Slaves of Christ

Well, good morning. Open your Bibles to Ephesians 6, please. I encourage you to stay this afternoon for meal and fellowship as we hear from the men who went to the fire retreat, to hear about their experience and what was taught and the conversations. It's always a good time to hear from them. So I encourage you to stay for a meal, even if you didn't prepare anything.

We have this, I guess, this miracle that happens that we never run out of food. So it's never happened once. So we are in Ephesians chapter 6. I'll read the text. We'll go to the Lord in prayer. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ.

Not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is slave or is free. Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him. Let's pray.

Oh, Father in heaven, would you help us with your word now? Would you help us, Lord, to have ears to listen, to have ears to focus on what is being said, Lord, and even if it's done from a weak and stammering servant, I pray that you would help the people to gather some truth from it and to apply it to their own lives where they are at specifically. Lord, so that both the preaching and the receiving of your word would be blessed by the Spirit of Christ.

God in heaven, we are too weak for this. We are certainly not able to do this of our own will and power, but we know that with Christ we can do all things. And so it's to him that we look now, and it's to him that we trust and have confidence in, that your word will truly have its effect in our lives. So help us, Lord. Be gracious to us. Not because we deserve it, but because you are abundant in goodness.

So we praise you and thank you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. well there are certain major events in our lives that i think is really natural and normal to have a way of affecting our daily lives there's certain major events that happen that that have a way of affecting our our daily everyday lives and what i mean by that is let's say you come home and find out that you need to replace your whole septic system and the cost that comes with that if you came home with the news that you just inherited a big fortune, you're going to act a little differently with that news of needing to change out for a new septic system. But if you came home with the news with something that you have lost your job, it's going to affect the way that you handle that situation pretty dramatically, finding out that you need to cough out so much money for a new septic system.

Or you expect someone to act a little differently if they find out that they lost a loved one versus they found out that they just had a grandson or grandchild born into the world. There's certain major events that happen in our life that affect our daily lives. It affects how we see things. It colors the situation around us. I think it's actually very normal.

It's a normal thing to happen. It's because the greatest event that ever happened was when Jesus died and rose again for sinners 2,000 years ago. That was the greatest event, no greater event than that. And when you grab hold of that by faith, it should change your daily life like nothing else. As you see Jesus, this Jesus, this true God and true man in literally everything, this major event of him dying on the cross and rising again, as you grab hold of that in faith, it should affect your daily life.

You should see him in literally everything. Paul has highlighted this reality here in Ephesians for the family unit. If you haven't noticed, wives submit to husbands, ask to the Lord, see the Lord. Husbands, love your wives like the Lord, see the Lord. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Parents, bring your children up in the Lord.

Paul is creating a paradigm within the family unit that Jesus, that event that happened, should so overwhelm our perspective that we see him in everything that we do. And that carries on in our text today, last of all, with slaves should see Jesus in their master. And masters should see Jesus in the slave. Look at chapter 6, verse 5, Slaves, obey earthly masters as you would Christ.

Verse 6, as slaves of Christ. Verse 7, as to the Lord. In verse 9, masters do the same, i.e., see Christ in your slave. It's such a major event that happened, as you grab hold of it in faith, that it colors everything that you see. And it changes the mood of the room. In the Roman Empire, major cities consisted of over 50% of slaves.

Some estimations are much higher than that. So the original hearers of this letter in Ephesus, there would be a considerable amount of slaves in the room. There would be a considerable amount of slaves in the room, people who were considered to be property, always under the threat of their master to work in order not to get beat or killed And Paul says see the life of Jesus in that slave That a profound statement They are objects of property They are under threat of their master, of being beat or killed, and Paul says, yes, and see Jesus there, O slave.

There's implication today, despite not having any slaves in this room. A job you feel stuck in, wives with harsh husbands with a marriage you feel trapped in, children under the yoke of harsh parents. Jesus is the major event of your life that affects, for the good, even the worst of circumstances. And we'll see it in this text on slaves this morning.

Paul in verse 5 we see Paul tells slaves here what to do and how to do it and the what in verse 5 is slaves obey your earthly masters and the how to do it is with fear and trembling now this would be nothing new to the slave who would hear this the slave was used to his whole life being told you need to obey and you need to do it with fear and trembling. The slave was told his whole life that there's obedience to be had for the life. You got to imagine slaves a lot of times outnumbered masters in great quantities.

So obedience was necessary for safety reasons. Obedience was necessary for there to be effective work going on. So slaves reading this, hearing this in Ephesus, there would be nothing new to be heard here. Obey your earthly masters. They would hear that all the time. In fact, there'd be nothing new with fear and trembling.

