Transcript

Amen. Let’s grab out Bibles and let’s go to 1 Timothy 6.If you’re visiting today, we’re going through the book of 1 Timothy on Sunday mornings, 1 John on Sunday nights and we are getting down to brass tacks about structuring and functioning biblically in the local church. Now I hope as a church family we’re not just starting there but Paul, in effect, is pastoring the church at Ephesus through Timothy so he writes this letter giving Timothy instruction on what to do, how to do it, how to organize, how to function as a sound local church and as he’s doing this, he’s correcting errors that were already occurring in the church there, as a pastor that never ends and we’ve pointed out as we’ve gone through the text all the times Paul tells Timothy correct this heresy or correct this false teacher or this false teaching. That never stops. Now as a church matures, it becomes a minor issue but it never stops. A weighty text with wonderful wonderful truth.

Let’s look at it together. 1 Timothy 6:1-2.

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. 2 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 principles.

I’ve entitled this exposition “Serving Christ While a Slave.” You know, that’s the wonderful thing about the power and the wisdom of Christianity, that there’s no social setting where you cannot be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not primary about social revolution. Christianity is not fundamentally about changing your circumstance. Christianity is about changing you in your circumstance. You can honor Christ wherever you are. You can be a good disciple wherever you are and know that God may allow you and it may be right to change your circumstance, but if he does not you can be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ because God in his sovereignty has placed you where you are. Some of you right now, “If I could just get out of this marriage.” You can’t. You said, “I do.” You said, “For better, for worse.” It’s gotten worse but there you go. “If I could just get these kids raised. If I could just change my employment. If I could just this or that.” And that’s not all wrong but you’ve got to learn to joyously honor Christ where you are and that’s the point of this text.

Let’s look at it this way, I., let’s look at some background on slavery. Some background on slavery. A couple of words that the apostle uses here for those who are slaves, the first word is the word “yoke.” The word “yoke.” He just words it this way, “All who are under the yoke.” It was a very common word, of course. Literally the word means “to join or to couple together.” That’s why we speak of a yoke of oxen. They’re locked in together. It was used metaphorically in this day for anybody who was under a burden or who was in bondage and therefore it was commonly a metaphor for those who were slaves. Interestingly, also the word “yoke” is used to refer to those who are under the law. Paul would say, “If you’re trying to achieve a right standing before God by keeping the law, you’re under a yoke. You’re under a burden. You’re in bondage.” Also it’s used in the New Testament of those who have received Jesus Christ and are following Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Matthew 11:29-30, our Lord said, ” Take My yoke upon you,” get under my burden, get connected to me, connect to me and I’ll be your Master. That’s what that means, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 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.”

So it’s used in a lot of different ways but primarily the, to picture in your mind a confinement, a joining together, a burden. So he says all of you Christians who are now under the yoke as slaves, I have some instruction for you. Well, that’s the next word, “slaves.” Look at it there in verse 1, “All who are under the yoke as slaves.” Now most likely verse 1 is referring to how you’re to respond if your master is an unbeliever. We know for sure verse 2 refers to how to respond if your master is a believer, but let’s talk about this word “slaves.” We’ll spend a little bit of time here. The word “slave, doulos,” literally means “bond man.” You’re bound under them, so to speak. Now it’s interesting that in the Bible this same Greek word is used in a lot of different ways in a lot of different contexts. For example, [cough], excuse me. In the Greek Septuagint when the Old Testament was first translated from Hebrew into Greek, they used this Greek word, doulos, often and in the Old Testament it’s used of voluntary service to other people. For example, when David said he wanted to be the bond slave of Saul, the king, he voluntarily placed himself as the servant, the slave of Saul. That’s 1 Samuel 19:4. Then over in the New Testament, Paul told the Corinthians that he was their bond slave. He had bound himself to serve them for Christ’s sake.

