There is often antagonism between the employee and employer.
This Sunday and next we are going to wrestle with a couple of passages of timeless significance. The first passage, Colossians 3:22-25 speaks to employees, and the second passage, Colossians 4:1 speaks to business owners.
By definition, an employee is a paid worker, or a hired hand. If you are an employee, you are not the owner of your business. You have limited authority, limited decision making power, limited risk, and limited responsibility. Even if you are a manager or CEO, you serve in a subordinate role.
I have personally walked in both worlds long enough to know that employees and business owners live in completelydifferent universes! As we sit here, two of America’s greatest corporations,General Motors and Chrysler, are collapsing. On one side you have the business owners who want and need to make a profit. And on the other side you have organized labor unions insisting upon more pay and health benefits. Who is right? Who is wrong?
We have all experienced the great antagonism that exists between the business owner and the worker. Hopefully an important lesson is being learned.For better or worse, business owners and employees are in the same boat together. They either float together or they sink together. They either win together, or they die together. Neither has the luxury to advance at the expense of the other. Neither can ignore the other’s interests.Jesus observed that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and this is true of the employer and employee.
Don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
By now many of you have heard Aesop’s fable, "The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs." This fable was made popular in modern times byStephen Covey in hisbook, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
"A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once. However,upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose."
The moral of this fable is that you need to take care of the goose in order for it to keep on laying golden eggs. If you abuse the goose and demand everything of it at once, you lose everything.
If you are a business owner, your goose is every single employee under your care. Abuse them, and they’ll lose their ability to lay golden eggs. But guess what? If you are an employee, your goose is your employer. Abuse your employer, abuse his customers, exploit her generosity, or tarnish his name,and there will be no wealth for you to share in. GM and Chrysler are bankrupt because both the business owners and organized labor choked their goose.
This morning we focus on the employee side of the equation by outlining several key principles.
Principle number one:Give your employer your absolute best.
Colossians 3:22 (NIV) says, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything." Be careful not to overreact too much. What employee doesn’t feel that his employer is a slavedriver, right? Do we have any slaves here this morning? Do we have any slavedrivers?
Be thankful that things have changed! In the first century commerce was built around the master-slave relationship. Slaves owed their livelihoods to earthly masters who would house them and care for them. In hard times, people often sold themselves into slavery. Take the prodigal son, for example. He thought it better to be a slave in his father’s house than to tend pigs.
In today's world,the employer-employee relationship has replaced the master-slave relationship. Nonetheless, many of same principles still hold true. If you’re an employee, you owe your livelihood to your employer. Your wellbeing and prosperity is dependent upon his or her success. Even if you are a total freeloader, your wellbeing and prosperity is dependent upon the success of businesses everywhere. Without business there is no wealth, and there are no food stamps. Government doesn’t create wealth. Business owners, in collaboration with employees, do create wealth!
If you are an employee, your obligation is to give your employer your absolute best. You should wanthim to succeed, and you should want to do exactly what it takes to create wealth for the company.
In high school I worked in sales at K’s Merchandise Mart. Because the markup on electronics was so marginal, the store had to find a way to increase profit. So about that time, they began experimenting with extended warranties. We could make 10% on every warranty we sold. To make a long story short, I hated talking to customers about warranties!That is, until our store cut costs by eliminating positions and reducing commissions.Don’t be dead weight. Contribute to your company’s success. Help your employer create wealth. Give your best.
We should be grateful for our opportunities through our jobs.
Allow me to go a bit farther on this first point. You owe it to your employer to be grateful for the opportunity he or she has provided for you. That is true whether you work at Taco Bell or for the State of Illinois. No one "owes" you a job, a paycheck, health care, dental care, vacation pay, sick pay, or benefits. Be thankful that someone else has assumed all the risks and has assumed all the responsibility in order to serve you up a slice of wealth.
In my lifetime I have been a paperboy, farmhand, busboy, salesman, painter, construction laborer, child laborer, factory worker, photography assistant, painter, janitor, mail carrier, maintenance worker, marketer, and preacher. I have hadtoo many jobs to count! But I have always been grateful for each opportunity. I tried to run a Koolaid stand once, and I only made a dollar after a whole day’s work. Thatwas in 1980, not 1920!
