"5 Bondservants, obey your earthly master, with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him."
Ephesians 6:5-9
As to the application of these principles to daily work, there are three important considerations for us to note. The first is that the obedience of servants to masters is enjoined in the first instance for the testimony's sake. Christ's lordship extends over all life, and we do our work day by day primarily unto Him. It is His glory that must be our concern, and the integrity of His Name is in our care. Rebellion, disobedience, for the Christian, is unthinkable, because it besmirches the name of Jesus. It is not our beliefs, but our behaviour, that will carry weight in the factory or the office. Men are interested in how we behave and how we do our work. Christian testimony at work is borne by what Christians do, more than by what they say. Singleness of heart is to produce quality of service.
In the second place obedience to employers is enjoined also because of the contract to work. An employee chooses to work and to serve, and whether that contract is written or given by word of mouth should be regarded as binding. And it is a matter of honesty, apart from anything else, to honour that contract. The obligations that bind us in this regard are moral obligations, and therefore sacred in the sight of God. This is why Paul uses the phrase 'not with eye service', working as long as we are watched, or with one eye on the clock (as we say), or as 'men-pleasers', for the merely utilitarian motive of currying favour but rather for the high motive of honour. And so also 'with goodwill' - willingly, since we owe it to God and to men. It is a matter of debt. Above all, we are to be obedient because we work and live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. In our daily work, as in our witness in spiritual life, we may build wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver and precious stones. We must work in this light and against this background.