The attractive Christian office workers
“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” (Titus 2:9-10)
How should we behave as Christian workers in our workplace? What should you do, especially in relation to our boss? What can we do to glorify God in heaven, who is the Master of all masters (Eph. 6:9)? If we ask again in more detail, what can we do in our relationship with our superiors at work so that we can no longer commit a sin of hiding the Lord’s glory?
Too many people are experiencing too much stress at work. Among all the workers who believe in Jesus or not, it seems like the most stress comes from the relationship with their superiors. That's why many office workers suffer from irritable colon syndrome. I still remember one of the brothers in Christ told me that he already wrote a resignation and put it in his desk drawer. And he said, someday he wanted to throw it in his boss's face and quit his job. Would he say this if it weren’t that bad? Another sister in Christ told me that her boss sexually harassed a female employee at work, but he had a Bible on his desk. How should we behave in relations with our supervisors who believe in Jesus, but they are harassing employees and are setting a bad example and are worse than non-believer?
In Titus 2:9-10, the Bible says: “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, ….” I would like to receive five sound doctrines (v. 1):
First, the employees are to be subject to their own bosses in everything.
Look at Titus 2:9 – “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, ….” How can you apply this word to office workers who believe in Jesus? How can we accept this word now that there is no slavery as in Apostle Paul's day, and that the relationship between the boss and the worker in the workplace is not between the master and the slave? Should we obey the words of our bosses in everything? Or should we obey the words of our bosses only in the Lord (Eph. 6:1)? If our bosses don’t speak the words that are against the word of the Lord, do we still have to obey them? If our bosses are really bad, do we still have to obey them in everything? When we ask these kinds of questions, I think we can never obey everything what our bosses say by our own strength. And in fact, when we see our bosses with our physical eyes, we cannot obey them. I think we don’t want to obey them. But the Bible says to be subject to our bosses in everything (Tit. 2:9). How is this possible? How can we obey our bosses in everything? I find the answer in Ephesians 6:5 – “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.” The Bible says ‘Obey your masters in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.’ We must obey Christ as Christians. We must be obedient Christ in the sincerity of our heart. Likewise, the Bible says that we must obey our bosses. But even though we want to obey Christ, we don’t want to obey our bosses. It’s like a sister in Christ who doesn't want to obey her husband because her husband doesn’t love her but harsh on her. But the Bible says: “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (5:22). Although the wives should be subject to their husbands who God has given them divine authority and has made them the heads of the families as to the Lord, but they are not [The husbands are the same. Although the Bible commands them to love their wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her (v. 25), the husbands are not doing so]. Although the wives are subject to the Lord, they are not to their husbands. But the Bible says to the wives to be subject to their own husbands as to the Lord (v. 22). Doesn't it seem a bit strange? Wouldn't it be strange to see the women trying to be subject to the Lord in a vertical relationship with the Lord but not in a horizontal relationship with their husbands or their work bosses?
Second, the employees should try to please their own bosses.
Look at Titus 2:9 – “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, ….” Should our bosses try to please us so that we can try to please them? Our old natures are always conditional. Since our old habit, whether it's a marital relationship or boss-employee relationship, is always conditional and always selfish, so our husbands/wives or our bosses must please us first so we will please them. But we Christians who believe in Jesus and who became new people must obey the word of God according to the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit who overcomes our old natures. And the word of God is for us to please our bosses at our works. How can we please our bosses? Should we speak with flattering lips to our bosses? This is what the Bible says: “They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak” (Ps. 12:2), “These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage” (Jud. 1:16). Even in these two verses, the Bible says that flattering lips speak with two hearts and flatter for their own good. Apostle Paul, however, says, “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness” (1 Thess. 2:5). We too should not put on a mask to cover up greed. We too should not flatter our bosses for our own benefit. We should not flatter our bosses with the double heart. It may seem to please our bosses at that moment, but it is never pleasing to our Master who is in Heaven. Rather, we must please our bosses by being subjected to them, as they are to Christ. We should not obey our bosses only by way of eye-service as men-pleasers (Eph. 6:6). We should obey our bosses as we remember that our Master in heaven, the Lord, is watching us whether our bosses are looking at us or not. Then we can please our bosses. And in order for us to please our bosses, we must serve them wholeheartedly, as if we were serving the Lord, not people (v. 7). The reason we should do this is because the Lord will reward us (v. 8).
Third, the employees should not talk back to their own bosses.
