LGC - Rooted & Fruitful Part 24

Rooted & Fruitful (Part 24)

Speaker: Charles Lim

INTRODUCTION

The workplace can be an increasingly volatile, unpredictable place. We are regularly interacting with people from different backgrounds and with differing or conflicting worldviews. This could be your colleague, boss, or employee.

As ever-changing as people and culture can be, the Word is constant through the ages and it teaches us how to live and respond, regardless of the time we live in.

In Ephesians 6:5-9, Paul gives an exhortation to bondservants and masters on their relationship with each other. The employer-employee relationship may seem more transient compared to others (husband-wife, parent-child), yet the fact that Paul stresses this relationship to the church shows us how much it matters to God.

DISCUSSION

What is your number one concern regarding work right now?
Read Ephesians 6:5-8 and Colossians 3:22-25.

a. In Ephesians 6:5, there is an exhortation to “obey… with fear and trembling… as you would Christ.”

(i) What does having a “fear and trembling” before God look like? (See Isaiah 66:1-2, Proverbs 9:10)

(ii) How can this be translated to your relationship with your employer?

(iii) What kind of boss is God?

b. Paul reminds bondservants of who they are ultimately pleasing and serving.

(i) What can happen when we live as people-pleasers, and not God-pleasers?

(ii) What does not having “eye-service” tell us about the posture of our hearts that we are called to have at work?

c. Ephesians 6:8 and Colossians 3:24 give us a promise of how God repays those who choose to honour Him by doing good through their service to their masters.

(i) What are some of your current motivators for being a good employee?

(ii) How can eternal rewards help us to be ones with an excellent spirit at the workplace?

d) How would you encourage someone to follow Paul’s advice in a “VUCA” work environment (VUCA: Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous – characteristics of a toxic work environment)?

e) How would your work environment change if you adopted these principles?
Read Ephesians 6:9.

a. Does anyone in your workplace report to you? Identify the most challenging employee/staff you have. What makes that relationship difficult?

b. What does verse 9 tell you that might change the way you relate to your employee/staff?

WHAT WILL YOU DO

In our work environment, we may face many challenges: difficult bosses, challenging peer or subordinate relationships, demanding clients or underperforming staff. We also face our own inadequacies, struggling at times to keep up with our work or to produce the kind of work that is expected of us. In all these situations, our attitude can be radically transformed if we realise that our work is an act of worship to the Lord, who took on the role of bondservant to buy our freedom. He is worthy of all our worship, to include the way we view and do our work.

Paul reminds us that our posture and submission do not go unseen; our ultimate Master in Heaven promises a reward for those who faithfully serve Him! Let this promise encourage us to live a life pleasing unto Him as we walk on earth, regardless of where we are.

Bringing your faith into the workplace requires intentionality and starts with prayer: that God would help you to recognise the spiritual battles in your workplace and to depend on Him for strength, that God would grant you favour in the eyes of man (Genesis 39:21, Daniel 1:9), that He would multiply the work of your hands, that He would grant you wisdom (James 1:5-6). Commit your work to the Lord, and keep in mind that He is your ultimate Boss, and that you represent Him in your workplace.

MEMORY VERSE

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people. – Ephesians 6:7

An Each 1 Reach 1 Reflection

From Matthew 18:15-35

One of the most powerful distinctives of the Christian faith is our call to forgive others as we have been forgiven. In the parable of the unmerciful servant, a servant is forgiven an enormous debt by the king. Later, he refuses to extend forgiveness to a fellow servant who owes him a small debt. Jesus calls us to show mercy and forgive those who’ve harmed us because we recognise that we have already been forgiven the great debt our sin demands.

As we relate to others in the workplace, in our family lives, or our social settings, are we a light for Christ in the way we forgive freely? Or do we withhold forgiveness for small offences while enjoying the freedom of forgiveness of our sins? Consider the witness for Christ that will come from a merciful attitude towards others!

Let us pray.