The Slave to Master Relationship

Transcript

GR 993
12/07/97
The Slave to Master Relationship
Colossians 3:22-4:l
Gil Rugh

The book of Colossians in your bibles, Colossians in the third chapter. Its important to keep in mind the order or flow of the letter to the Colossians as we move through Chapter 3. The first two chapters were devoted to clearly laying the doctrinal foundation for life, setting forth the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has reconciled us to God through His death on the cross, and the payment in full for sin was paid by His death and when we believe in Him, we are declared forgiven, declared righteous by God and brought into right relationship with Him. Now this salvation that we experience in Christ transforms us completely from the inside out. It makes a difference in every way in our lives. And what Paul begins to do in Chapter 3 is talk about the differences that are to be seen in the life of the child of God. The first l7 verses of Chapter 3 he talked about the differences and the characteristics that were to be true of all of us as God’s people. Then with verse l8 he began to focus in on different groups. If you are a child of God who has been transformed by His grace, you are living by the power of the indwelling Spirit, your life is being conformed and transformed into conformity with the character of Christ, lived according to the word of God. Then you will live in this way. Wives will be obedient to their husbands, husbands will love their wives, children will obey their parents, fathers will not exasperate their children. This is the realm in which we are talking in our study now.

We come to verse 22 where he moves to a different group. He has talked about wives and husbands and children and fathers. With verse 22 he begins to talk about slaves and then in Chapter 4, verse l he will talk about masters. You will note the instruction to the slaves takes up the largest section of any of the groups. The wives got one verse really, as we have it in our bibles, one sentence. The husbands, one verse. The children, one verse.

Fathers, one verse. Slaves, verse 22, verse 23, verse 24 and verse 25, which will form a transition to masters as well, this slave, master responsibility. It could be a very ugly situation. Slavery in many ways is ugly no matter what form it takes, but in Roman times it could be extremely ugly. A slave was a possession. Cicero, many of you are familiar with at least by name. He died about 43 B.C., so shortly before Christ was born. In one of his letters he gave the advice, ‘If you are on a ship that gets caught in a storm and you need to lighten the load of the ship, it’s always better to through overboard an old slave rather than a good horse’. That gives you some idea of the perspective on slaves about this time. A slave was just a possession and so you evaluated them the way you evaluate other possessions, and in that context a master was free to do with his slaves as he pleased. I mean, it was your possession. If you want to go home and you take one of your lamps and decide I’m done with it, I’m going to break it and through it in the garbage, it’s your possession, you do it, it’s your loss. Well, that’s the way a slave was viewed. If you killed your slave, well, it’s your business, it’s your possession. And they have records I’ve read you on other occasions of masters gouging out the eyes of a slave for something he did. Well, it’s your loss, it’s your possession. I mention that just so you understand that a slave’s life could be all but unbearable. Now it wasn’t that way for every slave. Some slaves had a very good life. They were well taken care of. They had great responsibility. Some slaves lived better than some free people lived. They had a better life, better living conditions, more responsibility. So it varied greatly, depending on the master and the particular situation of the slave. Slavery was very, very prominent and dominant in the Roman Empire, we’re talking of millions from estimates that were living in slavery. We don’t have slaves per say in our country, slavery having been abolished, but the slave, master relationship does have pertinent application to us because it in many ways would be similar to our employee, employer relationships. Now there are points where it obviously is dissimilar, but much of the Roman society was carried on in this slave, master relationship and business was conducted in this realm and let me read you a quote from one writer, current commentator. ’Therefore, even though there is no exact parallel to such servant status in modern society, the fact that this was by far the most common kind of employee, employer relationship in the ancient world, and that it encompassed a broad range of degrees of functional and economic freedom, means that the application of Peter’s directives to employees today, is a very appropriate one.’


