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Colossians 3:16–4:1 (ESV)
Who do you work for?
Have you ever noticed the stereotypical distinction between two men meeting one another for the first time vs. two women? Fairly early in the conversation among two men meeting one another the topic quickly turns to “what do you do?” or “where do you work?” Men tend to find our identity or connection through what we do.
Women, on the other hand, are more likely to focus on family or relationships. It is amazing how quickly my wife, for example, can find some connection she has in common with anyone she meets, often saying, “Oh, do you know so and so?”
Typically, men in this scenario are trying to get at “what do you get paid to do?” or “in what field is your professional training?”
I am not limiting “work” this morning only to mean that for which you get paid. When we talk about “All our work for Him” today, I mean to include every single one of us in the sermon application, whether or not you work for a paycheck. To help us move in the right direction, let’s consider another verse from Paul to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) — So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
We are not going to be as broad as eating and drinking (i.e. leisure), but for some of you cooking and cleaning might be a solid application.
We are taking a few weeks off our series through the sermon on the mount to focus on our annual “vision” series. Instead of picking up an entirely new theme, the elders thought it helpful for us to consider the theme from our Giving Campaign we began back in March, which was titled, “All for Him.” Though our giving campaign was weighted toward possessions and tithing, we certainly mean more than our possessions when we talk about living “All for Him.”
Last week, Daniel reminded us of our obligation and privilege of giving “All Our Worship for Him”—that we should ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. I hope you have taken opportunities this week to glorify God with your words—with praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.
If the focus last week was to glorify God with our words the emphasis this morning will be to glorify him with our works, or more technically, with our work.
We know that ALL of our words need to be pleasing to God, but that it’s also useful focus specifically on our words in worship.. The same is true with our work. All that we do needs to glorify God (“whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do…), but it can be helpful to us today to focus on our work specifically.
The goal of this short vision series and of this sermon is that each one of us lives more of our life aware of God’s continual presence, and in a way that brings glory to Him.
Now, let’s commit “All Our Work for Him.” Our points this morning are:
The key truth for this sermon as well as our definition of work is found in verse 23.
Colossians 3:23 (ESV) — Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
One of the risks of topical sermons like this is to jump into a small, specific passage without really doing the work to explore the context of that passage. Let’s orient ourselves.
We are in the middle of a letter from Paul and Timothy to the church in Colossae. After sharing some of the most lofty passages of Christology in our entire New Testament, Paul and Timothy continue by teaching the Colossians the importance of living out their faith in everyday life. Our passage is in a section describing how the members of a Christian household are to behave. The “household” of that day was a bit more expansive than our nuclear family today. It not only included husband, wife, and children, but also potentially older married children, as well as household slaves (“bondservants” in our passage) and masters.
This is not Paul approving of or endorsing slavery. The purpose of his writing was not to reshape the societal norms of the day, but to teach the Christians in Colossae (or Ephesus) how to live within their society in a distinctly Christian way.
Paul writes this to the Corinthian Christians:
1 Corinthians 7:21–22 (ESV) — Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
It is noteworthy that Paul is instructing each of these persons directly and equally. He does not simply give instruction to the husband/father/master and expect these heads of household to transmit the further instructions to the wife, child, or slave. He addresses each of them in turn, with commands to all, and an expectation that each of them has the ability and responsibility to obey his exhortations. He expects each of these to be meaningful Christian members of the church. He is giving instructions for how they should relate. (For more, see Douglas Moo in the Pillar Commentary, pp. 308.)
I mention this context to help us rightly apply our key verses for the sermon. Specifically, verses 22-25 are addressed to the household slaves within the church. I believe the general truths of these verses can be applied to our Western employer/employee relationships, though we must not assume carelessly that it’s a perfect one-to-one correlation. Employees in our culture have more rights and freedoms to change their situation than the legally bound slaves of Paul’s day.
If anything, we should take to heart Paul’s instructions about how to work even more since we are in our vocational position by some degree of our own choice.
I have already claimed that we must think of work more broadly than an hourly or salaried paid vocation. As a part of making that case, let’s consider the origin of what we call work—our God is a “Creator.” He works.
John 5:17 (ESV) — But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
Part of being made in God’s image is that we image him in our work. We are called to carry on his work from creation.
Genesis 1:28 (ESV) — And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Again in Chapter Two, Moses writes:
Genesis 2:15 (ESV) — The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
This fact is important because we must see that work in its purest form is not a result of sin or the Fall. God intended in his perfect plan to have us work—to tend and build and nurture.
This, at least, is one reason that we should not pursue a life devoid of work. We should not aspire to a life consisting only of rest, leisure, or entertainment.
In the Garden before sin entered the world work would have felt different than what we experience today. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, and with that sin came significant consequences that directly relate to our subject.
Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV) — And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This description of work sounds vaguely familiar to us, doesn’t it? I realize we are not farmers, but we can translate this curse into our own work without much effort.
Our code has bugs in it that are hard to find. The market is unpredictable. The dishes get dirty again, and break. The yard has weeds in it again. The lawn mower breaks. Your students don’t do their homework. The project manager seeks his own interests and the project gets terribly behind. The supply chain breaks because of a pandemic. Tariffs change your company’s profit margin. New infections bring unexpected sickness and death. Crops fail. Business partners don’t keep their end of the bargain. The warehouse burns down. Your house gets water damage…again. Mold grows.
In other words, our work is now toil. It is hard. It is less productive than it should be. There are thorns and thistles everywhere we turn. The curse of sin affects the natural world, our relationships, and our own hearts.
This is the work we find ourselves in the middle of when Paul pens verse 23.
Colossians 3:23 (ESV) — Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
This clearly includes work beyond the traditional paid vocational work (though that is included in “whatever”).
Now that we all realize our efforts to build, tame, and nurture the world around us are included in Paul’s instructions, let’s see how we are to go about them.
If you interviewed the employees at your office, or if we did some street interviews in downtown Apex, I wonder what answers we would get to these two questions:
For the first question, I imagine we’d get various answers including the names of local businesses or business owners, state or local government, a school, or a non-profit. I’m sure we’d meet some entrepreneurs who have left off working for “the man” and now work for themselves.
For the second question, I think most people would answer that they work to provide for their financial needs or family. Some might say that they work because they enjoy it or find fulfillment in it. We might even find some who feel called to their vocation.
Let’s look back at our passage and see how our answers might change if we listened to Paul and Timothy.
Colossians 3:22–24 (ESV)
Paul gives us several sharp contrasts and shocking statements that should transform our work to look differently than that of unbelievers around us.
This brings us back to one of our interview questions: Whom do you work for? I would imagine the slave in the Roman empire would answer with the name of his master. We often answer with the name of our employer. Paul answers that we work for the Lord Christ.
This is not typically how we talk about our work. It might sound somewhat normal to say you do your work for God if you’re a pastor or missionary in our day, or a priest or Levite in Paul’s day. Paul refuses to make that kind of sacred/secular distinction regarding our work.
As a preacher myself, it’s fairly common to find myself in an awkward conversation about vocation. Typically, it might go wrong in one of two ways. If I’m talking with someone who doesn’t know me (or any other pastor) very well, he might ask what it’s like just to work one day a week. More often, though, especially living in the Bible belt, once I reveal what I do for work, the other person looks down at his shoes and minimizes his own work. Since it’s obvious that I “work for God” the other person can’t compete with that and just says, “Well, all I do is fix widgets.”
I had this exact conversation at a friend’s wedding reception yesterday. It went something like this
“What are you doing for work these days? Aww. nothing significant. I just write computer code. It’s just a way to provide so I can do the things I really care about” (pointing to his family). Come to find out, his computer programming skills help a company deliver packages efficiently and on time. He told me about another friend of his that works in his vocation to make sure cell towers work properly.
What I know about this person would lead me to believe that he works diligently and serves his employer with integrity. Why then would he minimize the good of what he is doing?
My response to this friend was that both he and his other friend are doing important work. I really like my packages to be delivered on time, and I really appreciate that my cell phone works. Their work is a great expression of fulfilling the 2nd greatest commandment—to love your neighbor as yourself.
Paul’s answer in our passage is that they are actually serving the Lord Christ. They are to do their work “as for the Lord and not for men.”
Realizing that we do our work “as for the Lord” does bring a weightiness and sobriety to our efforts, doesn’t it? At the end of verse 22, Paul includes the idea that we must be “fearing the Lord.” However, I don’t think Paul is writing this to make us think of the Lord as a demanding “taskmaster.” After all, if you work for the Lord, have you ever done enough, or done it well enough? Shouldn’t you be more dedicated and disciplined? This can be a particular temptation for pastors.
This isn’t Paul’s main point, though. He wants us to know that our work doesn’t derive its value or good by the significance of our earthly master. This is God’s world. As Christians, when we are working (building, taming, and nurturing), we are doing his work.
The slaves that Paul was writing to had little to no say in what they did. “…Obey in everything those who are your earthly masters…” (verse. 22). Yet, their work was still for the Lord.
We, by contrast, usually have lots of say in the kind of work we do. But, we must still remember that our work is not primarily for our self-fulfillment. We serve the Lord Christ.
How then should this change truth the way we go about our work?
Paul gives us at least three ways our work should be affected.
Colossians 3:22 (ESV) — Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Not many of us use “eye-service” in our everyday vocabulary. I think we can get the gist, though. Don’t work only when eyes are on you. This is how the Christian Standard Bible translates the verse:
Colossians 3:22 (CSB) — Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.
