Family Business

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends, how in the world are you? Doing alright? Oh, I trust so, God bless you. Glad to be back with you and to continue our thought in the third chapter of the book of Colossians. Paul is talking about what it really means to do everything and say everything you do and say in the name of the Lord Jesus, doing it by His authority and by His enablement and for His glory. Well, it touches the, what I call the touchy areas in our lives, the relationships between wives and husbands, parents and children, employers and employees. And we’ve been talking together about that section that dealt with our attitude toward the job as employees. Goes from verse 22 through verse 25. Interesting that Paul took so much time, comparatively speaking, to speak to folk who are serving as employees, because really one of the acid tests you may say of Christianity is my attitude toward the boss.

I have to tell you that I know some people who are very spiritual on Sunday in church, but who are a problem when they get on the job. Do you know anybody like that? Well, it need not be so. Paul takes some time to give us the right approach to the job. He says, you give your employer a good dollar’s worth of work, obey their orders. And I included the idea of enthusiasm there. Whatever you have to do, do it cheerfully, without grouching and griping. He says not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God, because you know that God is watching you. Not only is the boss looking in on you from time-to-time, but God is watching you, “Thou God seest me.” And he says, do it psyched up as for the Lord, you’re doing it for the Lord, not just for people, and you know that you’re going to get that ultimate payday from your blessed Lord, and it’s going to be in terms of an inheritance. You are part of a family business.

[chuckle]

That’s a great thing to know, you know that? You’re part of a family business and what you do is going to be reflected in the inheritance you receive one day in the presence of your elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, ye serve the Lord Christ. Ultimately, Jesus is Lord of all, and your relationship to an earthly job is cranked right into that concept. Jesus is Lord of all, and therefore, as I’m adding up a column of figures, He’s Lord of the addition. He’s Lord of all, and therefore as I’m calling on a client, He’s Lord of that process of calling on the client. He’s Lord of all, and therefore as I try a case in the court of law or operate upon a patient in a hospital operating room, or teach a class of children or young people in high school or college, whatever it may be, He is Lord of that situation, and I can call on Him any time I wish for His direction. Oh, I’ll tell you, that makes a difference in the daily grind and it makes a difference in those moments on the job when you’re not quite sure what to do or say next.

Let Him be Lord, ye serve the Lord Christ. God in His infinite mercy and love and grace has made you part of a heavenly partnership. You’re a member of the business, you’re a member of the firm and He is directing your efforts. It’s great, isn’t it? He says, “He that doeth wrong,” this is verse 25, still talking about employees, “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons.” Let me drop this small thought into your mind. Don’t think that because you’re a Christian you can get away with goofing off on the job. That’s what Paul is saying here. Don’t think that because you’re a Christian and you’re serving the Lord that you can get away with goofing off on the job and doing a half kind of job, it doesn’t work that way. He says, “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.” You’ve got to face the consequences, the earthly that is, consequences of your actions.

Yes, there’s the ultimate payday in the glory when you stand face-to-face with your heavenly paymaster, but there is also the earthly consequence of deliberate wrongdoing. I think it was Dr. Armerding who served for a number of years as president of Wheaton College, who I am told, said to his faculty and staff when he assumed the presidency of the college, something like this. They tell me that he told these people, “Listen now, if you make a mistake, the first time you make a mistake, I’ll stand with you and I’ll share the blame, but if you repeat it, you’re on your own.” That’s a pretty good idea, isn’t it? [chuckle] Yes, it is, and it’s pretty good management as well. Because people need to know that the boss is standing with them, not just against them, or over them. But he says, “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.” Being a Christian does not allow me to lie down on the job, to give less than my best on the job, to use shortcuts on the job.

We had an epidemic of faulty cars a while back in American manufacturer. Some of you were on the receiving end of that kind of merchandise, unhappily, and you said to me, I remember some folks said to me, “Well, we got a lemon. We had it for a week and the door fell off, and we had it for another week and the window wouldn’t close, and we had it for another week and the windshield wiper broke and so on.” A whole string of defects, traceable to careless workmanship in the assembling of the automobile. Well in the meantime, of course as you know, our competition from other countries got busy and produced automobiles of comparatively high quality and dependability, and the American people began to buy them instead of our own products. And all the signs in the world that say, “Buy American,” wouldn’t convince John Q Citizen that it wasn’t a better idea to buy a car that wouldn’t break down.

