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Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 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. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. \xa0And 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. (Ephesians 6:5-9)

In this section on marriage, parenting, and now workplace relations\u2014Paul has kept the \u201chousehold code\u201d of the Roman culture in tact. \xa0The Roman \u201cHousehold Code,\u201d which is essentially what we find here in Ephesians 5:22-6:9, was a pretty commonly agreed upon organizational chart for how a household was to be run. \xa0You can find the same set of relationships and regulations in Xenophon, who had written one of the more prominent codes, but Aristotle and other notable ancients had also contributed.

The ancients believed that the household was an essential building block and a microcosm of the wider society. \xa0They believed that however it went with the household determined how it would go with the city and the state. \xa0They were keen, therefore, to organize it well. \xa0Households in this system were not just family homes as they are for us: they were also the place of business. \xa0Commerce and family were tied up into one. \xa0The head of the household was not just head of the family, but also of the business, trades, and agriculture carried out under the roof, within the courts, and on the land that constituted the household\u2019s property. \xa0In this day, everyone \u201cworked from home.\u201d\xa0

So here\u2019s the problem. \xa0These slaves, masters, spouses, and children all start attending a house church in their household together (or in someone else\u2019s). \xa0Paul begins to preach that \u201cChrist has broken down the dividing walls\u201d and that there is \u201cfreedom in Christ\u201d where \u201cthere is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female.\u201d \xa0After such rousing sermons, how should these household members now relate? \xa0Is it a free-for-all where everyone goes their own way and does what they want? \xa0

No, says Paul. \xa0Don\u2019t start a revolution in Rome by overthrowing the household. \xa0Keep the household code. \xa0Keep the roles and station that you were in when Christ found you. \xa0But do it now for a different reason: out of reverence for Christ. \xa0
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Of course, in the long haul, this minor tweak proved no small thing at all. \xa0It took a long time, but it was out of reverence for Christ that slavery would eventually be abolished in the Christian West. \xa0Out of reverence for Christ, women received the ability to vote. \xa0Out of reverence for Christ, laws to protect children from exasperation were put in place. \xa0Out of reverence for Christ, the curse of Genesis 3 has even begun to experience its reversal in Christ as husband no longer rules over wife in this increasingly egalitarian society.

All the same, we will never be free of culturally defined social roles in society. \xa0To get to the point of today\u2019s passage, we no longer relate as slaves and masters, but now as employers and employees. \xa0But the principle remains.

Do you work as an employee as if Christ himself were your boss. \xa0Do your best work\u2014not for the sake of an inept, corrupt, or broken institution, nor for a paycheck, nor for the benefits. \xa0Do your best work for Christ, out of reverence for him. \xa0He\u2019ll reward the good that you do and the gifts that you use, regardless of what your company does. \xa0

Same thing for bosses. \xa0Doesn\u2019t matter how lazy, inept, or selfish your team or employees are: do not resort to the lesser threats and cut-throat tactics that mark the rest of the workplace. \xa0Give them your best work\u2014care for them and manage well as if Christ himself had entrusted them to you. \xa0Don\u2019t use your power to your own advantage, because you have none over Christ. \xa0He doesn\u2019t pick favorites or defer to seniority\u2014so be humble and give them your best. \xa0

In all these things: in our homes and our work, may our lives in this world and culture be marked by our reverence for Christ. \xa0And, may the world see it, rejoice because of it, and be perhaps even been attracted enough to wonder about this Jesus we revere. \xa0

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