Sermonette: May 29, 2023

“Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not only when being watched, as currying favor, but in simplicity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will receive recompense for the wrong he committed, and there is no partiality. Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, realizing that you too have a Master in heaven.”

– Colossians 3:22-4:1

The above Scriptural passage is often dismissed since it concerns masters and slaves and our society no longer has either. However, the underlying message behind the passage can be uncovered by replacing the words slaves with employees and masters with employers. By doing so we are left with the following important point. Employees should always perform at their absolute best even if the employer is a poor one and does not appreciate their work. Why? Because they are doing it for the Lord, not the employer.

Conversely, the employer is reminded that in the eyes of God, they and their employees are considered equals. That is, both employer and employees have the same ultimate employer, God. Both employer and employees have the same duty to treat each other well and fairly. Otherwise, the ultimate employer will get involved. One of the four sins crying to Heaven for vengeance is "defrauding laborers of their wages."

Of course, if more of society stops believing in God, unless either the employees or the employer have an extraordinary philanthropic spirit, overall performance will deteriorate. Employees will only perform to the level of appreciation by their employer. Otherwise, if employees do perform at a higher level that is not commensurate with the level of appreciation by the employer, employees will make up the difference for their under-appreciated work by "stealing the proverbial paperclips" from their employer.

Ultimately, if both employees and employers consistently follow the approach, "Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others," it assures that performance exceeds the expectations of both employees and employers alike since it is done with the goal of pleasing the ultimate employer, God.