Put yourself in the role of the business owner for a day. Imagine having to create enough wealth not just for your family, but for all your employees and their families too! Imagine the responsibility of feeding, clothing, housing, and insuring one or two people, let alone dozens!
Employers do not have money trees growing in their backyards. Most employers are fighting for their survival every single day. They are fighting to make even modest payrolls, fighting to provide healthcare, fighting to find buyers, andfighting to create demand for their product. They arefighting to make wise decisions. There is a reason that the majority of people are employees. It's because being successful enough to create jobs is a monumental achievement, and not for the faint in heart! Be grateful to your employer, and give your best.
Principle numbertwo: Work with complete integrity.
Colossians 3:22-24 (NIV) says, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
Per my time at K’s Merchandise, our store was quite hypocritical. There was the way we normally did business, but then there was the way we did business when the corporate executives were in town. We all know how things can change when the boss is looking over your shoulder. But how hard do we work whenthe boss is away?
Do we answer the phone the same way? Do we return all the calls? Do we still face all the merchandise? Do we keep things clean and orderly? Do we shovel just as hard or swing the hammer with the same zest? Do we complete as many files?
Paul speaks of serving with sincerity of heart.He speaks of serving with all your heart. Quite honestly, a lot of times we're just watching the clock hoping for the day to pass by. We feel that the company owes us a paycheck regardless of how we work or how we perform.
Integrity is having the same work ethic whether the boss has called in sick or not, and whether his eye is on you or not. If you cannot work with integrity, then quit your job. Stop stealing. Stop taking a wage if you will not uphold your promise to give your best.
Principlenumber three: Glorify God in your work.
In Colossians 3:22 Paul says that we're to serve out of reverence for the Lord. InColossians 3:23 he says we're to work with all our heart, as those working for the Lord, and not for men. InColossians 3:24he says that it is the Lord Christ that we are serving.
When it comes to work, there is a whole lot more at stake than our own financial wellbeing. Your job may be assembling trinkets at factory X. Your job may be preparing tax returns and filing paperwork. Your job may be mopping floors and cleaning toilets. Or it may be busing tables, driving a truck, selling products, supervising teams, answering phones, or building homes.
As a Christian, be very careful not to confuse your "job" with your "calling". Your job is something you do. Yourcalling is who you are. Your primary calling is to magnify God’s glory, everywhere, at all times, with everyone. God has strategically placed us throughout Sangamon County to be salt and light. God has a mission for you right where you work.
Does your attitude at work glorify God and reflect gratitude? Does your speech build up and unify your workplace? Does your work ethic inspire people to give their best? Do people see the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peacemaking, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control) reflected in all your interactions with others? Do other people know that you are a Christian? Do you initiate spiritual conversations? Do you go above and beyond in loving andserving others? Do you see your workplace as your mission field? Look how many people you are around and can impact in a given day! See them with God’s eyes!
Principlenumber four:Be motivated by heavenly rewards.
InColossians 3:24Paul says that when we work, we will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. During my doctoral work, which was in leadership studies, I was surprised to learn howmoney motivates people to excel in the workplace. We commonly think that money is a big motivator, but in truth, money motivates people very little. Now it is true thatwe all need to make money. But money has only a minimal impact on workplace morale!
People tend to be most motivated by intangible, non-monetary rewards. We give our best when we feel we are making a difference, when someone truly appreciates the work we are doing, when we are recognized for a job well done, when we feel a valued, and when people smile at us and like us.
The problem is that many people find themselves working in an emotional wasteland where there is little appreciation and little recognition. They feel forgotten. The truth is that even when people do show us appreciation, it never feels like it's enough! Our tank will never be so full that it will never need to be filled again. A big raise or recognition this month will mean very little next month.
One of the little spiritual disciplines we must develop is to set our hearts and minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. God sees us! God values us! God appreciates us! God recognizes and rewards our hard work! It's great if other people do too,but God always does!
The next time you are stuck working on a thankless project in obscurity, doing what no oneelse will ever see, think aboutthe smile you're putting on God’s face. That will motivate you.
And if you are in a job where you feel you are being mistreated, know that God sees that too. Colossians 3:25 (NIV) says,"Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism."