Following Christ While You're Working for The Man--1 Peter 2:18-25 (1 Peter Series)

            Think for a moment about the person with whom you spend the most time interacting on any given day. If perhaps that person is your spouse, that’s wonderful – you should consider yourself lucky. For most people, the person with whom they interact the most is either a coworker or their boss. I’m sorry if I just ruined your morning by reminding you about how much time you spend at work!

            For the average person, working takes up approximately half of his waking hours. That means your relationships with your coworkers and your boss are very important if for no other reason than simply the sheer amount of time that you spend with them. It’s important, then, for us to consider how God wants us to conduct ourselves in these relationships. In particular for today, we’re going to read some teaching from the Apostle Peter that you can apply to your relationship with your boss.

            As we continue in 1 Peter 2, Peter is going to continue with his quest to make me very unpopular! Last time we looked at his letter, I had to tell you to submit to the government, which is not always a pleasant or happy thought. Today, I have to tell you to submit to your boss, and if you haven’t thrown all the hymnals at me by the time we’re done, we’ll see that:

Submitting to your boss – especially one who does not treat you well – is a very Christlike thing to do.

1. Submit to your boss with respect, regardless of his character (vv. 18-20)

            Before we dive into these verses, let’s get an accurate idea of the setting in which these people found themselves. In verse 18, Peter refers to masters and servants. The NIV even translates that word “slaves,” which is not altogether inaccurate. We need to discuss this a bit however, because whenever we hear a word like slave or master, our thoughts immediately turn toward slavery in the United States during the early days of our nation. That setting is not a highly accurate backdrop for Peter’s audience however, so we need to take a moment to understand this.

            The servants whom Peter addresses certainly were slaves in the sense that they did not have freedom. They were owned by their masters, but for a great many of them, their life was quite different than that of a slave on a plantation in the United States. Many of them were given training in various trades including medicine and teaching. After all, why pay someone else to be your doctor when you could have a trained doctor of your own as a servant right there in your own household. These servants did typically receive a very modest wage for their work, and through that small income they did have the opportunity to eventually purchase their freedom if they desired to do so.

            That’s why the ESV and other translations call these people servants – so that we won’t automatically associate them with the slaves in the history of our own nation. Again, they were slaves in the sense that they were not free people, so that does put them in a different setting from us as well. If you work for a boss who really treats you poorly, you do have the freedom to look for another job. You don’t have to stay in that situation. Nevertheless, Peter’s instruction in this passage is highly applicable for us in the way that we respond to our bosses.

            Let’s see what Peter has to say in the first two verses of this passage [READ vv. 18-19]. Now when Peter says “mindful of God,” he means that we remember our personal responsibility to obey God regardless of how someone else treats us. If someone treats us unjustly, we are still responsible to obey all of God’s commands that would apply in that situation. So for example, we are not to take revenge against our bosses if they treat us unjustly. We should also continue to treat them the way that we want them to treat us. We should also choose not to gossip about them or slander them or to allow hatred of them to fester in our hearts. And as Peter specifically states here, we should still treat them with respect and do what they ask us to do as long as they are not asking us to sin.

            Peter goes on to describe how such holy and godly behavior in that circumstance is praiseworthy and commendable [READ v. 20]. When Peter says that such behavior is “a gracious thing in the sight of God,” he is saying that this is the kind of behavior that God approves of – the kind of behavior that God delights to bless.

And why is responding to unjust treatment in this way the kind of behavior that God approves of? Because it is the same way that God the Son responded when he endured unjust treatment during his life on Earth.

2. Your calling to stay holy despite unjust treatment has been exemplified by Christ (vv. 21-25)

            In verse 21, Peter writes, “For to this you have been called (and by “this” Peter means that we’ve been called to this kind of behavior, this kind of response to unjust suffering) because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

            Now, I need to camp out on this verse for a few minutes because there’s a truth here that makes such a profound difference for what we should expect life to be like for us as Christian people in a fallen world. The fact that God views Jesus as an example for us means that he knows and expects that we too will face unjust treatment from others during this life. The whole purpose of Christ serving as an example for us in this way is that we will know how to respond when we face the same kind of treatment – because God knows that we inevitably will!