And I want you to keep that in mind as we talk about this. In many ways it overlaps what we have as employee, employer relationships and much of this area of slaves and masters would be similar to our employee, employer relationships with some very significant differences. A slave did not have the freedom generally to change masters and obviously he was a possession. I want to say something about slavery generally because we are not going into the specifics of the right and wrongness of slavery, but I do want to make some general comments because sometimes the scripture is discredited by the improper use of it, when we get to emotional issues like slavery. Let me make a few points that I’ve drawn from someone else, but they are correct and need to be kept in view. No. l, the New Testament, nowhere endorses slavery. The New Testament nowhere endorses slavery, there is never a recommendation to acquire slaves. No. 2, the New Testament nowhere denounces slavery. There is no call for the abolition of slavery. It’s never called sin or evil in the New Testament. No. 3, the New Testament never commands slave owners to free their slaves. The New Testament never commands masters to free their slaves. No. 4, the New Testament never commands slaves to seek their freedom. It never commands them or encourages them to throw off the yolk of slavery. The point being that for believers, slavery or freedom is not the major issue of life. The scripture is not concerned about changing political and social conditions. The scripture is concerned No. l, with the salvation of the lost. No. 2, the scripture is concerned that those who experience the salvation that is found in Christ live their lives, manifesting the character of the God who saved them, whatever their political or social situation might be. It’s not God’s intention that we as His people be involved in reforming society. His concern is that we as His people be involved in manifesting His character in the midst of a lost and unregenerate world. I don’t want to say that the Bible is neutral on the issue of slavery, but basically it is. I don’t want to say that because it may be misunderstood. I think there are certain things that laid the foundation for the abolition of slavery. For example, it is in the scripture that you find that each person is made in the image of God, and so is distinct from all other creation, for they are a human being created in the image and likeness of God, so as to be accorded a certain respect and honor and value, as one made in the image of God. That marks them off from all other created things, from the animal world, from the thing world. We’ve lost perspective on this very clearly. We abort babies but put people in jail if they kill an endangered species of an animal, and we think we are really a wonderful people. Well, we have no foundation for determining that there is a distinction between a human life and an animal because we’ve rejected the word of God. So, I want you to understand that I believe that the scripture does accord a special and unique place to every single human being. But, it is also true that the scripture enables us to live as God’s people in a variety of social and political situations. This would be true of people who want to preach that Capitalism is the most biblical form of government and so on, that’s absurd. Monarchy is the most biblical form of government, and when God established an earthly nation, he established a monarchy for that. When He brings His kingdom to this earth, it will be a monarchy. Now, I’m not proclaiming a monarchy today, don’t go out and say, did you know that Gil Rugh at Indian Hills believes we ought to have a monarchy, No. I believe I can be a godly person and function according to God’s will for me very fine within our form of government and social, financial, political, all of these things.

So, the instructions that Paul will give will not have to do with the evils of slavery, the wrongs of slavery or any of that. It will be how slaves ought to function as godly slaves.
His instruction to masters will be how masters ought to function as godly masters. What we learn from this today is how employees ought to function as godly employees, how bosses and owners ought to function as godly bosses and owners. Very clear parallels can be drawn.

Look at verse 22. What we’re going to do is walk through these verses and then I just want to read through several parallel passages that show the consistency of scripture in the New Testament on this subject. Verse 22 gives the instruction. Slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth. This letter was going to be carried to Colossae by a slave. Chapter 4, verse 9 identifies him as Onesimus. The letter to Philemon was written about this slave who had run away from his master, come into contact with the Apostle Paul in Rome, been gloriously converted and was now being sent back to his master. Paul’s instruction to this slave and all slaves is clear, obey those who are your masters in the flesh, in the human realm, lest there would be any misunderstanding, because we’ll see it in a passage in another place shortly that commands Christians not to become slaves of men. And if we’re not careful to handle scripture consistently and in its context, we run around throwing around scripture, saying, well the bible commands us not to become slaves of men, so slavery is wrong, and we totally misunderstand the scripture. The command to slaves is obey your earthly masters. This would become an issue. Here you are a slave, you are saved by the grace of God. Now you have a master who may be an unbeliever, do I continue to serve an unbelieving master, who I continue to help make him rich and wealthy and by my service enable him to carry on his wicked life. Servants obey your masters. It doesn’t say anything about what kind of master you have. In fact, the scope is unlimited. Slaves, in all things obey your human master. You say, well, there may be an exception. There may be if the slave was commanded to be immoral, to steal.
He would have to say I will obey God rather than men. But, the general flow of his life is I obey my master. Oh, but what if he is vile, immoral, godless. I obey my master.


