WEBVTT 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.000 Would you bow your heads one more time? 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:13.679 I want you to pray now that the Lord would instruct your m instruct your mind as we study God's Word. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:14.880 Would you pray that now? 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:25.199 And would you pray for your friends and neighbors that God would instruct their minds? 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:35.840 And would you pray for me that the Holy Spirit would speak through me now as we open God's Word together? 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:52.960 Heavenly Father, we pray now, Lord, that you would do the mystical work of the Word as you apply it through the power of the Holy Spirit to our minds and our hearts. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.600 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:56.560 Amen. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:02.719 I invite you to open your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:04.079 Titus chapter 2. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:05.599 We've been in Titus chapter 2. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:20.799 You've noticed for several weeks, and we've been talking about the transformation that takes place in our lives because of Christianity, what Christ has done in our lives. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:27.359 And what Paul is saying to the Christians in Crete is that they are to be different. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:41.359 He's going to say, and we're going to look at this when I come back in August, he's going to say that the grace of God trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, that the grace of God has transformed our lives. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:43.200 It's transformed who we are. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.719 It's caused a transformation to take place. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:54.400 And we've studied this, and we've studied this in the lives of older men, and the lives of older women and younger women and the lives of young men. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:59.200 And we've studied it in the life of the pastor, the minister, Titus. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:06.319 And now we come to verses 9 and 10 to the slaves. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.680 Let me read these verses to you. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:19.840 The word that's translated bondservant in the ESV is the Greek word doulos and it's slave. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.520 That's the literal meaning and translation of the word. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:33.360 It's translated bondservant because of all the connotations that we have in our nation from 160 years ago from chattel slavery. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:42.319 That's why it because the reason why it's translated bondservant is because this institution was slightly different than that, as we will see. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.479 And so they make that interpretive choice. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:51.919 But I wish that they would have just left it as what the Greek word actually means, and that is slaves. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.919 So notice what Paul says to the slaves. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.680 Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:19.280 They are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:34.319 Now, as we look at these verses, our natural inclination and tendency is to immediately begin to abstract principles that apply to our own work. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.000 And we're going to do that. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:47.360 But before we can do that, we must first understand what this text is saying and what it means. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:55.599 When I was in seminary, I read a book by John Stott, the Anglican preacher, called Between Two Worlds. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:03.840 And he said, in a sense, every time you preach a sermon, you're crossing over between two worlds. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:16.480 The modern world, which is where we are right now in 21st century America, and the ancient world, the world of 2,000 years ago, in which Paul wrote this text. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:27.199 And before we can really apply what the Bible says in the ancient, in the modern world, we first have to understand what it meant in the ancient world. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:42.959 And so he used the picture of a bridge, that you have to cross over that bridge as best we can to the ancient world and understand what the text meant in its original context. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:48.160 And then and only then can we begin to apply it first in our lives. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:52.959 Contrast that with the modern Bible study where you're sitting around in a group, you read a passage. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.920 What's the question that is often asked? 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:00.879 What does this verse mean to you? 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:02.959 No, no, no, no. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:04.800 You can't ask that for. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:12.399 You first have to ask, what did it mean to the original audience when it was given? 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:14.079 So here's what we're gonna do. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.600 We're gonna do an exercise. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.720 I want you to imagine. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:28.720 We have all taken a time machine, and we are now on the island of Crete in the middle of the Mediterranean. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:37.040 I want you to, it's it's rocky, there's not many tall trees, you can you can feel the breeze coming in off the coastline. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:45.439 It's it's uh very arid, and we're walking, and we're coming to a Cretan city. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:55.600 And as we approach that city, as we come towards that city, before we even enter it, we begin to smell something. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:03.759 You see, in the ancient world, they didn't have indoor plumbing, they didn't have sewage systems. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:11.519 People would often, if they lived on the second floor when they woke up in the morning, they would just pour out their chamber pot down into the street. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:25.600 Refuse and waste would be thrown into the streets, and so before you even enter the city, you begin to smell the city, and it's not pretty, it doesn't smell good. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:37.279 And as you walk into the city, you see people all about, and you you notice certain things about the people that are there. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:44.879 One of the first things that you notice is by our standard, there's not very many old people. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.000 In fact, the oldest people that you see might be in their mid-60s. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:58.240 And that's because the average lifespan in this day, uh, you would be blessed if you lived to 70 years old. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:05.680 If you had cancer, if you had a serious health condition, what would happen in the ancient world? 