Responsibilities As Slaves

Transcript

GR1774
7/20/2014
Responsibility as Slaves
I Timothy 6:1-2
Gil Rugh

We are going to I Timothy chapter 6, I Timothy chapter 6. We are in a section where he is addressing not only the church as a whole but how the church ought to respond to different segments of the church and you note that with the word honor, for example he talked about widows in chapter 5 and in verse 3 he said: “Honor widows who are widows indeed.” And that word honor and we talked about all that entails with the respect and sometimes the financial support. They are to be honored.

In verse 17 he talked about elders and he said: “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor.” Again, not only the respect due to them but there is some financial remuneration and then he is going to talk about as we come into chapter 6 the matter of slaves and all who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor. Now obviously the slaves aren’t giving them financial remuneration but the respect and honor will also involve their labor that will benefit their masters; so reminding the family of God about their responsibility. It is a different segment of the population, the church population and as we come into this area of slavery we come into an area that is still discussed today and comes up and brings us into the whole area of social responsibility again.

We hear much about immigration issues. I was reminded again today, one of the morning papers has one of these political cartoons and in the cartoon are characters holding up a verse of Scripture and you see editorials where people are writing in and they quote verses of Scripture. One this week where the person, one of the editorials, letters to the editor were writing about Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me” and we ought to be like Jesus and if we are going to follow the teaching of Jesus we want to welcome the children referring to the immigrants. And we are not getting into the immigration policy, good or bad or how it ought to be conducted but sometimes people think they pull out a verse of Scripture and now they can build a whole theology around what we ought to be doing in this day or how we ought to be handling this issue.

And as we have looked at the matter of social and political issues before, the Scripture is concerned with the conduct of God’s people. There are social responsibilities given to the nation Israel in the Old Testament but Israel was the nation God had chosen for Himself. Israel was given no social responsibilities for the Babylonians, for the Assyrians, for the Egyptians and so on but as His people they have responsibility. Basically it is the same thing in the New Testament as the church is responsible primarily for others within the body of Christ. That doesn’t mean we don’t do good to all men but there is no mandate in the Scripture that would involve the church in the social issues of the nation for example.

We talk about our salvation as we talked about in our earlier study today. What God has accomplished in Christ is foundational to everything and while there are portions of Scripture addressed to the unbeliever it is always in the context of addressing their sin, of judgment and the need they have for salvation. Once we have entered into that salvation now we have lives that are to be lived for Him. We are to live as God’s people, manifesting God’s character, living for His glory.

In this, it is important to understand God’s intention and the focus of our life must not be our personal prosperity, our comfort, our ease, freedom from trials the difficulties. We have what we call the health and wealth preachers that appeal to the desire that everyone has to be free from pain and suffering and difficulty but the goal of the child of God is to honor Him and that can be in difficult situations. That can be in unpleasant situations. That can be in unfair settings. That’s not the issue for us. The goal of the Gospel is not to bring about change in society. I keep repeating myself on this because it seems that the church is constantly drawn that way. We want to mix the Gospel and in other studies I have shared with you there has been statements by leading evangelicals that the Gospel has two aspects: the salvation aspect and the social aspect. You don’t have a complete Gospel unless you have both and I think that is a corruption of the Gospel and has no true Biblical foundation. And now if we would have what would be sometimes in the old language called a revival and we would see large numbers of people getting saved that would have an impact on society, obviously because when a person gets saved his life and life style are changed and that has an impact on those around him and so if you have a group of people saved in an area their impact can be felt but the goal is not now to reform society to move it from the black darkness of sin to some kind of grey neutrality. It is to bring people from darkness to light, from lostness to salvation.

We are saying all this because we are coming into a section dealing with slavery and the Bible has been used on both sides of this issue in our past history. Even today it becomes an issue. Although for our nation we have somewhat dealt with the issue of slavery and some promoting slavery use the Bible and some opposing slavery use the Bible or maybe I should say both sides misused the Bible.

We talk about we expect no transformation of the world, its operation until Christ comes. Now you understand I am speaking from what we call a pre-millennial view of history, past history and future history. Post-millennialists believed the world was going to get better and better and better and then we would usher in the kingdom. We have a song we don’t sing here anymore because of that. The darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to noon-day bright and God’s great kingdom shall come to earth, a kingdom of love and light. It’s not going to be that gradual process. It’s going to be the other and the darkness shall get darker and the world shall get worse and ultimately Jesus Christ will break in, in great glory, and establish His kingdom.

Turn back to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6. The Lord’s Prayer given to His disciples, a pattern for the disciples to pray, really follow in their prayers and verse 8 says: “Do not be like them for Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray in this way then: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed to Your name.” Now note this: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s what it will be like when the kingdom comes. They are to be looking for, praying for the coming of the kingdom. That should be the desire of the heart of the believer, particularly these Jews, that would be what they would be looking for. With the conversion of Israel there would be the establishing of the kingdom. That is when Your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It will not happen before then and when people are confused on what the kingdom is it is not some spiritual entity in the heart and so we are in the kingdom today. We are furthering the kingdom, we are promoting the kingdom, we are… No, the kingdom will be here when the King comes and that is when God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven and until that happens as we have referred to in our previous study the whole world lies in the power of the evil one and the people of the world do the will of their father, the devil. And so we are to be shining as lights in the midst of darkness.

Come over to Philippians and then we will come to I Timothy, Philippians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, chapter 2, verse 14. Addressing believers and in verse 12 a parallel with what we are studying in Hebrews earlier today, the end of verse 12: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling and disputing so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent. Children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Among whom you appear as lights in the world holding fast the Word of life.”

You see the position believers have. We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. That does not surprise us. It is an ungodly world and while it is disappointing to see more and more the open display and manifestation of man’s rebellion against God, his perversity, it does not surprise us. That’s the condition of man’s heart. We are to shine as lights, those who have come to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ Jesus but the world around us is a world of darkness. So we are not trying to reform them from their perverseness we are trying to bring them to the salvation that will transform them from within and thus they will become lights in the midst of darkness.

So with that background come over to I Timothy chapter 6 again where we read verse 1: “All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren but must serve them all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these things.”

The New Testament world was a different world in which we live. It was a difficult world. Let me just let you know what some commentators have written about the situation, the hardship, the trials that many had to live with, even those who became believers. One writer comments: “There were something like 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.” That’s a lot of slaves.

Another writer has written: “The Roman world was full of slaves. It has been estimated that in Rome itself at one time about a third of the inhabitants belonged to this social class, slaves. They had become slaves in a variety of ways. Number one as prisoners of war or number two as condemned men or number three through death or number four through kidnapping or number five as those who had been sold into slavery by their parents. And you can add to this, many were born into slavery. They were born to parents who were slaves and so they were the property of the master too. In that society even some slaves had their own slaves, hierarchy in the whole slavery structure.” So it was a dominant social structure in that part of the world and there were differences to the slavery that is in our more recent history but a slave is a slave. A slave had no rights. The master had the power of life and death generally over his slaves. There was no real appeal for a slave who thought he was being treated unfairly or harshly or physically abused. That’s a matter with the master.

Now into this system are those who are born-again. Some who would be slaves, some who would be masters and so the New Testament addresses these matters.

Come back to I Corinthians. We are getting to I Timothy. There would be good reason to think that a large portion, a larger portion maybe I should say it that way of New Testament churches were comprised of slaves just by sheer numbers and by the fact that often it's normal that the Gospel makes its impact on the lower classes. So we come to I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26: “For consider your calling brethren, there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, the base things of the world, the despised God has chosen. The things that are not that He may nullify the things that are so no man may boast before God. By His doing you are in Christ Jesus.” So not many from the upper classes if you will, the mighty, the noble, the wise from human perspective but the lowly, the base, that would seem to indicate and would fit and at least five of the New Testament epistles we have addresses to slaves and sometimes also to masters.

So we talk back in I Timothy 6 about the responsibility of slaves and he starts and we are talking in a believing context here slaves who are believers. He is not trying to address how slaves in the Roman Empire ought to conduct themselves. He is addressing believers in the church. Not expected that unbelievers are going to be desirous of following the instructions of God. “All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor;” to be under the yoke. One commentator writes: “This phrase is a stock one for being under a tyrant or in a condition of slavery and brings out its burdensome character. Slavery is recognized as a condition of low standing on a social level on which the slave was subject to the will of the master and had no innate personal freedom.” So he emphasizes that burdensome responsibility of the slave. He is under the yoke as a slave. The yoke of an oxen is under the control of the master subject to the will.

