WEBVTT 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.160 Ephesians chapter 6, verses 5 through 9. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.079 This morning we're looking at just verse 9, but I want to read the introduction to this. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:23.039 Slaves obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:39.840 Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with the 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 slave or free. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:45.840 And then our passage in particular for this morning, masters, do the same to them. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:55.200 Stop your threatening, knowing that he was both their master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:57.679 This is part two. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:05.439 Last Lord's Day we looked at verses five through eight about God's calling for employees. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:23.599 And we talked about how Paul's instruction to slaves transcends cultures, transcends economic structures in society, and it enters our world today, not through the lens of slavery necessarily, but through the lens of an employer-employee relationship. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:38.959 And the outline last week was a call for employees to work for the Lord, to recognize that you have a human boss, but that you're judged by your heavenly father who knows all things and knows how you work. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:48.879 You recognize that your human bosses are fallible, they are sinners, some of them are not Christians, and nevertheless, your work is a stewardship that God has given you. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:02:04.560 So you have an opportunity to leverage your skills and your time and your employment opportunities in this life, to provide for your family and to glorify the Lord, recognizing you work for the one who is in heaven, not the one who is on earth. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.040 So that was last Lord's Day. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.360 This is part two of that, where we look at verse 9. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:16.719 And then here Paul's instructions shift from addressing employees to addressing employers. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:30.479 I was in Los Angeles this week for a board meeting at the Masters University, and on the flight back, I sat next to a lady who was preparing a uh TED talk that she's delivering, I think, today actually. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.120 Uh she's delivering it in India, but from Washington, D.C. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:36.479 She lives in Los Angeles. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:37.599 It was a complicated life. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:39.039 I couldn't keep up. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:46.080 But the content of her talk is on how capitalism is actually good for the world. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.080 Capitalism gets a bad rep. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:57.599 She says that certainly there are abuses in capitalism and that there are uh you know injustices in the world. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:12.159 But capitalism has so raised the standard of living and so raised the moral compass of society that it enables us to even identify injustices that in previous economic systems would have not only been tolerated but approved of. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:16.319 So she has 11 minutes today to make that case. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:22.000 Uh and I joked with her and said, we have the same job. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:27.280 Uh you look at this passage, this passage is kind of hinting at that. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:36.319 Um this passage has a subversive element to it, to the Roman society, and I hope you notice the subversive element to this passage. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:50.319 Paul is addressing slaves and masters in a local congregation in a society that is marked by slavery, and Paul is addressing it, engaging with it at a level that I think is certainly subversive. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.080 He is esteeming slaves. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:07.439 He's esteeming them, letting them know that there is an authority higher than their own masters, and that they're working for that authority, and that the Lord approves of their work regardless of what their master thinks about it. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:19.519 And then he engages masters with this turn of phrase here, uh, likewise, it's the Greek word for likewise, uh, it's rendered in the ESV, do the same to them, but it's it's one word in the Greek, likewise. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.959 And here, Paul's, now, see what he's doing with masters. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.240 See why I say it's subversive. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:36.160 He's addressing masters in the same sense in which he was addressing slaves, even with the word likewise, he's connecting them to an ethical obligation that they serve someone who is also in heaven. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:43.680 By putting them on equal footing before the cross, slaves and masters here, Paul is being subversive in society. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:52.160 He is, I think, planting seeds that are going to work their way through society, ultimately uh producing the undoing of slavery. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:05:08.959 Not that uh capitalism is a perfect system either, and I would agree that there are injustices in capitalism, the the chief of which is materialism, how capitalism can fuel materialism and fuel the pursuit of pleasure and um the pursuit of using your own resources for your own selfish interests. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.319 I grant all that. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:27.360 Uh but nevertheless I look at this passage and see how Paul is subverting an economic system based upon slavery with ethical mandates that are going to lead to the corrosion of it, as the book of Philemon, I think, does this even uh lower gear, you know, with more strength and more force. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.759 Philemon accomplishes the same the same thing even more directly there. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.439 Uh but the principle is here as well. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.639 And so I want to take that principle and follow along from our outline last week. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.560 Last week it was how to be the employee of the month, how to work as an employee and be recognized before the Lord. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.680 So this week I have a slightly different outline addressed towards masters. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.120 It's Paul's TED Talk on Managing. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:52.879 I have more than 11 minutes, so praise God. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:55.360 Paul's TED Talk on Managing. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:03.600 And the first place where Paul engages here with managers is by commanding them to serve people by serving Christ. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:04.879 And that's what's coming from the word. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:05.759 Likewise, there. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.160 Masters do the same to them. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:12.160 And so you want to ask, what does it mean when he's telling masters to do the same? 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:13.360 The same as what? 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.879 If he's telling masters do the same, well, what is the same? 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.439 What's the other side of that uh teeter-totter here? 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:20.879 What's the weight on the counterbalance? 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:22.800 And that's of course what we looked at last week. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:30.720 The main thrust of his direction as slaves last week was to recognize that you are a slave under the authority of God. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:32.240 You are serving him. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:39.519 And so don't serve your own master by eye service in verse 6, but recognize, recognizing that you're doing the will of God from the heart. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:45.439 And so there's kind of this uh authority structure from heaven to the heart of the slave. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.240 Notice that it bypasses the master there. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:56.000 The slave is serving the Lord, pursuing what is excellent in the Lord's eyes, not in man's eyes. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:07.439 Now, of course, the corollary of that, which is more obvious with an employer-employee relationship, is that you are a better employee when you are working for the Lord over your boss. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.879 And this same principle is all over the book of Ephesians. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:12.560 You understand this with marriage. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:18.560 A husband loves his wife more when he loves Jesus more than his wife. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:20.560 Does that make sense? 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:27.839 A wife serves her husband and loves her husband more when she serves the Lord over her husband. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.920 And that's the way God designs the marriage relationship to work. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:33.680 You recognize it with parenting. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:40.319 The best way for a parent to love his or her child is to love the Lord more than his or her child. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:41.920 And for the child to see that. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:48.480 That's actually a way of loving your child more than letting your child know the most important thing in the universe is the child. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:57.199 When the authority of the Lord is elevated in your own heart, your child sees that, your child grows in his or her own love for the Lord as they follow your example. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:00.720 And it's just, you know, marriages are strengthened when you love Jesus more than each other. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.519 Parenting is strengthened when you love Jesus more than each other. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:13.120 And the employee-employer relationship is strengthened when you love Jesus more than your own boss or more than your own employees. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:25.439 And so that's the likewise, I think, what Paul is getting at there, that employees or slaves work and actually serve their master better by serving their master less than the Lord. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.240 And so that's what Paul's going for with the same thing. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:39.279 The principle here is that the manager has to manage, recognizing that he is managing people who are given to him or her by the Lord. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.039 That the Lord is the one who watches over all of these things. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.720 Now, the word for master here is the word uh curios, the word for Lord. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.000 It's the word that's used all over the New Testament for Lord. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:59.600 It's the word that's used in the the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, to render Adonai, which is the Hebrew word for Lord. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:01.840 And Lord is a very good English translation of it. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:08.639 Master works fine too, but it's, you know, master is where it's in a slave relationship, right? 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.200 There's a slave, slaves have masters. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:13.600 So that's the why it's rendered master here. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:18.879 But the word curia, uh, curios is not always connected to slaves. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:30.320 It's often connected to political authority, authority over a region, much like the English word lord, somebody who has substantial authority in society or impact in society can rightly be recognized as the Lord. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.639 You know, they get knighted by the queen or whatnot. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:35.039 Um, that's the concept of a lord. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:41.039 It's it could be a sign of uh endearment or affection, like we might use sir or your honor in court. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.039 You might address the judge with your honor. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:44.080 Uh that's this word. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.039 Curiosity carries all of that package with it. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:10:00.720 And so I want you to understand what it means here when uh Paul is addressing masters uh by telling them to remember in the middle of verse 9, the one who is both their master and yours. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:06.960 So even the master of the slaves has a higher master, a higher lord. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:13.679 And it's a word play that might not be obvious in in English, but it is certainly obvious in the Greek. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:21.039 The word curios or lord or master is a word that speaks of inherent authority. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.519 That you have authority over those who are underneath you. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:34.879 The story we're gonna look at tonight in Luke's gospel of the vineyard, it begins with a master who has a vineyard, and he leases it out to other people, and then he goes to exercise his authority over the vineyard. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:36.240 That's what that that word means. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:41.679 It has wrapped up in it this connotation of authority over the land that you have, the people that you have. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:51.200 So here in Ephesians 6, verse 9, it's obvious that the Lord is the Lord of the universe, meaning he has an inherent authority over the universe. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:11:05.519 When you have a relationship with the Lord, when the Lord recognizes your name, even at a human level, of the human lord of a vineyard or the human lord of a province, if you have a relationship with him, it speaks of your privileged position. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:09.039 Isaiah chapter 5 is where the vineyard analogy comes from. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.519 In Isaiah chapter 5, there is a Lord who has the vineyard, and he places Israel in the vineyard. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:19.200 Israel becomes the vineyard, and Israel is in a privileged position with the Lord by virtue of their relationship. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.519 So that's the concept behind the word Lord. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.360 You have a privileged position. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:29.919 You recognize that the Lord of the Bible is the Lord of the whole universe, not just Israel. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:38.720 But that Israel has a privileged position with the Lord by virtue of their being named by Him and owned and managed by Him in a specific way. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:48.080 It's the idiom of the kid whose dad is mayor, and the kid gets pulled over by the police and says, You need to know who my dad is. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:12:00.080 You know, the guy is mayor of everybody in the city, but the kid is pulling rank on the police officer because he feels like he has a privileged position by virtue of his relationship with the mayor. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:06.240 So that concept of Lord has that in it, that there are people with a privileged position before the Lord. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:08.000 That doesn't lead to favoritism. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.720 We'll end with that this morning, but first you have to understand why that would function that way. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:16.720 That if you have a Lord and you have a relationship with him, you you are privileged. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:25.600 The word kurios, I learned this this week, it's a word that is often used in Aesop's fables for somebody who owns animals or pets. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:30.720 They're the lord of the animal, which lets you know in the Greek language it's not as specific as Lord. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.200 It could even, you know, be even broader. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.000 Uh if you have a dog, you're the Lord of the dog. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.120 Uh if you have a cat, the cat is your lord. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:42.159 The cat rules you. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:52.240 John 13, verse 16, Jesus says, Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:54.159 That's the word for Lord. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:55.840 That's curiosity again. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:01.600 The first use of this in the Bible, by the way, is of the angels who appear to Abram. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.679 They're on their way to destroy Sodom. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:04.720 Do you remember the story? 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:10.080 And Abraham sees the three angels, he addresses them with the word Adonai, the word for Lord. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:11.519 And he says, My Lord, come in here. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.519 That's the first use of it in the Bible. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.440 And it's interesting. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.879 You kind of wonder what Abram knows about those angels? 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:25.600 Is he identifying them as divine by addressing them as Lord, or did he just recognize them as dignitaries or having authority? 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:35.360 The word is used next in Genesis chapter 24 as Abram is sending his servant out to find a wife for Isaac. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:50.000 And you remember that Abram has his servant come and uh lay his hands on Abram's own mark of circumcision and make a vow that he will find a wife for his son from the covenant people. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:14:01.679 And that word for Lord is used 17 times in that passage, as Abram is the Lord, as identified by him having the mark of circumcision, and his servant gonna go find somebody to marry into the family. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:04.320 And so there's a kind of covenantal implication of it. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:14.799 It's you've you know, you go from seeing it one time in the Bible with the angel to 17 times in a passage where Abram is the Lord by virtue of being in part of the covenant. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:18.480 Of course, uh Sarah will call Abram Lord. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:20.799 Peter lets us know that. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:27.440 It's just a it's indicating there's some kind of authority that comes from a relationship with God with that person. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:35.679 Jesus uses the word uh in the New Testament in his Sermon on the Mount where he says, nobody can serve two, and here it's translated, masters. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:41.279 You know, a slave can't serve two masters, and you think uh that's kind of obvious, right? 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.440 A slave can't be owned by two people. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:52.559 And so in our culture that doesn't have slavery, we often hear that rebuke of Jesus that you know, nobody can serve two masters, and you think of the time when you were in high school and you had four part-time jobs. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:55.360 Like, of course you can have two bosses. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.159 I were, I remember I had three or four bosses, and all of my teachers think they're my boss. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:05.600 But in a context of slavery, Jesus' admonition makes more sense, doesn't it? 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.159 A slave cannot have two masters. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:18.240 Because even if he did, if it were possible, which it's not, but if it were, Jesus says he would love one and hate the other. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.480 So in the context of slavery, you're wondering, like, where is Jesus going with that? 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:31.039 And Jesus lets you know where he's going, because the next verse says, you cannot serve both God and money. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.720 One of them can be your master, but not both. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:41.919 And then if you serve both, you're going to end up, Jesus says, loving one and hating the other. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:45.440 So that's the concept of lordship in the Bible. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:56.399 Uh, and the point that Paul is making here in Ephesians 6 is that a master of slaves is actually under the authority of a greater master who he's going to give a response to. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.159 And this is the master of the universe, and of course, Jesus is that master. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.360 He's addressed as the Lord. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.600 Already in Ephesians, repeatedly, he's addressed as Lord. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.639 So, what does it mean that Jesus is the Lord? 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:12.879 That Jesus is uh in that position of authority, the Lord of heaven and earth. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.200 Well, I'll give you a couple little observations about this. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:20.240 First, it means that he made us, and we identify Jesus as Lord, it means that Jesus made us. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.559 This is how this word is used in the Bible. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:26.000 I the example that always comes to my mind is Moses. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.840 Back in Exodus chapter 2 and 3. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:33.679 Yahweh is talking with Moses and sends Moses to go rebuke Pharaoh. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.320 Do you remember Moses' first objection is, Who am I supposed to say, sent me? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:43.519 I'm going to go back to the Israelites and say, hey, I talked to a burning bush, and they're going to put me away. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.519 Who do I say sent me? 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:49.360 And do you remember what the Lord says is tell them, Yahweh sent you. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.879 My name is Yahweh. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:55.519 And then Moses says, I can't speak right. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:05.119 And when Moses starts trying to talk his way out of it, he doesn't address the Lord as Yahweh, he addresses him as Adonai, Lord, the other word for Lord. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:14.400 After God just said, My name is Yahweh, talk to me as Yahweh, Moses says, Okay, Adonai, I can't speak right. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.119 And do you remember what God says? 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:22.240 God says, if I am Adonai, if I am your Lord, who do you think made your mouth? 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:24.799 See the personal connection there? 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:30.960 If you're going to address me as Lord, then don't complain about how you were made. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.799 Because if I am your Lord, that means I made you. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:36.559 I made you. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:45.359 So that's a very basic principle of employers to recognize that you have a master above you who made you. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:48.559 And not only did he make you, but he owns you. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:50.400 He owns you again. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:18:02.799 This is very socially subversive because Paul is addressing masters with the language in their society that is used for slavery, and he's letting masters know that you, in fact, are owned by somebody else. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:13.519 1 Corinthians 10 verse 26 says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, meaning everything that is made belongs to God. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:14.400 He owns it. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:15.519 The earth is the Lord's. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:17.279 That's language of possession. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:18.960 The earth belongs to him. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.640 He's not the Lord of a zip code or of a province or of a neighborhood. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.359 He is the Lord of the world. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:33.519 He owns us not only generically, because we're part of the world, but he owns us because we are in his image. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.119 You know, a slave might bear a marking of his master. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:41.359 It was common in Israel that a slave would get a tag in the ear. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.000 We sometimes render the word earring, but it's more like a tag. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:50.640 It's not a brand on the flesh, but it could be a brand on a leather tag that would be put in the ear and that would identify him. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:56.640 And it was a sign in the ancient Near East, in the Israelite culture, it was a sign of elevated status. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.559 Not every slave had a tag. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.480 Only a slave that was loved by his master and that loved his master in return. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:21.519 Remember, to get the tag, the slave had to go to the doorpost at the city gate, bring out a priest, and the slave had to declare, I love my master, and I love Yahweh, and the priest would oversee the insert of the mark in the ear, and that slave then had a privileged relationship with his master. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.839 Do you recognize that you are in the image of God? 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:27.599 You were made in his image. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:33.359 You have a privileged relationship with him over the rivers and the trees and the birds. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.240 The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof, but you in particular are owned by him. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:50.160 And this puts our sin in perspective because if he is our Lord, then you recognize that when you're sinning, you're sinning against the one who owns you. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:56.319 An act of sin is at some level against your neighbors or your family or against yourself. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:01.920 You can, you know, if you steal from somebody, you're stealing from your neighbor, and that's wrong. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.240 If you sin against your own body, you're sinning against your body, and in a sense, you're sinning against the church. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:15.039 But there's a greater sense in that every act of sin is against your Lord, the one who made you and the one who owns you. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.400 All sin is against him. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:21.759 You belong to the Lord, and so sin is an open rebellion against your master. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.599 This is the reality that we live in a fallen world. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:37.039 Sin has taken us captive, and this is why the New Testament, particularly Paul, uses so much of this kind of slavery language about sin, that we are slaves to sin and death, he says. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.279 That we are ruled by the prince of the power of this air. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.559 He's the devil, in some sense, holds the whole world captive. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.400 Paul says in Hebrews chapter 2, that we are held in slavery to the fear of death. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:53.759 This language is used all over the New Testament. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:57.519 You are taking your thoughts captive for Christ. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:02.079 There is a war in your mind, a war among the members of your body, Romans 6 says. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:05.359 This war, they're in rebellion against their Lord. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:10.160 Your body is rebelling against its Lord, your passions are rebelling against their Lord. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:15.200 There is the Lord who owns you, and every act of sin is open rebellion against him. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.599 Through sin, you've been taken captive. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.079 Through sin, you've rebelled against God. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:27.359 You belong to the knight, your servants of the flesh, your servants of sin, your servants of the devil. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.400 This is all part of this metaphor of lordship in the Bible. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:39.279 The whole concept of lordship makes sin more extreme because you're rebelling against the one who owns you. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:46.319 Nevertheless, when you understand that Jesus is your Lord, you understand that he chose you. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.920 He chose you in light of your sin, even. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:54.559 I mean, you can flip over just a few pages to the left in Ephesians 1. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:58.960 Verse 3. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.640 To be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:05.440 So here's an example of where Jesus is called Lord. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.000 He was called Lord earlier in Ephesians 1, verse 2, by the way. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.079 It's your first introduction to it. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.039 There, he's identified as the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:22.960 Now in verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.640 So your Lord chose you. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:31.519 As you go through Ephesians and you get to chapter 2, you recognize that he chose you in light of your sin. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.599 You were dead in your sins and trespasses. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:35.680 He chose you in light of that. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.759 While you were still God's enemy, he set his love and his affection on you. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.599 While we were his enemy, Christ died for us. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:44.720 He chose you. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.559 You've been marked for salvation. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:48.079 That's what that means. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.880 You were marked for salvation. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:56.079 While you were still in the slave market of sin, Christ set his affection on you. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.880 He did not set his affection on you because of anything good inside of you. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.279 He didn't see you in the slave market of sin and identify you based upon your strength or your age. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:15.359 He saw you in the slave market of sin and set his affection on you because he loved you, because he chose you. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.119 That's all in the concept of lordship. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:20.559 This metaphor. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.519 And because he chose you, he redeemed you. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.279 It's again the concept of a Lord. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.319 Choosing his slaves, buying his slaves. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.240 It has redemption inherent in it. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.240 That's the cost of your purchase. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:44.079 You weren't purchased with silver or gold, but you were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ that is of more surpassing value than the silver or gold. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:24:04.880 This is what the widow Anna, 84 years old, a widow for decades in the temple ministering to the Lord, when she saw the baby Savior, when she saw Jesus as an infant, she said, I've been sitting in the temple waiting for the redemption of Israel by our Lord. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.400 She gives thanks to the Lord, recognizing this child is the one who will be her redeemer. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.319 This is what you see in Ephesians chapter 1. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:13.839 In him we have redemption. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.920 Look at verse 7 of chapter 1, if we're still there. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.880 In him we have redemption through his blood. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:22.079 The riches of his grace. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.880 He lavished upon us with wisdom and insight. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:28.559 This is a master who is profoundly and innumerably rich. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.599 You cannot describe the richness of this master. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:34.079 And what does this master do with his riches? 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:44.079 He sets his affection on you, even though you're a rebel against him, and then purchases you with his own blood, buys you from the slave market of sin. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.720 That's the word redemption. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:53.200 Redemption, again, is something that you might own, but you have to pay for a second time. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:25:05.839 The analogy that I always uses that helped crystallize it for me is that when my car was stolen and it was towed by the LAPD, it was recovered and towed by the LAPD to their impound lot, I had to buy it out of from the LAPD. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.160 I reported it as stolen, but I had to buy it back from them. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:10.480 I had to redeem it from car jail. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.240 It was mine, but I had to pay for it a second time. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.240 That's the nature of redemption. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.039 Your dog runs away, you have the same principle. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:24.160 Fairfax County Animal Control will come fetch your dog for you, lock him in dog jail. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:26.720 And you gotta go buy it out. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.440 Buy that creature a second time. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:31.759 This is what the Lord does for you. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:33.839 You belong to him in a personal way. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.559 You've sinned against him, you rebelled against him. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:41.839 Nevertheless, he has set his heart on you and his affections on you, and he purchases you. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:46.559 And because he purchases you, you now belong to him. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:48.240 So you serve him. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:54.480 The nature of Lordship in the New Testament goes beyond simply being purchased by Christ and into service. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.680 Romans 6, verse 22. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:01.759 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:05.680 The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:06.960 That's Romans 6, 22. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:11.519 You are a slave to sin, you are purchased by God, and now you're bringing fruit. 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:13.039 You're a productive slave. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.359 You're bringing in spiritual fruit. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:23.359 And that spiritual fruit produces or ends in your sanctification and finally eternal life. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.119 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:32.319 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.119 Therefore it is written, let one who boasts boast in the Lord. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:39.119 Do you see this connection? 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:45.440 The Lord, your master, you're boasting in him because he paid the price to rescue you from your sin. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:54.400 He redeems you from sin, frees you from the power of sin, and doesn't just turn you homeless. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:59.759 He doesn't rescue you from the slave market of sin and tell you to fend for yourself in the big world. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:16.319 He rescues you from your sin at the cost of his own blood and then brings you into his own household where he showers you with his wisdom and the riches of his treasury, and then puts you to work, making a harvest of sanctification. 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:23.759 This is why Paul says in Romans 12, present your bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.559 It's your spiritual act of worship. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:31.279 You're laying yourself down on the altar repeatedly. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:34.480 Even that language, living sacrifice, is so confusing. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.160 I mean, I don't know much about sacrifices, but they don't live long. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.279 I mean, what happens with the sacrifice? 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.839 It's killed, and the blood is spread on the altar. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:46.319 There's no living sacrifice on the altar. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:57.119 Except you, your master bought you, equips you, and then sends you to be a sacrifice, producing a harvest of sanctification through spiritual life. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:01.039 So that's what it means that Jesus is your master. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:06.240 And of course, the New Testament metaphor doesn't end there, it doesn't terminate with a slave-master relationship. 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:09.839 Of course, Jesus says, I no longer call you only slaves. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:13.279 You're more than that, because a slave doesn't know what his master is doing. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:18.079 You know, a slave doesn't ask his master questions like, so why are you planting this crop now instead of that crop? 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:19.839 Not a question a slave gets to ask. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.319 But Jesus says, I call you more than slaves. 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:28.240 You're in fact friends because what the Father has revealed to me, I'm revealing to you. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:29.759 So you're brought into the household. 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:37.200 You have knowledge of how the household is operating because of books like Ephesians here, Ephesians chapter 1 ties this whole metaphor together. 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:51.599 That your Lord purchases you from sin by the cost of his own blood, makes you his own slave, puts you to work in the garden to walk in the garden of this world to walk in the good deeds appointed from before time, producing your own sanctification. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.960 That's your spiritual act of worship for your Lord. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.319 Okay, Ephesians 1, verse 15, you're probably still there. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:05.200 For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:12.960 Notice here the idea of curiosity, Lord, is tied to Paul giving thanks and remembering and praying for you. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:18.960 Verse 17 the God of our Lord Jesus Christ can give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of him. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.680 Do you see the language from Jesus and John here coming out? 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:25.599 That you're not just a slave, because he's letting you know what he's doing. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:31.839 Remember, Jesus says, I don't call you slaves only, but you're more than that your friends because what the Father has told me, I'm telling you. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:38.480 You're seeing this in Ephesians 1, verse 17, that the Lord is giving you knowledge of what his father has told him. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:48.880 It's incredible to think about this, but Ephesians was written after Jesus had that conversation in John, of course, but Ephesians is written before John's gospel. 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:54.319 So as Paul's writing this and recording this, he's not, it's not because he read John's gospel yet. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:59.680 And yet he's repeating the same things that Jesus told his disciples. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:02.400 And Paul wasn't there when Jesus told his disciples that. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:23.680 Chapter 2, verse 21. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:25.359 Keeps this analogy going. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:31.839 The whole structure, speaking of the church, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:39.279 So you, as a slave, are now more than a slave, a friend, and now more than a friend, you're part of the temple. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:42.240 I mean, that's a promotion. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:45.359 From a sacrifice to being the temple itself. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:48.960 Would you rather be the sacrifice or the temple? 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:50.799 Well, that's what's happening to you. 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:53.599 You're built together into the temple. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.200 And of course, Jesus himself is the temple. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:58.880 You're adopted in Christ. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:03.680 You see how much more rich this is than merely slavery? 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:05.599 But it's not less than slavery. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:23.359 You can't get to being part of the temple until you go through that channel of slavery that your master bought you, cleansed you, gives you the possibility of being productive now with spiritual fruit, so much so that you're this living sacrifice, now you're built into the temple of the Lord. 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:25.839 Because you're adopted in Christ. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.559 Look at chapter 3, verse 11. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:40.960 This whole thing, all this man, verse 10, this manifold wisdom of God, which the Father has shared with Jesus Christ, verse 11, this is according to the eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:45.680 In him we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:49.759 See you're now, the slavery analogy keeps going here. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:32:00.079 You're now a slave with boldness and access to the master's house because of your knowledge of what he's doing, which he has distilled through Christ. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.640 You can approach him because you belong there. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:09.519 The world is still hostile, of course, to our to our Lord and to our master. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:10.960 Look at chapter 4, verse 1. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:16.799 I, therefore, Paul says, chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 1, a prisoner for the Lord. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:27.119 So even though he's on the Lord's side, the Lord of the universe, the particular Lord who redeemed him, bought him, and has made him productive, Paul is still being persecuted. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:34.880 When you recognize that you belong to your master, you get that they're not actually persecuting you, they're persecuting Jesus. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:37.359 They persecute you because they're after Jesus. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:40.160 Paul's a prisoner for the Lord because they can't arrest Jesus. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:41.599 He's been crucified and resurrected. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:43.440 All they can do is get their hands on him. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:45.839 Chapter 4, verse 5. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:50.880 We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:52.960 So this whole thing is unified here. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.599 Jesus is our Lord, but we only have one Lord. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:58.160 And he's the God and Father of all. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.680 We only have one baptism. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:06.160 Not multiple baptisms with multiple Lords, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:08.559 And then look at Ephesians 5, verse 20. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:12.640 Dog your eyes down to the end of that little section there. 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:20.240 We're giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:25.279 So all that we're doing here, we're being thankful to our Master, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.599 So I hope you see this whole thing is coming full circle. 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:32.400 The God of the Old Testament, the God who created the universe, creates you in a unique way. 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:41.519 You've sinned against him, you've rebelled against him, he's marked you out for salvation, he's redeemed you, he's brought you into his own household, he's made you more than a slave. 00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:50.160 You're spiritually productive for him, you're persecuted for him, but the whole time you're giving thanks to him and all things because he is your true Lord. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:55.359 This takes us all the way back to chapter 6, where the word is now rendered masters in verse 9. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:59.359 Masters, you're supposed to do the same to them. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.039 Act towards your employees in that way. 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.720 So, wow. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:17.440 If you're an employee employer, people who work for you, that becomes your pattern for how you care for them. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:28.400 You have this whole meta-narrative of the Bible here of a Lord who identifies people and gives himself up for them. 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:37.199 Your first obligation of as an employer or as a manager is to manage according to the will of God. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:44.880 You don't pursue your own interests, as Jesus himself did not pursue his own interests, but laid himself down to pursue the interests of others. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:46.239 That's the pattern. 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:57.840 You want to be a manager like the Lord is a manager, you want to be a Lord like the Lord, then you sacrifice yourself, even at a cost for yourself. 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.079