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:07.040 You died. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:08.800 You died. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:14.480 And so Paul, when he's in his 60s, calls himself an old man. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:19.199 So you don't see very many young people as you're walking through the city. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:25.920 But you also notice a few Roman soldiers. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:35.199 And you notice coming into the city a big aqueduct bringing water down from the mountain into the city. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:45.600 And you notice as you come in, a temple to the imperial cult, to the worship of the Caesars. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:55.600 And that's because Crete had been taken over by the Roman Empire in 66 BC. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:02.160 So it had become a colony of Rome. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:23.360 And from 20 BC about to 180 AD, so a period of about 200 years, historians call the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, that Rome extended its rule throughout the ancient world. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:33.440 And in one sense, they subjugated the people that they conquered, and they were all under the authority and under the iron fist of Rome, which was a negative aspect. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:41.200 But the positive aspect is the empire observed much peace and tranquility. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:55.919 It wasn't until the beginning of the fourth century that the Germanic tribes, many of whom were descendants of, came down and sacked Rome, the Goths, the Vandals, and conquered Rome. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:03.759 But it's this period of tranquility and peace, and it's this period that allowed the gospel to go forth into the ancient world. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:08.080 That people were not having to fight foreign powers. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:13.279 There was time of peace and using the Roman roads, using the Roman shipping lanes. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:17.120 Paul had come to Crete and brought the gospel. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:27.840 So, in a sense, God used the poxromana, the peace of Rome, in order to bring the gospel to this island of Crete. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.639 You also begin to notice that there's all these people running around. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:43.440 You go to a bakery, and you notice that the person behind the counter, the baker, is a slave. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:52.399 You walk by a doctor's office, and you notice that the person in the office is a slave. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:10:01.360 In fact, you notice that almost everybody that you see, that's not a Roman soldier, everybody running about, bustling in the streets, is a slave. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:12.320 And that's because one out of every two people in the Roman Empire, on average, was a slave. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:36.879 So in the Roman Empire, you had a class system, with Roman citizens being at the top of that class, and then you had lesser citizens, and then at the very bottom of the social structure, the very bottom of the hierarchy, you had the dulos, the slaves. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:44.799 A slave is someone who was legally owned by someone else. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:51.600 And their entire existence was in service to that person. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:53.039 That's the basic definition. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.519 That's an important definition for us to remember. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:06.879 That they are owned by someone else, and their entire earthly existence is then in service to that person. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:14.240 Now there's several differences from modern slavery that we need to understand. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:23.759 The first is that it was not uncommon for slaves to buy or purchase their freedom. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:40.559 So many slaves could earn money by doing various tasks, and many slaves would eventually purchase that freedom from their master, and some would even choose to stay subjugated, choose to stay slaves. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:48.080 So slavery in the ancient world wasn't a perpetual institution that you were necessarily bound to. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:50.960 It could be, but it might not be. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:02.000 The other difference is that there were all sorts of ways that people could become slaves. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.840 All sorts of ways. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:21.679 As the Roman Empire expanded and these armies would conquer different regions, by and large, what they would do with most of the citizens of the regions that they conquered is they would subjugate them and sell them as slaves. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:26.159 That's why so many of the slaves in the ancient world were educated. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:42.720 You might be serving in and you might be living in Spain or Egypt or one of these places, and you might be a doctor, you might be a lawyer, you might have status in the social hierarchy, but then when Rome came, it didn't matter. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.720 You found yourself as a slave. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:13:01.440 Or it could be that you did something, you were you lived in the Roman Empire, and you committed a crime, and the penalty for your crime is that you were subjugated to slavery. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:12.720 Remember, Maximus from Gladiator goes from being the great general, sold as a slave, becomes a gladiator. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:13.840 Obviously, this is fiction. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.240 That's not history. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.559 You could be born a slave. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:26.639 If your parents were slaves and you're born into their family, you would be born into slavery. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:33.759 If your parents were in debt, and it was really bad debt, they might sell you into slavery. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:48.240 My point is that there were all sorts of ways that you could end up as a slave, and then there's means by which that you could buy yourself out of slavery. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:14:05.759 Now, I think what's fascinating is that the New Testament takes this institution that we've just seen, that we've just described, and it uses it as a metaphor for the spiritual life. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:08.000 Let me explain. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:22.080 First, negatively, the writer of Hebrews says that we are enslaved to the devil as unbelievers in the fear of death. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.960 That's Hebrews 2 15. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:33.519 Paul says in Romans 6 6 that the unbeliever is enslaved to sin. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:38.000 You remember the definition that we use for slavery? 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:47.279 That you are owned by someone, and that all of your life is served in service to that person. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:15:00.720 So when Paul says that you are a slave to sin, you're enslaved, does that mean that you just sometimes kind of do good things and sometimes you kind of do bad things? 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:01.360 No. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.440 What he's saying is you are a do loss to sin. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.639 You are a slave, you serve your sin. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:11.840 Remember your life as an unbeliever? 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:18.159 Your life was fulfilled in service and bondage to your sin. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:26.080 Paul says in Romans 8.12 that the unbeliever is a slave to the flesh. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:31.840 The flesh is the part of you as an unbeliever that wars against the law of God. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:37.600 He says, as an unbeliever, you are enslaved to those passions, those affections. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:46.240 The reason why you can't stop sinning, that you keep returning to the terrible things that you do, is because you're enslaved to the flesh. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:50.960 You look at these young guys that get addicted to the online gambling. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:52.799 What's going on there? 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:54.399 They're enslaved to it. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.159 I want to walk away from it, but I keep getting pulled back in. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:04.399 Because that's deep down what they want to do. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.120 You always do what you want to do. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:08.320 Deep down. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:11.519 And the reason is Paul says you're enslaved to the flesh. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:16.960 Peter says false teachers are slaves of corruption. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:18.240 That's what they're about. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:21.679 They're slaves of corruption. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.679 So there's the negative side of it. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.559 The positive side. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:36.799 Jesus says that his disciples are his slaves. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.039 You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.559 I'm not sure I like that. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:48.799 But Jesus says that our relationship to him is that of a master and a slave. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:49.759 Think about it. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:55.440 You're owned by someone, and all of your life is given in service to that person. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:57.039 What does that sound like? 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.200 That's slavery. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.720 And yet that is the Christian life. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.200 Jesus said this, jot this down, Matthew 10, 24. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:17.599 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave, a doulos above his master. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.039 So Jesus says, How are you to think about yourself? 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.160 Think about yourself as a mathase, a learner, a disciple. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:30.400 You're to think about yourself as a slave in service to the master. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:36.640 So Paul references himself over and over and over again. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:44.799 If you look how Paul introduces himself, Romans 1 1, Paul says, Paul, a slave, a doulos of Christ. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:50.480 Philippians 1 1, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:18:00.319 Titus 1 1, what we read earlier when we begin this study, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.920 So Paul took Jesus' word seriously. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.799 Paul understood himself as a doolos. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:10.079 When I was at Tech St. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:14.799 M, there was a campus Bible study called doolos. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:16.640 I thought that was pretty good. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:19.039 He said, we have doulos groups. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.880 These are slave groups, slave, slave groups to the Lord. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:29.759 There's another word that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.200 It's fascinating. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:39.200 So there's the word doulos, which means slave, as we've been looking at. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:43.279 There's the word diakonos, which means servant. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:19:01.039 In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says this, verse 1, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:09.039 The word he uses for servants is not doolos, it's not diakonos, it's the Greek word hooper rates. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:17.839 And if you look up that word, there's several lexicon meanings that are fleshed out. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:20.240 One is simply a slave. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:28.079 Another is that you're the not even a slave, you're the assistant to the slave. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.400 You're like the shield bearer. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:33.839 You are so low. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:39.119 You're not even the main slave, you're the assistant to that guy. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.880 That's one meaning. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:47.759 Then if you actually look at the word, it's a compound word. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.480 Hooper means under. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.079 Retase means rower. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:07.920 On the Greek trireme ships, where they have the sails, they would have three rows of rowers, three levels of rowers. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:19.359 And what Paul's saying is that he is a slave on one of those trireme ships, and he is an under rower for Christ. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:23.119 That's how far down he is on the totem pole. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:34.720 Not just that he's a slave, not just that he's a secondhand slave, but that he is a Galley slave, an under rower for Christ. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.640 So this is how Paul thought of himself. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:48.319 So that's the New Testament takes this idea of slavery and uses it to describe fallen man's bondage to sin, the flesh. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.759 Paul says in Galatians 5, bondage to the law. 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.960 And then on the positive side, this is our relationship to Christ. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:01.920 He is our master, and we exist to serve Him. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:11.680 Now, one of the things that's interesting, I want you to turn with me over to Galatians chapter 3, verse 28. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:22.000 There's one principle that Paul taught in the New Testament regarding status and the kingdom of God. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:24.960 One principle, and he teaches it several places. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.599 He teaches it here in Galatians 3. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.240 He teaches it also in 1 Corinthians. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.000 We'll turn there in a second. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:36.799 But Paul says this in Galatians 3, 28. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:54.240 He says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:22:05.680 What he's saying is in a world where you're entitled Existence in life is determined by your social structure in the Roman Empire. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:07.039 Are you a Roman citizen? 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:08.720 Are you a wealthy person? 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:09.839 Are you a free man? 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.039 Are you a slave? 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:21.599 In that world where that determines your entire existence, he says, none of that matters in the kingdom of God. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.319 None of that matters. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:40.400 You, whether you're Jew, Gentile, slave or free, male or female, all of you have equal status in the kingdom of God. 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:41.440 Amen? 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.400 That's amazing. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:50.160 And we don't understand that as much because we are the land of the free and the home of the brave. 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:53.359 Where we don't like hierarchy. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.920 It's bad in most people's minds. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.880 But in that world, that was everything. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.079 And Paul's saying this overturns all of that. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:07.599 When we come into the church, there's no partiality to the wealthy or to the Roman citizens. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:09.039 No, no, sir. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.160 Your status is you are in Christ. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:23.440 And if you are in Christ, you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and you are on equal footing with anyone else. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:27.440 And by the way, that's the type of church we need to be. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:32.640 That is a countercultural, kingdom-minded church. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:44.880 Paul says if you turn over to 1 Corinthians 12, same principle, verse 13. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.799 He says, For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:03.279 In other words, every Christian, everyone who has repented of their sins, trusted Christ in faith, were all baptized with the same Holy Spirit. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:06.880 You don't have a monopoly on the Spirit because you're rich. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:13.039 You don't have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit because you're a Roman citizen or because you're smarter than other people. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:20.400 We've all been baptized, he says, with the same Holy Spirit into one body. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:28.319 And just to specify, to make sure we get it, he says, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.119 We're all made to drink of one spirit. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:47.680 So in the church, these hierarchies that exist out in the world, when you come into the church, to the church's worship, those hierarchies must disappear. 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.000 They must. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:53.359 We're all one in Christ. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:25:05.839 And so what you don't see Paul doing, it's fascinating because people say, why isn't Paul more concerned about cultural transformation? 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:11.200 Why isn't Paul more concerned about overturning slavery? 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:17.920 Why isn't he going to these cities and saying, Jesus, believe in Jesus and overturn slavery? 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:19.680 Why isn't he doing this? 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:31.519 And the answer is, it's because he was much more concerned, not with cultural transformation, but with citizenship in the kingdom. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:38.640 And to make sure that everybody that he preached to was in a citizenship, had citizenship in the kingdom that is to come. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:49.920 And so if you don't have Paul's kingdom mindset, you're not going to understand the instructions that Paul gives to slaves. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:51.200 You won't. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:58.319 Because you're saying, why isn't Paul advocating for social insurrection, for a revolution? 00:25:58.480 --> 00:25:59.599 Why isn't Paul doing this? 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:01.039 Isn't slavery wrong? 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:08.880 Well, Paul is laying out these principles, and you see it in the book of Philemon, where he sends Onesimus back to Philemon. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:15.279 He says, You're brothers now, yes, there's a master, there's a slave, but in Christ, you're brothers. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:25.839 And that principle of brotherhood to our fellow man is what grasped William Wilberforce and others and would eventually overturn slavery. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.920 But that was not Paul's main thrust, you see. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:37.440 Paul's main thrust was about the eternal kingdom of Christ. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:40.720 In fact, Paul says, jot this verse down. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:42.960 Philippians 3 20. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:47.200 He says, Our citizenship is where? 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:49.599 In heaven. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:56.640 And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.720 So that's Paul's perspective. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:08.240 He has a heavenly perspective, a kingdom-minded perspective. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:13.759 Yes, he's concerned about the here and now, but he's much more concerned about eternity. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:19.359 And that what we do in life now matters for eternity. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:23.359 So it's with that mindset, I want you to turn back to Titus. 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:35.759 It's with that mindset and this background that we can now begin to look at Paul's instructions to the slaves at the church at Crete. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:39.039 And by the way, there probably would be many of them. 