They'd hear that all the time as well. I mean, look at what Paul says to the masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening. The slaves would be often, they would know what it means to obey with fear and trembling for threats of being whipped, being killed, or whatever it may be. That would be nothing new. And really that kind of lifestyle is one of an animal.

It's nothing more than an animal. They obey and comply for physical food or comfort. That's exactly why an animal would obey is for physical health and food. Your dog is not your best friend. It just wants to eat. You know that.

There's no such thing as a dog as a best friend. They just like food. That's why they comply. That's why they seem to be so friendly. A horse complies for sugar. That's it.

It's for these physical things, that's it. And so a slave would be used to hearing obey with fear and trembling, and they would be used to that, but it'd just be for physical reasons. This is good for animals. It's a good life for an animal to live that way. Nothing wrong with that, but it's miserable for humans to live that way because humans are made in the image of God and made body and soul.

Your work must be more than for a physical paycheck and to keep from the threat of losing your job, wives to a husband or children to a difficult parent, so your work cannot be to go along to get along. It can't just be merely physical in that way. Paul in talking to slaves has a what and how that goes beyond the physical. And we see him heading in that direction with, if you notice, you can almost miss it if you don't look at it and focus on it.

He's going in a different direction that would sound a little differently when he says obey your earthly masters when you hear earthly masters you can't help but think of the spiritual master that that kind of transcends the earthly this brings the mind to the heavenly master that transcends who enables the servants to do what the the what and how of slavery with a deeply spiritual meaning not just simply physical and that's what Paul goes on to say at the in verse 5 when he says with a sincere heart now that would be where the slave would say what I get obey with fear and trembling here all the time with sincerity of heart like my heart needs to mean it I'm a slave the worst circumstance the low of the low and you're telling me that I need to be property and be sincere in my work that would be where it'd be like wait what what do you say Paul it's one thing to tell a slave to obey or else it's a whole other thing to say obey from the soul or obey and like it he says with sincere heart in verse six he says the same thing when he says doing the will of God from the heart in verse seven he says rendering your service with good will to God he's saying do it and like it to the slave. I remember one of the first times eating with Sarah and her family. I was 15 years old and I was at the table and, you know, eating a meal.

That's what you do at tables, I suppose. And I remember, you know, Sarah has a lot of younger brothers and they're all like kind of like the age of my boys now, which is really weird to think about, but they weren't eating very well. And I remember her dad, if you know her dad, he's kind of forceful, you know, and he says, you're going to eat it and you're going to like it.

Now remember that was just so wild. Not only is he commanding the eating, but he's commanding them to like it as well. And that's kind of what Paul is doing here. He's saying, obey and do it with sincerity of heart and like it in your obedience. The obedience comes not just physical, but it's a spiritual obedience. It goes beyond the physical when he says, do it with a sincere heart. the what is obey the how is from the heart and it's in the worst circumstance imaginable of slavery this is only possible when someone has their eyes on the greatest event of all of history and he gets to that in the end of verse five when he says as you would Christ That the only way The obedience goes from the simply animalistic to the actual from the heart with joy in the heart with goodwill in the heart because they have their eyes on Christ Christ is Lord of all.

And when you follow him, he is like sand after you leave the beach. He's everywhere. It makes it not worth going to the beach anymore because the sand is everywhere. And when you follow Jesus, he is literally, he seeps through everything. He is everywhere. He's in everything.

He's in everywhere, even in the slave-master relationship. And you say, but not in my workplace. My workplace stinks. You should see my boss. It's a terrible situation. You should see my parents.

They're awful. And I'm stuck with them. I can't choose another one. I guarantee you didn't have it worse than some of these slaves that are in this room listening to Paul telling them to obey from the heart. In fact, let's go back to fear and trembling. As we said before, the how of with fear and trembling, obey with a sincere heart with fear and trembling.

Paul's not saying with fear and trembling to the threatenings of your master. It's a fear and trembling as one who follows the Lord Jesus Christ. And this fear and troubling is not that we're afraid Jesus is going to put his thumb on us. It's because we love him so much that we are so cautious. We are so calculated with every step what glorifies Christ here.

We don't just willy-nilly go through life. We want every aspect of our lives to honor the one who has glorified and loved us through the forgiveness of sins. and so this fear and trembling that that the slave he's telling the slaves to to have as the howl of their obedience is because they have loved the lord jesus christ so much that they can't help but see in their terrible situation how do i honor christ here their eyes are filled with jesus despite the hard situation. And so they are deeply calculating their every move to honor him, not for fear of the whip, but because of love for Christ.

The person who loves Christ finds joy in serving him even in the most impossible situations. Now, to fill out this picture that Paul is providing for us in verse 5, this picture Paul provides a negative example of how to obey followed by a positive example if you notice in verse six so he has the what that is obey the how is with fear and trembling it with a sincere heart as you would Christ and then he provides he paints like a negative picture of that and a positive he says in verse six not by the way of eye service as people pleasers but as bond servants of Christ. So the negative is, is don't the how of your obedience can't be by way of eye service.

And as people pleasers, the slave can fall into obedience simply to be a people pleaser or to avoid their threats, right? That's what he means by people pleasers. I like the, the slaves were just, you know, had that, you know, cause we think of a people pleaser as someone who just struggles with always wanting to please people. Um, but that's, he's saying simply slaves don't let your obedience be because you're trying to please your master enough not to be threatened by him.

In other words, the only reason why you're working is simply so you're not threatened by him and you're not worried about being whipped. Again, that's just mere physical. That's all that is. This leads to a life of working hard when they are watching the masters, but slacking off in bitterness when they are not. See, this is a miserable life of living like this whether you're a worker not a slave and worker and all you do is work only when people are watching it's a miserable life because bitterness no matter the reason is always miserable and God has wired us to be hard workers not lazy and so Paul says don't simply let your working slave be when the master is looking and again this makes it to where your only reason for work as a slave is simply because the master is watching and he provides physical rewards of not getting punished.

He said that can't be the extent of your service because that does not reflect or reveal a heart that wants to honor Christ. And then he gives it the positive. He says, but as slaves of Christ, in verse 6, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.

So notice how he adds a positive. But rather, let the how be as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not man. see in Christ our service in the hardest situation can be done from the heart from the heart to want to honor him with goodwill within us with joy and good pleasure to do our service because we are doing it unto Christ and not unto whatever hard situation is before us but you see whenever you allow the bad situation that's in front of you to then compel you to say I'm not going to work hard it shows that your eyes have been placed off of Christ onto the situation instead. And Paul says, no, slave, even in your terrible situation, that is not permissible, because Christ is far greater than that.

In any situation we find ourselves in by force I in this house I don want to be in with harsh parents harsh husband whatever the situation is I in this job and I can get out of it We do not in a moment have the opportunity to take our eyes off Christ and look at the hard situation and say therefore, I can be a people pleaser and just work for the physical and that's it. Christ seeps through everything into the spiritual and causes us to have a good desire within our hearts that I want Christ to be revealed in that situation. And then notice how in verse 8, the reward for our service is, again, not just physical, but spiritual.

The how of our service is to be spiritual as we're looking to Christ, and then the reward of our service is to be spiritual as well, not just simply physical. When he says in verse 8, knowing that whatever good anyone does this he will receive back from the Lord whether he is a slave or a free so again notice that the the the reward that the slave has their eyes on is a reward from the hand of Christ that is of a spiritual nature not just simply physical the slave's work is not just to keep the threats at bay children to keep your parents off your back or worker to keep the paychecks coming. That can't be the extent of the reward of your service.

The how of your work needs to be beyond the mere physical like an animal. Jesus is the only one who can give you that spiritual good we all are made for, being made in God's image. And that spiritual good, how you define it, is always the same. It's to be near to God in this life and the one to come. This is always our greatest aim as Christians. This is always our greatest reward.

It's not the circumstances of this life and what it can provide us, but our greatest reward as Christians, we've been elevated to a higher meaning in which I want to be near to my God. And in God's providential care, he has determined that slaves would get their nearness to him through being a slave. and God and his providential care in your individual life says that your way of being near to me is through the particulars of your life that you're engaging in right now so if slaves were to have a mind of I just got to get by to just get by keep my back clean from whips my master's threatening then they missed a whole opportunity for this life to be a way to grow nearer to God. And in your life, if you are so consumed with the negative circumstances that you find yourself in, and you don't have your eyes on how is this going to grow me near to God, you've missed it all.

You've missed the whole purpose of it. The reward we receive from Jesus is a nearness to God. In eternity, the completed thing, but we get a taste of it now. And we said this before in this letter. Now, certainly we know that Jesus Christ has done the work to bring us close to God. He has died.

He has rose again. And through our faith in him, we can be forgiven of our sins. Our debts pay for, and we have complete union with him. But then we get to experience it in life. We get to taste it more in life. As we use this life in obedience to him, we taste of it more and more until our final hope of the full thing in eternity.

