WITNESSES AT WORK

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 18, 2025 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message
May 18, 2025
1 Timothy 6:1-2

Theme: Our Christian faith doesn’t eliminate the honor we owe to our earthly masters—but rather reinforces it.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Can you remember your first job? I’ll never forget mine. My life in the work world began just a few days after I graduated from high school. And that first job taught me a very important lesson about my life as a Christian.

It had really only been a couple of years before then that I had placed my faith in Jesus Christ. My new life in Jesus was a great joy to me. I loved church and my new Christian friends; and most of all, I loved the Lord Jesus who had saved me. I wanted to spend all my time in that part of my life. But it was still all very new to me. I had not yet learned to integrate my Christian faith into all the other areas of my life. And that became very evident to me when I got that first job.

It wasn’t a very fun job. First jobs almost never are. I worked for a moving and storage company, sweeping and cleaning a dark storage warehouse, filling the dumpster with packing debris, and basically serving as a ‘go-fer’ for all the other warehouse workers. I had a pretty bad attitude about it all, too. I remember driving to the warehouse every morning and sitting in my car in the parking lot—regretting very much that I had to be there. There were many mornings when I sat in the car and prayed, “Lord, please just make this day go by quickly.” That’s a pretty grim way to start the day. And I’m afraid that my attitude showed itself in how I related to the people I worked for. I was often bitter and resentful over the tasks I was given; and I’m ashamed to say that I frequently mouthed off to my supervisors.

Looking back, I’d have to say that I had bought into the idea that my new love for Jesus Christ, and my new life in Him, was something somehow separate and unrelated to my work life. I would sit in my car in the morning and pray; and then I would—as it were—leave my life with Jesus in the car, go to work, endure through the drudgery of the day, and then leave as soon as I could so that I could resume my Christian life. Nobody told me that Jesus was interested in my work and that I didn’t have to ‘leave Him behind’ in the car. I could invite Him to go to work with me.

Because my Christian life was still brand new, I had only begun to make my way through the Bible. But as I did so, I started to discover places in Scripture that spoke about my work. And that was actually a bit of a surprise to me; that God actually had something to say about the work life of a believer. I read passages like Ephesians 6:5-9; which says,

Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free (Ephesians 6:5-7).

I knew I wasn’t a ‘bondservant’, of course – although I suppose I felt like one sometimes. But I also knew that what this passage was saying had significance to my work life. And it was telling me something I had never thought of before; that I could actually do my work—even my mundane work in a dingy warehouse—as unto the Lord and not to men.

I remember later on reading a similar thing in Colossians 3:22-25;

Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality (Colossians 3:22-25).

That passage especially convicted me. I remember reading it and realizing that there had been lots of times when I only worked diligently when the warehouse manager was watching. There was a big window through which the warehouse dispatcher could look out and see what was going on … and I confess that I tended to stay away from that window. It was a pretty big warehouse, after all. But reading that passage taught me that I couldn’t do my work as unto the Lord and behave like that at the same time. I couldn’t just do a good job when I was being watched; because my Lord and Master had a much bigger ‘window’, and would hold me accountable for my faithfulness.

I remember how, as I read through the Bible, I also encountered Titus 2:9-10. It says,

Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things (Titus 2:9-10).

And I felt convicted again. It had already become known that I professed to be a Christian. I often even wore a Christian T-shirt to work. But I was guilty of mouthing off to the people I worked with; and the bitter way in which I was behaving was bringing dishonor to the name of the Lord. I knew I had to make a choice: either quit wearing those T-shirts, or repent of my attitude. I told the Lord I was sorry, and even started to apologize to my supervisors whenever I expressed a bad attitude to them.

And then later on, as the Lord was maturing me in all these areas, I remember reading a passage that really impacted me. It was one that I had to go back to repeatedly on many occasions in my work life. It was 1 Peter 2:18-23; which says,

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:18-23).

