Gods Work Manual

God's grace still amaze you, that you never tire of thinking of what it means to be in the family of God, to be saved by His grace, to be set apart as His children, to have a home in heaven because of His love for us. There's nothing like that. And you know what we've been talking about in the book of Ephesians, our salvation that we have by the grace of God. And in the latter half of the book we've been looking at ways that that salvation impacts the way we live. Does it really make a difference? The grace of God, the salvation that we enjoy. Does it really make a difference in the way we live? And we've seen in a number of different ways Paul applies our great salvation and the grace of God to us through Christ. To very practical every day living situations. And none could be more practical than your workplace where you work day in and day out. Few years ago a man by the name and author by the name of Studds Terkel wrote a book on work and yes that really was his name. When I saw that name I said thank you mom and dad for naming me John. Boy, the things that kid must have endured in school. Studds Terkel wrote a book called working people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. Here's how he opened the book. This is the first paragraph in the book. This book being about work is by its very nature, about violence to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fist fights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is above all about daily humiliations. And you know there are a lot of folks maybe a lot sitting here this morning that feel about that way, about your job. That really is how you see your workplace or the job you do day in and day out. But the Bible paints an entirely different picture of our work. In the very beginning God gave man work to do before the fall, before sin had corrupted anything, God gave Adam work to do in the Garden of Eden. And that work was designed to be a part of man's fulfillment in serving God and living out his ruling over this world. Our work was to give us purpose and fulfillment and meaning in life under God and through his power. And God even gives us work manuals in the Bible to tell us how to do our work. We come across one of those today. In Ephesians 6 verses 5 through 9, we come across God's work manual. How he expects us to work, how he expects us to transform the workplace into a place where he can be glorified. If you have your Bible open to Ephesians 6, follow with me as I read these verses beginning in verse 5. Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart. Just as you would obey Christ, obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not men. Because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free, and masters treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Now one cannot really read a passage like this or look at a text like this in Scripture without dealing with the whole concept of slavery. Christ Paul and the New Testament itself has often been criticized for not condemning slavery. And so let me take a few moments just to touch on what slavery was like in the New Testament and why Paul dealt with it in the way that he does. When we think of slavery, when we hear of the word slavery, we think of the horrible injustices that were perpetrated upon our black brothers and sisters in the United States and in England and other parts of the world as well. When we think of slavery, that's what we think of and that was a horrible thing. But that's not quite what slavery was in New Testament times. In New Testament times, slavery was extremely common, was accepted by everyone. It was a part of the fabric of society and it was really how the economy worked. Most households had slaves. One third of the population of most major cities would be slaves. Six million total in the Roman Empire. These slaves were primarily seen as just workers. It was the way you did your job, basically. Quite often, slaves were given the same social status as their masters. They could own property. Many of them lived apart from their masters. Just showed up at work every day. And so it would be very similar to you going to your job. Many of them had very high occupations. Most professors and teachers were slaves. They might be the owner of a company and yet be a slave. Most slaves were released and freed by the time they were 30. Some people would actually sell themselves into slavery so that they could learn a trade or they could work in a particular atmosphere which would then allow them to branch out on their own by the time they were in their 30s. So slavery in New Testament times was not near the same thing that we think of when we think of slavery. So the reason one of the reasons why Paul does not just out-and-out condemn slavery is that would have been unthought of in his day anyway. It was a part of society. It was a fabric of their culture. The whole economy ran that way. To condemn and outlaw slavery in one fell swoop in New Testament times would have brought chaos to the economy. Both owners and slaves would have been rendered penniless. It would just be unthought of in that day. Here's the main reason why Paul does not address slavery in the way that some people think he should. That is because the Bible never gives us instruction about changing human institutions as such. The Bible always goes to the core of the problem which is the heart of man. With this institution being so in bread, in society, and so in grain, in society, the best way to combat the evils of slavery in that day was to change the heart of both slaves and masters so that if these principles are followed, slavery in essence is done away with. And that's how Paul attacked it was through dealing with the heart issues. Now another reason why I wanted to touch for just a moment upon what slavery was like in the New Testament times in the Roman world is because there is much more of a parallel between what he's talking about and the average workplace today than what we might first assume. At first glance, when he's talking about