You see what the scripture does is we’ve seen in each of the areas of responsibility, wives, husbands, children, fathers, it focuses on that person. If I am a slave, if I am an employee, my responsibility is to be a godly employee, a godly slave in the parallel. My role is not to evaluate my master or my boss. Now, if I’m going to be godly I have to function as God says I must. We clutter our lives, we clutter our thinking so that we might blur our thinking and have an excuse for not being godly, because we don’t want to do it. Because, you don’t know my boss, he is the worst. What would you think if you had a master who had gouged out one of your eyes for something you had done, who beat you without mercy. You would think, well this doesn’t apply to me. Slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth. You say, well, you know, I have an unfair boss, I’m not treated properly, I’m not paid fairly, they expect more of me. In all things obey those who are your masters.

Now, we have a freedom as employees that slaves didn’t. We can change jobs, that is the option we have, we can be thankful. A slave couldn’t change masters, but as an employee if I find my boss unbearable, in our society I have the freedom to quit and go to another, oh, it’s not that easy. I didn’t say it was easy, but you have to decide. Is that what God would have. I mean, I can’t say I will not be a godly person because of the boss I have, because of the master I have if I’m a slave. No, my responsibility is clear. Obey those who are your masters on earth. And he clarifies that. Not with external service as those who please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Not just as a man pleaser, not just with eye service literally, external service is I service, not just doing it when you’re being watched to please men. In our context people would say, oh, get busy, here comes the boss. Well, what’s that mean. Well, that means we’re doing it with I service, I don’t want him to think I’m loafing. Sometimes we’re joking, but sometimes there’s seriousness to it. We are, what, not doing what we should. What Paul is saying is we ought to be working all the time as though the boss were standing there watching us. It doesn’t matter whether the master is present or not from his slave, he’s not doing it to please men, he’s doing it with singleness of heart, sincerity of heart, one focus, fearing the Lord. So you see, it puts it into proper perspective now. My life is lived in fear of the Lord, not just reverence but fear. I must have a healthy fear of displeasing Him, of dishonoring Him, and so my life is lived in that realm. I have a singleness of purpose, sincerity of heart. I fear the Lord.

So, I am serving and working from the heart because of that. It doesn’t have anything to do with the kind of job I have, doesn’t have anything to do with the kind of boss I have.
It has to do with the one who is my Lord and my single hearted devotion to serve Him and to be pleasing to Him. What does this mean. It means I am manifesting ungodly character when I say, well, I go to work, but my heart is not in it. Well, what we are told in verse 22 is you better go to work and your heart better be in it. You say, I can’t put my heart into this job. Well, you see, putting your heart into that job is not the issue. You do it with zeal and enthusiasm, not to please men, not because that job is evaluated as in and of itself especially significantly important, but because it is an opportunity for you to be serving the Lord and manifesting your fear of Him. We confuse our lives by blurring the issue. The issue is not the job you have, the responsibility you have, or the boss you have.

