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Uh, where they're in Colossians four and look at verse number one, it says, masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. The title for the sermon this morning is employers and masters, employers and masters. You guys know that we've been going for that series on submission. We went through that and now we're looking at the series of authority, those that have people, um, under them and a submissive to them. And, uh, you know, we also preach on employees and how employees ought to behave themselves in the workplace and respect the authorities that are above them. And so now I'm talking about the employers or the masters, and this has to do with any, you say, I'm not an employer. Well, I mean, I'm talking about if you have anybody under your authority, as far as work goes, like even if you're some type of middle manager, you know, you're a supervisor, you're some type of team lead. This sermon is for you. And so when we saw there in Colossians four, we see how it began with masters, but very quickly come with me to Colossians three, just the previous chapter right at the end of the previous chapter in Colossians three, Colossians three 22, please look at Colossians three 22. It says, servants obey in all things, your masters, according to the flesh, not with our servants as men pleases, but in signalness of heart, fear in God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Well, you serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he have done. And there is no respect of person. So why did you notice that? As we're reading through Colossians, we've talked about the servants there or the employees, the hired servants. And then we start there in chapter four, verse number one, masters. All right. So this is you, if you have employees, workers under your authority, masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. All right. The first thing that I love about this passage is that sometimes when people have positions of authority, right? If someone becomes a team lead or someone, not always. I mean, I hope that's not you. I hope, you know, as God's people, you are a humble and you value every person you come across. But many times people that take an office or sometimes a position that is above others, they tend to start having a bit of a big hedge. A little prideful attitude sometimes. And you know, I'm more important than the people under me. But what I love straight away from this verse is that we reminded that we also have a master in heaven. All right. Just cause you're the top dog, just because you're the CEO, whatever it is, right? Of some mega multi, multi billion dollar global company. You know what? There is still someone above you. And that master of course is our Lord, Jesus Christ. Okay. And so that should immediately bring humility into our hearts, knowing that every, every role we do, whatever title we have on this earth, we're always under Christ. But what we're reminded here, this is you, you know, you're an employer or something like that. I want you to notice that the first thing that it mentioned is that, you know, you need to be just an equal, just an equal. Now you might say, pastor Kevin, I'm not sure if this really has much to do with me. I'm not a team leader. I'm not an employer. You know, in fact, I'm retired. Maybe I'm retired and you know, I don't work a job. But one thing that you need to understand about the Bible is when the Bible uses that word servants, yes, it does have to do with like employees, but in the Bible, there are two types of servants that you sort of tend to come across, especially in the old Testament. Uh, the first one is the bond servants and then you have your hired servants, the bond servant and the hired servant just very quickly. Um, historically in the Bible, if someone was maybe in major debts, maybe very poor, like they can't take care of their own needs, that would often give themselves over as a bond servants. All right. And what this means is you'd become like a perpetual employee. You'd be living in someone's household. You know, you'd be guaranteed a roof over your head. You'd be guaranteed food and all your necessities, but you're working for that guy 24 seven, whenever he needs you, uh, you're working for him. Some people get this confused and they think the Bible condones slavery. No slavery is when you're taking against your will. A bond servant is someone that is voluntarily given themselves over for service. And that period of time was six years maximum on the seventh year of the Sabbath, the Sabbath seventh year, they were to let go free. Okay. So this is not slavery. Slaves were not allowed to go free. Uh, they were taken involuntary and the Bible has the death penalty prescribed over slavery. Okay. But this is a bond servant that says, you know what I am, I am, and I've made some major mistakes in life. I need to get myself out of the situation. I can't take care of myself. I'm going to give myself over to someone that can take me on a labor in their fields. Oh, I'll be a labor in the household. I'll do whatever, whatever I have to do to earn a bit of an income and also to have all my needs taken care of me. And I'm going to do that for six years. And by then, hopefully I can pay off my debtors and get myself back on my feet. So that's that bond servants. Okay. And then in the Bible, you've got your hired servants. Obviously that's kind of like what we do today in many ways. The hired servants is maybe, um, you know, you need someone to work in your vineyard. You need someone to, to reap the harvest and you, you look and you go, Hey, you know what? You can come and work for me. Come work for me for a day. Come work for me for a week. You know, I'll hire your services and, and, uh, you pay that hired servant as well. Right. So you've got your bond servants. You've got your hired servants. And you know what, even today, like even though we don't really operate exactly in the same economy as the Old Testament Israel, we still kind of have these elements in play today. Like a bond servant, because you've got that like agreement that you're going to be serving there for such a period of time. You know, this is kind of like your, like a full-time permanent employee, right? You're permanent. They expect you to turn up to work Monday to Friday, no matter what, you know, you get some sick leave, you get some annual leave, you know, just in case you need some time off, whatever it is. Right. That's kind of like your bond server, but not really. Cause you know, you're not serving 24 seven. You've got your set hours. You're like, you work nine to five, Monday to Friday. You know, you've got an agreement, like a contract in place that guarantees you're meant to be there Monday to Friday. And your hired servant is more like maybe your casual employee, right? They, well, we'll call you in when we need you. Oh, you say, well, like I said, I'm not an employer. I'm not a team leader. This has nothing to do with