{"id":14447,"date":"2023-12-15T20:49:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T20:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=14447"},"modified":"2023-12-15T20:49:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T20:49:29","slug":"the-saying-of-the-roman-emperor-marcus-aurelius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/14447\/the-saying-of-the-roman-emperor-marcus-aurelius\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saying of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

You sent us this quote from\u00a0Marcus Aurelius,\u00a0the Roman\u00a0emperor.:\u00a0“To have good repute amidst such a world as this is an empty thing.”<\/span><\/p>\n

How does this fit with what has been said in the past:\u00a0“If you want to know how God feels about you, find out how your boss feels about you.”\u00a0\u00a0I don’t remember word for word, but\u00a0you once said\u00a0something\u00a0like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Good question, Steve.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a case of applying that saying to the right time and place.\u00a0 There are many seemingly contradictory statements in the Bible that are both true, such as these by Jesus:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 5:16.<\/u>\u00a0 “Let your light shine like that before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 6:1.<\/u> \u201cBeware not to do\u00a0your alms before men, to be seen by them; otherwise,\u00a0you have no reward from\u00a0your Father who is in heaven.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It is a matter of the heart.\u00a0 And we need the Spirit to let us know when to do what.\u00a0 I took that saying from the emperor to mean not to chase after the favor of men, for it is vain.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The question is, Why are we doing whatever it is that we are doing?\u00a0 Is it to please God, or to please people?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul exhorted the saints to do whatever they do, “as unto the Lord”, that is, not just to be seen and praised by men.\u00a0 He made this point several times.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Ephesians 6:5\u20137.<\/u> “Servants, submit to your human masters with fear and trembling, with sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ gladly doing the will of God, rendering service with good will, as to the Lord, and not to men.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Colossians 3:22\u201324.<\/u>\u00a0 “Servants, obey your earthly masters in all things, not with eye-service, like men-pleasers, but with heartfelt sincerity, fearing God, and whatever you do, work at it whole-heartedly, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of an inheritance, for you are working as servants of the Master, Christ.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And Paul said that if we live that way, we would please both God and the people around us (Rom. 14:17\u201318).\u00a0 So, while the primary goal is always to please God.\u00a0 If we do that,\u00a0as a rule,\u00a0we will also please our bosses in this world.\u00a0 That is not always the case, unfortunately, because some bosses are not good people, but the ones who are reasonable will be pleased with you if you do your job with your whole heart, “as unto the Lord”.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hope that clears things up for you.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John, You sent us this quote from\u00a0Marcus Aurelius,\u00a0the Roman\u00a0emperor.:\u00a0“To have good repute amidst such a world as this is an empty thing.” How does this fit with what has been said in the past:\u00a0“If you want to know how God feels about you, find out how your boss feels about you.”\u00a0\u00a0I don’t remember word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}