Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Tuesday, March seventeen,
twenty twenty six. Hello, my name is El David Harris.
I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
where we give you God's word every single day and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson
study series uniting Heaven and Earth, christ in Philippians and Colossians,
and our caption for today is work Relations, Work Relations.
Before we get into that, I'd like to just say
welcome to everyone joining us, especially those joining us for
the very first time. I want you to please go
over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our
online community. Pick up the Your Daily Portion Life Application Guide,
which we're going to use today for sure on this broadcast. Also,
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the ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship.
Let's pray, Father, we thank you for this day. Help
us to work as unto the Lord, help us to
live like we are in your presence at all times.
In Jesus' name, I pray Amen and a man again.
Yes's so much to say, And as you know, the
Sable School Quarterly was not created so that I could
create a ten minute program off of it. So this
is one that if you rush through it, you will
get all mixed up and sometimes even angered, like if
you don't understand what the Bible is and is not saying.
So what I'm going to do is shift over now
to our life Application Guide, the Your Daily Portion Life
Application Guide, where we go into four key areas for
every day's lesson for application and in this case we're
going to go to the professional application because there is
a lot of stuff we can misunderstand and misapply, and
I don't know that I can treat it the way
that we need to treat it in just a few
minutes here. So let's defer and go over there and
look at the application professional one and we're using the
acronym or framework win W. What is important now? What
is important now? Recognizing that the principles from Colossians chapter three,
Versus twenty two through chapter four and verse one apply
to work relations generally, and that whether you are a
boss some people don't like that word, fine supervisor, boss,
the founder of a company, or an employee, your first
obligation is to the Lord. Where is our first obligation,
No matter where we are on the ladder in this
corporate or organizational structure, where is our first obligation with whom?
Is it with our clients, is it with our boss,
is it to someone else? Our first obligation is to
the Lord. And you must I repeat and underscore and
bold and put it in read letters and put it
in italics too, and then highlight it too. You must
treat others fairly. That is the governing principle. So, no
matter what other language we read in the in the
text from way back in ancient history. You must first
be obligated and responsible to the Lord and treat others fairly.
Now we need to internalize the insight what instructions are
given to And now there's the word that I don't like, slaves.
I don't have time to get into the historical context.
But slaves. Let's work with the term that's there in
that scripture. Please do not mix this up with the
transatlantic slave trade. Please do not mix this up with
a supremacist mindset that people were to be treated as
to be treated as as chattel or somehow property. Okay,
don't mix this up. Don't conflate this with that, because
that's where the confusion and mix up is going to come. Okay,
I gave you a standard in the beginning. What was it.
Number One, We are obligated and responsible to the Lord.
Number two, that we must treat others fairly. That means
with dignity, That means according to the way God would
do it. Okay, So what was the principle given to
the people who are identified in the text with that
word I don't like, but it was their slaves? What
principles are here for work relations. Generally in fact within
the Church, unlike more generally within the Roman Empire, the
slave's first obligation was to the Lord, and their quote
masters were instructed to do what treat them fairly. That
means that all of the stuff that we understood from
the Transatlantic slave trade, all of that stuff is disqualified.
All of that stuff needs to be thrown out the window.
All of that should be identified as what the world
overall has seen that it was not holiness, it was
not godly, so we must not treat it as such.
But let me go here before I become to passionate.
And their masters were instructed to treat them fairly, knowing
that you also have a master in heaven, that's God.
So in your work, your first obligation is to the creator,
whether you are a boss or an employee, treat others
fairly knowing that you have a master, meaning God who's
in heaven. Now, how do we apply this? I know
it's difficult to apply this when we're talking about the
modern era versus what they were doing way back in
Paul's day, versus what we've seen in the Transatlantic slave trade,
plus the things that are going on in many parts
of the world today where people are being subjugated in
every way, treated without dignity, and they're not doing what
God has taught us to do. But again, next best
move is to apply the principles from the same passage
to your work relationships today, remembering what your first obligation
is to the Lord, and if you are a boss
or a founder or somehow the leader of a team,
treat employees fairly knowing you have a master in Heaven,
or if you're an employee, work as unto the Lord
and not unto humans. I needed to get that out
because this one can be very triggering depending on the
culture or place you're from. Okay, and so let me
start here from the Signs of the Times article. I
cannot put my finger on where exactly it came from,
what the date was, but I know it was by J. H. Wagner,
and it reads the Gospel does not destroy order, but
purifies it, lifting duty from fear to conscience. Now, now
let's use lesson number three in my notes, which is
authority must reflect Heaven's justice. Authority must reflect Heaven's justice.
So Paul speaks directly to those who are in quote
authority Leadership is not ownership. You do not own the
people that may work for you, or if you're not
the owner of the company or whatever you want to
call the founder, whatever your your your direct reports are
not your are not your property. So leadership is not ownership.
Rather it is stewardship. Earthly authority is exercised under Heaven's oversight.
So God is watching. God is the one that's given
us the standard, our marching orders. He's shown us what
this is to look like, and therefore whatever doesn't align
with what God has said is unholy. So justice and
fairness are not optional virtues, but divine requirements. There was
just so much. If you lead others, examine whether your
decisions reflect fairness, dignity, and accountability before God. Peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
portion with el David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,