So it’s used often of voluntary service, devotion, even becoming the slave of another. It’s also used of those who would be managers, or you might say in a higher class of slavery. We’ll talk about that in a moment. In, in, in my, ah, upbringing and in my general understanding before studying things, ah, as I’ve been able to study in the last 25-30 years, when I thought of slavery I thought of a whip on the back and chains and living in a dungeon-like setting, and unfortunately that’s all too common in history, but in the ancient world it was very common for slaves to be managers, superintendents, if you will, and, ah, they were not in that menial level, if you will, of being a slave, and this same word was used often of those in that position like in Matthew 18:23. Moses, for example, is considered, he considered himself a bond slave of God. All Christians also, Romans 6:16, are to consider themselves Christ’s bond slave. And then all Gospel ministers in Matthew 20:27 are considered bond slaves and servants. The false concept that we carry around and it’s, I guess you might say socially or secularly it’s not false but spiritually and truly it is false and that is that there are some who are free and there are some who are slaves. Not true, we’re all slaves. All of us are slaves of someone. All of us. I’ll get on this in a moment but that’s the key to understanding what Paul is saying here.

Now let’s, let’s get a little cultural context under this background on slavery here. Scholars estimate that during the Roman Empire of the first century which is when Paul is writing, that as many as 50% of the citizens were slaves. There were some cities in the Roman Empire where you walked down the road, every other person you saw was someone’s slave. It was wholly common. It was not considered strange, unfair, demeaning. It was just the way the culture was structured. Matter of fact, in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia which is, I think, a good and reliable source for historical things concerning biblical days, they said this, “Slavery existed in all known human society as far back as records have been found.” If you study history at all, you’ll find that practically speaking, there may be a rare exception here and there, but practically speaking all societies of all generations up until about the middle part of the th 19 century embraced and practiced slavery. I have 10 pages of notes to substantiate that. I’m not gonna use them, okay, so breath comfortably. I’m not going there. I might go there tonight, though, because I was shocked, honestly I was shocked at how many peoples through the ages had embraced, practiced and defended the practice of human slavery. Matter of fact, it’s the rule, not the exception that most societies did, indeed, do this.

Well, back to the Roman Empire of the first century. So you ask yourself there’s all these slaves and certainly I think it’s likely the majority of church members in the early church were slaves. So where did they come from? Well, scholars say that most likely the majority came as war captives. Rome was conquering the known world and when they conquered an enemy, they would bring their peoples back as their slaves. Then, of course, as time went on, they just bred slaves. They, ah, and for many peoples that’s all they knew. Their children would be slaves and their children’s children would be slaves. And there was what, there’s a, a Greek word for this, they were man stealers that were very common in this day. These band of pirates, as such, that would invade and raid places and lands and bring back everybody they could and sell them as slaves. Matter of fact, the th Arab world, particularly the northern coast of Africa in the 17-18, part of the 19 century, they bought and sold about 17 million slaves. It’s just been common throughout the decades, really common in this day. You know how the Arabs, the Islamic kings of northern Africa typically got their slaves? They got them through pirates. They’d capture ships and everybody they captured on the ship, they didn’t really capture the ship primarily for the treasure, they captured it for the people because they could make a lot more money selling those people as slaves. The British Empire in one year lost 644 ships to the Barbary Coast pirates, the Islamic kings of northern Africa. Well, I’m getting off track, am I not? Let’s get back to the first century Romans.

A large percentage of the slaves of this day were people who voluntarily sold themselves into slavery. Now you may say to yourself, “How in the world? Who would sell themselves into slavery?” Folks, it hasn’t always been like it is right now. Most of history records that the majority of people on earth throughout antiquity thought it was a good year when they literally had enough to eat. Poverty was severe. People struggled just to survive. Having decent clothing and a decently safe place to lay your head and enough food to feed your wife and your babies was almost a luxury at times. So it was very advantageous to sell yourself as a slave where that master who had well-being could feed you well and clothe you and your family well, and at least give you a place to rest. So a good percentage of slaves in this day voluntarily sold themselves into slavery because it was better than the life that they had.

Here’s another thing that’s very interesting because it’s very well documented in history. Slaves were often well educated. They were often skilled people. And they were often paid well. Slaves became doctors and nurses, and educators, and managers, and ship captains, and accountants. Sometimes slaves owned their own property – are you listening – and sometimes those slaves had their own slaves. They did such a good job for their masters and helped his company make good money and he blessed them and they had enough money to hire themselves some slaves. It’s just the way it worked.

