WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:06.080 I want to read off some song titles that were popular in their day. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:10.800 And as I raise them, or as I read them, I want you to raise your hand to see if you remember them. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:15.199 And this is the only part of the sermon that's audience participation. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.519 Okay, so take advantage of this. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:19.519 So the first one's really easy. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:21.519 Nine to five by Dolly Park. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.440 Yeah, everybody's heard that, right? 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:24.399 Of course. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.839 I won't sing any of these, or it might just depends. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:30.480 Okay, so everybody's one for one. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:31.760 How about this one? 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:33.759 Taking care of business. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:34.880 Yeah. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.159 My neighbor Sean here, he's like a musical guru. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:39.039 He knows all these. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.759 I'm I fully expecting you get seven for seven on this one. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:45.600 That's by the group Bachman Turner Overdrive or BTO, right? 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.399 How about this one might be a challenge for some of you? 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:50.799 Manic Monday by the Bengals. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:52.479 Oh yeah. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:56.159 Just another Manic Monday. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:57.119 Everybody go. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.159 Uh yeah, okay. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.359 Okay, for the country folks here. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.239 Big City by Merle Haggard. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:06.959 Oh yeah. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:08.560 Big City, yep. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.079 Um, okay, this one goes back to the early 80s. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.280 Working for a Living by Huey Lewis in the news. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:15.920 Yeah. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.640 I'm really proud of you guys. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:21.359 Now, this one's gonna be a stretch. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.640 You gotta be an old country fan for this one. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.239 This was sung by a guy named Tennessee Ernie Ford, 16 Tons. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.719 Yeah, Bobby, I told you you'd know this one. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.200 You load 16 tons. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.480 What do you get? 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.920 Yeah, a lot of you know that. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.840 Man, further in debt. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:42.719 Yeah. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:46.400 Boy, we got some old people in this group. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:53.519 And the last one, I can't say the whole title, or else I'll get corrected by the elders on Tuesday. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:58.719 It's a song by Johnny Paycheck called Take This Job and Don't Fill It Out. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:00.239 Don't finish it out. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.400 Yeah. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.519 Okay, how many, how many knew all of them? 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:07.280 Yeah, that's good. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.680 We got some music officiados. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:12.080 Well, listen, why do I list all these songs? 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:16.240 Well, if you haven't figured out, all these songs have something very much in common. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:22.560 And they're bemoaning the difficulties that people experience in their jobs, right? 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:26.879 I mean, unfair bosses, being underpaid and overworked, right? 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:33.520 Long hours, low appreciation, uh companies that have bosses that are taking advantage of you. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:37.599 I mean, it's, you know, people just talking about how much they hate their jobs, right? 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:44.240 Now, if you can relate to any of these songs, this message might be for you, okay? 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:46.479 In fact, I'll just expand it to everybody. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:54.000 If you've ever had any bad thoughts about your employer or people that worked for you, this message is for you. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.120 It sure was for me. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:04.319 So listen, we've been preaching through the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians since last fall, that we're in the second half of this right now, and we're currently in the middle of chapter six. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:11.199 Now, this section of Paul is addressing Christian bondservants and their masters. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:12.960 Okay, so let's go ahead and read this. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.120 We're beginning in verse five of chapter six. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:40.639 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by the way of I service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.520 Whether he is a bondservant or is free. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:54.240 Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours in heaven, is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:06.080 Father, as we go before the come before you, and as we go through this passage of Scripture, I just pray that you would give us an open mind and an open heart, Father. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:11.199 Father, we know that your word is a lamp to our feet. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:18.720 And we know, Father, that as we look at your word, that there it will reflect back to us and it will show us things we need to change. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:24.000 And I pray that for all of us, myself included, God, that you do that with us this morning. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.120 And so we just place this in your hands in Jesus' name. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:28.000 Amen. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.120 All right. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:35.199 So over the past two weeks in this mess in this series, we've been talking about Christian households. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:44.480 Paul has been addressing Christian households, and and um, Tyler really preached the last two of these messages, and the first one was on husbands and wives. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:49.439 In fact, I we were gone for that one, but we got to listen to it, and Amy did a great job on that. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.399 I think, I think you should have Amy preach more often, previously. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.319 No, but it was really good. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.560 That was, and that was a long passage of scripture. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:57.519 It was really good. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.439 And then last week, um, Tyler talked about parents and children. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:07.839 And so, this whole passage of this letter, this whole section of the letter, Paul is addressing Christian households. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:14.079 Um, so today, what I want to do is I want to talk about two different elements that this passage brings out. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.560 The first one is I need to briefly touch on what the Bible says about slavery. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:19.279 Okay? 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.519 We need to we need to talk about that first. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:38.720 But then, secondly, I want to look at how Paul instructs both bondservants and their masters to approach their relationship with each other, and then we're going to apply that to how we should have an approach towards our employers and our jobs and maybe our employees as well. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:42.959 So let's first talk about what the Bible really teaches about slavery. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.519 And I said, really teaches about slavery. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:54.800 You know, this passage of scripture, unfortunately, has been misconstrued and misaligned throughout throughout Christianity. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:01.360 And it's been misaligned by both people in the church and people outside of the church as well. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:11.920 And it's it's been erroneously used to as a proof text that Christianity, and at minimum, the Apostle Paul was in favor of slavery, and that is um not really true. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:17.519 And so what I want to do is dispel this myth because we need to get some context in order to do that. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:27.680 You know, at that at the time that Paul wrote this letter about uh in the slavery during this time when he wrote this, was really a common thing. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.439 It was really common. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:39.199 Um back then, you know, countries would go to war, and the victor would take people from the you know the conquered nation and they would enslave them. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:48.240 A lot of times, of course, on the battlefield, they would take the warriors from the other side, the other country, and they would make them fight for them. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:48.800 Okay. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.879 And the Rome was really notorious for doing this, right? 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:59.040 Some were made into soldiers, some were just called and brought in and enslaved to do manual labor. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.560 It happened all the time. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:04.879 And others were really turned into household bondservants, as it's called. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:07.279 And we're going to talk a little bit about what that means. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:15.600 Um, there was also a concept of people placing themselves into a bondservant role in the culture as well. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:22.000 If you were destitute, if you were, and by the way, they didn't have social programs back then. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.879 I mean, if if somebody's husband died, for instance, and they had no extended family, they literally would just fall, become destitute. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:35.279 And a lot of these people would place themselves into a bondservant role. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.000 Um, it was a reality. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:45.279 And a lot of the people that were in these roles um really had a pretty miserable life. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:46.480 They really did. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:53.920 They had no rights, no rights at all, and they were totally uh at the behest of their masters. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:56.720 So it was a pretty nasty thing that was back then. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:06.879 Now, um, one of the things that when people would place themselves into a bondservant role, a lot of times they could actually earn their freedom back. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:12.079 And there were some rights that these people would have, but not many, but there were some. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.839 The bottom line is that it was evil. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:23.279 In fact, even in America today, we've given it a different name, but it happens, of course, it's illegal, but it's happened. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.120 It's called human trafficking. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:26.959 And it happens all the time. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:34.720 And uh, you know, our church supports uh, you know, uh causes that actually help people come out of human trafficking. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:36.240 It's really a terrible thing. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.240 The bottom line is any type of exploitation of people that were forced to serve against their will is slavery. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:48.399 It's slavery and it's evil, and every principle of the word of God condemns it. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.519 Every principle. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.440 So, with this as context, I want to look quickly back at this passage. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:05.039 You know, Paul uses the term bondservant, which is often translated, depending on the version of the Bible, the translation of the Bible you're looking at, as slave. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.000 But a lot of you already understand that this word is the Greek word doulos. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.759 Doulos. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:14.799 It's one of the easier Greek words to pronounce, by the way. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:15.840 I was very proud of it. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.519 It's easy to pronounce. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:23.919 Basically, a doulos was a servant that was entirely under their master's authority. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.720 Entirely under their master's authority. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:30.799 They had almost no rights and they served at the behest of their of their masters. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:38.960 And as we said already in this culture, that could include anybody who was both voluntarily or involuntarily placed into that role. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:46.960 But Scott, you might say, um, why don't we read anything in the New Testament specifically decrying slavery? 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.600 Well, to begin with, we need to remind ourselves of something. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.240 You don't look at a topic just with one verse, right? 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:00.399 That's one of the by the way, you go to YouTube, you see this all the time. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:11.440 Somebody they they mention just a short part of a scripture, and then they rip it out of the context, and then they go ahead and they go off on their soapbox and they talk about how terrible it is. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.240 But they don't they ignore the preponderance of scripture. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:25.360 Because if we look honestly at scripture, we can see that Paul does indeed address slavery all through his writings, and some of the other uh authors of the New Testament do as well. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.159 I want to read something he wrote Timothy. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.440 Timothy was his son in the faith, right? 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:40.159 And he wrote in 1 Timothy 1, verse 8 and 9, he says, now we need to know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:48.720 Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.879 And now he starts getting specific. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.000 He's saying, This is the law. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.759 The law shows these people that these things are wrong. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:12.879 He says, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, hmm, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:15.519 Verse 11, we have to read this. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:22.159 In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:30.720 You know, he's clearly saying that all these actions were contrary to the gospel. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.799 Contrary. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:42.559 You know, the word enslavers literally means somebody who kidnaps somebody else and places and sells them into slavery. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:49.360 And if Paul's calling out this type of person specifically, why do we even think that he would condone slavery? 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.000 He doesn't. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.960 The other thing I think that sometimes is overlooked when we look at this passage. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:08.559 Have you ever really wondered why the apostle Paul was writing an instruction to bond servants in a letter to the church? 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:17.039 Sometimes we miss this, but the reality is it's because many of these servants were Christians. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:21.519 Remember the context, they didn't have churches like this, right? 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:23.279 They had house churches. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:29.039 So what would happen is you would have someone come, and a bunch of them would be meeting, and they would be in somebody's household. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.320 And guess who else was there? 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:36.559 The children were there, the bondservants were there, and they would begin to preach. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.519 Well, they would either preach or they would read letters like this. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:40.960 And guess what? 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:43.600 God was calling everybody. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:48.639 And a lot of times the bondservants converted to Christianity. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:58.799 And that's why when he wrote to the church, he's writing directly to the believers who were bondservants at that time. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:12.320 It's pretty pretty obvious that if that's the case, then there's other things we need to understand about this relationship between the bondservants and their masters. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.360 You know, Paul never condemned condoned slavery. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.600 In fact, he says this in Galatians, and I love this. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.159 You know, Paul uses contrasts all the time, right? 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.679 And he says in Galatians 3, 28 and 29, he says, Therefore there is neither Jew nor Greek. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:27.279 There is neither what? 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:37.039 There is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.679 And if you are Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:44.480 He didn't have to use that slave or free thing. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:50.080 He didn't have to do that, but he did because he was proving a point. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:57.679 You see, he's saying that for those that are in Christ, there is no partiality in God's eyes, that they're all one. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:01.759 And that's what's so powerful about what we're gonna read. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:09.840 I really believe that the reality is that Paul and all the New Testament writers were addressing slavery through the truth of the gospel. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:14.639 You could not be a Christian and not get this. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:18.960 And even in sections like this, you're gonna see that come out. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.639 One of the most prominent examples is the book of Philemon. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:27.120 The book of Philemon is just one chapter, just book of Philemon. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:35.200 And it's really interesting because Paul is writing a specific person, a letter about a runaway slave. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:51.440 And some somehow between when he ran away and when he got to Paul, he converted. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:52.960 He became a Christian. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:58.559 And now Paul's writing Onesimus, or he's writing Philemon about Onesimus, and he says to him, What? 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.399 He says, I could command you to release him. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:05.279 Remember, by the way, a runaway slave? 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.919 Most of the time they would be severely punished or even killed. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:21.600 But he's appealing to Philemon, and he's he's appealing to Philemon specifically by saying, You and Anesimus are equal in the eyes of God. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:27.440 And he's saying, you should forgive him, and he's even asking him to release him. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.600 Wow. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.799 He says, I could command you to do that, but I won't. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:38.080 I want you to do it because you want to do it, because God's working on your heart. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:43.519 They were both the same people, they were both serving the same God. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.759 They were on the same level in God's eyes. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.799 Doesn't sound like someone who condones slavery to me, does it? 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:53.840 And listen, there's a lot of other excellent teachings on this, a lot of great resources. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:55.279 We can share some of that with you. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:04.879 But because of time, I can't spend a lot of time on here, but I own a lot more time, but I just want to say that we all need to understand Paul was most definitely not in favor of slavery. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:11.120 He was planting seeds, in fact, to destroy slavery through passages just like this. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:14.000 And as we go through this, you're gonna see that even more clearly. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.720 So let's begin to look at the instruction Paul gives these bondservants and their masters. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.600 So he starts by addressing the bondservants directly. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:31.519 In fact, most of this is towards the bondservants, but you're gonna find that even as he's addressing the bondservants, he's actually addressing the masters too, and you'll you'll see how this comes out. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:39.279 So at verse 5, bondservants obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:45.200 I'm sorry, but this is probably the mic drop part of the whole passage. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.639 In fact, I almost wanted to grab a mic and drop it. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:54.879 The guys in the booth are like, okay, he's gone. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.759 By the way, I was already sabotaged. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.799 The batteries in my pack were put in, one was put in backwards. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:02.559 I know what they think of me. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.519 I caught you guys, though I fixed it. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:12.400 No, it's a mic drop moment for a very, very specific reason. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:19.680 In one sentence, Paul changes their whole perspective, their whole reality. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:22.079 If, by the way, it hadn't already been changed. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:23.519 Maybe it already was. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:24.880 These were already believers. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:31.440 And as I said before, this letter would have been read in a house church where there's both masters and bondservants listening, right? 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:31.920 Okay. 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:34.960 So let's just break this down a little bit. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.440 Uh, because of course the masters knew that these bondservants were Christians as well. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.599 The masters may even have been teaching their bondservants about Christ. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.160 You know, again, that relationship was there. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.960 He says, obey your masters with fear and trembling. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.759 Okay, we need to talk about this. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.119 Let me ask you guys a question. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:02.240 Do you fear Christ like you would fear somebody who's gonna hurt you? 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.559 I don't fear Christ that way. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.880 But I have a reverent fear of Christ. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:18.720 He is God, he is my Lord and Savior, I am his bondservant. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:23.440 Everything I do is serving to him, but I don't fear him like he's gonna hurt me. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.480 In fact, he loved me so much he gave himself for me. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:39.359 So if we understand that Paul's talking to Christian masters and Christian bondservants, it puts this whole fear and trembling into the right perspective. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:45.200 He's not telling these slaves to be fearful of their masters like they're gonna hurt them. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:50.480 He's saying, be fearful and reverent, and he says this as you would Christ. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:54.799 If you didn't have that, it would totally change the meaning of this. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.119 He says, as you would Christ. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:05.279 I believe this fear and trembling statement was really meant for the Christian masters. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.200 I really do. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:17.920 Can you imagine the person's up there reading this, the master of the households there, or maybe other masters, I mean, because remember, all a bunch of households would come together and he reads this. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:24.960 You imagine what you would think if you were a master and you had bondservants present? 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:33.039 He's not so subtly telling the masters that they needed to treat their bondservants the way Christ would treat them. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:39.119 And that would result in fear and trembling in the right context and in the right way. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:54.559 As he tells the bondservants to do this with sincere heart, as you would Christ, because he knows that their masters are being convicted to treat their bondservants with respect and dignity in all the ways that Christians should treat one another. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:02.160 We cannot separate the fact that both of these people, the bondservants and the masters, are believers. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:03.680 They're Christians. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:05.839 It's very important. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.759 They're all serving the same master, which we'll see here in just a little bit more. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:11.440 Let's move to verse six. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:19.119 Not by the way of I service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.240 This is a second mic drop moment, by the way. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:30.480 He's now contrasting this sincere heart he mentioned in the previous verse with this I service people pleaser attitude. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:39.039 Now, I love this phrase and I looked it up and it's it's attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but nobody really knows if it was Abe that said this. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:46.640 He says, You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can fool all of the people all of the time. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:49.920 And by the way, you can see Timothy said probably, maybe. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:50.559 I like that. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:51.680 He put that on there. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.160 Just to prove our our tech people have a sense of humor back there. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.200 Listen, what does this mean though? 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.240 It really what he's saying is you can fool people. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.440 You can come here every Sunday, you can fool people, Andy, you can fool people for a couple hours. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.079 But he was saying, don't do that. 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.480 You need to be sincere about that. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:13.920 That's what he's saying. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:20.960 He's telling them not to fake it, but to truly carry out their acts of service as if they were serving Christ Himself. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:31.039 To emphasize this, he makes another mic drop statement and he says, Doing the will of God from the heart. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:33.519 Wait a second. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.880 Being a bond servant is doing the will of God. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:45.119 If you've been kicking around the kingdom for any length of time, one of the things you'll understand is you're going to be in all different types of situations. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:50.640 And in every one of those situations, if you believe in the sovereignty of God, guess what? 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:55.119 You will believe and trust that God has placed you there at that time. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.240 And if he has, it's his will. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:04.400 And if that's the case, That you need to do and follow him through that situation. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.400 I've been in some difficult times before, difficult situations. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:14.559 I didn't like it, but I knew that if God brought me there, he was going to bring me through it. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.400 He was saying that to these bondservants. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:24.640 He's saying that it's God's will that they serve their masters as if they're serving Christ and to do it from the heart. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:31.279 The reality is Paul is telling them they are serving God when they're serving their masters. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.599 They are serving him. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:39.599 And let's just be honest here, this would have to have been a hard thing for the bondservants to listen to. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.680 Because remember the culture. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.839 Bondservants had no right. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:50.240 Maybe in the house next to them that were not believers, they could hear the bondservants being punished. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:58.480 Maybe they even heard about one of the bondservants down the street that was actually, you know, even killed because of doing something wrong. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:01.839 Because they really didn't have a lot of, they didn't have a lot of rights, right? 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:09.759 So there would be easy for them to fall into this whole, be just totally fearful all the time. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:13.839 But the reality is God can change that heart. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:17.519 And especially if he was changing the heart of their masters, right? 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:22.559 How would they be able to change their hearts to truly obey this instruction by God? 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.319 By the way, Tyler's sermon last week on child rearing, it was really good. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.000 Um, I love when you talked about the whole thing about your dad saying, Change your attitude. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.519 I'll give you five minutes or 15 minutes to change your attitude. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:38.000 I almost wish you'd put your hand up. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.680 A lot of us have experienced that. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:44.799 I'm punching the clock, and you've got 15 minutes to change your attitude. 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:53.359 The reality is, by the way, that changing your attitude, the only way to really do that is to have Christ in you. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.160 That's the only way to do it. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:07.279 The reality is that without the transformational power of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to have that genuine heart of spirit and spirit of service, they would not be able to do that. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:12.720 Because it's not the natural behavior for an unsaved person to do this. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:18.160 He is telling them to do something that they've been equipped to do through the Holy Spirit. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:21.920 Because otherwise it doesn't make sense. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:25.039 It was an adversarial relationship in that culture. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:36.559 Bond servants served their masters, but they were served them resentfully because one was evil, one was, you know, the person getting, you know, abused. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:41.039 But in a Christian household, it was different. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:43.680 Now, the next, let's continue on through the next two verses. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:54.880 Verse 7, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:25:00.799 Now, what's significant about this passage is that Paul's not just repeating what he just said before. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:08.559 Now, he does emphasize once again that the attitude of serving their masters was something that they were doing when they're serving Jesus while they're doing that. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:09.599 He emphasized that again. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:11.119 So he says that twice. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:12.799 But he adds two things. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:15.279 He adds the concept of reward. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:18.400 And that's interesting. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:25.759 He says that when someone serves his master as if he was serving the Lord, the bondservant would receive it back from the Lord. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:27.680 That was the phrase he uses. 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:29.519 Receive it back from the Lord. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:44.000 Now, what do you we don't really know specifically what that reward was, but I can I can simply move forward because and kind of postulate forward what that reward was because it's the same reward that we receive, right? 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.680 There was both a future reward and a present reward. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.759 The future reward, obviously, is when he would be rewarded when we stand before God. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.759 We're gonna be rewarded for our behaviors and the things we did. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:00.720 By the way, those behaviors don't earn us salvation. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:01.920 Let's make that clear. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.839 God didn't have some scale there. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:07.920 And when you die, he's gonna look at the scale and go, ah, you didn't do quite enough. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:09.279 He doesn't do that. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:11.119 We're saved by grace. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:13.519 Totally saved by grace. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:16.160 But we will be rewarded based upon our actions. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:20.960 So I think he's saying that to these same bondservants because they're Christians, right? 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:24.720 But he also, I believe, is talking about a present reward. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:34.640 And I do believe that a lot of times that present reward is when they serve their masters as they were served, as if they were serving Christ. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:38.079 I believe that they received what you would expect. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:42.799 They probably received more favor from the masters. 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:52.960 And some of them may have even, and again, based upon what we read in Philemon, they probably even were set free from their bonds and their service. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:57.519 I mean, I can only naturally assume that's part of what would happen again. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:01.039 Christian masters, Christian bondservants, right? 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:06.400 In addition to this, he also expands the command in a really significant way. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:08.640 And this is pretty powerful. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:18.400 He says that reward will come back to any person who serves a master, or even if they serve others as a free man. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:32.000 He's addressing bondservants, but he's saying to the bondservants, even if you're free, you should have this same attitude, which is what we're going to talk about when it comes to our jobs. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:35.759 The New Living Translation says it this way, and I think it's really well written. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:43.759 Remember that the Lord will reward each of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.359 Amen. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.119 Yeah. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:49.119 He says it right here. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:55.440 How much more are we going to understand that Paul was saying that you're all equal in Christ? 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.119 You're all equal in Christ. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:08.000 The significance of this is that Paul is saying that having an attitude of service to others, as if one were serving the Lord, wasn't just for bondservants, it was for all. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.119 All. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:13.039 And let me just say this: all of us serve somebody. 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:17.680 Now we could we're going to talk about our jobs here in a minute, but we all serve somebody. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:22.799 In fact, somewhere in the Bible, I seem to read that we're supposed to submit one to another. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:31.200 You know who came down from heaven and became the suffering servant? 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:35.279 We're supposed to be servants. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:39.839 That's one of the things I love about the way Trinity is set up. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:43.440 One of the things is elders, we we serve. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.680 We're supposed to serve. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:50.720 Yes, we're responsible for teaching and leading and stuff, but that doesn't mean we don't serve. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:53.839 And frankly, sometimes I love serving. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:57.200 It's just getting there with everybody and just serving alongside. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:58.720 It's a wonderful thing. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:01.359 We're here to serve together. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:08.319 This is yet another way I believe Paul's sowing the seeds to rid the church of slavery. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:16.480 Now, the final verse really builds on this expansion of the service, whether you're a bondservant or a free, because now he's talking to the masters. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:20.720 And by the way, he only has one verse for the masters, but it's really powerful. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:22.480 It's really powerful. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:33.279 He says, Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no partiality with him. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:40.000 Now, Paul tells the masters they need to stop threatening their bondservants. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.640 By the way, parents, worst thing you can do is threaten your children. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.880 Don't threaten your children. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:51.119 I'm gonna, you do that, I'm don't threaten your children. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.400 Tell them the consequence of their action, and if their action is that way, give them the consequence. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:06.559 We've seen this all before where people just constantly threaten their children, but the children hear it all the time, so they don't, you know, there's no consequence, it's just a threat. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:10.480 But this obviously was happening a lot. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.160 Paul wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't an issue even in the church. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:18.319 Remember this we're all influenced by our culture. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.160 And these masters would be no exception. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:24.960 They came out, most of these were Gentile converts. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:31.200 They came out of a culture where this was the status quo and this was something you did. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.319 You threatened your bondservants. 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:37.279 And this obviously was a behavior that needed to change. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:42.880 And again, he already was addressing this all the way through, but he says it specifically: stop threatening them. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.119 Stop threatening them. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:50.319 And he just doesn't tell them to stop it, or they're gonna get punished by God. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:31:00.160 He reminds the masters that both they and their Christian bondservants are both bondservants to Christ. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.400 Whoa. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.720 Whoa. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:06.640 He literally does this. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:14.400 He just levels it just like that. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:20.240 Because that's what they needed to understand in their mind for them to grasp this whole concept. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:27.599 The concept of being a bondservant of Jesus was used by Paul all through his writings in the New Testament. 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:34.640 Um, he actually identified himself as a doulos or a bondservant all through his writings. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:36.400 Um, here's some examples. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:40.319 Romans, he does this a lot of times in the salutations, right? 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:45.359 But it's interesting, he's starting the whole letter by saying, I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:47.200 Look at what he says in Romans. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:51.200