Now Jesus used this same analogy, a yoke, but to make clear that His role as a master and His yoke was a different character. In Matthew chapter 11, verse 28: “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,” and we will become His slaves, He will become our master. But He says, “For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” And for those of us who have come into the salvation of Christ and now know ourselves as His slaves and Him as our master, can testify it is not burdensome to serve our master. It is not wearisome. His yoke is easy. It’s a great pleasure and desire of our redeemed heart to serve Him but in the real world of slavery that was a difficult position and you had no freedom that was yours by right. The very definition of a slave indicates that. “So all who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor.”

Now the situation here is the relationship to their own masters and as always true, we are comparing one with another and what a slave had to be concerned about was to give his master honor. Well if I had a master like so and so and obviously the slaves would have interaction. They had duties they carried out and so on and they could see other slaves who maybe had masters who treated them more fairly, made their life more pleasant. If I had that kind of master I would give him honor and the point here is “all who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of honor,” that principle of recognizing and respecting the authority that God has placed over them, their masters.

We get an English word from this word translated master. We just carry it over into English, transliterate it over. We don’t translate it we just bring the letters over into English. A despotes is a despot and a despot that word denoted absolute ownership, uncontrolled power. It is used of both God the Father and God the Son and their absolute authority and power. So here he’s not denying the reality of slavery. He’s not minimizing the reality of it. The slave is under a yoke and that picture of that yoke on the animal and he has no freedom of his own and he says control the one who has the yoke on him. He is a master with absolute authority, power over him and you can get books on the Roman Empire and slavery in the Roman Empire and you see how cruel some masters could be and the awful things this slave sometimes had to endure but the slave is not to concentrate on changing his master. There are instructions to Christian masters but not every Christian slave is going to have a Christian master. He will address if you do in a moment. But whatever your master, whoever it is, you count him worthy of honor, respect which will be expressed then in your actions.

You know our actions reflect what is in our heart and mind. We consider them worthy of honor, respect so we shouldn’t serve grudgingly. We shouldn’t serve with the wrong spirit or attitude. We do it showing them all honor and our conduct reflects our true attitude. They are not to be chaffing under the fact that they are slaves. They have to be careful. You know, they want to hear and be taught about the freedom we have been given in Christ. And I think well, I shouldn’t be a slave of men. I have been set free in Christ and you begin to make connections that God does not make. So here you consider them worthy of all honor.

Come over to I Peter chapter 2, I Peter chapter 2. This principle is true in all the areas that we talk about and in the context in I Peter 2 he is going to talk about these areas where believers are in positions where they are to be submissive to others. So verse 13 of I Peter 2 talks about submissiveness to human government and those in authority. So submit yourself for the Lord’s sake. This is why you do it because this is what will please the Lord and honor Him. “To every human institution, whether the king as one in authority or of governors.” Why do you do that? It is the will of God. Verse 16: “You act as free men because we have been set free in Christ but you do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but you use it as a slave of God.” And as a slave of God we can’t claim to be a slave of God and chaff against the position He puts us in. If I am a slave of God I have no will of my own. His will is my will and my desire is to be His will. Well we want to please Him. This is the will of God so when we are dealing with human government that’s why we submit.

When you come down into verse 3: “You will have in the same way you wives be submissive to your own husbands.” This is the same principle and in this context we come to verse 18: “Servants be submissive to your masters with all respect.” They are to be shown all honor, all respect. It’s to come from a heart because what? If my heart is to do the will of God, to be pleasing to Him as His slave I have to be careful that I don’t use a Biblical truth to support unbiblical conduct. That’s what he said in the previous verses. Verse 16: “Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but as a slave of God.” There’s the point. The idea I have been set free in Christ, I will not be the slave of man. It does like well yes, there’s a theological connection but it’s not a Biblical one. It is one we created because the will of God is that we do submit. So here, verse 18: “Servants be submissive to your masters with all respect.”

