You may consider yourself a hard worker, but if you cannot properly relate to your employer, you will have great difficulty at your job, not to mention the difficulty you may have keeping your job.
You probably have figured out that your boss isn't perfect. This can lead to a problem. Too often even Christians give honor and respect based on if they think a person has earned the right to be treated that way. And since we're quick to see faults in others, we are also quick to determine someone who is not deserving of honor and respect.
As we begin this very important chapter, I'm going to make a bold statement. A person who respects God will respect their employer, and a person who lacks respect for their employer, will also lack respect for God. It's that simple!
Being Under Authority (Gulp!)
The more under authority you and I are to God, the better off our lives will be. The more under authority we are to people God places as authority in our lives, the better off our lives will be. Your boss is one of these authority figures in your life.
This is a complex issue, yet, God's Word has the help we need. If your boss wants you to do something that is obviously non-Biblical (like lying or stealing), then we have no choice but to obey God and not man. However, even in that type of situation, we can have a respectful attitude as Daniel did in Daniel chapter one when he asked permission not to eat the kings food.
Study Acts 5:17-29. The religious leaders of the day had commanded Peter and John not to teach in the name of Jesus. That was obviously contrary to God's Word. In response to a non-Biblical command, Peter and the other apostles said we ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
However, if you do not like what your boss has told you and simply do not want to do it, that is a completely different issue. Everything that is not contrary to God's Word and that your boss asks you to do, you need to be willing to do (from your heart).
At this point, it is vitally important to remember who it is that you ultimately work for. It is Jesus Christ. You serve Jesus by being a good employee.
In Matthew 8:5-10 there's the account of an army centurion who had a gravely ill servant at home. It is very possible that none of the authorities over this centurion were Christians. This, however, did not discourage him. He requested that Jesus come and heal the servant.
Jesus agreed to come. After thinking about the request, the centurion changed his mind and said it wasn't necessary for Jesus to go to his home. All Jesus had to do was speak a word of healing.
In Matthew 9:9, the centurion said he was a man under authority. As an army centurion, he had soldiers under his authority. As an army officer, he also was under the authority of his commanding officers. Due to the often-severe consequences for not following the orders of those in authority, a Roman soldier had a good understanding about the importance of being under authority. (The punishment for not being under authority in the Roman army was probably severe.)
This particular centurion used his understanding of authority that he learned from his job to help him understand faith in God. When one of his superiors told him to do something, he did it, just like a good employee will do.
When he told a soldier under him to do something, the job got done. In a like manner, the centurion understood that sickness was under the authority of Jesus; and therefore, his servant was healed.
This is a most significant Bible passage, for Jesus said that this man had the greatest faith of anyone in Israel. The disciples had the privilege of hearing Jesus minister nearly every day for three years. Yet we never see Jesus getting excited over their faith.
This centurion applied what he learned at the workplace to his relationship with God. The way in which the centurion related to his superiors on his job helped him gain an understanding of authority in God's kingdom.
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Pastor Nate Belkstrom graduated from Christ for the Nations Bible College in 1976, and he spent the next six years in the workplace where he experienced a difficult time connecting his work with his Christianity. It was there that his heart was touched to help other Christians in their workplace experience.
