How to Serve a Bad Boss

Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:7–8)

Consider these five things from Ephesians 6:7–8 in connection to your job.

1) A call to radically Lord-centered living.

This is astonishing compared to the way we usually live. Paul says that all our work should be done as work for Christ, not for any human supervisor. With good will render service “as to the Lord and not to man.”

This means that we will think of the Lord in what we are doing at work. We will ask, Why would the Lord like this done? How would the Lord like this done? When would the Lord like this done? Will the Lord help me to do this? What effect will this have for the Lord’s honor? In other words, being a Christian means radically Lord-centered living and working.

2) A call to be a good person.

Lord-centered living means being a good person and doing good things. Paul says, “With a good will [render service] . . . whatever good anyone does.” Jesus said that when we let our light shine, men will see our “good works” and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

3) Power to do a good job for inconsiderate earthly employers.

Paul’s aim is to empower Christians, with Lord-centered motives, to go on doing good for supervisors who are not considerate. How do you keep on doing good in a job when your boss ignores you or even criticizes you? Paul’s answer is: stop thinking about your boss as your main supervisor, and start working for the Lord. Do this in the very duties given to you by your earthly supervisor.

4) Encouragement that nothing good is done in vain.

Perhaps the most amazing sentence of all is this: “Whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord.” This is amazing. Everything! “Whatever good anyone does.” Every little thing you do that is good is seen and valued and rewarded by the Lord.

And he will pay you back for it. Not in the sense that you have earned anything — as if you could put him in your debt. He owns you, and everything in the universe. He owes us nothing. But he freely, graciously chooses to reward us for all the good things done in faith.

5) Encouragement that insignificant status on earth is no hindrance to great reward in heaven.

The Lord will reward every good thing you do — “whether he is a bondservant or is free.” Your supervisor may think you are a nobody — a mere bondservant, so to speak. Or he may not even know you exist. That doesn’t matter. The Lord knows you exist. And in the end no faithful service will be in vain.

John Piper 

Are you sure about your agenda?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The difference between people is not that one has more time than the other. The difference is whether they use their time wisely.

You say, “Well, I’m just killing time.” To kill time is to commit suicide by degrees. You are just killing yourself because you + time = life.

Now that doesn’t mean you ought to be busy every moment. There needs to be balance in your life – check in with God first before you make plans and add things to your agenda.

ACTION POINT:

Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do. Jesus came to the end of His life and do you know what He said? “I have glorified Thee on earth. I have finished the work that Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

But, How Do You Know You Will Have A Tomorrow?

You don't know! 

Life is a precious gift, given by God.

He controls your breath, your life, your being!

Are you being thankful and giving Him the praise He alone deserves?

Brothers and sisters, let us not assume tomorrow will come.

Ask the Lord for mercy!

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. - James 4:13-17

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.  - Proverbs 27:1

And this we will do if God permits. - Hebrews 6:3

18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."'

20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' - Luke 12:18-20

For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.  - Psalm 102:3

"Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.  - Job 7:7

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? - 1 Corinthians 5:6

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. - 2 Peter 2:21

Listen to the words of these scriptures:

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." - 2 Chronicles 16:9

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.  - Proverbs 15:3

60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.

61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day." - 1 Kings 8:60-61

Take comfort in being a child of the only true King!

The Remedy for Pride

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16)

James is talking about pride and arrogance and how they show up in subtle ways. “You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

When you take three categories of temptation to self-reliance — wisdom, power, and riches — they form a powerful inducement toward the ultimate form of pride; namely, atheism. The safest way for us to stay supreme in our own estimation is to deny anything above us.

This is why the proud preoccupy themselves with looking down on others. C.S. Lewis said, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you” (Mere Christianity).

But to preserve pride, it may be simpler to just proclaim that there is nothing above to look at. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 10:4). Ultimately, the proud must persuade themselves that there is no God.

One reason for this is that God’s reality is overwhelmingly intrusive in all the details of life. Pride cannot tolerate the intimate involvement of God in running the universe, let alone the detailed, ordinary affairs of life.

Pride does not like the sovereignty of God. Therefore, pride does not like the existence of God, because God is sovereign. It might express this by saying, “There is no God.” Or it might express it by saying, “I am driving to Atlanta for Christmas.”

James says, “Don’t be so sure.” Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live, and we will get to Atlanta for Christmas.”

James’s point is that God rules over whether you get to Atlanta, and whether you live to the end of this devotional. This is extremely offensive to the self-sufficiency of pride — not even to have control over whether you get to the end of the devotional without having a stroke!

James says that not believing in the sovereign rights of God to manage the details of your future is arrogance.

The way to battle this arrogance is to yield to the sovereignty of God in all the details of life, and rest in his infallible promises to show himself mighty on our behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9), to pursue us with goodness and mercy every day (Psalm 23:6), to work for those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4), and to equip us with all we need to live for his glory (Hebrews 13:21).

In other words, the remedy for pride is unwavering faith in God’s sovereign future grace.

John Piper 

Are you resting…or borrowing trouble?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” Psalm 116:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I heard of a woman who woke up her husband because she thought she heard a burglar downstairs. He went down with a flashlight, shining it all around. Sure enough, there was a burglar in their home! He said, “Hold it right there. I’ve got a gun on you!”

He picked up the phone and dialed the police. “And another thing,” he said to the burglar, “Before they haul you off, I want my wife to come down and meet you. She’s been looking for you for 24 years.”

A lot of people are that way. They borrow trouble by anticipating or worrying about what may happen. What you need to do is stop looking to yesterday in guilt or anticipating tomorrow with anxiety.

ACTION POINT:

Simply rest in the day the Lord has given you today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Authentic Faith Is Eager for Christ to Come

Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)

What must you do so that you may know that your sins are taken away by the blood of Christ, and that, when he comes, he will shield you from the wrath of God and bring you into eternal life? The answer is this: Trust Christ in a way that makes you eager for him to come.

The text says he is coming to save those who are “eagerly waiting for him.” So how do you get ready? How do you experience the forgiveness of God in Christ and prepare to meet him? By trusting him in a way that makes you eager for him to come.

This eager expectation for Christ is simply a sign that we love him and believe in him — really believe in him, authentically.

There is a phony faith that wants only escape from hell, but has no desire for Christ. That kind of faith does not save. It does not produce an eager expectation for Christ to come. In fact, it would rather that Christ not come for as long as possible, so that it can have as much of this world as possible.

But the faith that really holds on to Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure and hope and joy is the faith that makes us long for Christ to come. And that is the faith that saves.

So I urge you, turn from the world, and from sin. Turn to Christ. Receive him, welcome him, embrace Christ not just as your fire insurance policy, but as your eagerly awaited Treasure and Friend and Lord.

John Piper 

Will you draw love’s curtain of mercy?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” Proverbs 10:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There are people in every fellowship who take joy in finding something bad about somebody else. When they hear something ugly, they take great delight in exposing it.

Love does not rejoice in iniquity. Love wishes it never happened. Love tries to cover it up. That doesn’t mean we condone sin; we cover it. Not “cover-up,” but cover. Let me illustrate.

Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Ham came and saw his father’s nakedness and was quick to tell others. Shem and Japheth walked backward into the tent and covered their father to help him cover his shame – not to condone what he had done, but to cover it.

ACTION POINT:

Wouldn’t the world be a lot better place if we had that spirit? When the enemy tempts you to “stir the pot,” remember that love rejoices not in iniquity.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers