night." Now I've talked to missionaries who have seen the same thing happen in grossly uncivilized areas. When a husband or a father becomes a believer, the whole family will follow. And it's not just like a bunch of little ducks following the mother, but it is a real salvation experience that carries that family through thick and thin, and I think that's what has happened here. "...and so they spake the word of the Lord to all that were in his house..." Their salvation, of course, was, I imagine, evident. "...and so he took them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes..." That is, Paul's and Silas's. "...he was baptized, he and all of his..." In other words, again, the emphasis is the whole family became believers. And then verse 34, "...and when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and rejoicing, believing in God..." And how many with him? All his house. All his house, his whole family. "...and so there again the father was instrumental in the whole family coming to know the Lord." All right, now let's come back to Ephesians and carry that right on through, how that Paul is also using that same set of circumstances, that if the father, who not only is godly in the treatment of his wife up there in chapter 5, he's also going to be instrumental in raising his children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. That's just plain common sense. In fact, didn't I say that a few programs back? Christianity is so practical. It's not pie in the sky. It's not as one lady in Minnesota put it, blab it and grab it. But it is just simply practical. And that if we have a practical operating Christian home, more than likely, I'm not going to say it's guaranteed, but more than likely we're going to see Christian children who in turn will go out and begin a Christian home, and that's the only thing that keeps it going. And as soon as there's a break, then the next generation is out in the cold. All right, now then, I think I'm ready to move on. Back to Ephesians 6. Now let's go on to verse 5. Now Paul brings it into another segment of society, and that is the workplace. Now we have to recognize that at the time of Paul, slavery was still part and parcel of the economy. Now a lot of us can't understand that, but that's the way it was, and we have to look at it in that light. But always remember, when God sanctioned slavery, even back in the Old Testament time, He was not looking at the mean-spirited, treating slave people like animals. It was an economy that had it been done godly, it would have worked. Because you want to remember, the vast majority of those people had no education, they couldn't build up a profession unless they were out of the 2% or 3% of the elite, and so the masses were totally incapable of running a business, or being in production, or anything like that. And so where was the most comfortable area? Well, working for someone. And if you had a benevolent slave master, he would provide the housing, and the food, and the clothing, and everything that these people would need, and hey, life was enjoyable. But when you got a slave master who was the old Adam, under the inspiration of Satan, yes, being a slave was a horrible life. And remember, that was most of the human race. The biggest majority of people lived in that element of slavery. See? All right, so now then, Paul is bringing this into the lifestyle of the believing slave master, as well as a believing servant. Look what he says. Servants, or what we would be more prone to say, slaves, be obedient to them who are your masters according to the flesh. In other words, he's your boss, he's the one to whom you belong, with fear and trembling, and singleness of your heart. And again, what's the comparison? As unto Christ. See? Now this is talking about the believing element in society. This isn't talking about those out there with their bullwhips and so forth. All right, verse 6. As this servant, or as today we would say a hired person, was not to do it just with eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, verse 7, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men. All right, now it'll be a while before we get over it, but let's turn to Philemon. I think you all understand the story behind the letter to Philemon, who also was a slave owner. He was a gentleman of means, and one of his servants, one of his bond slaves, had evidently stolen from him, fled the area of Colossae, which is over there in western Turkey, and ends up where Paul is, probably in Rome, because it's one of his prison epistles. And somehow or other, Onesimus, this slave, comes under the influence of Paul's preaching and becomes a believer. He becomes a Christian. Now, Paul also is instrumental in the salvation of this man's owner, Philemon, and so Paul is going to bring these two people back together, the slave and his master. And that's the whole setting of this little one-page letter to Philemon. And what Paul is really saying is, yes, you own him, he's your servant, but you are both in the body of Christ. And what does that do? Hey, that puts you on equal footing, see? Now, he's still a servant, and Philemon is still the owner, but he no longer is to treat this man like chattel, but now he is a fellow believer. And so this is the purpose of this little letter from Paul to Philemon, to accept this slave back into his good graces, not as a wayward slave who would now be punished severely for what he'd done, but as a fellow believer. All right, and it's a beautiful little letter. All right, verse, oh, let's see. Coming down to verse 5, where Paul writes to Philemon. I'll get the setting. Paul's in prison in Rome. Philemon is probably a wealthy individual living over there somewhere east of the city of Ephesus in Colossae. And he says, "...hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast to the Lord Jesus and toward all saints." Now, who is that including? Even Onesimus, see? Because he's now a believer, and he's numbered with the saints. All right, verse 6, "...that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy..." What? See? There it is again. Even this slave owner, this man Philemon, back there in Asia Minor or in the area of Colossae, is exercising the theme that we had on the board, seeking other people's highest good, even his servants. Now that took something, didn't it? All right, verse 8. "...wherefore," Paul writes, "...though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also prisoner of Christ, I beseech thee for my son," that in other words, because of Paul's witnessing, however, to this slave from Colossae, even though he's in prison, he somehow was able to get the gospel across to this Onesimus. Now verse 11. Paul says this man in the past was unprofitable. Well, why? Because he had fled his place of service, and he had also no doubt stolen something from Philemon. But now, since he's been saved, he's become a believer, he is now what? Profitable to me and to you. See, that's what salvation does for people. Verse 12. "...whom I have sent again, thou therefore receive him," that is, my own heart or my own innermost being. Verse 13. "...whom," still speaking about the slave Onesimus, "...who I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel." But verse 14, Paul says, "...without your agreement," that is, without thy mind, I would do nothing, "...that thy benefits should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly." All right, now verse 16. "...not now as a servant," not as a slave now, "...not now as a servant, but above a servant," a what? A brother, see? A brother. "...beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord." Then down to verse 18. Paul says, "...if he's wrong thee," and we're pretty sure he did, "...or oath thee ought for what he might have stolen." Paul says, "...put that on my account." And so these two people, slave master and his slave, are brought back together in the bonds of love because of the intercessory work, of course, of the Apostle Paul. But I think when you come back to Ephesians chapter 6, if you will, you see that even though we're no longer under the economy of slavery, we are still, wherever we are in this world, in the workplace we have the masters and we have the hirelings. And it's the same set of circumstances, really, as it was then. And that is a believer who is an owner. He's the boss over people. He should constantly reflect his Christianity. He should reflect his love for the Lord, as well as the love for the people who are under him. All right, now then verse 8. Verse 8 of Ephesians 6. "...knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be..." What? "...bond or free." And again the Scripture says over and over that God is no respecter of persons. It doesn't impress God if a man is over a thousand people, any more than a servant who is a believer, because in Christ we have that unity. All right, now then verse 9. He says, "...and masters, owners, however you want to use it in our present day vernacular, do the same thing unto them forbearing threatening." I know I can't help whenever I read a verse like this. Back when the Japanese automakers were taking our American companies to camp, weren't they? They were just cleaning house on our American automakers. Selling Japanese cars like crazy, making them better and everything else. And what did our American managers have to finally wake up and realize? That, hey, you have to listen to that guy down on the assembly line. You have to listen when he has criticism. You have to listen to him when he says, hey, I know how we can do it better. Because that's what the Japanese had been doing. And so our management people at General Motors and Ford and all the rest of them sent their people over to Japan to see how the Japanese were doing it. And this flabbergasted them. Hey, management goes down and listens to people on the assembly line. Hey, they couldn't comprehend that. But they had to finally learn the lesson. And after finally coming back and listening to those people, and we know now they do, they finally started making their way back up the ladder again in their business. But see, the Bible is way ahead of them. The Bible is way ahead of them. God is already way back here saying, masters, forbear your workers. Listen to them. They're human beings just like you are. And so he says, don't threaten them, knowing that your master also is in heaven, and neither is there a respect of persons with him. And so the lesson carries through right to our own day and time. That when a corporate manager or an owner of a business, whatever the case may be, and he has people under him, especially, of course, if he's a believer, and he treats his men as God treats him, he's going to be successful. He's going to have a happy workforce. I've known a couple of small companies where most of their employees were Christians, the owners were Christians, and they didn't have any labor troubles. They had excellent production records, because it's so true. What God has mandated is going to work. And so verse 9 again, masters, do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening. Don't try to rule with an iron hand, but show again that love and respect, because know also that your master is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. God doesn't care if a man's a billionaire or if he's making just enough to make a living. Makes no difference to God. Because once we come in as members of the body of Christ, we are all going to enjoy the riches of glory. We are all part of that. or call 1-800-369-7856. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. Be sure to tune in next time to Through the Bible with Les Feldman.