me. No, no. But even if you just like, you know, even if, even like I said, even if you're retired, aren't there times that you may need to call a plumber to come take care of some issues in the house. Like there are times that you would hire maybe a gardener, right? To help you cut the grass and electrician to come and fix some, some wiring issues or things like that. That person is basically your hired servants when they come and they labor for you. Okay. So if you say, I can't relate to the sermon. Well, there are times that you're going to hire somebody, you're going to pay somebody to give you a service. And so there's still elements in this sermon today that will help you be a better master. Okay. Like I said, the title for the sermon today is masters, sorry, employers and masters, employers and masters. All right. What we saw there in Colossians four verse number one is masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal. Now, the way I look at this, what is just is what has been agreed upon. Okay. Normally when you hire somebody, uh, you agree, like let's say you were to hire an employee. You say to them, look, this is your contract. You know, these are the hours we need you to work and we're going to pay you this much per hour. And you're going to receive this much annual leave and this much sick leave and whatever else, right? This is what you, this is, these are the conditions of your employment. And then you take your pen and you sign that and say, yes, I agree to that. Whatever it is, right? That would be just, you give them what is just. Now sometimes, and I've had it happen to me where I've gone into work, like I've been, I've been new as an employee into a job and I've given this story before, but I just, I liked the example, right? And like a week into my job, I have the union employees come up to me. Hey Kevin, are you going to join the union? I'm like, I don't know. It only costs, I don't know what he was back then. Maybe $15 a fortnight or something. I don't know what it was. Okay. Like, Oh man, I could really do with $15 though. I don't really want to pay $15 to a union, you know? And they're like, Oh, but you know, uh, you know, we'll take care of you and if anything goes wrong, we'll be there at your side. It's like, I just don't know if there's anything, but here's the thing you're getting underpaid. You know what? With a union, we can demand higher wages. And I'm just thinking, but I just signed the contract like less than a week ago. I just agreed. They said, this is what we're willing to pay you. And I said, yes. And I put my signature on that. You want me to start complaining one week after I started, like even if I am getting underpaid, they're still being just to me. They're not cheating me because they're paying me what we agreed. So, you know, that idea of being just and, and, uh, you know, if you're an employer, you know, you pay what is just, you know, if you hire an electrician and you need him to come and he says to you, look, there's a call out fee of $120. Uh, and then, you know, depending on how long the work takes, it's $50 an hour, whatever it is, whatever, you know, it is right. And then you go, okay, well, you know, you agree to that and they come to your house and they do the work and it takes them, you know, uh, three hours to do the work. So that's $150 plus one 20 call out fee. What's that? Someone three 70. Is that right? Did I get that right? $370, huh? Two 70, one 50 plus one 20, two 70. Thank you. All right. And they say to, Hey, you know, okay. You know, it's going to cost you $270 and you're like, ah, you know, well, you know, uh, I don't know. Like you used to say, well, you know, can we do it for two 50? Look, you're not being just, they already, you already agree. They told you the cost, right? You agreed. So yeah, come and do my work. And then like, it's very common, right? Uh, let's try to undercut the guy. He's, he's done the work. He wants to get paid. So here's my chance to undercut him. Like he'd rather walk away with two 50 than an angry customer warning. And look, that's wrong. Give what is just, give what is agreed, right? And not just just, it says and equal equal. What does that mean? Equal? You know, again, I don't like making myself like this hero of my stories on my preaching, but I'll give you an example of this. And, and, um, this is many years ago now. So my brain's a little foggy, but I've expressed to you many times that I was, uh, um, a manager in a call center and, you know, call centers that recalls, you're taking 50 calls a day. I imagine taking 50 calls a day, like how exhausting that is. Right. Um, like pretty much nonstop 50 calls a day, 50 calls a day, right. Every day. And it is highly recognized that in call centers that there is like, um, a huge turnover that people just get exhausted. It's just too hard. And they leave. Right. And so I can't, what it was like the, like the industry standard of turnovers, like of people leaving was about 20%. All right. So let me give you an idea what this means. So in the call center that we were, and we had some other departments, but let's say there were 50 employees just to keep the math easy 50 employees. And the industry average is 20% turnover. That means every year you would lose 10 employees. Okay. That's kind of the standard of a, of a high pressure environment like that. You lose 10 employees out of 50 employees. That's a big chunk, right? Out of your, out of your numbers. And this is the industry standard and, and our business. And I look, my numbers might be incorrect, you know, forgive me if I'm not quite right here. Cause like I said, it was many years ago, but our, you know, what we were doing in our business was something like 25%. Okay. So we were like above the average of turnover. All right. And again, let's just go back to the 20% as an example. So every year you lose 10 employees. Okay. Well, that means, that doesn't mean you just lose 10 employees, but that means you've got to go and hire 10 more employees, right? To cover that. And, uh, you need to interview them. You need to bring them in. You don't have guarantee that they're even going to last. You don't know really if they're going to succeed and then you need to spend time in training them and not only to train them, but you need a trainer. You need to pull someone out to train these people. So you're losing the 10 people, the, the, the, the productivity of those 10 people that have left, and you're losing the productivity of the trainer who could be on the job, but now they're spending time doing that. And now it takes, you know, on average a good six months to a year before, like when you start a new job, it takes around six months to a year for you to really feel like, all right, I am now contributing. I am now like, you know, operating like a standard, uh, work. It takes time, right? To find your feet and snow just feel like, you know what you're doing. And every year we're losing that. Then we've got to train them up and all