Now here it becomes even the more difficult part. “Not only to those who are good and gentle but also to those who are unreasonable.” And the word there as you have it in your margin, perverse, and you realize how perverse and mean-spirited men can be when they don’t have restrictions on them. Some slaves had to endure terrible things and were treated unfairly. You will note – what is the will of God? What is required of a slave who is also a slave of God? My first choice is I want to do the will of my master, God. He is the one that I serve. Now what should I do here with this perverse and unreasonable human master that I have? I don’t have to pray about it. I am going to pray about it and see what God wants me to do because this is really an unfair, unreasonable situation. Well He has already told me, be submissive. Why? Verse 19: “This finds favor,” the word grace. “This finds favor.” This is what is pleasing to God. “If for the sake of conscious toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.” Well, I am willing to serve this master and give him his respect and his due but not when he treats me like this. What does Scripture say? This is what finds favor, this is what is pleasing to God. When my conscious tells me is unfair, unreasonable, perverse as this master is I am serving him because ultimately my service is to the God that I serve and His will is that I submit here. That is the point. “This finds favor for the sake of conscious toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience? But when you do what is right and suffer for it and you patiently endure it this finds favor with God.”

Now again be careful because we delude ourselves. You know we think well this situation is unfair. Nobody is arguing here whether slavery is just or unjust, whether the master is fair or unfair, it doesn’t matter. You know we complicate our lives by bringing in all kind of peripheral, unimportant, unnecessary issues. Well would God want me to serve a master who is so perverse, no unreasonable? Would God put me in such a situation like this? Are you a slave? Is that your master? Then He put you there. You think things are out of control? You think God has somehow lost it here? The issue really becomes am I willing to submit to God? Isn’t that the issue? That’s why He brings up you do it verse 16, “As a slave of God.” We translate the word there bond slave but it is just the same word, slave; “As a slave of God.” That’s my ultimate master so I do His will. The will here is not what I would expect.

Then he gives the example of Christ who suffered unjustly, unfairly. He didn’t commit any sin but verse 23: “While being reviled He did not revile in return. While suffering He uttered no threats, kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously.” He served His Father perfectly and that’s the pattern for us. And He did it for our benefit. He did it to carry out the will of God and then chapter 3: “In the same way you wives,” the same way he has been talking about. It doesn’t matter what kind of husband you have. It doesn’t matter what kind of master you have; it doesn’t matter what kind of king you have or human governor. We need to remember that. We can get awful disrespectful toward our president and not show honor and respect. We’ve got to be careful about that don’t we? Well if he didn’t do that, if he’d do this.

You think Nero was somebody that you would respect? Even unbelievers ultimately got so disgusted with Nero they drove him to suicide so he wouldn’t have to suffer at their hands. That’s who was on the throne when this was written, ruling as king. It’s not because he is somebody respectable and honorable. He’s the man who is going to put Christians to the torch to light the coliseum. He’s the man whose going to have Peter executed. He’s not a nice man. All Peter has to say about this is verse 13: “Submit yourselves to the king, for the Lord’s sake.”

One thing you have of Paul when he is before the authorities, you always find him dealing respectfully with them. You don’t find him railing on the unfairness. He uses his citizenship as a Roman citizen. He can claim, “I am a Roman citizen, I will exercise my rights here.” But you don’t find him, you know, railing on the system or the individuals that he is before.

So you regard them worthy of all honor and come back to I Timothy 6. The principle here is true in all the areas of our life where we have authority. We could carry that over to where we are in our jobs today as we sometimes do. When someone is put in authority over me I respect that authority. God has established authority for order in His world and even with people in authority that we are frustrated with and we see decisions being made you know we are thankful for authority. Here we are studying the Word of God together. I’m glad there are authorities in our city that keep order and so on. Even in Rome with the godless men who served as rulers during New Testament times provided some safety, some security, some order for the Gospel to be carried out. Sometimes Paul was in prison unjustly. He just took it as an opportunity, Philippians chapter 1: “My imprisonment for the Gospel has turned out for what,” the spread of the Gospel. People who would not have otherwise had opportunity to hear the Gospel are hearing it. He saw everything from the perspective of how God was using him even in putting him in situations that were difficult the humanly speaking unfair because Paul looked at it – what? My God is in control and I am His slave and I serve Him.

So back in chapter 6 of I Timothy, verse 1: “All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters worthy of all honor.” Note the purpose: “So that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against,” not be blasphemed. I think this sometimes happens in the public realm. Christians disgrace themselves, maar the testimony by behavior and speech that is not consistent with what God’s will is and Christians become a problem not because they preach the Gospel but because they are social reformers so to speak.

The Bible doesn’t speak for slavery or against slavery. Christians live within whatever system God has placed them. Now we are privileged to live in a system that provides much freedom for us. We can be thankful for that but our responsibility to God would not change if we weren’t in this kind of system. The Scripture is not concerned with changing the political system, the social setting or whatever setting you are in. They are in a situation where slavery. Well the prime thing we want to focus on is doing away with the unfairness of slavery in our society. Not an issue. If you are a slave in this society here is how you function. If you are a master, here’s how you should function as well. We don’t want the name of our God and the teaching that entrusted to us to be spoken against. I mean are we slaves of God? If my conduct causes people to speak against the God that I serve there is something wrong with my conduct. Now again if it’s because I am being faithful to Him as Paul would be imprisoned for that, then so be it. But we need to be careful that we are walking carefully here.

Turn over just a little bit from I Timothy, II Timothy to Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2, verse 9: “Urge slaves (again translated bond slaves here) to be subject to their own masters in everything.” That is sometimes added in context where we talk about submissiveness, in everything. They are your master if the Lord has put them over you then you don’t decide when you will be submissive and when you won’t. God has put you under that authority so you submit to their authority.

Note, “To be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering but show all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior in every respect.” And then he talks about “the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all men.” You see how quickly. Well what about slavery, what about the difficulty of my position as a slave? “The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation.” God has placed me as a slave in this household to be a testimony for Him, to serve my God by giving complete respect and trustworthy service to my master unfair and ungodly and perverse as he may be because I serve the Master of all and the grace of God bringing salvation has come to my heart; the foundational truths that are to permeate our lives.

Back to I Timothy chapter 6. What about if you have a believing master? Well believing masters ought to realize that slavery is an affront to human dignity. God created us to be free, to be able to make our own decisions. I’m different than an animal. I’m different than a piece of property. We can begin to look at all this. It sounds good, it’s just not Biblical. Those who have believers as their masters should tell their masters they should be set free. No, “Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren.”

You know we talked about in Peter those who had masters who were not believers and they were unfair and they were perverse. The responsibility? Be submissive. What if you have a Christian as a master? Well shouldn’t a Christian understand that I was created in the image of God as he was? I was created to be able to make my own decisions even as my master can make his own decisions. I should be free to serve my God and do what I believe God would have me do. That’s not Biblical. “Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren.”

And you can see how that would come in the thinking and you know we easily carry that over into today. We are not in slavery but you might work for a Christian boss, a Christian owner. You think well he ought to pay me more, he’s a Christian. There ought to be a little more equality here. None of that is addressed. Masters are to treat their slaves fairly but the slave needs to be careful. He’s still the slave. The believing master is still the master so he owes him his complete respect. He must not be disrespectful, not look down on him.

The word was used back in chapter 4, verse 12 when he told Timothy: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness.” Be disrespectful because of your youthfulness. They must not be disrespectful to them, look down on them and so not show them proper respect. In other words, I think less of him and his spiritual condition. He’s a believer. I just don’t think he ought to view me as his property. Well, you are created in the image of God but God has put you in a social setting in this context and that’s not your decision. So that’s how you serve.

Now think about this in the church. Here we are, we are gathered. If we lived where a large percentage of our city were slaves we could have a mixture here of a large number of our congregation are slaves and a number of our congregation are masters. We could have a situation where a slave is an elder in the church and the master is not. You can see how the pressure intention there. There is no indication anywhere that there were churches for slaves and churches for masters. Here he is talking about believers, their conduct in the household of God. It’s healthy for us to be mixed together with our diversity because we are to learn to function as God would have us function. And it would be a difficulty here but pressure is good for us.

The slave doesn’t deserve greater privileges or less work. I mean, what would unbelieving slaves think if the master gave the believing slave preferential treatment. I don’t want you to work too hard. I know you will be going to church this week-end and I don’t want you to have to do the hard labor that these slaves… No, he owes the same service. The master must be respected, must treat fairly but if you have a believing master think about this. You want to serve him all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. That should be an incentive to serve. I’m one who belongs to my Savior, my spiritual Lord and Master will receive the benefit of my service. That’s all the more incentive to serve. I think, well boy, he’s got a nice house and I’m living in slaves quarters. He rides a nice chariot and I walk. I carry the burdens and he doesn’t. I do the dirty work and clean the toilets and I think well Lord, thank You for giving me the privilege of serving one of your children and that he can benefit from my service for You.

So, no matter what the setting, you see what he has done. You have a believer who is a slave just takes these truths of Scripture and puts them into practice. It cleans up his life. It takes the clutter out of it. We like to clutter our lives because then we think our decisions are so hard. If you are a slave what is your responsibility if you are a believer? Serve your master with all respect.

Alright, now remember, there are different kinds of masters. What do you do if you have an unbelieving master who is perverse and unfair? You serve him with all respect. Well what about if you have a master who is a believer and you serve him with all respect. Now all of a sudden the Lord clears out all the confusion of our life. If I am a slave I can concentrate on what my responsibility is. I don’t have to be focused on what my master’s responsibility is because God hasn’t called me to be His master; he has called me to be His slave. That’s the position He has put me in. This is God’s will for me.

It’s true in every area of our life. Christians are great for this. We clutter our thinking and it just becomes an excuse not to function Biblically. That is one of the reasons why we will find this whole issue of slavery addressed. I wrote down all the books it is in – Ephesians, Colossians, Titus, Peter, Timothy. Don’t clutter your life as though, well the Scripture is not clear. I’ve got to try to work through this. You’re a slave, here’s what you have to do – serve your master with all respect. Serve him faithfully. Serve him recognizing your Master is the Sovereign God and this is His will. That’s the principle.

Back up to the book of Ephesians now, Ephesians chapter 6. We will read some of these other passages. You see a consistency. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 5. These come at all in the context, this ties back to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15: “Be careful how you walk.” And the command in verse 18 of Ephesians 5: “To be filled with the Spirit,” and then being submissive, “subject to one another in the fear of Christ because we desire to honor Christ.” So then "wives be subject to your husband," "children are to submit their parents, obey their parents" and then you come then verse 5 to slaves. “Slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.” I am concerned not to displease my master. This is talking about the physical man who is my master. I am to have a fear and trembling. I don’t want to displease him. I am offering this service as to Christ. We think we can go around the master and serve Christ. No, because if I am not having this kind of obedience to my master I am disobeying Christ. This is His will. “Not my way of eye service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men,” and then a word in verse 9, the masters, do the same things to them and remember you have an accountability to God, obviously addressing believing masters here, don’t forget your accountability but obviously the slave is in the more difficult decision but the master has the responsibility to recognize you have a master as well so you’re treating of your slaves is to be the way that your master would have you do it but the bulk of it is instructed to the slaves here. You can’t be serving Christ as your master if you are not giving this kind of obedience and honor to the one He has put over you.

Come over to Colossians chapter 3, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter 3, verse 22, a similar kind of context and it’s a result of the Word of God richly dwelling within you and verse 17: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Wives, be subject to your husbands." Verse 20: “Children be obedient to your parents.” Verse 22: “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, (from your heart, from your soul) as for the Lord, rather than for men. Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Then the reminder, God will judge without partiality.

The instructions are simple. The Word of God is clear. We either live in obedience to it or we don’t. We fuss around, we adjust so we even say, “Well we don’t have slaves today, how does this apply? The principles are the same as we see it, each of the relationships. And in the difficulty we have and today we don’t have slavery but we hear people complaining about what they get paid, the kinds of things expected of them, the hours they put it. It doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to get a better job if we want. We have certain liberty here. But we don’t have the liberty to be disrespectful. If I am working this job and this is the person over me I can’t go around grumbling and complaining, “He doesn’t pay me enough, he’s not fair.” No. Now I may have the freedom, I can go get another job. Well getting another job is not so easy. There is nothing available so I guess you are where the Lord wants you, right? Now what does the Scripture say? “Do all things without murmuring and complaining.” Well you don’t know my boss. He’s just not fair. I’ve been working there 20 years and only got a ten cent raise. You can’t call that fair. Well, why are you still there? In our society you have a choice. You can leave. Well it’s not that easy. No, it’s not only that easy, when you were a slave in the Roman Empire it was not possible but if you don’t think you are where the Lord wants you, you better move. If you are where the Lord wants you, you better do what He says, right?

