Blessing Believing Bosses

Timothy 6-Part 2 If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved. Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them.
1 Timothy 6:2 NLT


LET IT GLOW

Sometimes it's easier to work for a boss that is a believer in Jesus and sometimes it is not. Certainly we have all had some bosses that made it questionable as to which they were. Either way, Paul continues to give Timothy instructions concerning the matter of how slaves, or employees are to treat their bosses. Yesterday, we read about how to treat non-believing bosses, with submission and respect, doing quality work, so the gospel is believable and witnessed.

Continuing with words from Swindoll's New Testament Insights on 1 &2 Timothy, Titus:

One might expect him to have written, "Christian master, do what is right and set your slaves free immediately!" But he didn't for at least three reasons:
(1) The circumstances of slavery varied. Some slaves had been captured from conquered nations and sold.
      Many people sold themselves to pay off debts or in exchange for room and board. Others did it out of
      devotion to a family. Any way, the issue of submission didn't change based on the circumstances.
(2) Paul addresses the issue from the slave's perspective, not the slave owner's.
      Elsewhere, he commands believing slave owners to grant their slaves "justice and equality" (Col. 4:1,
      Philem. 16). Perhaps he presupposed their fair treatment.
(3) The topic here is submission to authority, not the morality of slavery. Christian principles might
      revolutionize human institutions eventually, but not before changing their character first. Paul calls slaves
      to offer their Christian masters respect and to serve them all the more, not to avoid punishment, but to
      accept the circumstance as an opportunity to love a brother. Service, after all, is the cornerstone of
      Christian virtue (Matt. 20:26-28; John 13:4-17).

Am I using my position as an opportunity to shower a Christian brother with blessings? Is my  work a gift of service to a fellow believer?


LET IT GROW

We should be just as respectful and work just as hard for a Christian boss as a non-Christian, according to verse 2.

Here's what Liberty Bible Commentary had to say:
KJV uses the word despise, here meaning "to look down on." Employees aren't to have this attitude toward believing bosses. All people are not the same in respect to being a leader, a boss. Some are not cut out to be one. (If so, we wouldn't have any workers, would we?) In another light, some people will always have more than others by working harder or inheritance.
Paul tells Timothy to teach and exhort these things. He's referring back to the doctrine and duty presented by Paul so one behaves in the right manner in the house of God, the church. The believer is to seek godliness and not gain of worldly goods or glory.

MacArthur Bible Commentary said, "Working for a Christian should produce more loyal and diligent service out of love for the brethren."

So I should watch my behavior, making sure it is becoming to Christian principles.


LET IT GO

Be respectful to believing bosses and serve them like a brother.

Submit to their authority, obeying their instructions.

Give my best at my work, honoring Christ.

Let my life be a witness of my faith.

Be a blessing to my boss.