None of my employers ever beat me for my faults, of course. But there were times when I felt that I was being treated unjustly in the workplace or that my complaints weren’t being respected. And this passage taught me that I was to respond to it all in the way that the Lord Jesus did. I was to take it patiently, put it into perspective, and leave the matter in God’s hands.

Well; as I was maturing in the Lord, and as I was taking His word more seriously, I was beginning to see that God didn’t want me to leave my Christian life sitting in the car when I went to work. Instead, He wanted me to very intentionally take it into the warehouse with me; to do my job as if He were present with me throughout the whole work day; to do my individual tasks diligently—as if I was doing them for Him and not just for my employer; to cease answering back or grouching at those who were in positions of authority over me; to do the work I was given to do with honesty and fidelity—never stealing time or loafing off; to keep calm and respond patiently if I was ever treated wrongly or misunderstood; to be a faithful witness for my Lord, and to behave as a good argument for the reality of the Christian life in the workplace. I didn’t always succeed. But I certainly grew to see my faults and to ask God to help me grow during those formative years.

I now look at that first job as the place where I learned one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life: and that is that the Lord Jesus wants to be truly ‘Lord’ over every area of our lives … including our work life. I remember memorizing and quoting Colossians 3:17 repeatedly to myself as I did my work—even unpleasant work: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).

That first job truly became a great school in the faith for me.

And dear brothers and sisters; I’m now convinced that the workplace is intended by God to be one of the primary places in which we—as Jesus’ followers—are to spread the message of who He is to the unbelieving world. We may not be permitted to preach the gospel openly and directly in the workplace. But while we are there, we can definitely promote the gospel to unbelievers by inviting Jesus to join us in the workplace—doing our work as unto Him and letting Him communicate Himself to others through the gracious and faithful way we behave.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; this whole lesson about bringing the Lord with us in our work was something that the apostle Paul wanted Pastor Timothy to reinforce to his Christian brothers and sisters in the church in the ancient city of Ephesus.

Paul had been telling Timothy that each believer in the church family was to show the honor and respect due to every other believer in the church family according to their unique position in the family. And in 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Paul took up the whole matter of the believer in the workplace. Timothy was to teach God’s people that they were not to leave their devotion to the Lord Jesus behind as they went to work, but were to intentionally bring His abiding influence into the workplace with them, and to be fully devoted to Him in how they performed their daily labors. He told Timothy,.

Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved (1 Timothy 6:1-2a).

He went on to tell Timothy at the end of verse 2, “Teach and exhort these things.” And though those words are best understood as a part of the next passage, they certainly have had a bearing on this one. As a good pastor, Timothy was to instruct God’s people who were ‘bondservants’ under ‘masters’ to show those masters the honor that was due them, and to count them as worthy.

Now; I’ve been speaking so far in terms of what we might call normal ‘employee/employer’ relationships. That’s what we’re most familiar with in our day. But I need to tell you that the word ‘bondservant’ in the original language doesn’t merely mean ‘employee’. It doesn’t even mean ‘servant’. It’s the word doulos, which means ‘slave’.

In Paul’s day, slavery was a very common practice. A slave was someone who had no rights except those that were permitted by his or her master. They were essentially their master’s property. And the world in which Paul lived was filled with slaves. Some historians tell us that the population of the city of ancient Rome was approximately one-third enslaved people. And the reasons why someone would have become a slave would not have necessarily been because of their ethnicity or the color of their skin. They would have been made into slaves as prisoners of war, or because of oppressive debt, or as punishment because of a crime they had committed, or because of having been kidnapped and trafficked into the slave market, or from having been sold into slavery by their parents or family members, or even from having been born into slavery as the children of other slaves.¹

Most commentators that I’ve read have made it clear that the word for ‘slave’ in this morning’s passage does not mean ‘employee’. But I think it’s pretty obvious to most of us that if the principles that the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy would apply to the situation of slaves in ancient times, they would also apply to the concept of employees in modern times. In fact, we could say that the fact that Paul spoke these principles about the extreme situation of slaves is an illustration of how much they also apply to every lesser extreme situation. His words concerning slaves would, in that sense, be an argument from the greater to the lessor. What applied to the situation of a Christian slave would also logically apply to the situation of a Christian employee working under an employer, or a Christian student working under a teacher, or a Christian volunteer working under a volunteer coordinator, or even a Christian serviceman or servicewoman working under a commanding officer.

