YE MASTERS, DO THE SAME THINGS UNTO THEM

Yesterday we made the point that we all serve someone. Therefore, it is not surprising to read in our verse today that all believing masters have a Master. The point is not so much that all masters answer to someone on earth but that all masters ultimately report to the supreme Master in heaven - the Lord Jesus.

The word master can be translated as: ‘God, Lord, Master, Sir’, James Strong, Greek Dictionary. In New Testament times the master was very powerful. He could act as he pleased and there were very few opportunities to challenge his authority. We might wonder what the reaction would be when Paul taught these believing masters in Ephesus that they had a Master in heaven! As Christian masters they answer to the Lord: ‘knowing that your Master also is in heaven’. It is God’s will that they are good masters and there will be a reward in heaven for serving the Lord well. Apart from that, it will also produce better workers and better results!

The first lesson the masters are taught in our verse is to respect their workers in the same way that the workers have been instructed to respect them. In the time when it was written this was groundbreaking teaching.

The second very difficult lesson for these men to grasp is that they have to change their style of managing people. Previously the style of management would have been rough and threatening. If a servant did not respond and do what he was told the master would have used fear to sort the matter out! Now, the master has to forbear threatening. Forbearing means literally to loosen up, to let it go or to stop acting that way. The Christian master is not expected to manage people in this menacing way. The way bosses act at work should not be different from the other areas of their life. The gentleness and patience that develops our Christian character should not be left at the front door when we go into the office or the factory. The final challenge to masters is this: God does not have favourites when dealing with people, and neither should we - ‘neither is there respect of persons with him’. Similarly, the command is: ‘give unto your servants that which is just and equal’, Col. 4. 1.