Ephesians, Part 12 / Spirit-Filled Work is Worship / Ephesians 6:5-9
Think about how you work when you're certain no one is watching.
The report nobody will double-check. The task you could do at eighty percent and still get away with it. The clock you could quietly round up on. The corner that would be so easy to cut because, realistically, who would ever know?
Here's a question worth sitting with: what if the way you work when no one's looking says more about your faith than almost anything you'd put on a "spiritual" checklist?
That's the territory Paul steps into in Ephesians 6:5–9. He's writing to real people in real jobs—and he takes something most of us treat as merely a paycheck and reframes it as an act of worship. Because whether we're leading a team, serving customers, managing a household, or just clocking in for another shift, Paul says we're ultimately working before Jesus. When Christ becomes our true Master, work stops being just a job. It becomes a witness.
When Christ is your true Master, work stops being just a job and becomes a witness—because how you work when no one's watching may be the clearest picture of Him someone ever gets.
Reframe Your Work Around Who You're Working For
The first move Paul makes is to completely reorient who we think we're working for.
"Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. ... As slaves of Christ ... as though you were working for the Lord ... you both have the same Master in heaven." (Ephesians 6:5–9, NLT)
Notice how many times, in just a few verses, Paul keeps redirecting our attention upward. Your boss isn't ultimately who you answer to. Your clients, your manager, your customers—none of them are the final audience. Christ is. And that changes everything about a Tuesday afternoon.
A quick and important note on the language here: Paul is speaking into the reality of first-century slavery, a system the New Testament as a whole works to undermine—which is exactly why he turns and addresses the masters too, reminding them they answer to the same Lord and that God shows no favoritism. Paul isn't endorsing that system; he's planting the gospel seed that would eventually help dismantle it. And the principle he draws out reaches every one of us who works for anyone: our labor is ultimately offered to God.
Jesus put the underlying issue plainly:
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." (Matthew 6:24, NLT)
That's the honest fork in the road. If money is our master, work becomes something we resent, manipulate, or worship—a thing to squeeze for as much as we can get. But when Christ is our Master, the paycheck stops being the point. The work itself becomes an offering.
Knowing Who You Serve Gives Purpose to How You Serve
Once we get the who right, the how takes on a whole new weight.
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ ... do the will of God with all your heart." (Ephesians 6:5–6, NLT)
And to those in charge:
"Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don't threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites." (Ephesians 6:9, NLT)
Whether you have authority or work under it, the same truth levels the ground: there's one Master over all of us, and He plays no favorites. The CEO and the newest hire stand on identical footing before God.
So how do we actually live this out? One helpful way to remember it is to think about how we S.E.R.V.E. God at work.
How can we S.E.R.V.E. God at work?
S — Show up.
"Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ" (Ephesians 6:5). Being present, reliable, and genuinely engaged is itself an act of worship. Half of faithfulness is simply being someone people can count on to be there.
E — Exceed expectations.
"Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Ephesians 6:7). When Christ is your audience, "just enough to get by" quietly disappears. You bring energy to the work because of who it's ultimately for.
R — Respect everyone.
"Obey your earthly masters with deep respect" (Ephesians 6:5). That means the difficult boss, the frustrating coworker, the customer who tests your patience. Respect isn't reserved for the people who've earned it—it flows from who you answer to.
V — Value integrity.
"Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you" (Ephesians 6:6). This is the whole "no one's watching" test. Integrity is who you are when the boss has left the building—and Someone always sees.
E — Express Christ-like character.
As Paul writes elsewhere: "Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. ... You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had" (Philippians 2:3–5). Your character does more preaching in a workplace than any words ever could.
Your Work is a Witness
Which brings us to the question this whole passage is quietly driving toward:
What do my coworkers know about God based on how I work?
Not based on the verse in your email signature or the cross on your desk—based on how you handle a deadline, an unfair critique, a coworker who gets the credit you deserved, a task nobody will ever check. Your desk, your job site, your inbox—these are the places most of the watching world actually encounters a follower of Jesus. For a lot of people, you may be the clearest picture of Christ they'll ever get, and it comes through the way you work.
And none of it is wasted:
"Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free." (Ephesians 6:8, NLT)
The overlooked effort, the honesty no one noticed, the extra care you gave a task that no one thanked you for—God saw all of it. Nothing done for Him is ever lost.
So this week, walk into your workplace with new eyes. It isn't just where you earn a living. It's where you get to worship. When Christ is your true Master, even the most ordinary work becomes a witness.
Share this with someone this week.
Almost everyone works for someone, and almost everyone has felt the pull to coast when no one's checking. Send this to a friend who's been grinding away in a job that feels invisible or meaningless—there's real freedom in hearing that God sees the effort no one else notices, and that nothing done for Him is wasted. Or share it with someone who's been drawing a hard line between their "faith life" and their "work life," and let them discover that the two were never meant to be separate. Sometimes the most encouraging thing you can tell someone is that their ordinary Tuesday matters to God.
What are you going to do about it?
Read Ephesians 6:5–9 slowly this week — once a day if you can. Each time, let Paul's central reframe sink in: you ultimately work before Jesus, not your boss. Then ask yourself the question this passage is really driving at: What do my coworkers know about God based on how I work? And go a layer deeper: Where have I been cutting a corner, coasting, or showing a different face when no one's watching? Pick one part of S.E.R.V.E. to put into practice this week—show up more fully, exceed an expectation, extend respect to someone difficult, close an integrity gap, or lead with Christ-like humility—and do it as worship, not just work.
About the Ephesians Series
God has always had a plan. The book of Ephesians reveals the incredible story of God’s plan to bring salvation to all people through Jesus Christ and unite them into one family. In this 13-week series, we’ll discover what it means to live with purpose as people who have been chosen, redeemed, and called by God. Along the way, we’ll explore how the Holy Spirit transforms our everyday relationships—with family, friends, the Church, and the world around us. Ephesians is an invitation to step into God’s greater story and live the kind of life we were created for.