Slave rebellions, historians tell us, in this day were common but it’s interesting the slave rebellions of the first century or around that time were not mainly about the dignity of human beings and that men shouldn’t be slaves, it was mainly that they might be free and then they would get their own slaves. We see it commonly in history. I’m not the historian I ought to be, though I do read a lot of history, but I think you would find it clear if you read accurate history that the concept of all men should be out from under slavery because they’re created by God with equal dignity and sanctity is a Christian concept. It took Christian doctrine being spread for that to finally be embraced in the world.

Now one interesting thing that I found out was that Roman law in the first century was set up so that likely by the time you were 30 years of age as a slave, you would be released. You would be freed. Now you would, you would, you would have earned your manumission, so to speak. So it was very rare that you went into old age as a slave. So you can see a young man growing up in abject poverty and realizing, “This is what my father did and my father’s father did, I want out of this. I’ll sell myself, I’ll join myself to this wealthy master. I’ll work hard. I’ll be obedient and then by the time I’m 30 I can have my own freedom.” It’s understandable how they lived with that kind of mindset. It may be foreign to us but in that context it wasn’t foreign or illogical at all. Matter of fact, at one point so many slaves were being set free that Caesar Augustus sought, thought it was upsetting the stability of the culture and Caesar Augustus passed new laws to restrict the numbers and the ages of people who could be released out of slavery.

Now coming back to Jesus’ statement, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Take My yoke upon you. Make Me your Master.” Now I’ll be honest with you, early as a Christian when I read that I thought, “That’s not real encouraging. I’m supposed to take the yoke of a slave?” Because, see, my mindset was only the worst possible setting with oppression and beatings and horrific environments to have to live in, and unfortunately history records a lot of that happened but it would’ve been common in this era for some slaves to look at other slaves and say, “Hey, man, he’s got it made. He wears nice clothes. He gets good money. His, his master’s nice to him.” So when Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you,” it’s easy, a slave of this day could grasp what that means. “Oh, Jesus is like those good masters who are wealthy and take good care of their folks. If we honor Christ, if we come to Christ, it’s not like the cruel taskmaster who beats his slaves. He’s a good Master.” All of a sudden that text came alive to me when I realized that there were folks who, again, were doctors and lawyers and accountants and well educated, and some of them well paid yet they were another man’s property, they were considered slaves.

Now so as we look at this text and you see what it says, let me make something emphatically clear to you and that is that the New Testament does not teach slavery. The New Testament does not teach slavery. It teaches Christians how to honor Christ if they find themselves within such a system. That’s what it teaches. And in the ancient world there was no other system but that. Everyone was around it, accustomed to it, and I believe most of the early church members probably at some level were slaves. You see, if Christian truth is fully embraced, and if Christian truth is fully practiced, not through the external force of law, though we support that, but through the internal force of the indwelling Spirit, Christianity will, I mean rather slavery will always be absolved. Christianity will always rightfully embraced, fully embraced and practiced, Christianity will always remove the practice of human slavery.

th William Wilberforce was a member of British Parliament the early part of the 19 century. He was a member of Parliament for 30 years and a very godly man. Read some about William Wilberforce. Read about his doctrine, his convictions. And he worked for 30 years to have slavery abolished in the British Empire and in those early years he was completely rejected and scoffed at and he just didn’t quit. Why? Because his Christian, [cough], excuse me, his Christian principle said, “This is not right.” And finally if I remember right 1833 Great Britain passed their laws of emancipation for slaves. Christian principles fully embraced and practiced will always given some time remove the practice of human slavery. I think that’s why you find in our founding documents as a country there are statements in our founding documents about all men being created equally, equally. You can’t embrace that truth and embrace human slavery.

You say, “Yeah, but pastor, some of our signers of the, the, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were indeed slave owners.” Yes, they were also hypocrites or they were good men and godly men and men who ought to be honored and remembered for their goodness but on that point they knew they were wrong. But before you waltz around in your self-righteousness, remember the culture of the day was permeated with slavery. Permeated. Didn’t make it right but we can understand how men can be fallen and weak and write a document based on the… the signers of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence were not all individual Christians but they were of a strong Christian consensus. They knew for this new nation to survive it had to be built on Christian principles and even though it was a refutation and a correction to their own practice, they knew it was right to put that statement in the Constitution which eventually working itself out unraveled the evils of slavery in this country.