Look at Titus 2:9 – “… not to talk back to them.” The elderly are seeing young people talking back to them and say they are ill-mannered. Why are young people ill-mannered to the older people? Why don’t the children obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1) and talk back to them? Isn't it because they don’t honor their parents? (v. 2) Why does a wife talk back to her husband? Isn't it because she doesn't respect her husband? (5:33) In Titus 2:9, the Bible says that the salves shouldn’t talk back to their masters. The Greek word for ‘talk back’ is “ἀντιλεγω”, which is a combination of “anti” (opposite) and “lego” (to speak). In other words, the slaves shouldn’t speak against or contradict their masters. Why do the slaves speak against or contradict their masters? I found the reason in Ephesians 6:5 – “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.” The reason why the slaves speak against or contradict their masters is because they don’t respect and fear their masters. Why do the Christian workers refute their bosses? This is because we don’t respect and fear our bosses. Of course, we can make excuses or rationalizations like this: 'My boss is not a respectable person. I cannot respect him because what he says and what he does.’ We are making this excuse not only in relations with our bosses, but also in our marital relations. For example, clearly the Bible Ephesians 5:33, says, “… the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” But many wives are saying that they cannot obey this Word of God because when they see how their husbands behaves and talks, they cannot respect their husbands. This means that they will obey the God’s word and will respect their husbands if their husbands speak and act in a way that they can respect them. But this is not the truth. This is a lie. If the wives truly respect their Lord, then she will respect their husbands unconditionally as they do to their Lord. If the wives say that ‘If my husband loves me as Jesus loves the church, then I will respect my husband’, then they are breaking the word, “as to the Lord” (v. 22). How could then say that they respect and are submissive to the Lord but they don’t respect and are submissive to their husbands? This is an unbalanced life of faith. Although it seems that their vertical relationship with the Lord is good, their horizontal relationship with their husbands isn’t good. They are living two separate lives. Many of these Christians who have unbalanced marital relationships don’t respect, aren’t submissive to their bosses but talk back to them at their works based on the same unbalanced principle in their relationships with their bosses. If we talk back at our bosses at works, the real reason is because we don’t truly and sincerely respect and fear our Lord who is in heaven.
Fourth, the employees should not steal from their own bosses.
Look at Titus 2:10 – “and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” I still remember that I stole a hamburger while I was working at a hamburger shop when I was in high school. I ripped the hamburger shop owner off. I supposed to sell it to a customer so that the shop owner can earn money. It was a steal to intercept a portion of the money to be handed over to my boss. It's not my money, but sneaking my boss's money that that is stealing from someone else. Why do we steal? The Bible Proverbs 9:17 says “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” It is because it is delicious to steal others' money secretly. Once we have tasted it, it is difficult to break the habit of stealing. In particular, as the old saying, ‘The needle thief becomes a cow thief,’ the amount of stealing will increase from small amount at the beginning if we don’t break the habit of stealing. We will be a slave to greed. And if we become slaves of covetousness, we will steal even God's money. We will rob God of “tithes and offerings” (Mal. 3:8). As we start stealing our bosses’ money and our companies’ money, we will eventually steal God’s money as well even though the Bible clearly says “You shall not steal” (Exod. 20:15, Lev. 19:11, Deut. 5:19).
Fifth, the employees should be trustworthy to their masters.
Look at Titus 2:10 – “and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, ….” From the bosses' point of view, it is helpful to them to have someone whom they can trust. We Christian employees should be such trustworthy people. If we try to only please our bosses and work by way of eye-service when our bosses are present, then we will be tempted to be lazy and not work hard because our bosses aren’t there at our work. If we do so and try to gain trust from our bosses, it is a big mistake. We don't know how long we will be able to deceive our bosses' eyes and gain trust, but in time we will lose our bosses’ trust because we're shirking our duties to our bosses. In order for us to be trustworthy to our bosses, we must obey our master with sincerity of heart as to Christ (v. 5). We must do the will of God from our heart (v. 6). And we must serve wholeheartedly, as if we are serving the Lord, not men (v. 7) so that we can be fully trusted (Tit. 2:10).
Why should we do this? Why should we be subject to our bosses in everything, try to please them, not talk back to them, not to steal from them, but to show that we can be fully trusted? What is the purpose? The purpose is written in Titus 2:10 – “… so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” What does it mean? It means to make the sound doctrine of God our Savior attractive. In other words, we Christian workers must be attractive at work. And, we the attractive Christian workers must obey our bosses as we receive the sound doctrine. Thus we will encourage our coworkers who believe in Jesus (Tit. 1:9). Not only that, we will refute those who speak against us (v. 9). So those who oppose us may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us (2:8). The attractive Christian workers will receive and obey God's sound doctrine so that the word of God will not be dishonored (v. 5). I hope and pray that we can be such attractive Christian office workers.