masters and slaves, it may not sound much like your job. On second thought, it may sound a lot like your job. But at first glance, we might think, well, that's not really the same thing as the workplace we're in today. It's very similar to the workplace you're in today. Most of these folks would have left their own homes and their own families and gone to their master's place or business to work every day and gone home at night, just like you do. And so there was not a whole lot of difference. And for that reason, what Paul says both to slaves and masters is very applicable to the workplace today. It is God's manual for our work. Actually two manuals here. The first one is a manual for employees. If you are going to work, here is a manual. You ought to be handed the first day. You ought to remember this is how God sees your job. Four things, He says, for you to remember. Four very simple requirements for you in the workplace as a child of God. The first one, verse five, is we must work with respect. Verse five says, slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear. Let me stop right there. obey your earthly masters with respect and fear. Now the fear here is not a shaking in your boots kind of fear. The fear here really could be rendered honor. So the idea is treat your masters or respect or obey your masters, your employers with respect and honor. You are to look upon those who are over you in the workplace with both respect and honor. That would be very important to the group Paul was writing to. Because you might have any number of scenarios, you might have a Christian slave who works for a non-Christian master. And he's asking himself in his heart, do I really need to respect that guy? Or you may have a Christian slave who works for an unkind, cruel master. And naturally the question would be, do I have to respect a person with that kind of character? Or you might have a Christian slave who's working for a Christian master. And thanks, well because we're brothers, I ought to get a little break here. Or maybe a little preferential treatment. We're both Christians. We're brothers in Christ. I don't really need to see him as my boss. Or you might have a Christian slave who is working for a master who is over him in the workplace. And please understand how I'm saying this, under him in the church. Maybe it is the slave in the church who is the Sunday school teacher in the master sitting in the class. Or maybe it's the slave in the church who's in a leadership of a ministry and the master is working with him and for him in that ministry. So what do you do there? We see that's not unsimilar. It's not unlike your workplace. Some of you have a boss who is an unbeliever and you as a Christian wonder at times, especially because of maybe an ungodly character that that person exhibits in the workplace. Maybe harsh demands they may make on you. Should I really respect? Do I need to honor or respect that person? The answer is yes. If not for that person's character for their position, that's the consistent teaching of the New Testament. Paul urged respect for Roman authority over them, although much of that was very harsh and cruel. But the position should be respected. Some of you may have a boss in your workplace who is a fellow believer and you think you ought to get a little special treatment because of that. Or you can be more buddy-buddy because of that. Don't really need to respect him as someone who has authority over you. That's not true. In fact, in that very instance, Paul would write this to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, he would say, all who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered. Now, look at what he says in verse 2. Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better because those who benefit from their service are believers and dear to them. These are the things you ought to teach and urge on them. The Paul told Timothy, in your church Timothy, they're in Ephesus where you're pastoring. You teach and urge these things about the workplace on your congregation and I want to do the same thing today. I want to urge upon you and teach you that the word of God says you are to respect and honor those over you in the workplace regardless of whether they are unbelievers, unkind, whether they are fellow believers or whether in the church you may be thought of as having a position of authority over them. It doesn't matter. In the workplace, you respect, you honor that person. What this means is that there is no place for insubordination on the part of a Christian employee. There is no place for contempt for your employer by a Christian employee. There is no place in a Christian employee's heart or action for disrespectful action, disrespectful words to your employer. There is no place for that in a Christian's workplace. What this means is that we should give our best effort for the people we work for with respect for their position even if we cannot respect their character. We should still give our best effort for them. Joe DiMaggio is one of the greatest baseball players that ever played. He played his entire career in 1936 to 1951 with the New York Yankees. His gone down in the history books is one of the greatest, maybe the greatest baseball player of all time. He was well known for his athletic accomplishments, primarily for his 56th straight game hitting streak, which some believe is the greatest feed ever in sports will never be broken. But he was just as well known in his day for his attitude and his work ethic. He really saw his work as a job and he took it seriously and he worked hard every day. One time when they had hired a new coach, Chuck Dresson, and Chuck Dresson got upset with an umpires call him through some towels out of the dugout. Joe DiMaggio went over to him by this time he'd been with the Yankees a number of years and had a stature enough to do this. He went over to him and said, Coach, please go get those things off of the field. The New York Yankees, when we are disappointed with a call, we do not throw things on the field. We