Ephesians: Lecture 42
Speaker Notes
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 6:5-9 Slaves and Masters- The Theology of Work
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Paul’s Letter to the Colossians 3:22-4:1
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
4.1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Prayer Panels in the Ruins of Coventry Cathedral (Coventry, England):
In Industry God be in my hands and in my making.
In the Arts God be in my senses and in my creating.
In Commerce God be at my desk and in my trading.
In Suffering God be in my pain and in my enduring.
In Healing God be in my skill and in my touching.
In Government God be in my plans and in my deciding.
In Education God be in my mind and in my growing.
In Recreation God be in my limbs and in my leisure.
In my Home God be in my heart and in my loving.
Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 3:10-15
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain,
Chapter 10: Heaven (pages 151-152, 1996 edition)
… Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you. The mould in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the Divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions.
Chapter 10: Heaven (pages 154, 1996 edition)
… But it is also said ‘To him that overcometh I will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’ [Revelation 2: 17] What can be more a man’s own than this new name which even in eternity remains a secret between God and him? And what shall we take this secrecy to mean? Surely, that each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the Divine beauty better than any other creature can.
Jürgen’s Blog