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.  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. (Ephesians 6:5-9) In this section on marriage, parenting, and now workplace relations—Paul has kept the "household code" of the Roman culture in tact.  The Roman "Household Code," 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.  You 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.  They believed that however it went with the household determined how it would go with the city and the state.  They were keen, therefore, to organize it well.  Households in this system were not just family homes as they are for us: they were also the place of business.  Commerce and family were tied up into one.  The 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's property.  In this day, everyone "worked from home."  So here's the problem.  These slaves, masters, spouses, and children all start attending a house church in their household together (or in someone else's).  Paul begins to preach that "Christ has broken down the dividing walls" and that there is "freedom in Christ" where "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female."  After such rousing sermons, how should these household members now relate?  Is it a free-for-all where everyone goes their own way and does what they want?   No, says Paul.  Don't start a revolution in Rome by overthrowing the household.  Keep the household code.  Keep the roles and station that you were in when Christ found you.  But do it now for a different reason: out of reverence for Christ.     Of course, in the long haul, this minor tweak proved no small thing at all.  It took a long time, but it was out of reverence for Christ that slavery would eventually be abolished in the Christian West.  Out of reverence for Christ, women received the ability to vote.  Out of reverence for Christ, laws to protect children from exasperation were put in place.  Out 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.  To get to the point of today's passage, we no longer relate as slaves and masters, but now as employers and employees.  But the principle remains. Do you work as an employee as if Christ himself were your boss.  Do your best work—not for the sake of an inept, corrupt, or broken institution, nor for a paycheck, nor for the benefits.  Do your best work for Christ, out of reverence for him.  He'll reward the good that you do and the gifts that you use, regardless of what your company does.   Same thing for bosses.  Doesn't 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.  Give them your best work—care for them and manage well as if Christ himself had entrusted them to you.  Don't use your power to your own advantage, because you have none over Christ.  He doesn't pick favorites or defer to seniority—so be humble and give them your best.   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.  And, may the world see it, rejoice because of it, and be perhaps even been attracted enough to wonder about this Jesus we revere.    

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