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:45.279 You see, the worldview that I just articulated to you, do you think that was appealing to slaves in the Roman Empire? 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:47.359 Absolutely it was. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:49.119 Absolutely it was. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:55.359 So many slaves had been converted to Christ. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:03.119 Now I want to show you now three aspects of a slave's service. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.319 Three aspects of a slave's service. 00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:16.000 The first is they were to serve with a submissive heart. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:21.200 They were to serve with a submissive heart. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:22.799 Notice verse nine. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.400 Look at verse nine. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:34.640 Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:39.680 The verb is hopataso. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:41.759 It's an important verb. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:44.400 It means to submit oneself. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.039 And it's used not just for slaves with masters. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:49.359 It's used for all sorts of people in the ancient world. 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:54.960 It's used to describe the wife's relationship to her husband, that she is to submit to her husband. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:01.440 It's used to describe people's relationship to government, that we are to submit to ruling authorities that are over us. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:05.359 We all have different people in our lives that we are to submit to. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:16.799 But the important thing to note is that Paul tells Titus to tell the slaves that they are to submit to their own masters. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:21.759 It's not that the masters are to make the slaves submit. 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:27.440 This is an act of the will on the part of the slaves. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:34.799 They are to lower themselves underneath their own masters. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:39.279 And notice the qualifying phrase at the end. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:41.359 In everything. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.079 Not just some things. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:50.640 Now obviously, Paul understood that they were not to disobey Christ, who is their first master. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:57.920 They weren't to that that it's understood that they're not to disobey Christ in order to obey their earthly master. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:10.799 But what he's saying, as much as you can, slaves, under the lordship of Jesus Christ, you are to submit yourselves to your earthly master. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.240 Now you ask, how can Paul say such a thing? 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:17.359 How can he say such a thing? 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:19.599 Well, he tells us. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:24.480 Turn over to the left to Colossians 3. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.200 These are the verses we read. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:33.519 He tells us exactly why they are to submit to their earthly masters. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:38.559 He says, Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.720 Sounds like the same thing he just said. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:49.200 Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart. 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:56.880 And notice this: fearing the Lord. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.440 Not fearing your earthly master. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.160 Fearing the Lord. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:08.319 You see, who are you really a slave to? 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:11.440 Christ. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:12.400 Right? 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:15.279 Verse 23. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:26.240 Whatever you do, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:28.160 Wow. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:35.519 So you're a slave to Christ, and you are to understand your station as a slave. 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:39.279 You're serving that master. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:41.680 But who are you really serving? 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:45.279 You're serving Christ. 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:49.119 You're serving him in your work. 00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:50.880 Not men. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.720 We're not just going for the out of voice. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:58.720 We're going to please Christ. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:01.759 And then look at this, verse 24. 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:04.319 See what I'm talking about with a heavenly mindset? 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:05.279 Look at this. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:11.119 Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:14.079 You are serving the Lord Christ. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:20.400 So he's saying, you have to serve, you have to live in light of your future reward. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:34.799 That you're serving this master, but you're serving the Lord, and your eye is on eternity, where you will be rewarded for your work that is given to Christ. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:39.599 There's several other texts. 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:45.359 Turn over again to the left to Ephesians chapter six. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:48.960 Verse five. 00:32:54.400 --> 00:33:05.920 Almost exactly the same as Colossians 3, but he says, slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.720 In other words, it's complete obedience. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:10.640 With a sincere heart. 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:13.599 Notice it's not just outward action, it's from the heart. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:15.279 We tell this to our children all the time. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:22.559 It's obedience is not just you do what we say, it's you do what we say from the heart. 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:29.599 You know, they're doing it, but it doesn't really look like they're doing it. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:58.319 Paul's saying, you're to obey, and you are to obey from the heart as you would Christ, not by way of I service as people pleasers, but as, here it is, as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:12.320 So we are called to do this work as slaves of Christ, rendering our service to Christ and not to men. 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:16.880 That's Paul's instructions to slaves. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:19.440 And this is replete in the New Testament. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:23.679 You can also look at 1 Timothy 6, verse 2. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.000 Listen to what Peter says. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:28.559 This is 1 Peter 2.18. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:30.880 Jot this down, 1 Peter 2.18. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:38.239 Peter says, slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect. 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.679 And then he qualifies it. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:48.880 Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. 00:34:51.039 --> 00:35:00.400 So you mean the way that my master treats me doesn't infringe upon how I am to be obedient? 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:02.880 It's exactly what Peter is saying. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:11.199 He's saying you serve with both the good and the gentle and with the unjust. 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:19.760 Paul says in 1 Timothy 6 that you are to serve both the believing master and the unbelieving master. 00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:24.719 So it's a posture of a submissive heart. 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:28.960 That's the first aspect that Paul brings their attention to. 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:38.480 The second aspect is that they are to serve with excellence and faithfulness. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:41.519 Excellence and faithfulness. 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.760 So if you would turn back to Titus. 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:52.400 Titus two verse nine. 00:35:53.119 --> 00:36:02.639 He says they are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:04.559 Let me show you the structure here. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:10.320 So it's positive, negative, negative, positive. 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:19.519 So he gives a positive trait, two negative traits, and a positive trait. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:31.599 Now, the first two, the first positive and the first negative, deal with the excellence of the work that they are to do. 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:39.679 Notice he says, positively, they are to be well pleasing in everything. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:43.280 That means that they are to do what their master wants them to do. 00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:47.519 They are to accomplish the tasks that they have been given. 00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:53.920 I remember when I was beginning in ministry, I listened to a message that Tommy Nelson did. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:00.639 And he said, What you want to do is you want to be the best number two guy that you can be wherever you go. 00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:09.360 If you're a discipleship guy, if you're a children's guy, if you're if you're a youth guy, a college guy, what you want to do is you want to be the best in that. 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:19.280 And you want to make the pastor that's over you, you want to make his ministry flourish as best you can, and God will honor that. 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:21.280 And that was such great advice. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:34.000 And you look, especially in the Old Testament, you look at figures like Daniel in Nebuchadnezzar's court, he had something special with Daniel, didn't he? 00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:48.639 He had this trusted, wise advisor, and because of that, Nebuchadnezzar ended up being blessed simply because this Jewish slave had come over and was in his court. 00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:50.239 He was blessed because of Daniel. 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:51.599 You look at Potiphar. 00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:52.960 What happened with Potiphar? 00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:59.519 Everything he had was blessed because of Joseph, because of Joseph's faithfulness. 00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:00.719 What does this look like? 00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:03.199 Do you think it's just doing the bare minimum? 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:06.880 You think it's just doing, well, my master said for me to do A, B, C, and D? 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:07.440 That's what I did. 00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:09.360 I did A, B, C, and D, I'm done. 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:11.199 You think that's what it is? 00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:23.119 No, it's it's applying wisdom that you do the best job that you possibly can over and above the expectations. 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:27.039 And by the way, that's what America was built on. 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:34.480 It's called the Protestant work ethic, that we work unto the Lord and not unto men. 00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:42.480 That we are well pleasing to those to which we serve, but ultimately to the Lord. 00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:44.079 And then he says the negative. 00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:47.840 So it's excellence, not argumentative. 00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:51.760 And this word means to speak back. 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:56.480 That you're you're you're speaking back to the master. 00:38:56.719 --> 00:38:57.039 J.B. 00:38:57.119 --> 00:39:01.679 Phillips paraphrases it, they are not to answer back. 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.239 And obviously, you never want to be a yes man. 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:05.039 You ever hear that? 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:07.039 That so that an employee is just a yes man. 00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:13.199 The boss says this, yes, sir, and and and you say this, this is you jump, this is how high I'm gonna jump. 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:15.360 He's not he's not talking about that. 00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:17.360 No, obviously, we don't want to be yes men. 00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:20.239 We want to look out for the people that we work for. 00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:25.360 He's saying, of course, slaves, you look out for the the well-being and the service of your master. 00:39:25.519 --> 00:39:34.239 But what you don't want to do is every time your master says something, to be that person that says, I can't do it. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:36.239 It can't be done. 00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:39.119 Let me push back on that a little bit. 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:43.119 Let me give you a different perspective. 00:39:43.360 --> 00:40:01.199 And there's a spirit here in this word that the literal meaning is someone who speaks back, but there's a spirit in this word that would be described as rebelliousness undermining the work that's taking place. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:16.320 You ever be in a in a job place and you go over to the to the coffee machine or the water cooler, and people are talking in hushed tones, and you kind of lean in, and what they're talking about is their boss. 00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:19.920 They're saying bad things about them. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:21.920 They're saying bad things about the business. 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:26.960 Oh, this, this, this, this, this, this is the way they're treating, you know, this is this is terrible. 00:40:27.039 --> 00:40:32.559