            It is so vital for us to understand this because we hear a very different message today from an increasing number of teachers under the banner of Christianity. For example, you may be familiar with Joel Osteen. He is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, which is the largest church in the United States. Several of his books have hit the New York Times bestseller list.

            In his book Your Best Life Now, he writes that because we are children of God, we should expect that people will give us preferential treatment in life – not poor treatment, but actually better treatment because God will be working in our behalf. And so he goes on to write about times when he was given an unexpected upgrade to a first-class seat on an airplane and a time when a cashier gave him an unexpected discount on an item of clothing.

            According to him, that is how life can be for us all the time if we simply declare by faith that that’s how our life will be. He writes, “when you are living favor-minded, the Bible says, “God’s blessings are going to chase you down and overtake you.” (I’m not sure what verse he’s quoting there, and he doesn’t tell us) In other words, you won’t be able to out run the good things of God. Everywhere you go, things are going to change in your favor. Every time you turn around, somebody’s going to want to do something good for you, to assist you in some manner. They may not even know why. But it’s the favor of God that causes you to stand out in the crowd.”¹

            Apparently, it just never dawned on Peter to tell these servants that they simply weren’t living with a favor-minded attitude! According to Joel Osteen, they apparently could’ve put an end to their unjust treatment if they simply would have declared it to be so by faith.

            My friends, on the night before Jesus was crucified, he said to his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).” Jesus never said, “If they persecuted me, don’t worry about it, because they’ll give you upgrades from coach to first-class.” Let me just ask you to consider this simple question – if God intends to make other people give us preferential treatment, why would he give us an example of how to faithfully obey despite unjust treatment? If Joel Osteen is correct, then we should be able to see less and less unjust treatment against us all the time as we grow in faith, but are we to think that the example of Christ becomes less relevant for us as we grow more like him?

            My friends, the reality is that God gave us an example in Jesus Christ because he knows full well that we will face unjust treatment throughout this phase of life. On the night before he was crucified, Jesus also said, “In this world you will have trouble and suffering. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).” Please notice that even though we know we will have trouble in this world, we don’t have to live with a defeatist attitude or pessimistic outlook. Our Savior has overcome the world!

            One way in which he overcame the world was by rising above the world’s sinful way of living and following a godly lifestyle instead. Peter describes this in verses 22 and 23. He could certainly be speaking of Christ’s entire life here, but it seems that he might be focusing specifically on how Jesus responded during his trials after he was arrested. Let’s read what Peter has to say [READ vv. 22-23].

            That last phrase provides us with a key commitment for enduring unjust treatment in a godly way. When we face injustice, we don’t have to feel the need to sort it all out ourselves. We don’t have to feel a need to settle the score or turn the tables on those who might be unjust toward us. We can simply place ourselves in the hands of God and rest in his promises that he is going to make all things right in his good time.

            One day, he is going to expose the darkness and bring the truth to light. He will vindicate us in due time, so we don’t need to try to do that ourselves right now. We don’t need to resort to revenge or threats or insults because those who treat us with injustice will not have the last laugh. God may ask us to endure injustice right now, but you can rest assured that the judge of all the earth will do right. He will vindicate us in the same way that he has vindicated Jesus and will vindicate him again in the future.

            What freedom this realization gives us for life! You and I know that it’s not within our power to right many of the wrongs that we suffer in this life. But rather than feel trapped by that inability, we can rejoice that it’s not even our responsibility! God is watching over us, and he will sort those things out in due time, so we are free to live for much greater and glorious things than simply trying to settle the score with everyone who has wronged us.

            Some people go through life with heavy burdens and deep grudges because someone did them wrong many years ago and they’ve seemingly gotten away with it. But to quote Queen Elsa from Frozen, “Let it go!” Lay those burdens down into the loving hands of God, and know that he will make all things right.

            Part of the reason that Jesus died was that we might be set free from such sinful responses in order to live lives of godliness and righteousness. Notice verse 24 [READ v. 24]. The healing that Peter speaks of here is a healing from sin’s dominating power over our lives. Jesus bore our sins in his crucifixion to set us free not only from the penalty of our sins, but also from their power over us. So today, though our temptations still feel very strong, we have the ability to say no to them because in Christ we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness.

