(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now Colossians chapter three verse number 22. It says, servants, obey in all things your masters. The title for the sermon this morning is submission in the workplace, submission in the workplace. This is the final sermon that I have in this series on submission, submission in the workplace. And I feel this is a really important topic to teach on. I feel that a lot of my success as an employee has been from simply obeying my masters in everything when it comes to my workplace. And I really feel that you're going to have a lot of success in your jobs, in your workplace, with your managers if you learn to submit and obey your masters that God has put over you. Now before I get into the meat of this, keep your finger there in Colossians three. We are coming back to this. So keep your finger there and come with me to Exodus chapter 21. Come with me to Exodus 21. Keep a finger in Colossians three. We are definitely coming back to that. And sorry Christian, can you get my cup of water? I left that over there. But Exodus 21 please, Exodus 21. And I want to address this topic very quickly. I think we can learn some principles here. But there are some that believe when we read there Colossians 3 22, servants obey in all things your masters, even within the Baptist world, even within the independent Baptist world. Some people teach that's about slavery. Believe it or not, some people believe that the Bible condones slavery. And so when the Bible speaks of masters and servants, they think of a master and his slave. All right. And I don't know why that I do know why that kind of is. I do know why that is. But if you look at Exodus 21 verse number two, it says, if thou buy in Hebrew servants, six years he shall serve. So notice how the Bible speaks of buying an Hebrew servant. So in our modern day, we kind of think about that language, buying a person, we think about that, we're buying a slave. All right. Now, the reason some people think when he mentions, you know, masters and servants of slavery, first of all, let me just say that the Bible doesn't use the word employees and employers. Okay, it is servants and masters. Okay, that's what the Bible uses. Our modern term employees and employers. But one reason people think this about slavery is because of the modern English translations. Okay, not all of them, but some of them like the English standard version, for example, will have their inverse number two, when you buy an Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years. Okay. So the English standard version will call this slaves. All right. So yeah, if that's what the Bible is saying, then God is condoning slavery, God is okay with slavery, if you read from the English modern versions. But as you can see, once again, from your King James Bible, if thou buy in Hebrew servants, okay, now I'm a servant, I'm a minister of this church, that means service. Okay, the word Deacon, if you have a Deacon, again, that means a servant. Does that mean the pastor and a Deacon are slaves? Does that mean when you serve this house of God, you're under slavery? Against your will, you're doing things for God against your will? No, you know, of course not. That is that's a stupid way of understanding the scriptures. Now, just to make it very clear that God is against slavery in that same chapter, look at verse 16. It's in verse 16, it says, and he that steal of a man and sell of him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death, if you steal a man and sell him. Slavery. What does God say? Die. You die the death. That's worthy of the death penalty. So if selling a man because of slavery, you stole him against his will, is putting someone to death, then obviously verse number two, if they're buying Hebrew servants, six years shall we serve, is a different topic altogether. Does that make sense? I love how God puts it in the same chapter, making it very clear he is against slavery. If you're involved in slavery, you're put to death. If you're involved in kidnapping, stealing a man, you ought to be put to death. If you're involved in, you know, child trafficking or whatever it is, right? This kind of wickedness that takes place in the world. God says these people are worthy of death. Okay. That's a different topic, but I want to just make it clear that the verses we're reading is not about slavery. It's just about employee-employer relationships. Okay. So when the Bible says servants obey in all things your masters, that's not slavery. All right. That's your employer. That's your, maybe you got, you got a supervisor, you got a manager over you. You got to obey him. Now let's continue there in verse number, let's start there in verse number one. Let's put some context there. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years, he shall serve. And in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. All right. So it makes it very clear. If you were to buy a servant, you are bound to have at maximum a six year contract with that person. All right. Once he's worked for you for six years, the seventh year he's to let go. That's not slavery. Okay. You're letting him go after seven years. Okay. You can't make him work longer than that. And again, that has to do with the Sabbaths. Okay. The whole idea of the seventh day or the seventh year or whatever it is referring to the Sabbath because the Sabbath is a time of rest representing salvation, not of works, but resting from your works. But this is buying a Hebrew servant. Now this is like this essentially, you know, I I've worked a job once where I had to sign a one year contract. I, I agreed to terms for one year and after that year was completed, I was not guaranteed to have work after that year. Okay. And so, well, but did they buy you pastor Kevin? You know, well, kind of, because when you sign a contract, you know, you say, yes, I'm going to work these hours. Yes. I'm going to do this job. And this is what you're going to pay me for my work. Okay. When you're buying a servants, you essentially paying for their services, just like any employee today, you get your paycheck right into your bank account. You've been bought as it were for those hours that you worked. That's all it means. There's an agreement in place for the price of your work. There's a contract for the length of your employment. And if you're in that situation, the Bible says that as servants, we ought to obey or in all things, our masters. Let's continue verse number three. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master had given him, so this is a married, so both the husband and wife sell themselves into servitude. Okay. Well, when he leaves, his wife has to leave with him. Okay. That makes sense. Verse number four. If his master had given him a wife, okay, and she had borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters and she shall go out, sorry, sorry. And he shall go out by himself. So this is a different situation that they weren't married before. And then he meets her there in employment under his master's house. He's got his terms with her when he leaves, she has to stay and see at her time in servitude to a master. It says in verse number five, if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master. Again, this is not slavery. I love my master, my wife and my children. I will not go out free. So, you know, let's say you start working for a guy for three years. He says, Hey, I've got a lovely woman for you to marry. You fall in love, you get married, and now your seventh year's coming up, right? And you're to go free. But you're like, but I can't, I want to be with my wife. I want to be my family. I love my, I love working for my boss. I want this employment to go longer than my contracted agreements. Then it says here, verse