Well, that’s just a little bit on background of slavery in the Roman Empire and even some about us, and I’ve got a lot more about slavery in America and in the world that I think illustrates a powerful biblical truth and I’ll decide whether or not I’m gonna go there tonight, alright? Well, actually, no, let’s go ahead.

II. The Christian’s duty if saved while a slave. The Christian’s duty if saved while a slave. So if you’re living in this day, the culture’s immersed in this practice, you become a Christian, what are you supposed to do? Here’s what Paul tells them to do here in this text. Look at it again in verse 1, “All who are under the yoke of slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of our God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.” So first of all, A, they’re to honor their masters. They are to honor their masters. Now interesting he uses the same word “honor” that we’ve been seeing already. Remember over in, ah, the earlier chapter he said, “Honor widows who are widows indeed.” Literally the word means “payment or pay,” but it has the idea of value. There’s value to this. Hold your masters in value, he’s saying. Exact same Greek word again he says in, over in chapter 5 when he says to show double honor to pastor/teachers who work hard in the word and in doctrine. It means “value or payment.” It’s the idea of showing value. He’s saying, “Slaves, now that you’re a Christian, show value to your masters. Honor their authority. Be pleasing to them. Secondly, stay focused on God’s glory.” Stay focused on God’s glory.

Now can I back up for just a moment? What unpleasant circumstance are you in right now? What things in your life, marriage, family, home, environment, work, neighborhood, I don’t know what it is, relative, friend, you’ve got something that’s bothering you right now, what are you gonna do? God would tell you don’t seek to change your environment, seek to change you. Seek what God’s teaching you in that situation. Seek how you can focus on how’s God glorified in this situation.

He tells them here to honor their masters in verse 1 so that the name of our God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Now Christianity is a brand new religion and the point is if all these Christians immediately say, “We’re no longer to be slaves,” and they start a revolt and a movement, the entire Roman culture’s gonna say Christianity is the worst thing that’s every happened and you will lose your capacity to be a witness for Jesus Christ. You will have jeopardized your whole ability to get a hearing to share about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let me remind you as I think Paul is in essence reminding them, you are already in bondage to someone. You are already yoked to Jesus Christ. Who told you you were free? You belong to Christ. You’re not your own. You have a Master. He is Lord and if he’s not Lord, he’s not Savior. Who told you you were free? Who told you you had rights? Who told you you could do as you please? You cannot. You can march down here this morning and denounce Christ, we’ll say you’re not under the obligation of this truth, but if you are his, you’re already under a yoke. You’re already someone’s bond slave and your opinion doesn’t matter if it contradicts his. Period. Well, see, all of a sudden honoring your master on earth doesn’t make that big a deal because I’m already submitted to somebody else fully and if this Master tells me to serve that master, I’m all in. I’m fully for it. Doesn’t it get simple? Is not Christian wisdom just wonderful? Are you listening this morning? You can’t do this in the flesh. Only if the Spirit of God’s changed your heart can this resonate and you walk in it. Only if the Spirit of God’s changed your heart.

He says, “Folks, stay focused on Christ.” What’s the point is? I don’t want our God and our doctrine to be spoken against. The glory of Christ is on the line as to how you behave yourselves. Christ’s will for you, at least for now, is to honor your masters. You ought to be the best servants in all the kingdom, the best example. And can I translate it over to us as employees in the work place? It should never be that a member of Grace Life Church is ever spoken of, “Well, he’s lazy. Well, she comes in late. Well, they don’t give their best. They’re a troublesome person at work.” Never can it be! The doctrine of God can be spoken against if that is our behavior. I wasn’t I think the best employee guys ever had, but I’m telling you every, every job I left I had the boss’s say, “Man, we’d love to have you back.” I was determined to work harder than anybody else. Why? Because my Master told me to. Your employee is not your master, Jesus is your Master and he said don’t do anything for your employer that might denigrate the reputation of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of God that we hold to.

You young men out there going into the work world, don’t you dare come to me whining about, “Well, they didn’t dah, dah, dah, dah.” Well, yippee-yi-yo-kia. Grow up. Be a man. Do the hard things. Do more than the gate, guy next to you at the factory or the plant or the office. Do the stuff that maybe they think, um, is a little abusive, take a little advantage of you. You don’t have any rights anyway. You’re somebody else’s bond slave. You’re to honor your master. For us that translate to your employer. Am I making myself clear? Work ethic. One of the best things you can do as a witness for Jesus Christ. And I’m preaching to Jeff this morning. Be not deceived, I’m preaching to you too.

You’re already somebody’s bond slave. You’re already under someone else’s yoke. You’re already – listen to me – commissioned and have voluntarily committed to carry your cross. Now we sang a song a while ago and I gotta be careful because Tom will go throw it in the garbage and I don’t want him to do that, but we sang a song a while ago where it said, “Jesus took my cross.” That’s okay. It’s not heresy. He didn’t, he took his cross. That was his cross he and his Father chose to redeem the sheep. Now he took my wrath but I’ve got my cross and you’ve got your cross and we have our crosses and for these people in this day in this context, if they’re saved while a slave they were to be the best slaves in the whole household that God and the Christian doctrine might not be spoken against.

So if you deny this truth, that means you’re taking off the yoke of Christ. If you deny this truth, that means you refuse to be his bond slave. If you deny this truth, that means you refuse to carry your cross in Christianity.

Now balance. Have you ever heard me talk about balance? The Bible just gives us all these balancing truths. Balancing truth. 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, ” Were you called while a slave?” Go 21 through 23 if you can find it, Brother Tim. I don’t, I might have gotten out of order there. 1 Corinthians 7:21-23. Well, anyway here’s what it says. “Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.” Notice how Paul says this. The moment you’re saved you’re not to just change everything in your life, be the best Christian you are right where you are. But if there’s a possibility of getting your freedom, go for it. Get it. It’s just not your first priority. Why? Because your first priority is to glorify Christ. It may be that God would leave you in that oppressive position longer because he’s gonna use you as a witness to that whole household. Could be. But Paul says if the doors open up, if it’s right for you to, go for it. Get your freedom

“For he who was called in the Lord while a slave,” this is verse 22, “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.” Now what does that mean in that context? He just said don’t worry about leaving slavery, then he says at the end don’t be the slave of men. Here’s what it means: don’t be the slave to worldly men’s thinking. Men would say, “You’re nothing if you’re the slave of another man. You’re worthless. You’re denigrated. That, that’s the most important thing in life.” No, it isn’t. The most important thing of life is being out from under the yoke and the bondage of sin and freed by the blood of Jesus Christ and a witness for him in this earth knowing that heaven is your home. That’s the most important thing in life. But if God allows it, certainly get your freedom Paul is saying. So it balances out.

You see, our first priority in any circumstance is to honor Christ and be his witness in the world. Can I say that again? Our first priority in any circumstance is first to honor Christ and to be his witness in the world. The New Testament does not teach slavery. It does teach us how to honor Christ and be a good disciple if that’s the circumstance we are in. Our goal is never first to seek changes in our outward circumstances but be consistent in our outward witness for Christ. What has Paul said to the Corinthians? If you can change them, change them. Don’t make it your priority.

Here’s, here’s the thing that’s hard to learn. If God has you in a difficult circumstance, he’s more interested in building Christ’s character in you through the difficulty than he is getting you out of the difficulty, and if you sneak out of that difficulty, he just has to get another difficulty. You remember the old, um, hammer and chisel illustration? This does not represent the, the relationship of husbands and wives or moms and dads, by the way. It’s like the dad is the hammer and the wife is the chisel and the young person is the unfinished diamond. And sometimes young people say, “If I could just get out from under this. I don’t like all these rules at home.” But God’s saying, “Be wise. I’m, I’m chiseling on you to make you more like Christ through your mom and dad.” “Well, I tell you what, I’m getting out from under dad. I’m getting out from under the rules. I’m getting out from under mom and all the nagging of mom. I’m gonna leave and I’m gonna join the Marines.” Hm, big hammer, big chisel. God is more concerned in you being like Christ than he is getting you out of bad places.