And Paul is saying to the slaves, you get to taste that more and more as you obey your masters with goodwill in your heart. And Paul is saying to you, as you're going through a very difficult situation, maybe it's not like a slavery situation, but it's certainly difficult. Paul is saying to you, you can taste the nearness of God in that as you obey God in that.

And so again, Jesus transcends the whole thing. There's not an area of your life that Jesus doesn't touch and say, that's mine. And so you bring it all to Christ, expecting the reward you get from him as you follow him obediently through his grace, through his gospel. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is slave or free.

It does not matter your situation. It does not matter your circumstance. it is still right for being near to God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. In fact, if experience is anything, the harder the situation, the more growth is to be had in that situation. And this is what Paul is telling the slaves. You can imagine the beauty of this doctrine. To the slaves.

They literally have never had any hope at all. Slaves to their master, that was it. And then Paul talks about a heavenly master in which there is eternal rewards, in which their slavery that they do that has no meaning as an object has eternal meaning. And Paul is saying, such meaning is yours too, beloved. But then he kind of goes on to the masters and he says, masters you need to see Jesus in your slave as well because we just talked about how masters saw slaves as as property they literally bought them like I bought my lawnmower last summer and here he's saying you need to see Jesus in your slave he he goes on to masters and say Jesus is so far reaching that masters you need to see Christ in your slaves he says in verse 9 masters do the same to them.

What is he saying there? Doing the same to them. What does that mean? Well, he's not telling the masters to obey their slaves. That doesn't make any sense. But what he is saying is slaves, as slaves, are to see Jesus in you, masters.

So, masters, you need to see Jesus in your slaves. Jesus was the slave of slaves. Jesus came to be a servant of all. Jesus came to serve and not to be served. And he's telling masters, he's saying, masters, when you see your slave, you're not just looking at property, you're not just looking at someone to threaten and to try to coerce and to do what they are to do with the whip, but instead, when you look at your slaves, you are to see Jesus himself. he says masters do the same to them see Jesus in them and stop your threatening knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him and he's saying the second thing there too isn't he he's saying that just like slaves see their reward and their service to you masters so masters see your reward and how you treat your slaves as well that goes both ways masters you are to treat your slaves in an objective certain way just like slaves are to treat you in an objective certain way to receive the reward from Christ's hand.

And so there's an equal footing here, which would be completely strange. That slave and master in some degree are on equal footing as they serve the Lord seeking reward from Christ with their good service as they do so together So if you are a follower of Jesus, you will see him in everything. He will be your love. He will be your life. He will be something like you just found out the greatest news in the world and it just filters how you see everything.

I just found out I, I didn't really, this is hypothetical, I just inherited $5 million and you come home to find out that you've got to spend $25,000 on a septic system. Oh well, I get to spend some of that money, great. It filters how you look at everything. Jesus is the greatest event ever to happen and he seeps through every aspect of your life and even in the worst circumstances that you could think of, of being a slave, of earthly slave to an earthly master, Jesus tells the slaves to look upon your heavenly master in your service to them, expecting heavenly rewards from him, a nearness to God in everything you do for that master What beauty there is to our lives that as we look at every area of our life even in the worst of circumstances Paul is saying there is eternal significance in every aspect as it holds a promise of life as we look at that through the prism of Jesus who is in everything.

What a freedom there is for the slave. what a freedom there is for you to see Jesus in everything and to do accordingly. He has died and bought you so that you can live a life of freedom, of righteousness. May we praise him together as his people. Thank you, Lord, for your kindness to us. You have bought us, brought us out of darkness to live like animals, the mere physical just to paycheck to paycheck or to keep the whips off our backs or the threatenings of losing our job or whatever the situation may be Lord you have caused us to not do our service simply to comply but everything that we have to do is in light of the life that we have in Jesus what a promise there is in Christ our God that we can do what we do for the sake of having him our Savior Lord, I know that there's people before me now where this has no meaning to them.

Their greatest desires are in this physical world. They don't know anything other than to simply work from paycheck to paycheck and to want the things of this earth. Lord, may you bring them up to a higher meaning of life. One with Christ, where he is seated, where they see him in everything, to where every action can bring us closer experientially to him because of what he's done on Calvary.

I pray for those who have believed upon Jesus that they would grow more in seeing Jesus in everything. That their eyes would be more awakened and light would shed forth from Christ onto their eyes to see him in everything. so that as they do the things of their life, the things that are difficult and hard, as we can imagine the slave with their master, they would do so with an eye on Christ, expecting great things from him as he has promised in his word. We praise you and thank you for this significance.

May you be honored and glorified. In Jesus' name, amen.