Ephesians 6:5-8

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

Ephesians 6:5-8

Now, Paul is addressing slaves.  Nowadays, we don't have slaves here in North America, so the question is: how do we apply this to us?  I am tempted to apply this to our bosses or people we work for, but I'm not sure if that is correct.  In any case, Paul is telling slaves to obey their earthly masters.  This obedience is compared to the obedience one should have towards Christ.  We obey Christ and in the same way we obey him, we are to obey our earthly masters.  What's interesting is that there is no mention about whether or not their masters are moral or kind masters.  It seems as if Paul is instructing this to slaves regardless of what their master is like.  Perhaps this is the same as his instruction for wives to submit to their husbands.  Whether or not they are good husbands, the instruction still stands.  How one is to obey to their masters or how one is to submit to their husbands may change according to their circumstances; however, Paul does not specify an exception or qualify what he has said to give someone an out.  Instead, he tells slaves to obey "with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart".  These are the ways in which one follows Christ and should now be applied to obeying masters.  Moreover, one is not to just obey when someone is watching.  Even when nobody is watching, a slave is to work hard as a slave of Christ.  How does a slave of Christ work?  A slave of Christ obeys from the heart.

Similar to what what said in Colossians, the mindset is that you are to work as if you were working for God.  It is not merely a man you are working for, but you are working as if working for God.  Doing so is to be done while knowing an important truth: good one does is received back from the Lord.  This is apparently a universal truth and applies to everyone, not just slaves.  This; however, is separate from salvation.  I don't think we are to use this to apply it towards the way in which we are redeemed.  I say this because we know that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works.  Perhaps I'm looking at this wrong.  Good one receives back may not necessarily mean rewards in heaven, but perhaps the idea that good work produces fruit.  In the same way that Joseph and his work was blessed, perhaps this is referring to the good work a slave does will be blessed and not go unnoticed.  In any case, slaves are to work hard as if working for Christ.