The issue is you are a servant of the living God and whatever you do, you do with all of your energy, the best of your ability. You do it with your whole heart. Whatever you do, verse 23, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. You do it heartily, literally out of the soul. I mean this comes from within me. I’m not just doing a job, I’m serving the Lord, and yes, my heart is in it. My boss ought never look at me and say he just goes through the motions. You know, he does what he has to, we couldn’t fire him, we’d get sued, but I can tell his heart is not in it, he really doesn’t enjoy it, he doesn’t want to do it. We’re saying he’s not being godly, because he’s really not putting his heart into his service for the Lord. I have to put this in the biblical perspective, whatever you do, do your work out of the soul, from your heart, as for the Lord rather than for men, not for men. I lose my perspective. You see, for a believer life is transformed. There are no mundane things to be done. Because everything I do with my life, I do for the one who is my Lord. I am His servant, His slave. So, when I’m grumbling about my job, when I’m really not putting myself into it, I’m really complaining about the one who rules over all. And my complaint about my boss is really a complaint about my God who has put me under this boss. Now it becomes a serious spiritual issue. My problem is really a heart problem with the Lord, it’s not the job that I have that keeps me from being godly. If I would have another job, I could put myself in it and my spiritual life would be transformed. No. Well, you know, I could change jobs, that may be a possibility, a slave couldn’t do that. If I only had a different master. If I only had one who didn’t grind me day after day so I’m so tired I can’t think at night, I would be able to serve the Lord. No excuse. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.

One of the worst testimonies I hear as a pastor, some people who have a responsibility of employing other people and they say, you know, I just hate hiring Christians, they’re just not the best workers. That’s a terrible testimony. Whatever the job, whatever the responsibility, if the Christian is doing it, he ought to be doing it to the best of his ability. He may not have the most ability but they ought to say, I tell you, he puts his whole heart into it and does the best he can. He doesn’t have the best grasp of things perhaps, you got to work with what God has given you, mentally and so on. But there ought to be no question that you are doing the best you can, you are putting yourself into it as much as you can. Terrible testimony before the world. It dishonors God and the doctrine of scripture when you, as an employee, are a poor worker, do less than give it everything you have. Well, you don’t understand. You know, they expect me to work longer hours than I should have to. Well, that’s not conditioned here. Now you have certain rights within our governmental structure as an employee and you can use those, although as we’ll see as we move along you have to be careful. You ought not to be a center of unrest, you ought not to be a problem worker. Want to be characteristic, you know, we sometimes demand more of this person than we should, but they always are so agreeable, there is never any complaint, they always have a good attitude about it, a good spirit about them. That ought to be the testimony of your life. I don’t know your job, but Paul didn’t know the masters that these slaves had to serve either. But, the scripture is clear. We have to be godly in whatever situation the Lord has placed us, and if His word, verse 16 of Chapter 3, is richly dwelling within you, then this portion of His word will be richly dwelling within you and it will manifest itself in such a way.

Look at verse 24, Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Now we need to get this into perspective. Here is a slave, he serves this individual. Well, humanly speaking he does, but as a redeemed child of God he is a slave of Christ and everything he does is done for that master. I don’t know what your job is, but you are just as much serving the Lord as a child of God in the doing of it as I am in preaching the word of God to you right now, if this passage means what it says. Do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. If I get up and say, you know, I don’t feel like studying and I’m not going to and you know, just not going to bother and you say, that’s terrible, being entrusted with your responsibility. But, think you go to your job and the Lord has said now here is my child, my servant, my slave, I’m putting him here to manifest my character in doing the best that he can for me here, you say, I’m not going to do it, they don’t pay me enough. What’s that got to do with it. I mean I say, well you know, I’m preaching a sermon, they pay me so much, I’m preaching you one of those kind of sermons. If they would pay me more I’d preach better, you know, I have to admit if they would pay me less I’d still have to preach my best. Does that have anything to do with it. We say, I hope not, you would sell yourself and reduce the ministry of the word of God to a dollar amount, you don’t belong in the ministry. That’s a terrible testimony. What is it, you serve the living God, it is the Lord Christ whom you serve. You don’t work, you’re serving the Lord Christ, this is good enough for Him. I’m giving them what they pay me, nothing more. Well, you may be able to get by with that in the job but is that acceptable to the Lord. We’ll put it into proper perspective here. Nothing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. You understand no matter how much a slave worked, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, everything he did, everything he accomplished, all the fruits of his labor belonged to someone else. He was a possession.