            We always need to remember that Christ’s death for us has such profound power not only for our future but also for our present. So often, we focus on what Christ’s death for us will mean for us down the road – namely, that we will get to enjoy a home in heaven. Consequently, we often lose focus on what Christ’s death means for us right now – namely, that we can rise above our sinful temptations and live lives of obedience and godliness.

            Please notice how Peter stresses that freeing us to live in righteousness was one of the purposes behind Christ’s crucifixion. He didn’t die for you merely to give you a home in heaven; he also died for you to give you a holy heart right now. So please understand that if you are not carefully obeying God in your life right now, you are not respecting one of the very reasons that Christ died for you. That is a terrible oversight and serious failure on our parts. As we examine our lives closely, if we find that we are not carefully obeying God, we need to ask God to forgive us for that sin and start following him on a more obedient path.

            He will lead us and guide us and sustain us on such a path, because he is our good shepherd. Notice verse 25 [READ v. 25]. There’s a great reversal that has taken place between verses 18 and 25. Peter began this section by talking about our earthly masters or our earthly bosses, but he closes the section now by reminding us about our greatest master and overseer – the Lord Jesus Christ. He is greater to us than any human master, so his approval should be sweeter and more important to us as well. If he tells us then to treat our earthly boss with respect even if we don’t receive the same from that boss, well then that’s precisely what we should do. He himself has set the example for us, so we should follow in his steps with a song like this in our hearts:

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause,

I’d rather be faithful to his dear cause;

I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,

I’d rather be true to his holy name.

Notes:

1. Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, Chapter 6: “Living Favor Minded.” Accessed through Google Books on June 9, 2016 at https://books.google.com/books?id=I6F0gPBfC38C&pg=PT42&dq=joel+osteen+first+class&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil8Puho5vNAhUHE1IKHcy4ANcQ6AEIQjAG#v=onepage&q=joel%20osteen%20first%20class&f=false

Working to Live or Living to Work? Work and Labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes

            Tomorrow, as you know, is Labor Day, the day when we celebrate the contributions of workers to our country. I think I can safely say that the vast majority of people have kind of a love/hate relationship with their job. Some people have managed to get into a career that they absolutely love, but for most people, their job is just a way to pay the bills. This is really kind of sad when you think about it, because as adults, where do we spend a large portion of our waking hours? At work! This means that many, many people spend the bulk of their lives doing something that for them is little more than a necessary evil.

            I hope I didn’t just describe you, but if I did, I think I have some good news for you. It may surprise you to learn that the book of Ecclesiastes actually has some encouraging news about our work and labor. Now you might naturally think, “I don’t even want to hear what Ecclesiastes has to say about my job! That’s the really pessimistic book! Whatever it has to say will probably make me feel worse than before!”

            Well, let’s give this book the benefit of the doubt, because I think you might be pleasantly surprised to hear what Ecclesiastes has to say about the subject of work. As we look at this theme today, I think we will see that Ecclesiastes teaches us this:

Our work in this world is supposed to enhance our lives, not hinder them.

I. Excessive devotion to work or profit is a futile thing (2:18–23; 5:10–17)

            Ecclesiastes first of all gives us a helpful corrective to the obsession with work that may plague our lives. Solomon points out two observations that lead him to this conclusion.

            A. Whatever you earn, you can’t take it with you! (2:18–23)

            In light of our mortality, excessive work trying to earn a profit is futile because we have to give it all up when we die, and everything that we earned might be frittered away by someone else. [READ 2:18–23]

            Solomon was greatly troubled here by the thought of leaving everything that he had worked so hard for to someone who hadn’t worked for it at all. There was no telling what the next man would do with all of his stuff, but like it or not, Solomon had to give it up. Solomon understood that timeless principle that money that is easy to come by is easily frittered away.

            I remember when I got my first summer job in high school how I felt like I was living the high life. It was a pretty cushy job and at the time, I had no major expenses in my life. I was still living at home and basically had no bills, so my paycheck was easy come, easy go. I threw away money on a leather jacket and movies—all kinds of teenage stuff.

