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Redeeming Work: Most of us spend most of our waking hours doing work. Work can be done in or outside the home. Work can be paid or unpaid. So how does the way of Jesus impact and transform our work? And what would a uniquely Christian perspective be on the relationships we have in our workplace? Recorded on Nov 27, 2022, on Colossians 3:22-4:1, by Pastor David Parks. "Redeeming Regular Life" is a sermon series from the Epistles of the New Testament in the Bible. The Epistles are letters from the Apostles to the early Christian churches helping them understand and apply the gospel to life. "To what part of life?" you might wonder. The answer is: to every part! The way of Jesus changes everything, including marriage, sexuality, singleness, parenting, work, politics, friendship, and more. In Christ, regular life is a gift. Sermon Transcript This year, the annual theme of our preaching ministry is Learning the way of Jesus. And right now, we’re in the middle of a series called Redeeming Regular Life. This series is from the household codes found in the epistles/letters in the New Testament in the Bible, from the Apostles of Jesus to various churches around the Roman Empire. Now, in their day, household codes were common and addressed the way our basic relationships (regular life) ought to work. But the apostles wrote on these things from a uniquely Christian perspective, showing how the gospel and the way of Jesus changes everything. So far, we’ve covered redeeming marriage, sexuality, singleness, and parenting. If you missed any of those messages, you can always go back and watch or listen online. But today, we’ll move on to a topic that most of us spend most of our waking hours doing for much of our lives: our work. Work can be done in or outside the home. Work can be paid or unpaid. So how does the way of Jesus impact and transform our work? And what would a uniquely Christian perspective be on the relationships we have in our workplace? If you have a Bible/app, please open to Colossians 3:22. Colossians 3:22 - 4:1 (NIV), “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. 1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”  Now, before we go any further, we must remember that slavery in the 1st century AD was very different from what many of us think of slavery from our nation's history. First, slavery was widespread, not a majority of people oppressing a minority. During this time, up to 50% of the Roman Empire would have been considered a slave, with nearly every other civilization in history practicing slavery. Second, slavery wasn't exclusively based on race. War captives and debt were the two main sources of slaves. Third, slavery wasn't usually life-long. Voluntary slavery was a normal means of escaping poverty, and household slaves could rise to become confidants with great responsibility (think of Joseph in Potiphar's house in Genesis). For all these reasons, the ancient view of the master/slave relationship is closer to the employer/employee work relationship of today. To be clear, the Bible doesn't approve of slavery as an institution. The Apostle Paul explicitly says that if slaves can gain their freedom, they should do so (1Co 7:21), and one of the great implications of the gospel is freedom from enslavement to sin. Even here, we find a teaching that undermines the idea that a slave was somehow different in value than their master. In fact, it’s hard to see how slavery would ever have been abolished had it...