number six, then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear through with an old and he shall serve him forever. All right. So look, once again, if you want someone to work longer, there's new contract, there's a new contract, there's a new agreement put in place. It's brought before judges. It's documented, right? It's all done through a proper procedure. You know how we normally sign things? Well, instead of signing, you get your ear, you get a touch to a door or whatever it is, you get a bit of a hole in your ear. And that signifies that you are going to serve him for the rest of your days. All right. And there are some people like that, that all the whole employment, they work for one company, they work for one business. They say, I love working for this company. I'm going to work for them for the rest of my life. There are people like that. Okay. My dad's a really good example. When he started working for Qantas, I don't know how many decades he worked for Qantas. He worked until he retired. He was happy to work for that employer. And so I just want to point out here is that, you know, service, servants and masters, it's just an employee-employer relationship. There are contracts, there are lengths of times, there's proper proceedings to go through if you want to live, work longer than the first six years that were stipulated there. Everything is done properly, orderly. Okay. Documentation. And this is why it's important. If you go and start a job that you understand what your job description is, you understand what your employer requires of you. You sign some paperwork, you lock it in. All right. You have a contract put in place. You fully understand the terms and conditions of your employment. We see that even being played out here in the scriptures. So this is definitely not slavery, because if you bought a slave, you wouldn't have a contractual agreement with that slave as to what they had to do. You essentially get them to do whatever the hell you want. All right. Now come back with me to Colossians 3. Come back with me to Colossians 3 and verse, we read there verse number 22. Now before we got to verse number 22, Colossians 3 is largely about submission in general. Okay. Because in Colossians 3 18, it says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. All right. That's important. So wives submit to your husbands. It's fit into the Lord. All right. Something the Lord wants you to do. Look at verse number 20. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. All right. So wife submit to the husbands, children you submit to your parents. And then we get to verse number 22, servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. Now it's so important what we read here. Not with eye service as men pleases, but in singleness of hearts, fearing God, fearing God, singleness in hearts. You know, when you go to work, employees, you ought to have a singleness in your heart. The reason I'm going to work, the reason I'm going, let's say you do nine to five, I've got a single focus to get my job done. All right. It's not all right. I'm going to work. And every 10 minutes, I'm going to check Facebook on my phone. You know, I'm going to, I'm going to be distracted with everything else that's going on. No, no, no singleness of hearts. You got to work. Those are the hours appointed to you. You focus on what you need to get done. You serve your master, fearing God. You ought to have a fear of God in your workplace. And you'll soon see why, because it says in verse number 23, and whatsoever you do, do it heartedly, do it with all your hearts as to the Lord and not unto men. Now, again, I've said there are certain things in my life growing up as a Christian, reading my Bible, that have just changed my life, changed the direction of my life completely. And it was when I came across a passage like this, I don't know if it was this exact one, but when I understood verse 23, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. Oh man, when I went to work and I got sick of my workplace and I got sick of my job and I wanted to quit and when things got a bit difficult, I wanted to give up. Oh, hold on. I'm doing it for the Lord. God gave me this job. Oh, God's employed me. Oh, what an idiot I am, right? Wanting to quit, wanting to give up, wanting to get lazy sometimes, because maybe I don't feel appreciated on the job. Oh, but I don't do it for men. I do it for God. God gave me this job. This is why, and you know, I've said this so many times over the years, right? I don't buy into this idea. The reason I want to get into ministry and look, let me encourage you. If you want to be a pastor, go for it, right? If you want to get into full-time ministry, go for it. But I don't buy into this idea. I want to get into the ministry because I want to serve God. Serve God in your workplace. If God's given you a job, serve him there. If you can't hold a job and you want to be a pastor, it tells me you have no desire to serve the Lord. You're seeking something else, because you can serve the Lord in your family. You can serve the Lord in your workplace. You can serve the Lord even by giving a cup of water in the name of Christ to a little child. We can serve the Lord in all aspects of our life. We serve the Lord as husbands when we lead our wives. We serve the Lord as mums and dads when we train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We serve the Lord in every aspect of our life. And when you can demonstrate that kind of attitude and behaviour and love to God, doing it heartily, then God's going to open the doors if you want to be a pastor to get into ministry, because your heart is in the right place to begin with. This changed my life. I honestly, instead of going, man, stuck in my dead-end job, going nowhere. And I'm like, hold on, I'm serving the God of the universe now in my dead-end job. If that's what he wants me to do, fine. I don't mind because I'm serving God now. I'm not doing it for man. I'm not there to please man. I'm there to please God. And I tell you, guaranteed, if you work a job and you do it to please God, you will automatically please man, because you are going to serve. You're going to work in such a way that is beyond every other employee that they've got in that business. Because you're doing it with your heart. Okay. You're doing it for the Lord. Where am I up to? Verse number 24. Knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. This is the best part. Okay. Ah, I work for God in my, in my company that I'm working for, whatever, right? Let's, I don't know, the biggest company, I think the biggest employer on the sunny coast is U.E. Insurance, I believe. All right. So let's pretend you're working for U.E. Insurance, right? You go to work and you're like, all right. And your boss says, all right, you know, call these 20 customers today. You're like, all right, for Jesus, I'll do it. You know what? And if I get through my 20 for Jesus and I still have time for number 21, I'll do that for Jesus as well. If I get time to do, call customer number 22, I'll do it for Jesus as well. And you know what? At the end of the week or your fortnight or your month, whatever the agreement is, when you get paid, when it comes into your, you're like, ah, I got the reward from Jesus. He paid me. You know, it changes everything. Not only do you get paid by the company that you're working for, but you're getting paid by Jesus. And again, like this makes you even more thankful, more appreciative toward God, more thanksgiving to God when that money hits your bank account. And of course, as we continue there, it says in verse number, ah, sorry. Verse number 24 again, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. So of course there's a greater reward to come in heaven for you serve the Lord Christ. You see that Reverend? When you go to work, you serve the Lord Christ. You serve Jesus. I really want you to have this perspective. And brother, I know you have your own business. I know you don't have a boss over you, but you still serve the Lord Jesus, right? When you go to a company and you clean that window, you say that window belongs to Jesus. I'm going to do the best I can for Jesus sake. I'm going to serve him faithfully. Reverend submission in the workplace. This is a biblical doctrine. And I'm telling you, like, I just remember going to work like, you know, for years and, and like, I'm like, okay, I've got 24 hours in a day. And eight hours, I'm sleeping, let's say, until the kids came along. But I was doing eight hours back then. And then eight hours of work, but that's at work. And then maybe an hour traveling back and forth, maybe two hours depends, right? Oh man. And I've only got these hours left for myself. And because I found work frustrating and I'm thinking, man, eight hours of frustration, five days a week, what a waste of life. And then I said, hold on, I'm serving Jesus. This is the best thing I can ever do. Serve my Lord. There's rewards. You know, I'm laying up treasures in heaven as I serve him. As long as I make him my boss in my workplace, man, I'm serving the creator of the universe. And all of a sudden, guess what? I'm excited to be at work. All of a sudden, I'm more productive than I've ever been. All of a sudden, I'm more efficient. All of a sudden, I'm outperforming my fellow employees. And I'm like, whoa, eight hours of joy in my workplace, because I'm serving Jesus. And I tell you what, that made me so much happier in life. I'm a much happier person, because now I've got eight hours of joy rather than eight hours of frustration. Every single day, Monday to Friday, bring on the eight hours of joy, serving my master, the Lord Jesus Christ. It changes everything in life when you have this attitude. And look at verse number 25, because look, you know, I know what you're thinking, because you've probably got bosses that have done you wrong. Let me read verse number 22 again. Servants, obey in all things, your masters. Look, this is God's Word. Okay, obey in all things, your masters. And you say, but my master, my employer sometimes really makes my life difficult. Ask me to do things. Remember, this series on submission, doesn't matter who your boss is, doesn't matter who your master is, doesn't matter who's got authority over you. If they're telling you to commit sin, then you don't do that. You obey the Lord God first and foremost. So forget that for a moment. Forget like your boss, who's asked you to lie and to cheat and to commit fraud. Obviously don't do those things. But regarding anything else, if your masters ask of you, do all things, obey in all things to your masters. And then in verse number 25, so he could do you wrong or you could be doing wrong by not obeying in all things. This is why you got verse number 25, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he have done. And there is no respect of persons. Now the respect of persons, again, the master and servant. So the idea there is the master has a higher position, which he does. He's got a higher office than you do, but God does not respect the master more than the servants. If the master does wrong to you, guess what? He's going to receive wrong from the Lord. The Lord will take care of it. So sometimes I know you go to work and you know, you're asked to do something and you're like, you know, he makes your life hard or your boss is having a bad day. He might say some bad words to you or something like that. He's done wrong. All right. He's going to receive wrong for what he's done. And you know what? As an employee, what is wrong for you to do? To disobey your masters, to disobey your employers, to disobey your supervisors. That is wrong. And God says, there'll be wrong done unto you. All right. If you're just this argumentative employee, guess what? You're probably going to get fired. Okay. You're probably going to have to find new work or something like that. That can be a blessing in and of itself, but I just want to show you this concept that is found in the Bible, that servants, we are to obey our masters in everything. This is why it's important that we have contracts. It's why important why we have job descriptions. Okay. Because you want to make sure that when you put yourself down under an employer, that you know exactly what your job is going to require of you. All right. And if you obviously ask you to do something that is like, if someone takes you and employs you and gets you to do everything else besides the job that you're doing, then at that point, of course, you don't have to obey because you've got a contractual agreements as to what your responsibility should be. Okay. So that's another thing that you need to understand. Like if I, I don't know, let's say I'm a car mechanic, right? And I sign a job description. I agree. Yes. I'm going to be a car mechanic. And I start working. And then like, let's say I'm a car mechanic. I'm working and my boss is like, all right. You've worked hard on the cars. Can you buy me a coffee? Now, am I going to turn around and say, hold on, that's not in my job description here, boss. No, because I'm still doing my job as a mechanic, right? Of course, I can buy you a coffee, whatever it is, right? Of course, I'll be the errand boy, whatever you need me to be, right? Whatever. I don't care. Cause I'm serving Jesus Christ. But obviously if you sign a contract to be a mechanic, but you're doing everything else but that, then obviously that is a time you don't have to obey your masters or anything. Walk away from that job and go find the job that you need to, because they're not obligated. They're not, they're not seen through the contractual agreement they've given you as well. Okay. So there was obviously a balance to all of this. Okay. But obviously if I'm, most often they're not like 99% of the time, if you sign a contract for a job, they're going to get you to do that very job that you've agreed to. All right. So my first point there, brethren, was serve your employer as you would serve Christ. Serve your employer as you would serve Christ. And this helps with the submission once again, because when your boss asks you like, ah, and then, oh, Jesus asked me, oh yeah, I'll do it. Jesus. It changes. It just humbles you. Of course, I'm going to agree with what Jesus is asking of me. I'll go and serve you, Jesus. Yes, I will. You know, in your mind, you can be like, I don't want to do what my boss has told me, but I'll do it for Jesus sake. Jesus, I'll do it for you. Jesus, I'm going to obey your word here in Colossians 3. I heard from pastor Kevin this week that even if I don't want to do what my boss says, I'm going to do it for you, Jesus, because I know there's rewards. I know there's blessings, and I want to be obedient to your word. And don't you think Christ is going to bless you and reward you and shine his face upon you when he knows you're doing things that are just a bit hard to do sometimes for a man, but you do it for Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, this changes your life completely. Can you come with me to, um, let's see, come with me to Proverbs chapter 16, Proverbs 16, please. Proverbs 16. We can move away from Colossians now. Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16 and verse number three. Proverbs 16 and verse number three. Proverbs 16 verse number three. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. If you're having a hard time at work, okay, you're getting distracted. You're getting frustrated. You're not really enjoying the job that you've been given. The Bible tells me here, commit your works to the Lord, answer the Lord. Say, Lord, whatever your work is, you know, if you're a stay at home mum, all right, and you know, you've got to cook and clean and look after the kids. If you're homeschooling, whatever it is that you're committed to your work, you commit it to the Lord. Say, Lord, it's for you. I'm going to serve you. The Bible tells me when you do that, your thoughts will be established. You'll be more focused. Okay. You'll know what you need to achieve. Okay. You know, I just have to do what is right in the sight of Christ. And that's going to help you. It's going to help you be stable in your workplace when you do it for the Lord. Next thing, point that I have for you, and I kind of already touched upon this. I kind of went off my notes a little bit, but you need to understand your contractual obligations, which is why I wanted to read from Exodus 21. Okay. If you sell yourself and you sign a contract for six years, look, if you sign a contract like that, like I've done, right, I've signed a contract for one year. And were there times during that one year that I felt like quitting? There was. This was one of the most difficult years I've ever had in any job. It was probably the most pressure. I was working sometimes 12 hours, 14 hours, I think some days, even weekends. It was a high pressure environment and I wanted to quit many, many times. And one thing that I kept remembering, I signed a one year contract. I got to see it out for one year. You need to understand your contractual obligations. Please, if you sign, if you agree, it's kind of like you're making a vow. You're making an agreement. Yes, I agree to these terms. Please see it through. We know how important it is in the sight of God that we keep our promises, that we keep our vows that we make. So you need to, when you, before you sign anything, I just want a job, let's sign it. Have a read of what you're agreeing to. Make sure it's something you can complete and make sure once you sign it, you are committed to fulfil it no matter what. Another thing you can do is, I've had jobs where, yeah, you know, you know, you start like, let's pretend the mechanic example, right? You're working as a mechanic, then the boss says, all right, now I need to buy coffee every day, you know, for the team. All right, I'm doing coffee. Now I need you also to clean up after, I don't know, let's say you need to also do some cleaning. All right, that's not my job description, but I'll do that as well. Anyway, as time progresses, your job can actually look quite different as years go by. Compared to what you started. And when that happens, I encourage you as an employee to go to your boss and say, boss, this was the job description that I had initially. When you look at it three years later, I'm doing all of this now. I'm doing much more than I was when I first started. That's a great time to ask for a pay rise, by the way. But my point here is, keep your documents updated. Say boss, are you happy for me to update my job descriptions? Can I document exactly what I'm doing now? So I can show you how much more I'm doing since I started. I'm telling you, that is the best way. Like this is what used to pay me for this. And I'm doing all of that still, but I'm also doing all of this. Boss, I think it's time for a pay rise. But my point here is that, you know, understand your contractual obligations. Also, please give sufficient notice of termination. In many contractual agreements, you might have, okay, if you decide to quit, you need to give, maybe if you first started, they might say, you need to give two weeks notice. And then if you've been working there for some period of time, you might say, you need to give a month's notice. Something like that. Okay. And I've had so many people sign these, yes, of course. And I'm like, make sure if you want to quit, you give us notice because, you know, we need to know and we need to plan, we need to rehire, we need to retrain someone for the position. If you just disappear, it makes it hard in the business, right? So please, you know, this is why it's in the contracts, because it's not to make your life hard. It's just to make sure the business can continue to operate if you can't be here, if you decide to leave. You know, please make sure that you give the sufficient time, the agreed time of termination, and not just lose your temper one day, ring up the boss, I quit, and you forget, you don't turn up tomorrow. You're not living up to your obligations. You know, you're not living to the standards and the agreements you've put into place. Submission in the workplace. What was it again? Servants obey in all things your masters. You sign that document, you give one month's notice, you give at least one month's notice. And look, your boss will be thankful for you if you see out that procedure even longer. That job that I told you about where I had a one year contract, I wasn't given a new contract, but they still wanted me to work. I'm like, look, I've got a big family. I need to know if I have a job, you need to give me a new contract. We need some new agreements put in place. But I was so busy that I ended up quitting because I needed something a bit more secure for my family. But when I quit, I had a look, I meant to give one month's notice. All right, I'll give my boss two months notice. I want to give them long enough, not just one month, but I want to be able to give them long enough to either come to the table with a new contract for me, or to give them the time to find a replacement. Because I don't want to see the business suffer. Like if I'm working in that business, and in my heart, I put I'm serving Christ, then I want to make sure that if I'm serving Christ, even how I leave the business, I'm going to serve Christ. Christ, I don't want to leave you short staffed. I don't want to see you short, you know, with workers. So Lord, I know you've only asked for one month, but I'm going to give you two months before I go and find another job. And look, the way you leave a business, if you leave in good spirits, and they understand you're not trying to destroy them, you're trying to help them, you know what, they're going to be great references for the future. And not only that, if you're without work in the future, I've had it, you can call them up. Hey, can I come back to work? Of course, man, we loved having you here. Of course, you can come back and work for us. If you leave in the right notes. But there are too many people, we live in a generation where people just burn their bridges. Just burn it all. I don't care. Look, you're not going to help. You know, every job, every opportunity is to be like a stepping stone to something more or something greater. Don't destroy your reputation. You know, it's so important. This is something that's in the Bible for a reason. Because sometimes we can be slack in our work. We slack in our employment. But please understand your contractual obligations and fulfil them. Can you come with me to Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five. The reason I'm passionate about this topic is because I've seen how God has blessed me as an employee. And then when I become an employer, before I was a pastor, I understood the need for good employees. And I want my employees to serve Christ, you know, have that same mindset. And it's hard to find really good people in this generation. Look, every new job you start, guess what? It's a steep learning curve. It's not easy. Man, I remember putting out ads for a job, what we would call an entry level job. Well, you don't need great experience. All you need is to be able to speak and do some basic math and some writing. Can you type? Do you have some grammar about you, something that you can, can you communicate and can you do like, can you work out what five times