            And the worst part of it all is that sometimes I feel like I still haven’t learned my lesson. To this day when I receive an unexpected gift of money, its still much harder to put that money to good use than it is to put my paycheck to good use.

            Money that is easy to come by is easily frittered away. This observation is important for us think about. If we are hoping to leave our kids a large inheritance, we may not necessarily be doing them a favor. Now in 7:11 Solomon says that if we pass along wisdom with an inheritance, that can be a good thing, but an inheritance alone may not be a good gift.

Second observation about excessive devotion to work or profit…

            B. Profits will not bring the satisfaction that they promise (5:10–17)

            If we wear ourselves out at work trying to accumulate wealth and possessions, we’re going to be disappointed when we get them, because we’ll discover that they don’t bring the satisfaction that they promise [READ 5:10–11] I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories of lottery winners who suddenly discover that their family is a lot bigger than it was before! Let’s keep reading [READ 5:12–17]

            Notice how Solomon highlights the emotional grief that we experience when we hoard our profits and the fruit of our labor—our sleep is disturbed; our daily routine symbolized by eating in v. 17 becomes shot through with grief and sickness and anger. That excessive devotion to working and profiting and holding onto what we earn brings all kinds of grief with it.

So rather than devote ourselves excessively to work and building up a profit, we need to learn that…

II. Work should be done in the right way for the right reasons (4:4–8; 10:10; 11:6)

Solomon makes three observations along these lines…

            A. We should not work in order to “one-up” our neighbor (4:4)

            If our primary goal in our work is to “keep up with the Joneses” or if we are working out of a spirit of jealousy, we’ve got the wrong motive. [READ 4:4] Notice how Solomon is really condemning envy and not hard work per se. Business has a natural element of competition to it—businesses are always competing with one another with their goods and services, and that can be okay if a person conducts his work with godly attitudes and motivations. But if we are motivated in our work by jealousy of someone else, work practically ceases to be work and becomes some kind of vendetta. So jealousy or envy is not a proper motivation for work.

            B. We should work diligently, but not at the expense of rest (4:5–6)

            Ecclesiastes presents us with a wonderfully balanced view of labor and rest [READ 4:5–6] Notice the two extremes that we have here: first we have the fool who folds his hands. The picture is of someone reclining with their hands across their chest. Solomon says all kinds of negative things about the sluggard or the lazy man in the book of Proverbs. The other extreme is the man who goes after labor with both hands, and what Solomon commends is a balance—one hand full of rest, with the idea being of course that the other hand is at work.

            This is such an important lesson for us to take to heart, because I fear it is so easy for us to buy into the idea that time spent resting is simply wasted time. And sometimes in church we sanctify that idea because we say, “Well the Bible says to redeem the time for the days are evil, so there’s no time to just sit around.” Friends, what did God do on the seventh day of creation? He rested! We don’t really think He needed to rest, do we? No—He was setting an example for us!

            So we should understand that rest is not a bad thing. It is a hard thing to get, however, because there’s always something else that we could be doing. And you know what—that will always be the case! So perhaps what we need to do is make time to rest, and not feel guilty about it, but understand that its okay.

            C. We should work smarter, not harder (10:10)

            [READ 10:10] If we don’t employ wisdom in our work, we will only make things harder on ourselves. Imagine if no one had ever invented the wheelbarrow. I don’t know who invented the wheelbarrow, but imagine if that person had said, “I can’t waste my time with all of this silly daydreaming about a basket with a wheel—there are rocks to be moved! What I really need to do is just put in a few more hours moving the rocks—that’s the answer!”

            Now that sounds pretty silly, but its no sillier than what we often do! Its so easy to think that answer to every problem at work is a few more hours. How many times have you thought, “If I only had a few more hours?” Well usually at the end of those hours, we’re still thinking the same thing!

            I think the application to rest comes into play here once again, because when our bodies and our minds are properly rested we can use them to the best of their ability. We can think more clearly about our work when we’re rested, and that will allow us a better opportunity to see how wisdom can help us improve our work.