hit home runs. That's how we respond. One time when Yogi Barra, the famous catcher, was a rookie, first year. He had a pop up in the infield. He knows he's going to be out so he just kind of saunters down to first base, you know, a half-trop. The Maggio pulled him over in the dugout and said, Yogi, don't ever do that. You're a New York Yankees. You play 100% all the time. Even when it's a certain out, you run full speed to first base. What he was doing was he was trying to teach, trying to enforce, trying to model himself the very work ethic with respect for those over us that the Bible teaches all of us Christians should have. So in the workplace, work with respect. Secondly, the Bible says we are to work with focus. Verse 5, slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and here it is, with sincerity of heart just as you would obey Christ. Now the words sincerity of heart really could be translated singleness of heart. The idea is not just being sincere in the terms we might think of it. The idea here really is being single-minded, having a focus serving with undivided mind, no ulterior motives, no hypocrisy, serving the best effort, giving the best effort we can with an undivided focus on what we are to do. Now the Bible says the key to having that kind of clear undivided, sharp focus on our job and what we are to do and not being distracted by all other things. Having that kind of focus, the key to that is focusing on Christ as the one you're really working for. Now this transforms every workplace into a holy place. You notice what he says there in verse 5, he says with sincerity of heart just as you would obey Christ. We are to work with the kind of undivided focus and effort and energy as though Jesus Christ himself were the one who's employing us because we are ultimately working for him. There's a sign in a particular farm equipment repair company out in the waiting room. Sign says this. You do three types of jobs here. Cheap, quick and good. You can have any too. A good, quick job won't be cheap. A good cheap job won't be quick. A cheap quick job won't be good. Now by the time I had that figured out they'd have my farm equipment repaired. But the idea, I think the idea there is don't expect if you're going to pay a cheap price, don't expect it to be good work. If you want it to be quick, don't expect it to be good. The Bible sign would say something like this. No matter how long it takes, no matter how easy the job it is, no matter what it costs, little or great, we will do our best. We will work with undivided focus to give you the very best job we can. We're to work with focus because we work for Christ. You see what it says there? Just as you would obey Christ, you're really working for Him. So what that means, you're serving Christ. You're not just serving your employer serving Christ. As a homemaker, you're serving Christ. Which means you should cook every meal as though Jesus Christ were going to be at the table that day. I didn't hear any amen from the guys. I thought I was going to get a few amen on that one. What it means for you as a teacher is that you teach your children in your classroom as though Jesus Christ were one of your students. You see this would transform the way we do our work, no matter where we are. It means that as a doctor and a nurse, you treat your patients as though you were caring for the physical needs of Jesus Christ. It means that as a salesman, you treat your clients with honesty because you're working for Jesus Christ. It means that as a clerk, you serve your customers in the store with integrity and with diligence because you're serving Jesus Christ. It means that an accountant ought its books in an honest way and does them as though Jesus Christ Himself were going to be presented with that audit. It means that personal assistance will prepare mailings as though they're going out to Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, do it with single focus. Do it well because you're doing it for Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's saying. Where to work? With respect. Where to work with focus. You say, my job is so boring and monotonous. You know what? Everybody's job is. At least everybody's job has some boring and monotonous elements to it. Even those jobs that may seem glamorous. I want to be an airline pilot. From what I hear, the take-offs and the landings are pretty exhilarating, but everything in between is absolutely boring for an airline pilot with all that instrumentation today. And so I'd like to be a doctor. You know, when you think about it, doctors are the only people when they ask people how they're feeling don't say fine. They get to hear people's real ailments all day long. I think that would get pretty old after a while. You know, you ask people at the door. I ask 50 hundred people every two, 300 people every how you doing fine, how you doing fine, how you doing fine. Doctor asks them and they go five minutes describing all their ailments and complaints. I think that would get pretty monotonous after a while, don't you? You pick any occupation that will have some monotonous aspects to it. I remember when we were building this education wing, the curved wing over here. And I was fascinated with the brick layer because he was laying straight brick in a curved wall. So I went out there one day and I asked him, I said, how do you do this? He said with one eye closed. No big deal, day in and day out. I'm just laying brick, sloping mud, you know, just monotonous. Everybody's work has some monotonous aspects to it. So the only way to bring life and energy and focus to it is to realize as Paul says, this kind of singleness comes from recognizing we're really obeying Christ. We're really serving Christ here. He's our master. So work with respect, work with focus and then thirdly Paul says work with diligence in verse six, work with diligence. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you but like slaves of Christ doing the will of God from your heart. I think a lot of folks are like junior high kids when the fizz head teacher tells them to start doing push ups and then he goes and sits down and starts working on grading some health lessons. When he looks up, you know, doing the push ups. When he's got his head down, what happens? You know what happens. You've been there. Well, a lot of people are like that on their jobs. When they're being watched, when they're being evaluated, really work hard. But at other times, when the boss is not looking, when the boss is away, kind of all around the water fountain, hallway talking sports, what happened to what happened at home, family and shopping and all the rest and very little work may get done. The Bible says don't work hard or harder just because somebody's watching you. Apply yourself as though you're serving Christ because he's always watching regardless of who else is watching. One guy named Fred worked for a company where he was kind of waltzed in late about every day and he found excuses to leave early and get away and those kinds of things. Really most people wondered what he did during the day while he was there. So the boss decided I better do some evaluation or evaluate at his work. Sure enough, found out very little was getting done and fired him. We could so later, another employee came up to the boss and said, I'd like to apply for the vacancy that Fred left. The boss without thinking said, Fred did not leave a vacancy. There was nothing vacant when Fred left. He wouldn't do anything to start with. Reminds me of the CEO of a company, somebody asked him, how many people work for your company? He said, very few. Very few. I hope that can't be said of you in your workplace. The Bible says doesn't matter whether someone's watching or not, doesn't matter whether someone's observing, doesn't matter whether someone's evaluating, doesn't matter, that does not matter. If we would really grasp the end of verse 6, it would change the way we do our jobs. He says, obey them, not only win their favor when their eyes on you. Here it is, but like slaves of Christ doing the will of God. You want to know what the will of God is for your life? Here it is, at least part of it. The will of God is for you to work hard regardless of who's watching. That's the will of God. You are doing the will of God when you work. Sometimes we think, well, doing the will of God is being a pastor or missionary or Bible college professor or something like that. That's the will of God. No, no, no. The will of God for you may be a salesman or a clerk or a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer or whatever. You are doing the will of God. You are serving Him. So serve as though He is evaluating because He is. You will answer to Him someday for the way you have done your work. You know what that means? It means you will not start working harder when you know somebody's watching. It means you will not need to be checked on because you're always doing your best. It means that even when you're alone, you're working just as hard as if other people are around you. It means that even if you're passed over for a promotion, you still work just as hard. You don't slack off to get back at whoever didn't promote you. That's what that means. It means that you don't work to impress others or to promote yourself. You work to do your very best because you want to please Jesus Christ. No matter what kind of job you have, I don't care if you're a student and you're working a part time summer job, give it your very best. Work with diligence. If you're the CEO of the company or if you mop the floors at night, it doesn't matter. Every job that's a legitimate valid occupation is a job that you can honor God with and please God with another do your very best in work with diligence. Paul says in this worker's manual, not only work with diligence versus seven and eight work with cheerfulness. Notice what he says in verse seven, serve wholeheartedly. Again, the emphasis on the reason we're serving Christ, he says, as if you were serving the Lord, not men because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. The key word here is wholeheartedly. What does that mean? So word which literally has to do with goodwill, serve with goodwill. The idea is serve with a pleasant disposition, serve with cheerfulness. So at work, don't be sour. Don't be critical. Don't be complaining all the time. Don't work with a negative spirit. Don't be unpleasant to others around you at work. One person just took a new job and they were in the work environment that first day and they looked over to co-worker and said, what's it like to work here? And the co-worker who was a seasoned wise worker thought for a moment, looked back at the young guy and said, well, what was it like at the place you came from? And the young guy just started venting all kinds of, I hated that job. I hated the people I worked with. I couldn't stand my boss and the wise seasoned worker listened to him for a few moments and then nodded his head and said, well, unfortunately, I'm afraid you'll find it to be the same way here. Because the attitude you bring to your job is what you're going to find, basically. That's what you're going to get out of it, what you bring to it. So Paul says, work with wholehearted, cheerfulness, pleasantness with good will, work in that way. Again, it does not matter what your job is, does not matter what you do, how glamorous it may appear or not appear to others, whatever you do, you can do it with a cheerful disposition with a cheerful attitude. John Maxwell has a saying on his desk, John Maxwell is a pastor who is now a president of a company called Injoy that ministers to churches and helps capital campaigns and things like that, training leadership, all. John Maxwell has a sign on his desk that serves to keep him reminded of having a positive attitude because it makes him smile whenever he sees it. It says this, God put me on earth to do a certain number of things. I'm so far behind right now, I know I'll never die. Now I don't know about you, I'm thinking about putting that on my desk because in times of stress it would