My car brought me to church today, I didn’t pay it, it’s mine, that’s what it is supposed to do. Well, they treated a slave like that. We go to work and say, look, they don’t pay me enough to really work hard at this job. If they paid me more, I’d do more. The world can have that attitude. The danger is when we work in an environment with those kind of people, their thinking begins to shape our thinking, rather than our thinking standing out in the midst of those who think differently.

Ultimately from the Lord you will receive the reward which is the inheritance. The inheritance is the reward. This is remarkable. What you’re going to be rewarded on is not what we think of in the physical realm, but you’re going to be rewarded on is your faithfulness to God in your service for Him. So what your job is, is ugly and is hard and harsh as it may be is an opportunity for you to be serving the Lord and when the ultimate pay day comes, you think God will underpay. You know we stand before Him and He is our master and the inheritance is given, and you’re going to say, Lord, you didn’t pay me enough, you know that job was miserable, I worked harder and you didn’t pay enough.

Nobody thinks that way who has truly been born again. Well, that’s the reward, I’m counting the dollars and say, well, they pay me so much an hour, that’s worth this much work and I get this much vacation and it’s not enough, but I do it. I’m doing this for the Lord. Now humans are getting the benefit from it. The harder a slave worked, the more he produced, the more his human master benefited. But, that’s not the issue. The issue here is I’m serving God, I can only give Him my best, I can only serve from the heart and some day when I stand before Him, he’ll give me the reward which is the inheritance laid up in glory.

You see, often we have a doctrine that we deny by the life that we live. I grumble about my job, I say it’s not fair, they’re not paying me right. What do you expect in an unregenerate world? And we’re denying our doctrine. We’ll see that in some other passages. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Verse 25 is somewhat of a transition versed the masters in Chapter 4, verse l but it includes the slaves as well. We have been just told that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Now, when it comes time for the reward, when the ultimate Master is dispensing the pay, so to speak in the analogy, he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Ultimately the slave has to keep in mind God is impartial. The master has to keep in mind God is impartial. So all I have to be concerned about is being the best employee, the best slave that I can be if that’s my role. Because if I don’t, then when I stand before my master I will suffer for it and I’ll say, Lord, my boss wasn’t fair. Well, we’re talking about you serving Me. I’m going to deal with your boss. What’s that got to do with you serving Me. Well, if he had treated me differently I would have served you better. His treatment of you had nothing to do with your faithfulness to me. It’s going to be like our kids you know. You tell them here is what they’re to do and they go out and do something else and they come back and say, well, you know my friend said, or he---what’s that got to do with what I told you to do. We clutter our lives. Keep it simple. Are you an employee? Then you serve the Lord in that position. Give it everything you have from the heart, only the best will do. If you don’t, it will cost you. If you do, you will be more than amply rewarded. Don’t be worried about being underpaid. You’re not doing it for the physical dollars, you’re doing it for the heavenly inheritance. And it will be without partiality. So, I’ll be judged as me and how faithful I was before the Lord.

Masters, grant to your slaves’ justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven. Keep in mind the judgment will be without partiality. You know, won’t be while the master is here God will give them special treatment because, you know, you always treat the important people differently or better. Doesn’t matter. You know, our roles are clear. Masters, if you are in our context, the boss, an employer, then you have a responsibility to treat those who work with you with justice and fairness. Keep in mind you have a Master who is in heaven. Like you want Him to treat you, you should treat those who are under you. Simple and clear. That’s your responsibility, be just and be fair.
Now, you note the masters are responsible for themselves. The slaves are responsible for themselves ultimately. The most instruction is given to the slaves and they’re in a position that they will be less able to change than the masters. Somebody who employs other people is in a position to set the salaries, has to evaluate. But you know, there has to be a recognition among the employee what they do they do. I have to be a godly employee; the employer has to be a godly employer.