this, you know, and, uh, you know, I, I, I, I started to look into this, like what's going on. Why is it wise? Why are we above average? And can we go less than 20%? Like that's seems like a huge number to me, a huge waste of resources. Can we hold onto our workers? Anyway, we did some market research and we realised that our department was not, I won't say underpaying. Cause again, we're being just, we're paying what was agreed, but compared to other companies, you know, we were like lower. We were paying people lower than where other, you know, where they could work for other companies. So here's the problem. You're hiring employees, you train them. They're finding their feet for six to 12 months. And then they've been very productive. All right. They got all the training. They're succeeding on the job. And then they go to seek.com. Oh, I can do the same job for $10 more an hour, whatever it is. Right. $5 more an hour. Oh, okay. And then they leave. It's like, Oh man, we spent all this time getting them ready for an hour. Another company is going to get the benefits of, you know, the labour that we've put into that person's life. So I approached the HR department. I approached my manager and I said, look, we need to match at least the average income. I want to be not just just, but I want to be equal. Like if someone's going to leave the business, we want to give them like a really hard reason to leave. Like, like, you know, not just, Oh, I could get paid more somewhere else. I'll leave. Like the cost of hiring is just not worth it. The worst cost of training is just not worth it. The cost of having these good employees that can be more productive as the years go by and then just losing them. It's not worth it. It's not good for us. So we sat down, we looked at the industry average of what, you know, the wages are, we said, look, we've got to match it. We've got to match it. And, uh, you know, I got some feedback from some other people and they said, look, if you match it, it's going to cost this much money for our department. And you're going to be over budget. And you know, one of your responsibilities as the manager is to be on the budget to meet the budget will be on the budget. And I'm like, yeah, I know. And look, and here's the thing. Yeah. Here's the other thing about this decision. And yet I don't want to be a hero of the story, but it's like, I want to show you how important this stuff is to me. Okay. They said, look, if you stay on the budget, if you don't give them these pay increases, you say on the budget, you get your end of year bonus. Don't you know that? And back then, my end of year bonus bonuses, like $20,000, maybe more like $50,000 today, something like that, right? Don't you want your bonus? Keep it on the budget. Yeah, but we're losing stuff like my employees. I want to hold onto them. You know, I want to continue to invest into, into their, into their experience and, and to benefit from the labor. And it's like, you know what? We're going to do it. We're going to give them pay increase. We're going to try to be as equal as we can be with this kind of industry and this kind of, you know, uh, responsibilities that they have. And so we increased all their wages and they were very happy. It was quite an increase. I went over budget. I didn't get my bonus. I don't care. You know what happened that next year from 20% turnover to less than 5%, whatever it was, turnover kept my staff and they're happier and they're more content. When you walk into the business, it's a much more pleasant environment, like that piece and that happiness and that joy is worth it. Like, you know, you know how hard it is, right? Going Monday to Friday, hating your job. No. What about when you walk in and everyone's happy and everyone's content and everyone appreciates you because you've, you fought for them and you've given them that pay increase even at the expense of your own. And so what we see here Brevin is that masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal way, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. And that's a real blessing for me because I feel like, okay, I lost the end of year bonus, but I have a master in heaven that watched what I did. And I reckon his blessings are going to be worth so much more than that bonus. Like the God's shovel is much bigger than my shovel. Okay. And you got to decide sometimes, right? If you're having to pay a hired servant or something, you know what, am I going to do what is just, I'm going to do what is equal, you know, or am I going to rip them off because I need to save a few dollars. I don't know, man. I'd rather get the blessings of God. I'd rather, I'd rather please my master, which is in heaven and see what he does when he sees that you're sacrificial for the people that God has put under you. Let's look at some famous Bible characters coming to me to the book of Job. Come with me to the book of Job, Job 31, Job 31, please. We're going to look at Job. We know that Job was a very wealthy man and as a very wealthy man, he had many servants. He had many employees, all right, under him. And, uh, you know, Job's three friends come and they criticize him over everything. You must've done this wrong. You must've done that wrong. You must've done this wrong. Well, one of the accusations I make against Job is you must've treated your employees wrong. You must've been a horrible employer, a horrible master. This is why you're suffering. And Job responds here in Job 31, Job 31, verse number 13, he responds, if I did despise the cause of my man's servants or of my maid servants, when they contended with me, what then shall I do when God rides up up and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he, that made me in the womb, make him and did not one fashion us in the womb? He goes, if I did despise my servants, if I did hate them, and he goes, I didn't, in other words, right. I didn't treat them wrongly. When they came and contended with me. You see, sometimes servants come and they will contend with their boss. They'll say, Hey boss, you know, we have some legitimate concerns. You know, we need additional resources or we need more training or I've not been taught on this boss. I'm not sure what to do about this. You know what? Sometimes when the servants come under you and they say, Hey, you know what? We've got some issues in the workplace. You know, uh, Job says, I didn't fight with them because I didn't treat them wrongly. I didn't despise them. Like this is not why I'm being punished. Well, you know, so what is it saying? He goes, when my servants did come with contentions, when they did come with problems, I listened to them, right? I heard what they had to say. And this is such an important part of being a leader. You need to hear the concerns of the people under you. All right. And I had to learn this again. I'm not, I'm just giving my stories, but you know, when you're put into a position to lead a company or lead a department or something where you don't know the ins and outs of the job, when you're put into a position, simply because you're good at organisation, simply because you're good at coordination. All right. But you don't know the ins and outs of the job. You really need to listen to the concerns of the employees on the, because they know what's best. They're the one that's pushing out the labour, the work, you know, day in, day out. And when they say, Hey, we need some training in this area. Hey, the work load has increased. We can't get our tasks done by the end of the day. Like we used to, you know, Hey, this or that we need a new PC. Cause this is too slow. Or I need an extra monitor so I can see what I'm doing over here. And you, they met, they're complaining. Ah, they're causing us. But no, no, they're bringing issues that are affecting their productivity, which affects you. So it says, look, as a, as a manager, I've listened to them. I didn't contend with, I didn't, I didn't despise them. I had to listen to what my employees had to say. So don't despise when your employees or servants bring up legitimate concerns. That's your job as a boss to listen to, you know, legitimate concerns and address them, find a way to, you know, to bring a solution to the situation. What I also love about Job, what he says in verse number 15 about him and his servants, he says, did not he, that made me in the womb, make him? He goes, the same God that created me is the same God that created my servants and did not one fashion us in the womb. The same one that made me in the womb is the same one that made him. What I love about Job here is that he looked at his servants at the same value as himself. I'm a creation of God. So are they. Job's not like, well, I'm wealthy. I've got possessions. I'm a business owner. I've got lands and fields, and these are just my lowly employees. You know, I can treat them like rubbish. I can treat them like trash. No, Job was not like that. He goes, the same God that created me is the same God that created them. He had, he saw equal value, you know, in the lives of his employees. And I think that's a great man. You know, a man that's not lifted up in pride or anything, anything like that. And that's why I love Australia. That's an, that's definitely an advantage in Australia. And I've shared this many times. And look, unless you've gone to other countries and, or, you know, seeing the culture of other countries, you don't, you don't really appreciate it here, but I'm telling you it's such an advantage that even if you're the garbage man in Australia, you're respected. Like it, it, it, I look, I know there are exceptions and people, there are all kinds of wicked people in the world, but generally speaking, just a high level view of our culture. You know what, if you're some, you know, CEO of some mega corporation, or you're just a lowly labour or something like this, right. In Australia, you're valued, you're, you're a, you're a human being. You're, you're seen, uh, you know, it's not uncommon for the wealthy to mix with the, the poor, you know, uh, in Australia. In fact, I would say in Australia, everyone's kind of wealthy compared to the rest of the world, but you know, there are places and I'll say even Chile where, you know, my parents came from many South American countries and many East Asian countries as well. If you know, you've got a lower job, you're seen as trash. If you don't have the education, if you don't have that piece of paper on your wall, you know, that says you're some type of engineer or something like that. Uh, you know, you're just, you're just kind of nothing. There's a real like social class and, and people elevate themselves above other people. I don't see that in Australia. I'm very thankful for this country. And, and, uh, Job was not like that. He goes, well, they're my employees. That same God that created me is the one that created them. So why would I, why would I not, why would I not listen to their concerns? Why would I hate them when God created us both? So, you know, you see this attitude or this behavior from Job, you know, he was a great master. He would have been a great master to work under. Come with me to another man and another great man. Uh, come with me to Abraham. Uh, so sorry in Genesis, let's look at Abraham in the book of Genesis, chapter 18, please. Genesis 18, Genesis 18. This is when, um, God's about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And he says, you know what? He says to the angels, I'm going to reveal to Abraham what I'm going to do. Okay. He goes, cause I'm going to bless him. He's going to, you know, the blessings that God promised Abraham, the promises. And so it says, and this is why it always blows my mind what he says about Abraham in Genesis 18, Genesis 18, verse number 19. Genesis 18, 19, he says, for I know him. God says to the angels, I know him. I know Abraham that he will command his children and his household after him. So his children, of course are his biological children, his family. And when he says his household, he's talking about his servants, the servants that he has run in the operations. He goes, I know who command his children and his household after him. And they, that's all of them shall keep the way of the Lord and do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which have spoken of him, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham. He goes, you know what? One reason I'm going to bless Abraham. He's going to be a father of many nations. You know what? And through him, we're going to have the seed, which is Christ Jesus that will save the world. He goes, the reason I'm going to bless Abraham is because I know him and he's going to keep the ways of the Lord with his children and with his whole household, all his servants, all his employees, all his businesses, right? He had all these cattle. Remember that he had great riches. He needed servants to take care of his cattle and all that kind of stuff. What we see with Abraham is that he ran his business in a Christian or Christ honoring manner. He ran his business open and transparent. He wasn't doing shady business under the scene, right? He wasn't like, well, I'm a Christian when I go to church, but when I run my business, we just rip everybody off. We just undercut everybody. You know? No. You know, the way of the Lord with Abraham was whether he's in his house, whether he's with his family, whether he's with his employees, he always does things according to my ways, God says, and that's why I'm going to bless him. That's why I'm going to reveal to him what I'm going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. And so again, if you're a manager or you have people under you, you know what? Do things above board. Do things in a biblical way. Do things right. Be transparent. Be honest in your dealings. And God promises you, well, God said, but Abraham here that he will reveal himself to you. He'll tell you things like what his plans are to destroy some wicked city, or he'll bless you. Like we saw