help to read that, you know, and just smile and just remember, okay, let's have a different outlook at this. Work with pleasantness, with cheerfulness. I believe if we really took God's work manual seriously, it would mean that we would look at our work this way. We would see it's importance because we are actually serving Christ and not just those who are over us in the workplace. No matter what my job might be, no matter what yours might be, I think we would see that we are to do it with care and with excellence and with a good attitude, caring for people who work with us, caring and respecting the people who are over us. I think it means that we would serve people well, that we would give them our best, that we would work hard for one primary reason. And that is because we're really serving Jesus Christ and we want to hear His well done someday. I think it would revolutionize the way we do our work. But that's only a part of the work manual. That's the work manual for employees. Paul gives one for employers too. In verse 9, in verse 9, he gives a work manual for employers. And to the employers, he says this, first of all, treat your employees with care. He says, and masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Now I want to stop right there. It's very easy for us just to fly over those words and not get what he's saying. Treat your slaves. In other words, employers treat your employees in the same way. What does he mean by that? What way? The way he's just talked about with the employees. If you want them to respect you, then respect them. Treat them with respect. Provide the kind of working environment and conditions as best you can that will show you respect those who work for you. Respect their needs physically and family wise. Respect the people who work for you. That's what he's saying. If you want them to work with focus and diligence, then you work with focus and diligence. You set the example. You're the one in a position of leadership. You set the example for the people who work for you of diligence and focus in your work and knowing that you're serving Christ. You want people at work to be cheerful, then provide a cheerful atmosphere starting with you. You be cheerful toward them. I think what this means is that you promote their welfare at work, that you show an interest in them and their family and their job. You provide as much as possible as safe and cheerful, pleasant working environment for them. I think it means that you're fair and you're just and you're generous as possible as much as you can be with your employees. I heard of one company where the manager owner of this company not only gives the employees sick days through the year, he gives them one day a year that he calls a well day. Now what he means by that and you can imagine the morale this would boost in his company, what he means by that is okay, there may be days when you have to call in sick, but I'll give you one day a year, not one day a week, not one day a month, but one day a year where you can say, this is such a wonderful day. I'd love to just stay home. You can call in well. Now I'm getting in trouble here, I know, because some of you are saying, oh, I'm going to tell my boss about that tomorrow and you're going to get fired probably when you do that. And some of you bosses are thinking, are you saying that I have to do that to have a right working environment? No, not necessarily. He's just one way one guy did it. I heard about another guy who had what I think is the most tactful termination procedure of anybody I've ever heard of in a business. He would call people in when they needed to be let go. For instance, this one young man he called in on Friday and he said, uh, said, young man, I do not know how this company will survive without you, but starting on Monday, we're going to try to find out. Some of you employers may want to use that one. Seriously, we should treat those who work under us with respect, cheerfulness, with kindness, with care in the same way that you would expect to be treated. Now I want to say a couple of things here about a couple of workers, kinds of workers that I think sometimes are not treated this way. We don't have slaves anymore, but there are some people that we treat like slaves. Number one on the list is homemakers. Homemakers. Children, husbands, I would urge you this morning do not take your wife homemaker for granted. Do not demean her and what she does. Career people don't demean a homemaker. That homemaker works hard without days off. To provide a home for you and your children. And they should never be treated like a slave. One guy came home from work one evening. Young guy's wife, he and his wife have several small children. He came home from work one evening and the place was a wreck. I mean there were toys strewn all over the floor. There were dishes, dirty dishes in the sink. There were clean clothes piled up on the sofa. There were dirty clothes strewn throughout the bathroom and the bedroom. The beds had not been made. Oh just it was awful. He looked at his dinner, wasn't cooking nothing. And he looked at his wife and said, what happened? And she said, nothing, you're always asking me what I do all day long. Now look around. I didn't do it today. Well maybe a good housewife strike would be just not to do it one day and see if it gets noticed. I think sometimes we demean housewives and homemakers treat them like slaves. That's wrong. Second group of people I think that we need a little bit of education on here. Maybe a little bit of help with is people in the service industries. I'm not talking about military people. I'm talking about the service industries. People that serve us and wait on us at the restaurants and so forth. I've really gotten an education with Missy working it out back last few months. Now she hasn't told many stories about any of you. I want to make that clear with what I'm going to say next. But I have heard some stories that I have just just hard to believe about the way people are treated in restaurants. Hostesses and waiters and