Now, I want to run through some scriptures with you. Back up to I Corinthians 7. I think you will see that there’s a consistency when God addresses this subject. A lot of the frustration, the bitterness, the emptiness, the futility of our life comes from a failure to consider what the scripture says. For people who are trying to find their purpose in life in their job, Ecclesiastes says it’s vanity, vanity of vanities. There is an emptiness to earthly toil. There is a futility to earthly toil, a meaninglessness to earthly toil. When you come to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes everything is put into perspective and it’s the service of the Lord and a recognition of Him in what you’re doing, that puts life in perspective. In I Corinthians, Chapter 7 the concern was some people became believers. If I get saved should I stay married to this unbelieving spouse, I mean the two become one. Should a child of God and a child of the devil be together? Well, if you were already married when you got saved you stay married. What about a slave and a master? Well, if you were saved and you’re a slave you remain a slave of that human master. Look at verse 20, Let each man remain in that condition in which he was called. Were you called while a slave, do not worry about it. But if you are able also to become free rather do that. In other words, Paul isn’t saying you can’t become free if you were a slave. If you are a slave and you get saved and sometimes a master would give a slave an opportunity to buy his freedom and some slaves did. Well, fine. You don’t have to say, oh well, look I was a slave when I was saved, I shouldn’t change. For us today it would be, you know, if you’ve got a tough job and it’s unpleasant and you have an opportunity to take another job, fine, do it. I’m not saying you got to stay in that miserable, wretched, harsh, low paying job. I’m saying if you’re going to stay in that miserable, harsh, low paying job you can’t complain. You have to do it with your whole heart. That’s what Paul is saying to the slaves here. For he who was called in the Lord, verse 22, while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. That’s the verse I referred to earlier. If you just pull that verse out of context you’d say, see here is an antislavery verse. No, ultimately I have to see that my slavery is not to men, it’s to God, and the man that I may be enslaved to is not the focus of my life, it’s the God whom I’m enslaved to, and I am doing what I do in my service for this human master with all my heart, because ultimately I am offering it to my Savior, who is my Master.

Turn over to Ephesians, Chapter 6. The same kind of context as Colossians, very parallel
passage. Ephesians 6, verse 5, 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; not by 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. Could it be emphasized any stronger. May God guard our tongues and our attitudes in the complaints we offer about our jobs. You know, boy, it’s a wretched environment and it’s contrary to being a believer, and it, you know, be a godly person, and if you’re not where God wants you, change. You have that opportunity. You say, well, it’s not that easy. Well, you know, make up your mind. You’re saying I really can’t change then you’re saying I’m where God has placed me. I have to be godly regardless.

Knowing that whatever good thing one does, verse 8, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. So you see the issue of our human condition is not at stake, the issue is being godly whatever our human condition and God will reward us accordingly, whatever our human condition. It doesn’t matter whether you are slave or master. You know, it’s encouraging. You think, boy, I wish God had placed me in this kind of situation where I could have accomplished this. You were in the situation where you can accomplish everything you need to for the Lord. What He wants is your faithfulness. We minimize that. I mean that is an opportunity for you to be faithful and accomplish what God wants you to and you will be rewarded for that. Masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him, a reminder because sometimes slaves would get saved and masters would get saved. Now at Ephesus or Colossae they’re going to church together, and sometimes a slave would think, you know, my master, he professes to be a believer and I think he would give me a raise, in fact he ought to make me a partner, and on and on. But a master ought to also realize, well, he’s a Christian, he won’t complain and he knows he can’t sue me, because you can’t sue a fellow believer, so I won’t pay him fairly. And what can it be, I have sometimes had people come and say, you know, I work for a Christian but I don’t think he’s paying me right, you ought to talk to him. I say, what am I supposed to say. I mean, you know, he’s responsible before the Lord with that. There are other factors he may have to consider. I don’t know, I can’t tell him, all I can tell him is he has to be fair before the Lord and he will give an account for what he does, but the dollar amount I can’t tell him. I can tell you as an employee your responsibility like I can tell him a master his, but the details and specifics of that are between each of you and God. We need to be careful, it becomes a special problem when you have Christians working for Christians and if the master or the boss is being godly, he will be treating them fair. That doesn’t mean that the employee will like what he is getting paid all the time. The employee will be giving it everything he has, no matter what he’s getting paid. Ideally, if both are being godly people then there won’t be conflict.