I think one way that we can apply wisdom to our work is by taking to heart our third lesson…

III. Finding the good that our work accomplishes is a gift from God (2:24; 5:18–20)

            A. We should look for the good that our work produces (2:24)

            Now I have said “look for the good” for a reason, because it is so easy to start feeling like your work is pointless and meaningless. If we embrace that attitude, then work will be drudgery for the rest of our lives, but if we can focus on the good that our work produces, we can find satisfaction in it.

            [READ 2:24] Notice that the verse says we are to “find enjoyment” in our toil. Now this doesn’t mean that we have to deceive ourselves or anything like that. A slightly more literal translation from Hebrew here would read “cause your soul to see good in your labor.” Solomon is talking about a choice—the attitude that we choose to have about our work. If we choose to think that our job is just pointless drudgery, that’s exactly what it will feel like. But if we choose to see the good that our work accomplishes, we can find satisfaction.

            But how do we choose to see the good, especially when work often has so many hassles and frustrations? I think the answer is to focus on the way in which your job allows you to serve other people. I briefly worked at a bank at one point during seminary. That really wasn’t a bad job—I had a good work environment and a very good boss, but nevertheless, that was not what I wanted to do with my life at that time. I didn’t wake up every day with a burning passion to be a bank teller, and there were days when it was very easy for me to have a bad attitude as I went off to work. But I started to become convicted about my attitude, and I decided that God had me there for a reason, so I decided to focus on the good that our bank accomplished. I started to focus on the small businesses that relied on our loans to get by, and the homeowner’s who had taken out a mortgage with us so they could buy a home. I started to focus on the financial planning that we offered to help people take control of their spending, and I started to see that our bank really did accomplish good in this community. We were providing a service that allowed our community to improve, and when I thought about my work like that, I was able to find satisfaction in it.

            So what about you? How does your work allow you to serve people and improve their lives? That’s what you need to focus on, because serving people is always a satisfying thing, and you can serve people in any profession (provided of course that profession is within God’s moral standards).

            B. We should enjoy the profit that comes from our work (5:18–20)

            We saw earlier that Solomon instructs not to devote ourselves excessively to the profit that we can make in our work, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not supposed to get any enjoyment from our profit at all! [READ 5:18–20] Notice the benefit that we get from enjoying our profits in v. 20 [READ v. 20]. Enjoying our profits takes some of the sting out of life.

            I think we all know that it can be very, very easy to become overwhelmed with all of the problems that we encounter in this world. If we focus on our own problems and the problems in our government and the problems in our world long enough, it is easy to be overcome with despair. But what Solomon is telling us is that the profits we receive are a gift from God that he allows us to enjoy to lift up our spirits as we deal with life in a fallen world. What a beautiful perspective on the fruits of our labor! I think this tells us that we don’t need to feel guilty if God allows us to be successful in business; we don’t need to feel guilty about enjoying some of the fruits of our labor.

            Now this is to be balanced of course by Solomon’s warning about devoting ourselves excessively to money and profits. And you know, as we look through Scripture, the Bible doesn’t give us a clear-cut guideline about how much is too much. The New Testament treats us like people who are supposed to be mature in Christ, and mature people are supposed to be able to achieve a balance in the various areas of their lives. So as we seek to mature in Christ, that’s a question we should wrestle with—“How am I handling the profits of my labor? Am I being too selfish with them? Am I enjoying them appropriately?” We may not always have an easy answer, but we need to wrestle with the question.

            I hope we have seen today the appropriate way to deal with work and labor, something that consumes a large portion of our lives. Friends, I hope we have seen that God does not consider your job to be an unimportant thing. It is not a waste of your time, it is not less important than a “spiritual” job like being a pastor, it is not even a necessary evil—it is a gift from God to you to give you an outlet for serving other people, to provide for your family, to be generous to others, and to get some enjoyment out of what your labor produces. I hope that you will buy into this perspective, because I believe it will make your days at work much more pleasant, and it will allow you to find satisfaction in what you’re doing. So, enjoy your day off tomorrow, and I hope you can return to work on Tuesday with a new appreciation for the gift of labor.