"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
In the third place, obedience is enjoined because a right attitude to work is in fact a means of grace. And to say the least, it is a strong motive for obedience to realise that it pays! One thinks of some common attitudes to work today, such as that it is a necessary evil, or that it is irksome and to be avoided if at all possible. But is it something to be got out of if at all possible? We should consider just how thoroughly the media pander to this idea, in their offers of almost unlimited prizes and free gifts, and indeed fortunes - offered even by former reputable businesses, including banks. When one thinks of the piles of junk mail that comes through our letter boxes offering easy money and how we are told we have been selected by computer to be the recipient of tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds - 'you need never work another day more' - it becomes clear that such a syndrome is a disintegrating factor in society.
But what if work is really irksome? Well, it is true that some people do under-achieve, and that they could do better. If so, they could always change their job for something more fulfilling. But when changing is impossible, obedience and honourable service are still enjoined. Let us not forget that the divine sentence passed on man for his sin in Genesis 3:19, 'In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread ...' was one of mercy; and what was man's discipline because of sin becomes in fact an ennobling factor in his life and experience. Work is honourable in itself, and ought to be performed with all diligence and with integrity. When it is done thus it becomes a means of grace, and a right attitude to it will convert it into spiritual blessing. This is why the attitude expressed sometimes in the words 'My real work is serving the Lord, I only do this job to keep myself going' is so perverse and misguided. This is not what our daily work is for or about. Work well done is honourable, and glorifies God in the doing of it. How could this ever become irksome or frustrating? By failing in this obedience to our masters, we are failing in the obedience we owe to Christ.