two is? Like not much, not much. And you put the ad out there on seek or whatever it is, and you get 50 applications. Boom. Man, so many people that want the job. You start calling. Yeah, I'll come for the interview. I'll come for the interview. You know, okay, it's time for the interview. Where's the applicant? Oh, they didn't show up. Oh, they didn't show up. Didn't show up. Oh, finally one shows up. Great. All right. We have a good conversation. Whatever it is. Yeah. You know what? You can start next week. Next week turns around. Where is them? Where are they? They agreed. Yeah, they agreed to turn up. Where are they? Oh, they're not. Whatever you ring them. They don't answer. This is the generation we live in brethren. I've just been frustrated. Why put your application in if you don't want to work? I mean, why waste my time? Got to read through it. Got to do the interviews. Organise the training and you don't turn up. You know, it doesn't take much to actually stand out in 2024 as an employee. Because there are so many people that are just not loyal. So lazy. They just, I just, I just rather check Facebook than go to work. I just rather play video games than go to work. Such a lazy generation we live in. And so to stand out actually doesn't require much. Doesn't require much just to be a good, honest, loyal worker with good character. Really. If you find someone like that, employees are like, give me that person. I don't care what papers they got on the wall. If they're just a decent human being these days, let them work for me. I want that kind of person. But we know that many times you're studying your job and you feel inadequate because yeah, I mean, you're new to the job, right? Even if it's a field you've done in the past, working for another business takes time. It's a steep learning curve. And the first few days and the first few weeks, yeah, even the first few months can feel like I'm just a failure. I'm not good at this job. It's too hard. I don't get it. I don't have good enough training. And a lot of people quit even after they've started a job pretty quickly. Because it's challenging. It is challenging. But, and I know Romans five isn't about employment. But the principle is there. There's a principle that we can apply when you're having a hard time. Don't quit. Please don't be quitters. Young people, don't be quitters. Don't be like, oh, just do a job for one month, quit. Two months, quit. This one, two weeks, quit. You know, don't be that way. Okay, there's a really great principle that is outlined in the Bible here in Romans five, verse number one, Romans five, verse number one. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into his grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, look at this, but we glory in tribulations also. Now look, tribulations just means trouble. Let's apply this to the workplace scenario. You start a new job. You're having difficulties in the job. Steep learning curve. Too much to learn. I don't think I can do the job. Maybe I'll quit. No, it says here, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Look, if you work a job, someone's employed you, and it's taking you time, you feel inadequate. You know, what God is telling us, that's going to develop patience in your life. Young people especially, you need patience is what you need. Not too hard, quit. Oh, my boss said something bad to me, quit. Oh, the customers were rude to me, quit. Oh, my co-workers, I don't like them, quit. I didn't get my half an hour lunch break, I only got 28 minutes, quit. No, develop patience. Sometimes God puts us in a hard place, even hard employment sometimes. We feel like a loser. We feel inadequate to develop patience. So you know what? No, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep pushing. Jesus, you're my employer, remember? Jesus, if you're my employer, you need to train me. You need to help me, Jesus, because I'm having a hard time with this learning curve. You know, I've got so much to learn. I feel like I'm letting down the business. But Jesus, you hired me, give me my wisdom, give me training, give me strength, give me patience, so I can do the job that you've given me to do. You don't want to be that kind of guy where Jesus gives you a job and after one week you quit. I quit on you, Jesus. Jesus is long suffering, gives you another job too. You know, like I said, two months later, quit. I'm just going to quit on you, Jesus, again. You've got to have the right mindset when it comes to work. You need patience. And look at this, and patience, verse number four, experience. You can be an experienced worker, knowing what you're doing, but guess what? You need the tribulations and you need the patience before you can get the experience. That's a normal process of working any job. That's a normal process, even becoming a pastor. It's not easy, requires patience. And then with patience comes experience, but it's a process. All right. I hope in 2024, I'm a better pastor than I was in 2017. I hope you can say, our pastor's a little bit more experienced than he was in 20, good, good. That was a learning curve as well. You know, trying to figure out how things ought to operate, how you ought to react or how you ought to behave and how you ought to deal with different scenarios. And then it says in verse number five, and hope, sorry, and experience hope, and hope makeeth not ashamed. Hope is essentially having like expectations, positive expectations, you know? So once you know your job, guess what? Now you can be hopeful that, you know, you're going to flourish in your job. You're going to be a great performer. You're going to be a blessing to the company that God's given you to work for, you know, maybe hopeful for promotions and, you know, pay rises, pay increases and whatever it is. Verse number five, and hope makeeth not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. I don't, I don't think there's any reason why I can't take this passage and apply it to my workplace. Just principles in the Bible. The Bible has many layers. I know when you think of tribulations, we think of like persecution against the faith and things like that, but we can take the principles. We're working for Jesus. He puts us in difficult situations sometimes. He throws us in the deep end sometimes in work, but don't quit. Okay. Don't be a quitter. So yeah, that is under a steep learning curve. Now there are other difficulties that come up in the workplace. I know your employers are frustrating sometimes. I know your supervisors and your managers can be frustrating. Can you come with me to First Peter chapter two? First Peter chapter two. Let me talk about difficult bosses. Difficult bosses to work under. I hope you can say my pastor is not a difficult boss at church. That's where I've got authority over you. I hope you can say I get along with my pastor. It's not that, you know, he's not always just criticizing me and attacking me. I hope, I hope maybe I am a difficult boss, but even if I am a difficult boss at church, okay, let's apply these things here. First Peter chapter two, verse 18. Servants be subject to your masters with all fear. Then it says these words, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. It is easy to serve a good and gentle boss, but sometimes your boss is going to be froward. That, that means difficult, a difficult person to get along with. Have you ever worked for someone? You don't have to show hands, but you probably know. Yeah, pastor, I've worked for some difficult people, some very rude people, okay. I've been there too. If you've worked long enough in any business, I'm sure you've worked with some froward people. So what are you to, how are you to respond? Are you to be froward in return? Servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Look, I