Look over in I Timothy, Chapter 6. You know sometimes people are concerned that doctrine is not practical but all Paul is talking about here is living out the truth of the teaching of the word of God. The Spirit of God is controlling you, the word of God is richly dwelling within you, the character of God is being produced in you. Verse l of I Timothy 6, Let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor. You consider whoever your master is, whoever your boss is, is worthy of all honor. You say, you don’t know my boss, he is the most despicable person I have ever known in my life. Well, some of these masters would have been like that. It doesn’t say if your master is honorable, honor him. He says if you are a slave, your responsibility as a godly slave is to consider your master is worthy of all honor. No matter who the boss or the employer is, there ought never to be any question, he gets full respect and honor from a Christian employee. That means that employee doesn’t run him down, doesn’t tear him down, doesn’t talk behind his back, so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against. This is the issue for us as believers. I mean I want to bring honor to my God. I want to be faithful to the doctrine I teach. Now, I may be persecuted for my godliness, I may be persecuted for my faithfulness. Some employees may not like it that I work hard, because it makes clear they are not working hard. Certain things I may suffer for, but I ought not to bring reproach on my God or the doctrine of my God by being less than godly in my conduct and behavior as a servant, as an employee. You see, this becomes a very serious matter. This is at the heart of spirituality. We sometimes turn it around and say, well, my job keeps me from being godly. That’s not so, unless you’re a crook.

And let those who have believers as their masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren. It’s a danger. You know, as a Christian boss he ought to be different, as a Christian he should let me free, and on and on. That’s not your business. Let those who have believers as their masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but let them serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles. So you say, I’m working my whole life, I don’t have a thing, I’ll die and my family will just be slaves, my kids will be slaves. If he was really a godly man, he would set me free. Forget it. You ought to be glad it’s a believer that’s getting the benefit of your long hours and your hard work. Sometimes it’s just jealousy. Paul says, look at all of this, you are not only giving the Lord the honor of your service, but whatever you are accomplishing in the physical realm, it is a believer benefiting from it. He lives in that palatial house because you work so hard, aren’t you happy. Not very! He’s driving a Mercedes and you’re riding a bike, aren’t you glad you work so hard for him, since he’s a believer. Well, if he’s a believer, he wouldn’t have bought the Mercedes. That’s not your business. You know I get into more trouble worrying about somebody else’s business, more trouble trying to take upon myself the responsibility God’s not placed on me, and it just creates irritation and frustration in my life all the time. I just say, it’s not my responsibility. If I’m working so hard and he’s driving a Mercedes and I’m riding a bike, that’s between him and the Lord what he drives. I just have to be sure I ride my bike with a good attitude. I don’t like it to be that simple because I want to be angry at them. Teach and preach these things, I got to tell you, at least that’s what he told me to do.

Titus, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Chapter 2. Some people will say, well of course he always slants it for the benefit of the employers because they give more and he wants them to be happy. Well, it’s what it says. Titus 2, you note the issue of the context, verse 7, in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not contradicting. And some people do it, you know sometimes like your kids, they go through this stage and you say, you know, it is a battle every time I tell them something. Well, some employees are like that. You just dread having to tell them what they have to do, because they won’t disobey you, they just make it a hassle. I think we need to be careful. Sometimes we can be within our rights humanly speaking, but not biblically speaking. An employee who is a believer, a godly person ought not to be the center of turmoil or unrest, ought not to be a problem employee, ought not to have an answer for everything, ought not to always be contradicting and arguing and disagreeing, well pleasing in everything, not argumentative, not pilfering. And many commentators on this made the point if you’re not working to the fullest, you are stealing from your boss. You say, well, I don’t take anything out of the store room. No, but if I am, you know, loafing and nobody is checking on me and they don’t know, then I’m stealing from them, that’s dishonest.