Many of you would remove your pastor, Jeff Noblit, from some of the bad places I’ve been in over the last 40 years and I would’ve loved it if you had. But many of you were praying to have a good pastor. Now you don’t have the best one but you were praying to have a good pastor so God said, “Okay, I’m gonna have to take some hammers and some chisels on this guy and I’m gonna put him in some bad places to help fashion him into a better Christian.” That’s basically where Paul’s coming from here.

Well, let me back up and talk just for a moment here about the situation in the Roman Empire in the first century and what it would have been like if the Christian church had immediately said, “This is our main mission in life. This is our main mission as, as Christ’s church to rid society of injustices.” What do you think about that lately? If one of our main causes is social justice, then one of our main causes must be to rid the world of slavery. Now again, that would’ve been a weird concept because all those people had ever ever known is slavery. It was just woven into the fabric of life. But let’s say they thought that. Here’s what scholars tell us would’ve happened if Christianity had immediately taken that approach in the culture. First of all, they say that Rome would immediately ban Christianity. If you know anything about the ancient Roman civilization it is this: they did not tolerate insurrection. All we read in the Gospels about how they tried to work with the Jewish religious leaders and keep them passive, everything was so that peace and harmony and structure, no uprisings, no insurrections, no problems, and if they had to, Rome had no mercy. So if it became known that there’s a new religion called Christianity and their movement is to rid the world of slavery, they would’ve been crushed by the Roman Empire almost immediately.

At the least, slaves would’ve been forbidden to belong to any Christian churches. Being considered as insurrectionists, the culture at large would not have given the Gospel a hearing. Slaves would be thrown out of their master’s dwellings only to find that life on the other side was three times harder than what they had under their masters. They’d have been cast into abject poverty really with no way to support themselves. And plus as I said earlier, Roman law held out the hope of freedom if they would conduct themselves properly, and if a man is a Christian and he begins to view his master and honoring his master as service to Christ, he most likely would earn his freedom before anyone else.

Folks, I don’t care how loud they shout it and how often they say it, the church is not about social revolution. We affect the society for good but that’s the overflow, it’s not our main purpose. My job is not to fix the world, my job is to build his church in the world, and if we’ll do that right, we’ll have more good effect on the world than as if we got out in the world to try to fix it, especially through the political processes. I’ll just let you in on a little something: the Republicans are not the solution. I’ll let you in on something else: the Democrats sure ain’t. And Donald Trump is not. He’s an egomaniac narcissist. I will vote for him regretfully because the alternative is unthinkable. But our task and our job and our priority is not to fix the culture, it’s to build the church and be a witness for Jesus Christ.

So if called to Christianity while a slave, we will from the heart serve and honor our earthly masters because we do it for Christ and for our witness in the world. The labor that before our conversion was a toil, now because of Christ is a sacred service. 1 Corinthians 7:22 again reminds us, “For he who was called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freed man. Likewise he who was called while free is Christ’s slave.” III. And I’ll be quicker here. The Christian slave’s duty if their master is saved. Now if you’re, now everything I’ve said so far is the best we can tell was if you have an unsaved master. Well, is it different? Because evidently there was some problems in the church with slaves honoring their masters when both of them were converted and they thought, “Shouldn’t this all change now?” Well, here’s what Paul says . A. Don’t get out of balance on liberty. Don’t get out of balance on liberty. That is inevitably what was happening here. He says in verse 2 those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, so evidently a number of slaves who were Christians were disrespectful to their believing masters and he says you’re missing something here.

Now look, we’ve already seen an illustration of this in chapter 2 where some of the ladies in the church at Ephesus were beginning to disregard their husband’s authority and church elders’ authority because they had enjoyed the liberation that women of that day didn’t enjoy. They were co-equals with the men before God through Jesus Christ and they are, and you are, but Paul has to write and say, “Wait. Time out. Yes, that’s true that God’s structure in the culture for the home and the church has not changed. The headship of men is still in effect.” So he reproves these ladies to get back in line how God meant for things to function. I don’t think they were evil feminists, they just were out of balance with what Christian liberty means.

Now we have, well, let’s go to another example, the Corinthian church. The Corinthians had the idea that now that they were converted, they could only give full devotion to Christ if they were single and some of the Corinthians were seeking to divorce their spouses so they could devote more energy to serving God and Paul says, “Time out. No, no, no, no. You keep your marriage vows and honor and serve God by being a good spouse to your husband or wife.”

Now we come to slaves in our text here who probably were saying, “I don’t have to honor this master. He’s a Christian, I’m a Christian, we’re equal before God through Jesus Christ.” Of course you are, but the structure for society to function has not gone away. And by the way, it hasn’t gone away for us either. The Bible says to work for your employer like working unto the Lord. That’s still true even though you’re equal to him before God. God’s structure for the same function in decent functioning society does not change. So I think he’s basically telling these guys, “Don’t get out of balance on Christian liberty.” Again in 1 Corinthians 7:21 he says it this way, “If you’re called while a slave, don’t worry about it.” Don’t worry about it. Keep serving God right there. If you can become free, do that, of course.

Now B. What’s a Christian slave’s duty if your master is saved? He says you must be faithful to them out of Christian love. You must honor them because love requires you to honor them and that’s interesting how he words it here. Notice it there in verse 2, the second part, ” but must serve them,” notice the phrase, “all the more,” not only after you get saved, not only do you not back up from honoring and serving your Christian master, you do it even more. Why? “Because those who partake of the benefit,” the benefit you’re giving them, “are believers and beloved.” The word “beloved, agapetos.” Agapetos. How, we’ve been talking about that some, especially on Sunday nights. When you’re saved, you have agape in you and all who are saved have agape in you and it kinda, it bonds us, it draws us to each other different than any love we have for folks who are outside of the Christian faith. He said, “They’re part of us. You’re one with him.”

1 John 3:16 reminds us, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Here’s, I’ve got news for you: even if you’re the slave to a brother and he’s your master, you still lay down your life for him even though he’s your master. That doesn’t change and, by the way, he should lay down his life for you even though you’re his slave.

Plus Christian doctrine requires that masters are to view their slaves as brothers in Christ. Now don’t, don’t, don’t get restless on me. Listen or I’ll have to go over it again. Ephesians 6:8-9, “knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening,” not only the lash or physical beatings, you even give up threatening too. You’ve gotta understand something, this was revolutionary for the day. This was radical that a master would be told he can’t discipline and punish his slave the way he wants to. He, he says, “If you’re a Christian not only do you not beat your slave, you don’t even threaten them with it.” Wow. For the context of the day, that was radical, knowing that both their masters and yours is in heaven and there’s no partiality with him. And then I always go back to the example of Philemon. Onesimus is Philemon’s runaway slave. Onesimus runs into the Apostle Paul, becomes converted. Paul sends Onesimus back to his master, Philemon, and he sends a letter with him, and while Paul doesn’t jump up on a stump and say, “Get over this wicked slavery thing,” Paul doesn’t handle it that way but he does say this, “Onesimus, when Onesimus comes back to you, Philemon, he’s no longer a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother especially to me but now much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord. Understand something, Philemon, I’ve sent Onesimus, your slave, back but really he’s no longer a slave, he’s your brother in Christ.”

And so everything starts to change in Christian love. Everything starts to change. Christianity transforms the entire master/slave relationship – listen to me – it changes the entire master/slave relationship from the inside out. You see, our world thinks you can change it from the outside. You can coerce people into certain practices and there’s some good in that, by the way, that has to be done but you don’t really change them. In this day as I noted earlier, a forced public revolt against slavery would have not have served God’s purposes or the good of men, especially the good of the slaves. When a Christian master serves his Christian slave as a brother in Christ and a Christian slave serves his Christian master as a brother in Christ, the demeaning and damaging toil of slavery is removed and Christian love takes its place. Christian doctrine treasured in the heart and practiced in the life will always bring about the removal of the practice of human slavery. Always.

You see, we have these truths that no one else has, that all mankind have a common origin, we’re all created by God. By the way, I know the world uses the terminology of this race and that race, that’s not biblical. We all descend from Adam and Eve. There’s only one race and that’s the human race. Period. You might talk about ethnicities, we have our language, you have your language, we have our culture. Yeah, that’s different all over the world but we’re all of the same human race. We have a common origin God and we all have common dignity and sanctity because God made humans in his own image. He gave that to no other part of creation but mankind. God made us all. He made us all equally in the image of God. No wonder our founding fathers being primarily influenced by Christian truth wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In essence, if you’re an atheist you can’t really be an American. Really. They had no concept of atheism fitting what they were developing.