We all know this temptation. How does your behavior change when the boss walks into the room (or teacher or parent)?
If we are working for the Lord Christ, who sees all we do, we should not rely primarily on the accountability of our boss to make us do what we should do.
Don’t misapply what I’m saying. I’m not arguing that we should simply be productivity machines with no humanity, humor, or personality. I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy leisure, rest, and entertainment. I’m simply reminding us that our work should not be primarily motivated by the fear of man. We are not to be mere people-pleasers.
This seems to be the contrast to being people-pleasers—working with sincerity of heart.
The phrase “but in wholeness of heart” is in contrast to the preceding clauses. This means that serving with “eyeservice as men-pleasers” expresses insincere service, which is hypocritical (appearing one way on the outside with actions but thinking in another way on the inside). “With sincerity” and “by fearing” express the internal disposition of their obedience
— G. K. Beale, Baker Exegetical Commentary, 322.
The idea of sincerity is one of simpleness or singleness of heart.
We might even be shocked to see “heart-language” utilized to describe our work. We like to compartmentalize our lives. We like to treat work as work, and put our hearts into our hobbies or the “non-work” parts of our lives.
Paul does not imagine such a neatly-partitioned life.
Look back at vs. 23.
Colossians 3:23 (ESV) — Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
Literally, Paul writes that we must work “from the soul.” We might say, “Put your heart in it!”
Remember that for Paul, “doing what you love” is not the main criteria for being dedicated or faithful in your work. Responding to Paul with, “I don’t even like my job!” is not a sufficient excuse to do it half-heartedly or only as a people-pleaser.
Our aim is that we do “All Our Work for Him.” It is a disposition and posture of living all of our life for God’s glory (not just worship on the Lord’s Day).
Look back at verse 17, the summary statement covering all of these household rules.
Colossians 3:17 (ESV) — And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This includes our housework, our yard work, our school work, our volunteer work, our paid work.
Are you surprised to see heart-language so attached to our work? “…with sincerity of heart…work from the soul…”
We should recognize this kind of heart-centric language.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV) — You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
How do we hold these two ideas together? They are not in competition with one another. It’s not as if we choose between doing our work with sincerity of heart and from the soul OR we love God with all our heart and soul. Rather, one of the ways we go about loving God with our heart and soul is by doing our work as unto the Lord with our heart and soul.
This is one of the reasons we were created.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) — For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
A key part of Paul’s message about our work is connected to what we expect to get from our work. What is our work’s reward?
I don’t want to minimize the biblical principles which undergird property rights and even capitalism to a degree.
James 5:4 (ESV) — Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
God does care about justice and paying what one is due for work.
Deuteronomy 25:4 (ESV) — “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
In other words, it is right to pay someone for their labors.
However, our passage this morning is addressing a different kind of reward in verse 24.
Colossians 3:24 (ESV) — knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
I can imagine that some of you were reacting to Paul’s demands on your work in our last point. Maybe you were thinking something like: “I don’t get paid enough to put that kind of effort into my work!” Or, “if my employer wants me to work from my soul in that way, he should prove it in my compensation package!”
A couple of reminders: First, Paul was addressing bondservants here who had no rights to compensation at all. Second, we’ve already established that we shouldn’t necessarily limit “work” to hourly or salaried jobs. We’re talking about “whatever you do.”
We live in an unprecedented time in human history of vocational mobility. In the West, if you don’t like your work, there’s a very good chance you could learn new skills, change careers, and do something different. These vast opportunities truly are a gift to us, but we should not let them obscure the bigger picture of our work before God.
And, even with these many opportunities, you may feel trapped in your situation. Or, if not trapped, you may be discontent. In reality, you may be underpaid or under-appreciated for your efforts in this life.
Paul’s words are life to us.
Colossians 3:23–24 (ESV) — Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
This is the long view, and it is one of the keys to living a life of meaning and contentment in our work.
Notice what Paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say you will receive your “wages” as your reward. He’s not saying you’ll get “what you deserve.” This is much better news than that! It’s not as if when we get to heaven we receive all the back pay for the work we did on earth.
Remember, slaves don’t receive an inheritance. Children receive an inheritance. An inheritance is not earned; it is a gift. It is a gift based on the wealth and generosity of the giver.
Galatians 4:7 (ESV) — So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Are we willing to live a life of “working heartily as unto the Lord” even if our work in this life does not warrant headlines, win awards, or make us wealthy?
This is part of what it means to walk by faith and not sight. Knowing that our labors are not in vain can give us purpose, freedom, and joy in the midst of our work.
What is your work?
Remember who you work for:
Learn from Examples:
Matthew 25:21 (ESV) — His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Remember our future Glory:
Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV) — If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
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