earlier, you know, we want the blessings of the Lord in our lives. And we definitely need, if you're running a business, you definitely need the blessings of the Lord in your business. What else can we learn? Come with me to Jeremiah. Let's go to Jeremiah 22. We're looking at some Bible characters and how they were as masters, right? So we've seen two great examples in Job and Abraham, very wealthy men. Now we're going to look at King Jehoiakim. Okay, King Jehoiakim. In Jeremiah 22, please, King Jehoiakim. Just a quick, why don't you turn there. This king was a wicked king. Okay, this king did not care for the things of the Lord. This king was a very selfish man. He didn't reign even that long. I think from memory about 10 or 11 years. Okay, he didn't reign very long at all. But what's very sad about this is that his father was a very righteous man, King Josiah. Okay, King Josiah, very godly, very righteous, cared about the Lord very much. But his son, unfortunately, you know, very wicked. And in Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, God says this to the king through Jeremiah. He goes, woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong, and useth his neighbor's services without wages, and giveth him not for his work. So this should apply to everybody, right? We should not build our house by unrighteousness. If you're building a house, and you got to, you know, your plumber comes in, you pay your plumber. All right, you do what is just, you do what is right, you do what is agreed. All right, you don't build your house by unrighteousness. You don't use your neighbor's services without wages. All right, you say, hey, neighbor, come and help me build my house. All right, yeah, what are you paying me? This much? Okay, I think I'm not gonna pay now. Does that happen? It happens. I know it happens. And I know it happens in the construction industry a lot. You know, I won't go into much, but I've been in that industry, brother Callum. And maybe in the office environment, it's all good and dandy. But man, those tradies, you know, sometimes they're ripped off in severe ways. And I'm really sad for them. Like, it makes me sad, because they've agreed, this is what we're doing. All right. It's like, wow, let's not pay them until well, you know, let's hold on to that, you know, wages until it's horrible. And it's like that a lot. Anyway, King Johoi Kim was this person. And God is saying, woe to you for doing this. And then it says in verse number 14, that saith, I will build me a white house and large chambers, and cut of him out windows. And it is sealed with cedar, and painted with vermillion, vermillion. So all this king cares about is the size of his palace, right, how big it is, and how nice it is. He doesn't pay them, he doesn't pay the workers for some reason. And then God says this in verse 15, shall thou rain, because thou closest thyself in cedar? God says, do you think you're going to rain just because you got a big palace? Just because you got a, you know, your foundations are made from cedar wood? Do you think this is why you're going to rain as a king? He goes, did not thy father, which was King Johoi, a godly man, did not thy father eat and drink and do judgment and justice? And then it was well with him. He goes, you're prioritizing your, your big palace, and you're ripping off the neighbor, your neighbors, you're ripping off your workers. You think that's why you're going to rain? What about your dad? Your dad was a great king. And all your dad cared about was the judgment and justice. And he got to eat everything you need. He got to drink all his resources were, you know, he, he went without needs. He had everything he needed. He rained as a king. His name's renowned in the Bible for being a great king over Judah. Anyway, I'm trying to show you what a bad example of a guy that rips off his employees. God says, so what, you think he's going to rain because of that? And then God cuts down his, his reign to, like I said, 10 or 11 years, something like that. He didn't reign very long. All right? So, you know, as employers or taking on hired servants, what do you learn? Well, God's going to judge you if you treat your employees wrongly. Okay? And one of the major things in the Bible, one of the major things with employers and masters, one of the major mistakes they make is they rip off their workers. Like, if you look at the passages as far as business, running businesses, managing employees, there are a lot of good things that you can learn from, but the major issue is don't rip them off. You know, pay them. What is agreed? All right? Be just. Be equal with how you treat them. Can you come with me to Malachi? Come with me to Malachi, please. Malachi chapter three. Malachi, please. The last book of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter three, verse number five. Malachi chapter three. I want to show you how God sees poor masters, poor masters that rip off their employees. You know, where God categorizes you when you do this. In Malachi three, verse number five. Malachi three five. Malachi three five says, and I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers. So God is saying, look, I'm going to bring judgment, all right? I'm going to lay down that, I'm going to bring down the hammer against sorcerers, people involved in the occult. So we know that's quite wicked. And against the adulterers. That's pretty bad, you know, breaking the vow of your marriage. And against false wearers. Look at this. And against those that oppress the hyaline in his wages. Those that, you're ripping off these servants, you're ripping off these hyalings. He goes, you're like the sorcerers, you're like the adulterers, you're like the false wearers. My judgments coming down upon you just like it is upon them. He goes, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, save the Lord of hosts. So the reason you rip people off is you don't fear the Lord. The reason, you know, like I said, the plumber came to your house and fixed your toilet, charged you $200 and you only paid $100, is because you don't fear the Lord. And the Lord saw that. And he's judged you for it. Or he's bringing judgment upon you for that. I mean, this is so important. Like if you've got people under you that work for you, all right, what about whatever way this is, bondservant, hired servant, whatever agreement you have in place, you know, the way you treat the people that you're paying, you're either gonna get God's judgment or you're gonna get his blessings, all right, in the manner you treat other people. And so this is why it's important that we learn this, all right. And I don't know, maybe our young people one day will run their own businesses and employ people. And you need to make sure you do things the right way. All right, so we've seen some examples here of Bible characters. You know, Abraham and Job were great masters. King Jehoiakim was a horrible master, a horrible employer. But come with me now to Colossians, not Colossians, I'm