Now however, American manufacturers seem to have awakened to the fact that quality has to be built into their product, and so they’re advertising quality is job number one. I think one of the manufacturers has that, and other people give an extended guarantee over 50,000 miles and so on.

Well, what I’m saying is, you cannot escape the results of giving your boss or the general public, your customers, what we call the short method, the results will be there. You’re gonna face them. And you can ask God to forgive you for mistakes and shortcomings, and He will, but you do have to face the results.

My father told me many years ago of what happened in his knowledge, it may have been himself, I don’t know, but he said that there was this little farm boy who had a bad habit and his father wanted to break him of it. And so after talking with him seriously, he said, “Now every time you do this, we’re gonna drive a nail into that stake there by the gate that goes into the barnyard.” And so the little boy, as little boys do, would forget from time to time, and he would repeat his wrongdoing and they would drive another nail into the stake. Finally one day, his father said, “Now, it’s time to forget this now, you’ve gone quite a while without doing any of these things, and I wanna pull all the nails out.” And so he went with his boy out to that stake and that fence post and he pulled one by one, pulled all the nails out. Then he looked at his son, he said, “Now my son, the nails are all out and you’re forgiven.”

Now, what’s left? The little boy looked at the fence post and he said, “Well, the holes are still there.” You can be forgiven but for the rest of your life, you live with the memory of what you did or said that was wrong. Memory can be sanctified, so you don’t flinch or wince at it, but it’s there. And so he says, “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong he hath done.” You can’t get away with lying down on the job, giving the boss the short method and doing things that are wrong without having to face it, and even if you’re forgiven, because Jesus died to forgive sinners, even if you’re forgiven, you’re going to have to face the results and the memory of all that. See that is the realistic view of life under the grace of God. Well, that’s serious isn’t it? And we’ve pointed that truth toward your on-the-job performance. Actually, it reaches into every part of living doesn’t it? Yes, it does.

Alright, there is his bundle of truth slanted toward employees. Give the boss a full day’s worth of work, and work not when he’s watching you, but when he isn’t watching you as well. Remember that you’re working not just for an earthly employer, but you’re working for the Lord. Do what you do psyched up excitedly because you’re not working just for next Friday’s payday, but you’re working for that final payday when your life’s service will be evaluated, and you will be part of the inheritance working excitedly because you know you’re a member of a family business. God the Father and God the Son are the senior partners, and you, my friend, are part of the family business.

And knowing that of the Lord then, you’ll receive the reward of the inheritance. But working seriously because you know that wrongdoing, though it may be forgiven, is going to remain in your memory and you have to face the fact of it day by day. There is no respect of persons, you can’t goof off on the job and expect to get by with it just because you’re a Christian, he says, “There’s no respect of persons.” Okay, that’s quite a bit of truth there, isn’t it? And I pray, God, that you and I may take it seriously and live by it.

Well now in the minute or so that remains to us, we go into chapter 4, and now he says, “Masters.” And we’ll change that for our purposes to employers. We talked about employees, now he says employers, “Give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Now, I don’t know how much of this fourth chapter applies to employers, you could go right straight on through, he says, “Treat your employees fairly.” Verse one, because you have a heavenly boss in heaven. Pray about your job, verse two. Learn to be thankful, verse two. Learn to be an intercessor, praying for us. Have a good testimony to the unsaved, verse five. Learn how to speak with grace, as well as good sense, verse six. I think all of that holds together and we’ll get at it from that point of view. Interestingly enough, however, he starts with the paycheck.

Many years ago, I gave a compliment to somebody in an office, and the individual looked at me and said four letters, “P-I-P-E.” I said, “What does that mean?” The answer came back, “Put it in the pay envelope.” [chuckle] Oh yes, that’s number one, isn’t it? Well, he says, “You pay your employees right.” We’d get around a lot of labor problems, ladies and gentlemen, if we’d remember that advice, wouldn’t we? Well, we’ll get at this the next time we get together.

Dear Father, today, help us to work for Thee with all of the enthusiasm of people who know they’re members of the family, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!