Where did these men get this concept? Well, one Harvard history professor said without the preaching of Protestant ministers, there would have been no founding of America. Bible preaching. Now we could all argue that we wish some of them were better Christians, but thank God the founding documents could’ve been worse, brothers and sisters. Thank God that God’s truth worked even through very flawed and imperfect vessels. Now you’d better thank God because we’re flawed and imperfect. Thank God it’s all grace, amen? This comes from Scripture and one thing is for certain: you cannot wholly embrace those words and embrace slavery at the same time. Holding to these truths given some time and you will see liberty triumph over bondage.

So that’s kinda the way we see the Scriptures. You don’t see this strong denunciation of slavery. You don’t see social revolution. But you do see Paul writing in such a way that if you’ll follow Christian truth, slavery disappears. So the founding documents of our country if followed fully will have to come to the abolition of slavery or we need to change the document. I love the wisdom in that. Christianity does not bring liberty through the external force of law, however, Christianity works the other way from the inside out. At first the change is unseen but eventually it’s unavoidable and it’s unstoppable like leaven in dough.

Now let’s remind ourselves, brothers and sisters, that external laws are essential in society. We have to have laws and Christians of all people reject lawlessness. Romans 13 commands that the duty of governing authorities is to punish those who do evil. These mayors and these governors of these liberal states and cities that, that are opening the door and saying, “Destroy our cities and take over in your anarchy,” they are abrogating their duty God gave them. That’s lawlessness. There’s nothing right about that. There has to be laws.

That’s the society, though, let’s get now to the church. In the church, sure we have rules, you could say laws, but the foundation stone for us is not the law, it’s the new heart. It’s the new heart. It’s the change. It’s the new birth inside my heart. Then naturally the law is performed out of the new heart. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and this love that’s now in us, this agape if you will that’s now in us, compels us to fulfill the law, the truth, and one of the things it compels us to hold to and fulfill is that all men are created equally. But it comes from the inside out.

But can I just close with this key reminder? Every single one of you and every single person who’s ever lived on this earth has always been under a bondage, a yoke. The Bible says in Romans 7:14 your sold into the bondage of sin. But Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you.” So we’re all under some bondage. We’re all under some yoke. Now the question is which one are you under? Which one are you under? Are you under the cruel, harsh, deceptive burden of your sins and you’ll be judged for eternity if you don’t deal with it through Christ? Are you under the gentle, Jesus said, and easy yoke of Christ? You think you’re free. Here’s what you are, you’re not free, you’re blind. If you’re not saved, you’re blind but Christ loves you and Christ hung on a cross and took the blow for you. He took your yoke on himself on the cross. He took your burden of your sin on the cross. The Bible says he became sin and he took all the wrath and judgment you and I deserve. It’s gone if we’ll look to him in faith. And when you look to him in faith, you take off the burden of sin and Satan and eternal wrath and you put on the yoke of Jesus – listen – which is the yoke of unconditional favor, it’s the yoke of unconditional love that lasts forever. Be not deceived, we are all under the yoke as slaves to someone. Someone. You get that right and texts like this don’t bother you. You get that right and those kind of texts don’t bother you. You say, “This is what my Master told me to do.”

Real real quick. Oh, I wish I had time. Joseph and Daniel, young men, slaves. Daniel slaves to Belshazzar in Babylon. Joseph, a slave to Potiphar and later Pharaoh. But you don’t see them whining, complaining, starting a social revolution. You see them honoring their wicked pagan king, even helping him advance his kingdom. They didn’t sin themselves, they would draw the line when they asked him to sin. They were faithful slaves and then God went to work. Daniel became the prime mover, an authority in all the Babylonian kingdom, and Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt. God had a purpose. It’s how you respond in the setting that causes God to act on your behalf for his own glory and for your good. When you get to heaven say, “Joseph, tell me how it worked. Daniel, tell me about how you went from slavery to basically ruling the world.” Whose yoke are you under?