EPHESIANS: Servants and Masters

EPHESIANS Number 67

Ephesians 6:5-9 (KJV)
5Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

Here, as in a few other places in the New Testament we encounter the phrase “with fear and trembling.” Elsewhere it is applied to Paul when he came to Corinth, the way the Corinthians’ came to Christ, and to working out our faith.

I always knew I needed to treat my dad with respect. He was powerful and I was but a boy. I had a healthy respect for my dad. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I knew that he had power over me, so I willingly subjected myself to him. I tried to do things as he expected.

We do this naturally all the time. At work, we don’t do things that are likely to cause us to be reprimanded or fired.

The passage continues in verse 6 saying, “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

7With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
9And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.”

Here we find a call to willing service done out of the pure motivation of expressing the Life of Christ within us. We may not have much rank or status where we work and serve, but we remain children of the King, and as such though we serve, we are free. We are free to work diligently doing our best from the heart. We are free to treat them with kindness. We are free to look out for the good of those who hold power over us because we know the One who holds power over them.

Likewise, we who hold power are free from the need to threaten or coerce those under our authority. We saw this earlier when we looked at the way Jesus talked about leadership in terms of servanthood rather than lording it over others.

Ultimately, we all serve the Lord and He does not count any of us as better than another.