sorry, Ephesians. Come with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, please, and verse number 5. Ephesians 6 and verse number 5. Ephesians 6 and verse number 5 reads, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleases, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. So this is, again, servants, employees, God's instructing them to do things as unto Christ, do it with your heart, do it as the will of God, do the will of God in your employment. Verse number 7, and with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to man. Again, a reminder, do it to the Lord, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. All right, so that's the employees. All right, good. All right, let's continue. Verse number 9, and ye masters, do the same things unto them. Oh, okay, so everything we just learned about employees, how they're to labour, okay, for their masters. Then it says, masters, you do the same things unto them. So do, you know, hire them, you know, with your heart, like give your attention. All right, do the will of God for them. You know, do it as unto the Lord. Now this is, this is a crazy, but this is what he means by this, right? Like when I say an employee, you go to work, pretend you're working for Jesus, right? Pretend the business you're working for, it is owned by Jesus. He is the master of all powers and principalities of this earth, okay? But you go to work and you do it unto Christ, so you do your best. Well, if you're a master and you hire a servant, and they, let's say you hire the, like I said, the plumber, okay, you got a broken toilet, I need a plumber, you call the plumber, and he says, all right, I'm coming, this is my call-out for you, this is what I charge for our, yeah, all right, I agree to that, come on, and he comes in, he knocks on your door, your open door, and it's Jesus. Oh, Jesus, I'm waiting for the plumber, how'd you get here? I am the plumber. Oh, what? Right, this is what you meant, as unto the Lord. So, like, of course, we'll be like, no, no, don't worry about Jesus, I'm not gonna get your hands dirty here. Like, don't worry, you sit down at the table, you eat, like, nobody's, you know, our Lord's just, right? Our Lord, you know, keeps his word. So Jesus comes in, he goes, no, no, no, I'll do the work, like I said, like I agreed, right? So he labors there, and he says, all right, that was my, this is my call-out fee, this is, you know, my hourly rate, whatever it is. And now you're thinking, hmm, how can I short change Jesus? Would you do that? Of course you wouldn't. Ah, you know, we agreed that he'd, we'd, I'd pay him at the end of the, at the end of the task, right? And you're like, ah, I don't know, maybe I'll keep my money in my bank accounts, just make, make more interests, and I'll pay him at the end of the week. Would you do that to Jesus? You wouldn't do it to Jesus, would you? You'd be like, man, I can't believe Jesus came and just worked for me. I better pay him, and I might even give him a tip. I might even just, you know, guide my way, and, and, you know, I'm gonna make sure every time, when he's working, I'm gonna bring him water if he needs a drink. I'm gonna make sure he's okay. You know, I'm gonna make sure, you know, he's safe and sound, and you know what, I'm gonna keep the kids away to not distract him from the job. That's how masters ought to be with their servants. Did you know that? Verse number nine, any masters do the same things unto them. Wow. Forbearing, threatening. So don't, don't threaten your employees. They say, what if they're doing a poor job? If you don't get a job done, you're fired by tomorrow. That's a threat. There are proper ways to get rid of employee that's underperforming, okay, and you don't have to yell threats at them. I've had to let, I've had to fire people. You know what, when I've fired people, it gives me a broken heart, honestly, because I'm a bit of a soft person. I'm a bit of a bleeding heart, what do they call them, right? But at the end of the day, I don't just fire people. I look at an employee that's underperforming. I sit down with them and say, hey, look, you're underperforming. This is where you need to be, but this is where you are, okay? And we, it can't continue this way. So let me know what you need. What training do you need? Let me know where you're, where you feel you're failing. And they tell me, all right, I'll do what I can to help you. And, uh, in two weeks we'll reassess your, you know, your, your, your numbers. And the next, next week they might push it up here. Like, oh man, you've done so well. You're doing better than you did last, like two weeks ago, but you still need to make it here. And here's the problem. You know, if, if you don't reach it here by the end of three months, I'm going to have to let you go. All right. Now, is that a threat? No, I'm trying to help him. I'm trying to keep him. I want him to succeed. I told you the headaches of going and, uh, you know, um, looking for new employees and train them up, all that hassle, all the costs, all the loss productivity. I'd rather avoid that. I'd rather keep the one that's underperforming and work out why they're underperforming and given the opportunities to fix things up and get to the point that we need to get them to. And look, and there are times that I've done that. And three months later, they're still not keeping the numbers. I've had to let them go, but I've never had them get angry and upset with me. It's been just sad, just sad. Like, you know, people don't want to let go, but they're always like, well, thank you for giving me a chance to, to fix it. Thank you for, you know, not just getting rid of me, but thank you for working with me. All right. So as, as managers, we should forbear threatenings, you know, uh, don't make, uh, you know, threats that will cause harm and damage. You know, someone comes and tiles your house and one tile is not perfectly parallel. It's a little bit to the left, but every other tile is perfect. That's it. I'm leaving him a one-star review on Google reviews. I'll friend guy like this human era is, you know, come on. Is that how you treat Jesus? Give him a one-star review on Google. I mean, you know, obviously maybe some people deserve that, you know, but I'm saying like, you know, these threats that people make, you know, online reviews can truly destroy businesses, like really destroyed businesses. So be mindful about the kind of threats you make. I mean, you know, you should forbear don't fret, don't threaten. This is why it says, knowing that your master also is in heaven. There is neither is the respect of persons with him. Oh, just cause you're paying the wages, just cause you're the boss. He goes, God's not respect of persons. He doesn't think you're some high, mighty guy just cause you've got the label. You've got the other team leader. You're the supervisor. You're the manager. God's not a respecter of persons. You treat your employees properly. You treat them as to the Lord, you know, with singleness