Talk

Faith in the Workplace

Ben Stuart
June, 12, 2022

We can transform the environment around us by living a transformed life.

Continuing in our Take Heart series, Ben Stuart shows us how the people of Jesus are meant to conduct themselves in the workplace by doing good and learning how to suffer hardships well.

Key Takeaway

As you endure and excel, you will transform the culture. You'll embody higher ideals. You'll live a radically supernatural life within the existing structure and you will suffer, but you will be vindicated, so take heart.

How do you embody your values when you have people in power over you?

Live a radically supernatural life within the existing structure. You will suffer, but you will be vindicated. Understand the role of submission and fear.

1 Peter 2:18

  • Submit: order yourself under.

  • Slaves/Servants:  in this verse it is referencing house slaves or bondservants. This isn't the same type of slavery that we think of as Americans. Greco-Roman slavery was not based on race and it had multiple ramps into and out of it. It was meant to be a stop on the way to where you were trying to get to, not the final destination.

  • Household Code: The Greco-Romans had a belief in something called household codes; that the home was the building block of society, so what happened in it wasn't necessarily private since it would have an effect on society at large. Their mindset was more on the chauvinistic side. Peter, a Jewish man, takes the Greco-Roman belief about the home being the building block and uses it as a scaffolding to radically subvert it. If they were chauvinistic, the Christians were chivalrous. If they treated slaves as if they had no worth or value, then Christians would treat them with intrinsic value, dignity, and respect.

Peter doesn't take a full frontal assault on culture, he cuts it off at the root. Peter treats the slave as a moral agent. He gives them dignity and tells them to submit out of fear of the Lord, not fear of their authority. We don't have to cower in fear to our boss or authority either. We have been set free through the Lord, but because of the Lord, submit within human structures as we live a transformed life.

  • If you look at your boss and strip away all authority, ask yourself if they are okay or if they are condemned. If you look at them and say, "God help you.", you have found a way to show mercy, even on the evil. You don't have to fear them, you fear the Lord, which transforms our thinking to "out of respect for the Lord, I'll have respect for you".

  • Does this mean that the Believer subjects themself to every indignity? Absolutely not! Look at Joseph. Multiple times he excels where there is an overlap of cultural values, but there they cross, he won't go there. He stands his ground with grace and integrity. Peter did this. Daniel did this. They excelled where they could, but they refused to compromise. They chose to walk in righteousness and trust God with the outcome. As Believers, we don't look to pick fights, but we believe in God who leads over us. This is how you embody higher ideals.

1 Peter 2:19-20

  • When you can look at your situation and see God in it- that's gracious! That means that God is pleased with your actions, will bless you, and gives you grace in the moment. God will vindicate you. You may endure and suffer unjustly, but He will take care of you. It's not a revolution to take over the culture, it's an evolution from the ground up. Jesus said if the tree is good, the fruit will be good.

  • If you suffer for doing good: rejoice, there is a day that is being revealed and you'll be glad. If you suffer for righteousness sake, you're blessed, because His Spirit rests in you.

1 Peter 2:21

  • Jesus is our example. He chose to serve those who misunderstood and mistreated Him so He could save us. He suffered, but God took His suffering and raised Him from the dead so that His suffering is for your salvation.

  • So does this response really work or are you setting yourself up to be a victim?

  • God suffered to save you, so embrace inconvenience for the sake of your coworkers so they might see Jesus in you.

  • "Example" is hypogrammos in Greek which means to have a sturdy writing copy in grammar school that included all of the alphabet letters, it was given to young children to help them learn to write their letters. A standard copy, or the permanent copy was placed down and then a lighter sheet of paper on top and the children would follow the pattern showing through. As they traced it, they would embody the symbol. Peter uses this to drive home the point that some people may not see the actual standard, the permanent pattern, but they are going to see what you traced. So, what are you showing them? Jesus is the example, the standard; does your life match this?

1 Peter 2:22-25

  • What does this look like in real life?

  • When you suffer, you don't sin. When you are reviled, you don't revile back. You don't lie to look good. When people complain, you don't join in. When you walk according to the pattern set by Jesus, they see Him in you.

“
"You have been set free through the Lord, but because of the Lord, submit within human structure as you live a transformed life."
”
Ben Stuart

Discussion Questions

  1. How do you embody your values when you have people in power over you?

  2. What is the simple definition of submission that Ben gave?

  3. In what sense is the word "fear" used throughout this message? And how is the fear of the Lord different than the fear of earthly authority?

  4. How is operating within human structure aiding you in transforming a culture?

  5. How can you show mercy to your boss or coworkers?

  6. Does this mean that you have to subject yourself to every indignity? How did Joseph, Daniel, Peter, and Jesus handle this?

  7. Can you explain what gracious means in 1 Peter 2:19-20?

  8. What does the word "example" mean in verse 21?

  9. Read Isaiah 53:5-6 and verses 24-25 out of the main passage, what did Peter change and why does it matter?

  10. What does it look like to live a transformed life?

Scripture References

18Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
19For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.
20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22“He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
24“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
20Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
21Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.
23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.
24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
27
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
29
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
30
Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
31
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
33
And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
34
And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
35
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
13But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

1Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the

Lord
been revealed?

2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the

Lord
has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the

Lord
’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the

Lord
makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the

Lord
will prosper in his hand.

11After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Ben Stuart
Ben Stuart
Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.