This passage, then, teaches us that—when it comes to any relationship in which we, as believers, are obliged to provide service to someone else—our Christian faith doesn’t eliminate the honor we owe to our earthly masters. Rather, it reinforces it.

* * * * * * * * * *

So; let’s look more closely at Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 6:1 and see …

1. THE HONOR A CHRISTIAN SERVANT OWES TO AN UNBELIEVING MASTER.

Paul wrote and told Timothy, “Let as many bondservants”—that is, ‘slaves’—“as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed.” Paul describes such believers as “under the yoke”, which gives us a picture of a beast of burden that was harnessed in such a way as to bear a heavy burden or to pull a great weight. It’s not necessarily meant to describe an unreasonable burden; since even our Lord once said,

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Being ‘under the yoke’ may simply be a phrase that suggests the idea of being under the obligation of submission and service in some way. But because the next verse speaks of a Christian being under a believing master, this is probably meant to speak of a Christian who is under an unbelieving master—and perhaps even an unreasonable and sometimes harsh unbelieving master. And if that were the case, then this would touch on what Peter said in 1 Peter 2:18-20;

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God (1 Peter 2:18-20).

This wouldn’t be saying that someone shouldn’t try to be freed from their slavery—and especially from being ‘under the yoke’ to a harsh master—if they at all could. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 7:21, Paul said that if someone was called to Christ as a slave and had the opportunity to be made free, they should “rather use it”. But what this would be telling us is that—in the case of an unbelieving master, and even a harsh master—the believer is obligated to “count” or “consider’ their own master to be “worthy of all honor”.

Now; let’s take this into modern times and consider what this would mean. Whenever we enter into an agreement in which we are obligated to provide service to an employer or a supervisor, we are duty-bound to that specific ‘master’ as our‘master’ in that specific context. We’re not obligated to every person everywhere who happens to be in a position of authority. Nor are we obligated to be subservient to everyone who may wish to tell us what to do. We’re only obligated to honor the position of our own ‘boss’ or our own ‘supervisor’, and render service under their specific authority alone. We’re still to retain our chief submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom we ultimately work; but in submission to Him, we’re to be in submission to the master He places over us.

But in that particular position of service, we are to “count” or “consider” our own master as “worthy of all honor”. To honor them in this way means that we’re to respect their position of authority, and to render service to them obediently in a way that’s in keeping with the requirements of our relationship with them. They may not be, in actual cases, truly ‘worthy’ of all honor. We’ve all probably had to work for some people at times who couldn’t genuinely be considered ‘honorable’ people. But in the sense of rendering faithful service to them, we’re to “count” them or “consider” them as worthy of all honor nevertheless—even if they’re not. We’re not to speak ill of them, or mouth-off to them, or to disregard their wishes. We’re to honor them with the obedience and respect they are due from us. As Paul said in Romans 13:7, “

Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor (Romans 13:7).

And notice why this is to be done. Paul said that it’s “so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed”. It’s ultimately for an evangelistic purpose. It’s so that—speaking as from my own experience—no unbeliever who is in the ‘master’ position will look at our Christian T-shirt and think to themselves, “This person claims to be a follower of Jesus … but they’re disrespectful, and insubordinate, and grouchy, and are mouthing-off frequently, and aren’t reliable, don’t show up on time, only seem to work when they’re being watched, and do lousy work when they’re at it. If that’s the kind of Lord and Savior they believe in—and if that’s the kind of teaching they follow—then I don’t want anything to do with it.” We have to wonder how many non-believers have been hardened against the faith by the way that professing Christians behave in the workplace!