understand, I understand sometimes you need to vent and especially men, if you work a job and you've got a difficult boss and you come home, you might vent to the wife. I can't believe my boss asked me this and that. But still, I want you to remember when that happens, that you're subject to your masters with all fear. That's the commandment, not from me, that's the commandment from the Lord. Remember, you're working for him, you're working for Jesus. And he says, yes, sometimes you're going to have difficult masters. And so I hope I'm not a difficult pastor, okay. But I know that you can have difficult bosses from time to time and like, ah, quit. No, look, look, of course, you've got to draw a line somewhere, right? Like if your boss is just some reprobate, some wicked, horrible person, you know, destroying your life, fine, look at your contract, right? I've got two weeks notice to give, give your two weeks notice, right? Fine, fine. But you need to understand and this is something I had to, you don't understand if you're an employee, but if you're running a business, or you're a manager, you start to understand the stresses that can come in the workplace. When you're trying to keep customers happy, when you're trying to control a budgets, when you're trying to replace employees that have left with new employees, when you're trying to train when you're when there are personality clashes with people that work under you. Look, bosses, masters are carrying this is why they earn the bigger bucks. They're carrying the risks, the responsibilities, the stresses. Many times, you need to understand this. And guess what? Sometimes it just comes out. And they'll say something horrible to you. Or they'll make you feel like an idiot sometimes. And I tell you now, nine out of 10 times, they don't mean to tear you down. They're just having a bad day. The stresses, the worries, the frustrations. Okay, that's all it is. It's just overwhelming them. I'm not saying it's right to do. I'm not saying that if you're a master, you're to be this way. We'll have a sermon on this later on. But I want you to understand if your part if your if your boss has something to upset you emotionally, okay, he probably doesn't mean it like that. Nine out of 10 times, okay, one out of 10 times, you've got just a full wicked boss, something like that, right? Trying to destroy your life, whatever it is, right? Just hates you, and just wants to destroy. I don't know why I want to pay you and destroy you. But anyway, nine out of 10 times, you know, they're good bosses, and they're just being stressed. They're just overworked. All right, and it comes out. Look, for fathers, I'm sure there've been times that you've gone to work and you've had a bad day. You've been stressed, you've been frustrated, and you come home. And you know, you've said things to your wife or to your kids, or you acted in an aggressive manner toward them. Not because you have anything against them. It's just all that build up during the day and you've opened the door and said something stupid. All right, your wife didn't cook something exactly how you wanted it, maybe said something stupid, just on the stresses of the day. I'm sure we've all done something like this. Where we've just vented and let something out, a bit of anger, frustration to the wrong kinds of people. Well, you know, your boss, I want you to remember just your bosses, your supervisors, your managers, especially a business owner, they're carrying a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. And sometimes it just comes out. And that's not, ah, just quit. What a horrible person. Look, be subject to your masters, even to the froward, even to the difficult ones. And look at verse number 19. God says, for this is thank worthy. You know what Jesus says, when you, when you, when your, when your boss at work says something bad, oh, you didn't do the job properly. Well, you know, you should have known this by now, whatever, the frustration comes out. And you're like, you're right, boss, I'm sorry. I'll do better next time. To God, he says, God says about you, that's thank worthy. God gives you thanks. Thank you for having thanks. Thank you for how you respond to your boss. Thank you for being, still being subject when your, when your boss was froward to you during that time. This is thank worthy. If a man for conscience toward God and you are grief, suffering wrongfully. See, suffering wrongfully. Look, God knows that on this earth, things aren't always going to seem fair. So it's not fair. He, you know, my boss said these things to me. How dare he? Yeah, but he's going to pay you anyway. Let's say for an hour, he just says the most horrible things to you. You're going to get paid for that hour. And you just suffer wrongfully. Let's say it's not you. Let's say it was employee, you know, brand new employee Ben over there. That's stuffed up, right? And you're getting the blame. You're like, you're right, boss. All right. We'll make sure, you know, we'll fix that next time. You don't just snitch on Ben. Oh, it was Ben over there. Just take it wrongfully. It's all right. And God will give you thanks. It's thank worthy to God. We need to hear these sermons. I, like I told you, I've had to employ a lot of people. We need some Bible teaching on working a job and being an employee, working hard, serving Jesus Christ. Verse number 20, for what glory is it when ye be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently. So if you get like for your faults, if you do wrong and you get corrected, there's no glory in just taking correction there because like you deserve the correction because it's your mistake. Okay. But then it says, but if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God. Wow. I know it's not acceptable to us. How dare your boss speak to you like that? Yeah. How rude was he? You know what? Hey, take it patiently. Be good to your boss. And that's acceptable to God. Remember you're serving God, right? You're serving Jesus. It's hard for the pride. It's hard for the flesh to accept this teaching, but it's black and white. I'm not twisting scriptures there. Black and white. That's what God's telling us. Servants to your masters. And this is why verse number 21, for even here unto were ye called because you're called to this. You're called to suffer wrongfully. For even here unto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. Oh, that's right. I should have been blamed for my sins. And Jesus took my blame for me. He was punished for me. Remember how employee Ben is the one that messed up, but you're taking the blame anyway. That's Jesus. He suffered for all of your wrong, all of your sins, all of your rebellion, all your offenses toward God. Jesus suffered wrongfully. He goes, all right, I've set the example for you. Take the blame for Ben. That's not even compared to what Jesus suffered for us. I'm not sure where I'm up to now. Verse number 22, we should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was God all found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him. Look at it, committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. So when your boss gives you a hard time, you don't revile in return. He said something nasty to you. So I'll say something nasty back. I've done it though. And I've quickly apologized to my boss. Sorry, boss. I've done it right. When he suffered, he threatened not. When your boss says, all right, you're hopeless. All right, I quit. Oh, you know, you know, if you keep, but don't fret and just take it patiently. So it's hard, pastor. Remember what Jesus did for you. Remember how Jesus suffered for you. When that's happening, when someone's having a go at you and you've done nothing wrong and I know you've done nothing wrong and your pride is saying, I'm not going to take this. Just take it because Jesus took so much from me. He sent me a good example to follow. Say, but committed, this is the solution. Commit himself to him that judgeth righteously. So, all right, Jesus, my boss just had to go at me. It wasn't my fault. He's made me feel like a loser. I feel like quitting. Lord, but I'm not because I remember this sermon this Sunday morning and Lord, I'm going to commit myself to you because I'm working for you, Jesus. I'm working for you, God. So I'm going to commit myself to you and you can judge. You can judge in this situation. I'm going to take it patiently. I'm going to suffer a little bit. How Christ suffered for me. I'm going to take it. I'm just going to cop it, Lord, but I'm expecting you to judge. I'm leaving it for you. You're the judge. You make the judgment call, Lord. Don't be surprised if you get a promotion next week. Because when your boss sees good character, you know what, when your boss has a go at you and you've done nothing wrong, when he goes back into his office in a huff, he sits down and he calms down. You know what's going through his mind? I can't believe I treated my employee that way. I can't believe I said those words. I shouldn't have treated him like that. How can I make it up to him? Well, there's a job coming up. He's shown good character. There's a good position coming up. Hey, you know what, based on his character, based on his performance, based on how he's acted toward me, you know what, he's probably a leading candidate for that position. You don't know how God will balance the books, how God will judge righteously in a situation like this. Can you come with me to Genesis 16? Genesis 16. Difficult bosses. Genesis 16. We're looking at the story of Abraham and Sarah. Remember that we were promised a child and Sarah was not fully pregnant. She had gone, she was elderly. She'd gone past her age. She'd already gone past menopause. She should not be able to have children. And so in a time of weakness, Sarah gave her employee, Hagar, her servants, her maidservants and said, maybe this is God's way. Maybe you're to have kids through her. And they're, you know, because I've got, I'm her master. I've got authority over these children. But in Genesis 16, Genesis 16 verse number four, speaking about Abraham. And he went in unto Hagar, which is wrong by the way, but anyway, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, look at this, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarah said unto Abram, my wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid into thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judged between me and thee, but Abram said unto Sarah, behold, thy maid is in thy hand. Do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarah, look, and when Sarah dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. So Hagar, fool's pregnant. Hagar, sorry, fool's pregnant. And then, you know, she's like thinking, oh, look at me, I'm a better wife to Abram than you are, you know, kind of thing. And then Abraham says, look, that's your, that's your, that's your, that's your maid. You can do whatever you want. You know, deal with this however you want. The Bible tells me that Sarah became a hard master, treated her hardly, treated her in a bad way. Okay. So she flees. She quits, right? She quits her job. My boss was hard on me. So she quits. Look at verse number seven. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to She. And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence comest thou and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarah. Look at the response, verse number nine. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. That's the message of the Lord. Don't quit. Yeah, she had a hard time. She's not falling pregnant. She feels like she's a failure of a woman. She feels competition from you now, just having a bad day. She's like, return, go back to your master. Man, look, the Bible does teach us about difficult bosses. And this is the instruction. And look, she does so and this is the promise in verse number 10. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. She says, look, I'm going to bless your kid and your descendants. You submit yourself to your master, to your mistress, and you're going to have this amazing legacy of family and nations after you. So look, there's a blessing from the Lord if you just do what is right. And understand your masters, your mistresses, wherever you work for, are sometimes going to be difficult and you want to quit. And she literally quit, but she was called to return back to her master. Can you come with me to Philemon in the New Testament? Philemon, Philemon, Philemon, I'm near the end of my sermon this morning. Thank you for your patience. Philemon. Now, Philemon is this little book in the New Testament. If you just read it quickly, you probably don't realize what it's about. But it is about the master and servant relationship, the employer-employee relationship. Philemon is the employer. Okay. And Paul writes an epistle to Philemon because he comes across one of his servants, one of his employees, Onesimus. And Philemon, verse number 10. Philemon, verse number 10. Paul writes, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. He says, ah, Onesimus. Like he knows, Paul knows Philemon. All right. He goes, ah, I want you to tell you about my son. He's not physically his son. He begat him in his bonds. So while Paul was a prisoner, he got this man saved. Okay. So he's a spiritual son. Okay. Look at verse 11. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable? He goes, yeah, man, I know about this guy to you. He was an unprofitable servant. Like in the past, he was a lazy, no good worker. Okay. Lazy employee. In time past. In the time past was to thee unprofitable. Look at this. But now profitable to thee and to me. He goes, man, if you take this guy back, he'll be profitable for you. He's profitable to me. Because he's helping Paul in his ministry, in his work. He says in verse number 12, whom I have sent again. He goes, look, I'm sending him back. He's your employee. Okay. Thou therefore receive him. That is mine own bowels. So what do we learn from this? When Onesimus was not saved, he was an unprofitable worker. Now that he's saved, Paul says, he's profitable to you and to me. Brethren, as a saved believer, a child of God, you need to be a profitable employee, a profitable worker, a high valued worker. You are not like every other unbeliever working at McDonald's or working at Hungry Jacks or whatever it is. If McDonald's employs you, young men or anyone else, they've hired a son of God. They've hired kings and priests. They're going to serve and reign with Christ in the millennium. They've hired the best people on the world. Joint heirs with Christ is what we are. We are something important in Christ Jesus. We are the people of God, a chosen generation. Man, look, honestly, no matter what job you do, and they take you on board. I mean, they don't know this, but you know, you've not just hired a teenager. You've not just hired a man. You've hired a son of God. You've hired someone that has eternal life, everlasting life. So, and man, you hired someone that's going to work hard for Jesus. You've hired the best person you can on the earth, ought to be. You've hired a profitable servant, a high valued worker. And I'm telling you, this is where, again, it changes your life. When you say, I'm going to serve Jesus and you work hard and you do more, you're more profitable than everybody else. That's how it ought to be. As children of God, that's how it ought to be. Maybe not immediately, like we understand learning curves, we understand difficulties, but when you have the tribulations and the patience and the experience and the hope, at some point you need to be outperforming everybody else. Not to be a show off, but because you're a child of God, that's all. I truly believe this. You need to be an over performer in your workplace as a believer. I believe that's what God wants from you. Okay. Now come with me to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. Look, when the business needs to make cost cutting decisions and they have to let go of employees. Okay. It's not an easy decision for managers to decide who they're going to let go. But who do you think they're going to let go? The unprofitable employee or the high valued employee? They're going to let go of the unprofitable, right? We've got to cut costs. We've got to keep the best people here as we cut costs. You're more guaranteed to be successful and the longevity of a work, of a job if you're highly valued. Your influence in the workplace, your influence is going to grow. You're going to be able to give recommendations and they're going to take it on board because of the kind of quality of character you are. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 29. Proverbs 22 to 29. Theist thou a man, look at this, diligent in his business. If you see a man that's diligent, hard working in his business, he shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men. The word mean doesn't mean like angry, wicked men. It means like, you know, average, the mean and the average, if you know that terminology. So you're not just going to be an average person, all right? If you're diligent in your business, you work hard, you serve the Lord, you outperform, you're profitable. Bible says you're going to stand before kings. Essentially the promotions, okay? You're going to be able to work your way up in your workplace because you stand out. Again, you're not doing it for man, to please man, you're doing it to please God, remember? You're going to have the right idea in your mind, in your heart, you're doing it with singleness of heart, you're doing it heartily for the Lord and he'll make you stand before people of higher positions. You'll get the promotions. Look, I've seen this in my life, I'm not trying to boast, I'm not boasting on myself, boasting of God's word and his promises that are in the Bible. Can you come with me to Psalm 75? Psalm 75. Psalm 75, promotion is the last thing I want to talk about here. Promotion. You know, not that I would, but I just feel like if I call your boss, you know, tell me about, I don't know, I don't want to name any names. Oh, brother Michael. Tell me about brother Michael. What kind of worker is he? Oh man, he's the best we got. That's what I want to hear. That's what I should hear, all right? I don't want to show you too many names, but that's how it ought to be, right? I want you to be able to call my old churches that I used to attend, say, should I put myself under this pastor Kevin? Hey pastor so-and-so, what was Kevin like serving at whatever church he was at? You know, I'm confident they're going to say he was loyal, loving, served as much as he could, was a blessing, was an encouragement. You know, I'm sure if you say, did he give your church a hard time? Did he cause problems? Was he constantly in conflict, constantly fighting with people? No, not at all. Would you have him come back to your church? Of course we would. Look at Psalm 75 verse number six. For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south, but God is the judge. He putteth down one and seteth up another. Promotion. Look, we know the cost of living's going up and up and up. It's getting more and more difficult to just do the basics. We need promotions, maybe in titles, maybe in your income. And I'm just telling you, be a high valued employee and the promotions will come. God is the judge. You're like, oh, but I've seen a lazy worker over there who sucked up to the boss. They got the promotion. Okay, don't worry about that. Don't worry about them. You don't get your promotions by sucking up to the boss and playing the office games and dog eat dog scenario, whatever it is. No, you get your promotion by serving Christ. And when he sees that you're ready, he'll give you the promotion. I believe it's a pastor, you're right. I worked so hard. I did it for Jesus. And now I'm the boss. It happens. It's God's word. It's a promise. You know, I don't want to, I'm not trying to boast of myself or anything like that. Okay. I just want to give you an example. Now forget last year, last year I had to apply for a job and work as a cleaner for a little while, for three months, whatever it was. Okay. Set that aside. That was last year, so 2013. But the last time that I actually had to apply for a job, I believe was 2005. I had to submit my resume, go to an interview, sit down and, you know, why should we hire you? And, you know, you're trying to sell yourself and all that, you know. The next 18 years, till I had to work at the cleaners, the next 18 years, I took on like eight or nine jobs, other positions. Most in the same company, but also in two other companies. All right. And every time I just learnt this lesson, I'm serving Jesus. I'm serving Jesus. I'm serving Jesus. And I'm telling you, the promotions, they just kept coming. These other positions that I had, I didn't apply for them. I never applied for them. I take on a job. All right, Kevin, here's your promotion. Here's your pay increase. Eleven months later, ah, here's another promotion. Here's another pay increase. Here's another role for you. It just kept happening and happening. And I realised, wow, not just once. Wow, if I just serve Jesus, he takes care of it. He promotes. Praise the Lord. And then I quit my job. And I needed a break because in my mind, I wanted to be a pastor. And I realised I had to make a decision. Do I chase my career or do I seek the Lord and being a pastor? I took a break. I think it was about five months. I took a break, recharged my batteries. I didn't realise how exhausted and stressed I was because my energy and my health came back. Well, I took a break, started studying doctrine and times, trying to make sure I could lock in some key things for my future, if the Lord would have me to be a pastor. And then people would come up to me, oh, you're not working? Come work for me. Oh, okay. And then I left that job for one reason. And then later on, another person, oh, you're not working? Come work for me. All right. For 18 years, I didn't have to apply for anything. Because I just said, I'm serving you, Jesus, and you promote, you do whatever you need to do. So last year, when I had to work for the cleaners, I've got to put a resume together. I haven't done that for 18 years. Like, what do I do? How does this work again? I've got to go for an interview, make phone calls. You know, I've got to start thinking about typing it all up again and try to promote myself and sell myself. But for 18 years, the Lord's like, all right, you keep serving me. I'll give you your jobs. I'll give you your money that you need. Your needs will be taken care of. And again, I'm not saying that to boast of myself, I am nothing. Because at one stage, I was an unprofitable servant. But it's when you change your heart and your mind toward your master. Okay, title of the sermon was submission in the workplace. When you submit in the workplace, when you submit to your employer, remember you're serving Jesus. Have that in your heart, have that in your mind. Okay, serve faithfully in every situation God gives you. And I promise God will judge, God will look out for you, God will take care of it. Somehow, I can't explain the supernatural. Somehow God makes sure you have exactly what you need to continue to serve him in your workplace. Like I said, Reverend, submission in the workplace. Thank you so much for your patience. Let's pray.