waitresses, people who bust the tables. Sometimes totally unreasonable demands made on them. Things that are against restaurant policy, but if they're not done, there's demeaning talk that sometimes outrageous behavior. Things thrown, things said, voices raised to a level that makes the person is trying to do their job well feel just a little higher than dirt. That ought never to be done to people who serve us well. And should never be done by a Christian. By the way, if you're going from this service to a restaurant, please treat the employees kindly, courteously, and leave a generous tip. You know, waitress will tell you the toughest group is the group that comes in here after Sunday morning. We can tell their church people. They're all dressed up. They didn't go to Johnson Chapel, but they're all dressed up. All dressed up, we know they came from church, and they are as rude and discurdious, and they don't leave tips. That's what people in the restaurant business will tell you. So please, glorify Christ by not treating those people like slaves. Okay. Treat those who serve you well. What Paul is saying here to employers is treat your employees with care. Secondly, and quickly, he's saying treat them with equality. Treat them with equality. Really? Yes, look at the end of the verse. Do not threaten them since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there's no favoritism with him. Now, we all recognize and should recognize that those who are in management positions do have a legitimate position of authority over us, and they should be respected for that. Yes, however, those who are in those positions of authority should treat their employees with a sense of equality as persons that we are all equal before God. In fact, we both are serving the same boss. You see what he said there at the end of the verse? Both your boss and theirs is in heaven, and he doesn't show any favorites. So recognize that there is on a personal level an equality. That means, as Paul says, you will not threaten them. It's an interesting word, interesting concept. It's the idea of being insensitive, being a bully. It's the idea of running over someone, being harsh and abusive. What Paul is saying is recognize that both of you will answer to God someday for your work. And that's interesting to me, very interesting to me that both of the work manuals end with that thought. The work manual to employees ends with the reminder that you know that the Lord will reward for what you've done in verse 8. The manual for employers ends with the same thought. Remember that you have a boss in heaven who doesn't show favoritism. Interesting, that for both employees and employers, the closing thought is you will answer to God someday for your job the way you did it. Whether you were in management position, people working under you, responsible for them, or you were in the other position of serving someone else, working for someone else. You will answer to God. All of us will stand before God someday. You see, I think sometimes we get this wrong. I think we think that I think we think. I know we think that sometimes when we stand before God, what we'll give an account for is how many people we led to Christ and how faithful we were to church services and how much we read our Bible and how much we prayed and all those things are very important and we will answer to God for how faithful and committed we were those areas. But you will also answer to God for how faithful you did your job. That's what this passage is teaching. Because you see God does not see your job as well. That's your secular life and your spiritual life is when you go to church and witness to people or read your Bible. No, no. God sees it all as service to him, doing his will that you will answer to him for. And so you will answer to him for how well you did your work. And God knows how to reward. God knows how to reward for things that may have gone unnoticed here. I may have told this story before I probably have. But I'm reminded of the missionary couple who came home from Africa many, many years ago after serving for 40 years, giving their entire life, came home from Africa on the same boat that President Teddy Roosevelt was on. President Roosevelt had been to Africa for one of his well-known big game hunts and he was coming back on the same boat. They watched from the deck of the ship as President Roosevelt went down to the pier. A band was playing thousands of people were gathered around dozens of reporters covering his every move interviewing him about his trip. Not one soul was there to welcome home the missionaries. So they got off the boat and they got him a taxi went to a little motel where they were going to spend the first night before they went to their places where they'd grown up and made a home there. On the way over to that motel the missionary husband kind of downcast and he said to his wife, he said, it's just not fair. It's not fair. We gave 40 years of our life to serving God on the mission field. No one even noticed when we came home. The President and I respect him but the President goes for three weeks to hunt big game and the whole world welcomes him home. He dropped his head. His wife very gently patting him on the knee and said, but honey remember we're not home yet. We're not home yet. Would you pray with me please? Father help us to remember that there will come a day when we will go home and we will stand before you. Lord help us to remember that we will not only give an account for what we often consider the spiritual side of our lives. We will give an account for our work which you view Lord as being a service to you doing your will. Help us Lord to do it with all of our heart, cheerful disposition of diligence with respect for those that we serve. Help us to treat those under us who work for us with care and equality. Help us to do what we do in the workplace as a reflection of our great salvation, the grace that you've shown to us so that when we stand before you someday, Lord we can hear well done when we go home. In Jesus name we pray amen.