of hearts, the human, the real human beings that have real bills to pay, that have real concerns and troubles and issues in their lives. And they got to go to work and just like you, they've got to make ends meet. So treat them properly. You know, I'm going to read to you just very quickly from Deuteronomy 24. You don't need to turn there. Just Deuteronomy 24 verse 14. It says, thou shalt not oppress and hide servants that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. At his day, thou shalt give him his hire. Neither shall the sun go down upon it. For he is poor, and said of his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee against the Lord. Sorry, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. You know what you hire a servant. This is different from a bond servant, like a contractual agreement. When you have a contractual agreement, you often you have something like you're going to get paid by the end of the fortnight, you're going to get paid once a month, whatever it is, right. But if you have a hired servant, like you hire the electrician, he does the job. The Bible says you pay him the same day, before the sun goes down. Otherwise, he might cry to the Lord, all right, and the Lord hears it. What's God going to do to you in return? And it be sin unto thee. You've sinned against the Lord. Did you know that? You don't pay a hired servant on the day, you sin against the Lord. Again, if you have agreements that different, you meet your agreements, that's not what we're talking about. But someone's expecting to be paid today, you pay them today. You know, this is really like, this is a big part of my life. Like, I really think about this stuff, you know. I'll give you an example. When Nicholas was learning to drive, we had a driver, what do they call drivers, driver instructor, thank you brother. A driver instructor came to our house and, you know, we're in Malania, so it's up the hill. It's a bit of an effort to get up there, cost a lot of fuel to get up that hill, destroys cars and all that kind of stuff. And we got confused. Somehow we got confused. Nicholas was working. So he, you know, we thought he'd be home that day to get his lesson, but he was working. So the driver turns up and I was in Sydney actually. And Kristina gives me a call and says, Kevin, a driver instructor has turned up, right? And Nicholas is not here. What do we do? And I said to Kristina, look, I don't know. I can't, I work that quickly. What, what do you think it was like $80 an hour or something like that? I don't know what they charge, right? I said to Kristina, look, just go to my desk. I've got some cash there. Just get 80 bucks, go to him and just pay me his 80 bucks. And so Kristina did that, got the 80 bucks, went to him. Look, I'm sorry, Nicholas is not working, but you've made all the effort to get here, right? You know, he's, he's what we owe you. And the guy was like, no, no, no, don't worry about it, don't worry about it. But here's the thing, we know that you're not just gonna get another student just like that. It's not like, oh, I'll just knock on the next door to my neighbours and get a job there. No, no, no. You've made the effort. You know, you've, you've taken that hour, whatever it was, you've blocked that out where you can't earn an income with another student, right? And it's our mistake. We've messed up, somehow we got confused about the day. And so we're just gonna pay you what is owed. You know why? Because I'm worried that the Lord sees it. This guy's made the effort, he's spent his fuel to get up here. He was expected to get that agreement. It's my mistake. It's our mistake. And we're just gonna rip him off. No, it's not gonna happen. We had an agreement in place. He's getting paid. I don't want it to be sin to me. You know, like this stuff is important to me. And again, you don't have to be a manager. You just have to hire people to do a service for you. And these things are applicable to you. And again, I want God's blessings. I don't want his judgments, right? I don't want to cause offence against our Lord God. Can you come with me to James 5? James 5. James 5, verse number 4. James 5, verse number 4. James 5, verse 4. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud. Because you've hired labourers to reap your fields, and you've kept back their wages. He goes, this is fraud. You've caused, you've defrauded people. He says, they cryeth, and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. The Lord of Sabaoth is the Lord of hosts. His armies, his heavenly hosts that he has. He goes, oh, God's heard it and so has the hosts that he has in heaven. They've heard that you've ripped this person off. Oh, I don't want to deal with God's armies against me. I don't want to deal with the Lord of hosts. You know, I was showing you look Old Testament, New Testament. This is a major malpractice that people do. If I just cut corners and rip people off, I'll just have extra dollars in my bank account. Yeah, but you've got the Lord of hosts looking down upon you. All right, managers, let's treat our employees, let's treat our hired servants properly. Can you come with me to, let's have a look. Like I said, I've kind of messed up my, my notes, they're all over the place. Let's go to Proverbs 29. Let's go to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. While you're turning to Proverbs 29, I'm going to read to you from Leviticus 19, 13, that says, thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him. The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Again, you get that hired labourer to do a job today, you pay them today. They get the job done, you pay them. Okay, this is a concept. This is a principle all over the Bible, all over the Bible. It's important. And Proverbs 29, verse number 21. He that delicately bringeth up his servants from a child shall have him become his son at the length. He that delicately bringeth up his servants from a child shall have him become his son at the length. This is essentially saying, hey, if you want, if you're like a business owner or something like that, you've got people under you. And you realise, you know what, my employees are not very loyal. They're not very loyal to me. They're not very loyal to the business. Okay, this tells us how you need to treat them. And especially young people. You know, it's a real, like, again, Nicholas is the main one that's been working, I guess, my kids lately. And he has been in an employment where his boss treating poorly. All right. And I still encourage him to work there, because there's a lot to learn. From a master that is forward, we still to serve them anyway. And now he works in a in a job where he feels he's treated very well. You know, gets trained very well, gets respected, right? Anything he needs that, you know, they're able to assist him in whatever, whatever area he is at. He's worked in both situations. Which one out of those two do you think is going to be more loyal to you? Which boss is he going to be more