We ought to always remember what Paul told Pastor Titus in the passage we read earlier:

Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things (Titus 2:9-10).

* * * * * * * * * *

So; that’s Paul’s instructions regarding Christian bondservants who served under an unbelieving master.

But what about those slaves who served under a believing master? What about those who were under the authority of a master who was a fellow Christian? That was something that would’ve happened quite often. There would have been times when a slave was a church member who worshiped in the same congregation as their master. In fact, it’s conceivable that there would have been cases in which a slave would have served as an elder or a church leader in a position of spiritual authority over their own master. What should the working relationship look like in cases such as that?

This led to Paul’s words in verse two concerning …

2. THE HONOR A CHRISTIAN SERVANT OWES TO A BELIEVING MASTER.

Paul wrote, “And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved.” This wouldn’t be a case in which a believing slave had to be concerned about not bringing disrepute to the Christian faith to their master since their master was already a believer. He or she wouldn’t have to try hard to convince their master of the good news of the gospel. Instead, the danger would be that they would go in the other direction … and start to become lax and lazy in their Christian conduct toward their master.

Paul warned that a bondservant was not to ‘despise’ (or literally ‘think against’) his or her believing master. And how might that happen? It might occur through misapplying the idea that, in Christ, the whole distinction between ‘masters’ and ‘slaves’ had been done away. It’s true, after all, that such distinctions no longer matter in Christ. Colossians 3:11 says that—in Christ—there is “neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11). But that is intended to speak specifically of the equality with which Jesus Christ saves all people of all distinctions who believe on Him. It doesn’t say anything about our duties to one another in that saved condition. And a misapplication of that truth might cause a bondservant to say to his or her master, “What right do you have to be over me any longer? After all, in Jesus, I’m no longer your slave, and you’re no longer my master.” It might also happen through the dangers that come with the ‘familiarity’ that comes through being brothers and sisters in Christ. The kind of respect that a believing master would be due from a believing bondservant could easily be forgotten, or dismissed, or even ignored because of the family bond they share in the Lord.

And once again, let’s take this into modern times and consider what this would mean in a contemporary context. Whenever we enter into an agreement in which we as believers are obligated to provide service to a believing employer or a supervisor, we are duty-bound to honor them just as much, and to serve them just as diligently, as if they were outside the faith. After all, the watching world sees how we treat even our believing boss—and will have the faith either commended to them or brought to dishonor in their sight on the basis of what they see. As Jesus said in John 13:35;

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

But more than that, Paul went on to say that the believing employee or servant ought to serve their believing boss or supervisor even more, “because those who are benefited are believers and beloved.” The ones who would be partaking of our good work would be fellow Christians who are to be truly loved and cherished by us. We’re not to have the attitude of giving less to one another in the body of Christ but rather of giving more. As Paul put it in Galatians 6:10,

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

Just think of what he wrote in Philippians 2:1-4;

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:1-4);

If those words should be obeyed anywhere, they should most especially be applied by believers toward one another in the workplace.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; I realize that not everyone here today is currently in an employee relationship under an employer. It may be that your life in the work world came to an end long ago. But there are many of your brothers and sisters here today who arein that world. And many of us who once were in that world can now help teach those who currently represent Jesus in that world.

I would ask that all of us—whatever our current relation to the world world may be—to think of any kind of relationship we’re in right now in which we’re obligated in some way to provide service under the authority of another. And I would suggest that we no longer, as it were, ‘leave Jesus in the car’. We should bring Him with us into that relationship, and fulfill our duty to show honor to that relationship in His name. We must do this for the sake of advancing His gospel in this world.

Let’s do this because, as this passage shows us, our Christian faith doesn’t eliminate the honor we owe to our earthly masters—but rather reinforces it.

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¹William Hendriksen, Exposition of The Pastoral Epistles, NTC (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1957), p. 191.

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