Text:  Ephesians 6:5-9

1. Good labor is a good thing     Ephesians 6:5-9
   1. Obedient to the boss
   2. Obedient to the Lord
      1. Doing our work as unto the Lord
      2. Serving the Lord in our work
      3. Doing the will of God in our work
      4. Working with goodwill serving others
   3. Obedience in work applies to everyone
2. The Lord blesses good labor     Ephesians 6:8-9
   1. This is true of any person
   2. We receive of the work we do
      1. Similar in quantity
      2. Similar in quality
   3. This is always true with the Lord, not always with the world
      1. God commands not to show favoritism to anyone     Leviticus 19:15;  Deuteronomy 1:17; 16:19
      2. God practices what He preaches     II Samuel 14:14;  II Chronicles 19:7
      3. God declares that favoring any one over another is wrong     Proverbs 28:21;  18:5;  24:23;  Exodus 23:2,8
3. Free Enterprise Economic System blesses good labor like God does
   1. Legal labor is rewarded     Ephesians 4:28
   2. Faithful labor is rewarded
      1. The Lord blesses our own spiritual labor     I Corinthians 3:8
      2. We benefit from our own physical labor     Psalm 128:1,2
      3. Individual effort is rewarded     Proverbs 13:4, 11; 14:23-24
      4. The individual has control over their personal benefit     Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:13; 5:18-20
         1. We choose to help others with our earnings     Acts 20:33-35;  Ephesians 4:28
         2. We meet our own needs through our own work     I Thessalonians 4:11-12