loyal to? Which business is he going to be more loyal to? You know, when he gets that scratchy throat, and he's not feeling that great. Like, he's fine, he can work. But he's thinking, you know what, do I really want to go to work with my boss is forward. Where he's going to criticise me, where he's going to just have a go at me. I'm just gonna call him sick. You know what, I'm not feeling the greatest, but I can work. You know what, and you know, my boss, my employers, they treated me so well, I'm going to go to work because I like it. I like serving them. I give you back that example where, you know, I gave those employees that pay rise at the cost of my own bonus. And I didn't have the 20% turnover, 25% turnover, 5%, less than 5% turnover. Why? They became loyal. They're like, look, my boss is looking out for my best. My boss cares for me. I'm not just a number bringing forth productivity. I'm a human being in his eyes. Right? You know, in another company, same company actually, I worked in the warehouse. I started working in the warehouse. And so, you know, you drive the forklift, you pack the boxes, blah, blah, blah. It's a lot of manual labour, a bit tiring. You work in the warehouse and then eventually I made myself my way into the office and then eventually I got this position out there. But when I was working in the warehouse and I got the position and they said to me, you know, I got a high role in the office, whatever. My work colleagues in the warehouse said to me, some of them said to me, please don't forget us. Please don't forget us. Because, you know, you make friends and, you know, you're a blessing to people and blah, blah. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna forget you. What are you talking about? Why would I forget you? Anyway, I realised later it's because it happens. You go from being the lowly warehouse worker to, you know, the prominent positions, whatever it is, and you forget they're just the, they're just the warehouse workers. You know, I, for me, it always, I always remember that, don't forget us. So, Friday at the end of the week before I went home, you know what, I finished my hours, I'd walk down to the warehouse and I'd say hi to all the employees, I'd say hi to my former bosses, I'd say how are things going, when I see them panicking and trying to get things done by 6pm, because that's when the couriers would leave, I would go and I'd just start packing boxes with them, I would just start doing what I need to do with them, right, helping them out. And I would, people say to me, what are you doing? It's not your job. Why are you going down and saying hi? Because they're valued workers. I know they're not working directly for me now, but, you know, they're human beings. The same God that made me, made them. Alright? And I'm telling you, that kind of behaviour breeds a loyalty and people love you and it's not that I want the love of man, the praise of man, I love the Lord. You do it for the Lord. You put him first. You treat people properly and you'll find that loyalty begins to grow. People care about you because you care about them. Loyalty, you know, it's such an important part. Otherwise, you just lose that employee, you're high, you're just running this machine, constantly getting rid of people, adding new people and there's, it doesn't allow you to be as productive as you should be. Let's go to Psalm 123. Psalm 123. Psalm 123, please. Again, if you have a hired servant or you have employees or anything like this, I want you to think about this verse. We'll end on this one, I think. Psalm 123, verse number one. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Alright, let's stop there for a moment. The psalmist says, Lord, I look up to you. You dwell in the heavens, right? My eyes are upon you. Now we know that's an important part of our Christian life. Our eyes must be on the Lord, okay? But I want you to notice the next verse, how the psalmist uses this in comparison to employers and employees. Verse number two. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden answer the hand of her mistress. So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. I want you to think about that as a master, as an employer. Don't we look to God for his mercies? God, I need to be merciful to me. I've done wrong. I'm a sinner. I mess up. Lord, please show me mercy. Lord, I have needs. Can you answer my prayers? Lord, have mercy on me. Answer my prayers. Look after me, Lord. I need you. Aren't we like that with God? And we know our God is a good God because he answers our prayers. We know God is a good God because he's merciful to us. Isn't it amazing that the Psalmist says, that's what I expect from God, just the same way that employees expect that from their masters? What? Masters, employers, middle management, whoever's under you, you've got people under you, be merciful. Guess what? Your workers are going to mess up sometimes. They're going to make mistakes sometimes. Alright? And they need to be correct. They need to be like, I told you, they need to be shown, hey, this is where you're at. This is where you should be. Alright? But you work with them and show them mercy. Right? You don't just, you know, yell at them, scream at them, make them feel inferior, tell them they're stupid. Right? You show them mercy. That's what they want from their masters. They have needs. They need a paycheck, number one. That's why they're working for you. Okay? So supply their paycheck. If they've done the job, they've, you know, the agreement, what is just and what is equal. Alright? They may need resources on the job to get things done a bit easier. And they may need certain tools. They may need training. Alright? Maybe they made a mistake. Alright? They need your understanding. They need your mercy. And say, hey, look, you've made a mistake here. You messed up here. What do I need to do to help you so you don't mess up again? How did I fail you as your boss where you've made this mistake? What is it that you needed from me so we don't do it again? Alright? Man, that's amazing to me. The same way we all look to Christ, our Lord God, to provide our needs is the same way, masters, you ought to be thinking of yourself. Man, that's how I ought to behave myself toward my employees, the ones that are under me. As they have needs, they need to get the job done. I need to treat them with mercy. Alright, brethren. Total of the servants today was masters, or employers and masters, employers and masters. I hope there's something interesting for you this morning. God's Word is always amazing. It covers every topic of life. You know, I often preach about working hard and laboring and being a good employee. It's because it's all over the Bible. You'll soon see, like if you're paying attention to the Bible, you'll soon see that it's all over from Genesis to Revelation, how God wants workers. That's an institution that God has created. Employers, employees, masters, servants. Alright? Anyway, let's end in a word of prayer.