So what is the clutter in our lives? Just clean it out. Here is what He says, it’s black and white. Some people complain about me; I am black and white. I remember a Bible college professor. One of the students said, well the professor when he told him my position he said well the problem with Gil is he is too black and white. My response to him was his problem is he is not black and white enough. What does it say? I mean does God mean what He says and say what He means or not? So then he says, teach and preach these principles, these things.

Alright, let me give you a summary. There are some things I wrote down here. #1 and these would be applicable to us in our situations, all areas where we are in submission and it would include our jobs since that is parallel to what we have since we work in a business and you say well yes, slavery fits where I work but principles are the same.

#1 – we are to be showing proper honor and respect to our master or our boss. Terrible testimony of someone to say well so and so works there. I would hate to hear, oh yes, I think he goes to your church, boy he’s always complaining about something. No, that is a terrible testimony. That is dishonoring the Lord. So show proper honor and respect to those over us including our boss.

#2 - “Be well-pleasing, not argumentative.” I took that from Titus chapter 2, verse 9 where he said: “Urge bond-servants to be subject to their own masters in everything. Well pleasing not argumentative, not contradicting.” Some people just are difficult.

#3 – be trustworthy. Again that is taken from Titus. “Be trustworthy, not pilfering, showing all good faith.” They ought to trust you down to the minutest detail. You must be careful that in your handling of things and conducting yourself it is always above board. He is completely trustworthy. There is nothing I wouldn’t trust him with. You may be in the lowest position and the lowest pay but you should be completely trustworthy. I mean, that is part of your character as a child of God.

#4 – our work comes from a right heart, not just to look good and that is showing honor and respect. Comes from what we just read in Ephesians as well. Our service comes from the heart, from the soul. We are not just putting on a show. We are not just doing this because we want the boss, to look good for the boss and he will say good things for us but you know that’s not really the way I feel. You know the little boy we always joke about it who says, “I am sitting on the outside, but I am standing on the inside.” Well we think it is alright. I am going through the motions. No, our work comes from a right heart. But first of all I want to be right before the Lord. Lord your will for me is to function submissively with a right spirit and a right attitude and I want to please You and You are looking at my heart. So if it’s not coming from the heart I am in trouble with the Lord.

#5 – we do our work for the Lord and not men and that came from Ephesians 6. So I keep that in mind. I cannot serve the Lord and not faithfully serve those He has put over me in any relationship. We are talking about slaves and masters or bosses and workers. That is true with human government; that is true in the home. I cannot act spiritual and say, “O Lord,” but not have a right attitude, not have a right spirit and not be doing my service in that relationship for the Lord then to pretend I want to please the Lord is to make a mockery of it.

And lastly – if the one over you is a believer he is worthy of your best as well. You work for a believer don’t go there thinking, well he owes me more than someone else. You can’t be complaining about your job, those you work for because they are believers. Well they ought to be treating me better. Well that’s between your boss, if you were a slave, your master as a believer that’s between the master. Always we who are in the position of submissiveness think our job is so what? Decide what the master ought to be doing, what the boss ought to be doing, what the president ought to be doing, what the governor ought to be doing. We are just expert in their job. God didn’t call me to be an expert in their job. He called me to be my expert in my job, right? My responsibility is not to do what they are to do. My responsibility is to do what God has called me to do. So if my boss is a believer I don’t decide what he ought to be doing. He decides before the Lord what he ought to be doing.

God has put me in this country, under this president, under this governor, under this mayor. He has called me to do what they do, not call me to decide what they ought to do. If they don’t do it I am going to grumble and complain and you know be disrespectful. I can vote next time but with the right attitude. My God places men in position and I function accordingly.

The honor of our God and His Gospel is at stake. That is a serious matter. If that doesn’t matter to me then I need to back up and find do I really know God? Have I really come to understand my relationship to Him? Am I committed to serve Him, teach and preach these things.

Let’s pray together, thank You Lord for the practicality of Your Word. Lord we are all prone to move around to make adjustments to make excuses for our unbiblical disobedience to You. Lord thank You for the clarity of Your Word. We all want to take on the responsibility you have given to others while we neglect our responsibility. May we be encouraged and reminded and examine ourselves to put these things into practice. Thank You for Your Word and the Spirit who enlightens our minds. Use us in the days of the week before us we pray in Christ’s name amen.