Showing all good faith that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. You see what Paul is concerned about. What kind of master you have, what kind of boss you have, no. Do you adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect? One other passage, I Peter, Chapter 2, the context is similar and here it’s submissiveness. Verse l8 of 1 Peter 2, Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, and not just to those who are respectable, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable, skolios, scoliosis, the curved or bent spine. The word means crooked, bent and in the moral context like this, it denotes moral evil, a perverse person. And so you don’t only offer willing obedience and respect to a good and gentle and thoughtful boss, but to those who are perverse, they’re crooked, they’re morally bent, for this finds favor, grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. You see, often our complaints show that we are unwilling to take the greatest opportunity to honor God. No big thing. If you have a boss who is so good to you and so kind to you and so thoughtful, and always wants to tell you, you know, you don’t take enough vacation, take some more days, and we haven’t been paying you enough, we’re going to double your salary with a bonus this year and, you know, in spite of that we want you to take your wife to the Bahamas for a break. Well, who wouldn’t speak well of this boss, and work hard for them and all that. So, the point is God is pleased when you faithfully serve and honor the morally perverse, crooked, unfair person. 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, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

If you were doing the best that you can in your job and serving faithfully and you’re still not getting the raises that you should, you’re still getting dumped on, so to speak. You know what, if you’re being godly in that, God is really well pleased. And what really matters in my life, the amount of my paycheck or the pleasure of God. I mean, I lose my way and we become like the world and then we manifest it before our kids because we come home from work grumbling and complaining and we not only lose our testimony at work we lose it in our home, because the loss of godly character is manifest in all that I do. What a loss and I’m forfeiting rewards which are eternal and then I’m trying to tell my kids, you know, you don’t get involved in this because in the long term it will hurt you. At the same time, I’m modeling for them, all I care about is short term. If they don’t pay me a little more, I’m going to grumble, complain, make trouble and they’ll know I’m unhappy. In other words, the eternal rewards of my God aren’t what’s important, but you got to learn as a kid to evaluate things beyond just today. I realize how important it is for me to model godliness in the world. I think those around me aren’t going to see, boy, he’s a hard worker, they don’t pay him like they should. I think they take advantage of him, but he never complains, he never grumbles, he never causes trouble, he’s so different. Isn’t that the way we ought to stand out in the world, isn’t that what he’s saying here. Besides God is keeping the records. He’s saying he’ll pay us. Don’t be worried you won’t be paid. You have an inheritance that is coming. God never underpays. He’s the master that I serve. How important it is that our salvation be manifest in godly character, how important that our godly character be manifest in our business dealings, our work relationships.

If you have people that work under you, they’re testimony ought to be, he is always fair, he is always just, he is always thoughtful, he is always kind, he always has our best interest at heart, he’s the kind of person that is a delight to work for. He doesn’t take his unpleasant days out on us. He doesn’t make it unpleasant working for him. The job is unpleasant, working for him is not. They may be able to say that. That’s a testimony, that if you have people working for you, you have to have it if you’re a godly man, and we have emphasized the testimony you have to have if you’re a godly employee. May God help our testimonies to permeate this whole area. We don’t like those people at Indian Hills, we don’t like their views on homosexuality, we don’t like their views on the role of women, but I got to say one thing, those people at Indian Hills are the best employees you could find anywhere. Nobody works like they do; no one has the good attitude that they have. Those people at Indian Hills, boy the people that work for them, they’re the people they want to work for. They would rather work for them than anybody else. That ought to be the testimony of our godly character. May God help us to honor him with our lives in our businesses.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for a salvation that is so complete, so full, so encompassing. Lord, we’re encouraged to be reminded that we could be godly people in every situation. I pray for those who are here who are working in tough jobs, working for less than necessary to make ends meet, working for unpleasant bosses. Lord, your grace is sufficient. May they have a focus that is proper and appreciate that they are toiling and laboring for heavenly rewards, not earthly rewards. Lord, I pray that godliness will be the driving desire of every employee and every employer that is represented here today. Lord, I pray for those who do not know you as their God, as their Savior, that they turn from their sin, experience your redeeming grace and know the peace and confidence and joy that can come in every situation and circumstance of life. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.