As Slaves, Serve Christ from the Heart

Well, good morning, beloved. The Lord bless you and keep you as we endeavor to share with you the preaching of God's word this morning.

And the preaching this morning is from Ephesians chapter 6 and we'll be examining and reading, starting in verse 1, but examining in the message, verses 5 through 9.

Please do stand when you have that for the reading of God's word. Beloved, hear ye this morning the word of the

Lord from Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 1. Children, obey your parents and the

Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment of a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in discipline and instruction of the

Lord. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would

Christ. Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the

Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the

Lord, whether he's a bondservant 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.

May God bless the reading of his word. You may be seated. Let us pray.

Father, we come before you humbly asking that you'd grant wisdom from on high, direction from thy spirit to be able to lead us and illuminate us and illuminate our minds and our hearts with the truth of your word.

Father, help us to find the meaning of the text through expository preaching, but also,

Lord, through the illumination that only you can grant by means of your spirit. Father, we do pray for a gentle reception to this word, and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

Today's message is called, As Slaves Serve Christ From the Heart, and based upon the text where I'll be focusing on verses five through nine, if I were ever, not that I would, but if I were ever to run for political office,

I'm pretty sure this is the sermon that they'd be looking for and combing over for controversial statements, because it is one that is in itself quite controversial.

It deals with the human institution of slavery, and yet I will endeavor to bring the text to you in the fullness that I can and bring to you an illumination as to the heart behind the text.

If you're following along in verse five, it says bond servants, depending if you're reading the

ESV. Most translations say something to that degree. I think the NIV says servants. ESV chooses, the

NASB I think also chooses bond servants, but really I would say this is kind of the politically correct way of translating the

Greek word that's in front of us. So before we can even move forward, I need to illuminate in your minds the true meaning behind the word as presented to us by the

Apostle Paul here in the text. When Paul says in verse five, bond servants, obey your earthly masters, he's not talking about someone who's just necessarily under a bond, so that in the ancient world there were different forms of slavery or servitude, and one of the various means of servitude was one who willfully subjected himself to servitude to pay off a debt, for instance.

One could surrender their life and their services for a period of time. Biblically, you'd devote yourself for six years to pay off a certain debt, and on the seventh year as a jubilee, you're to be set free as a shmita.

And yet, the word that we find here from the Apostle Paul is the Greek word doulos.

John MacArthur wrote an entire book based upon this word of slave, and the word doulos is indeed slave, not merely a bond servant or not merely a servant.

See, a servant can be in hired hand. It can be a hired help, someone who is like akin to a nanny today or a babysitter, someone who's just hired for their services.

But a slave is owned by another, and here the term doulos is used, which means slave.

So you're following along on the first insert. I want you to put this word slave. Now, what does this word slave mean?

What does the Greek word doulos mean? It means basically this. It's serving another to the disregard of your own interests.

It's serving someone even though it isn't ideal, even though it may not even be what you signed up for, but you serve at the disregard of your own interests.

And I have to preface this entire conversation this way, brethren. Paul has, as he's been going over the last chapter and a half here, he's been touching on the most important relationships in people's lives.

Just as you look at the Ten Commandments as we're going through a catechism with Pastor Conley on Sunday morning, the

Ten Commandments touch on every aspect of life. So the Apostle Paul also is touching on every aspect of our relational lives.

He starts off in chapter 5 obviously talking first and foremost with our spiritual relationship in need of Christ.

He then goes and brings that into the context of our relationship with one another, with the brethren. He then brings that into the context of our marriages, and that's the closest relationship one can have in this earthly life apart from the

Lord is that with our spouse. And he relates how we are to treat each other in the bond of holy matrimony.

And it extends not only there, but beyond as you have offspring. That also becomes part of the equation, how you treat your offspring and how they respond to you.

And the point that Paul is trying to make as he wraps all of these relationships together under the banner of the gospel is that the gospel has implication for all of life.

Because the gospel is about all of life. Namely, the death, burial, and resurrection of our

Savior Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect and blameless and sinless life.

He died a death that you deserved, and he was raised again on the third day.

This is the gospel. But that gospel has implications for how we live and how we carry our relationships, not just with the

Lord, but with one another. So he goes on to talk about children, marriages, or relationships with one another.

But then he adds this one in verses 5 through 9. The relationships between a slave and a master.

Or in today's context, at least in the United States of America, we don't have an institution of slavery, though the truth of the matter is that there has been no time in history where there have been more people enslaved.

Yet, to bring this into a modern context, one could look at this as an employee and an employer relationship.

You see, the gospel extends well beyond just Sunday morning, well beyond just the confines of our home.

It has to do and deal with every aspect of our life, even that which pertains to the institutions of this world.

And so the gospel, again, is for all of life, for all life is about the gospel. And so Paul leaves no stone unturned, and he believes that following Jesus has implications for life even outside of Sunday.

You see, in the Greek here, as we examine the text, the Greek word doulos means slave, someone who is owned.

Now, in some context, this could certainly be a bond servant, someone who is a hired help or someone who has voluntarily given themselves over.

Or this could be someone who has been purchased, someone who is indebted to such a degree that they are indeed a slave in one's household.

We'll go on later to describe the implications of that in our culture today in America. But I want you to think about this from a spiritual perspective.

Brethren, we are all slaves. Every single person who has ever lived, who will ever live, and who ever has lived, has been a slave and will be a slave and is a slave.

Depends on what your spiritual state is, will depend on or that will determine who your master is.

You see, the Bible teaches us very clearly that we are all under the bondage of sin and depravity.

The Bible teaches that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. The Scripture says that there is no one righteous, no, not even one, that we are all captured by our passions and our flesh and our lusts and the desires of the eyes.

We are all led captive to the desires of our sinful hearts, yet also in Christ.

If you be in Christ this morning, know this, you are indeed a slave to Christ because Christ has purchased you with His own blood.

You are His. It is only in servitude, in slavery under this, the bondage of Christ, that you find true liberty and liberation and freedom.

It's in Christ that the chains of the bondage of the flesh are let go and that we have the freedom to approach a holy and a righteous

God. Spurgeon put it this way in regard to the relationship between the man of God and how he is to obey.

He says this, do what the Lord bids you, where He bids you, as He bids you, and do it at once.

You know what that sounds like? It sounds like a slave. A slave is to do whatever the master bids, where he bids, as he bids, and he must do it at once.

And that is the beckon call of every Christian to follow Christ. Did not our

Lord Jesus Christ, when He was on the earth, when those who came to Him desired to follow Him, His response was this, leave everything behind and pick up your cross and follow

Me. But where are we following Him to?

We're following Christ to certain death. We are following Christ to a certain fate of being hated by the world, of being looked down upon by the systems of the world.

And yet Christ beckons everyone to come, to lay His life down at the altar and then come and pick up His cross and follow

Him, even if it means death. That's the call of the slaves of Jesus Christ.

Because again, it's in slavery to Christ that you find true freedom and peace. Again, as Spurgeon puts it well, whatever the

Lord bids you, you do it. You do it. Why then do we emphasize the commandments when we talk about the catechism and other areas?

It's because the Lord has commanded, therefore we do. And that is a sign of a good servant.

Isn't it beautiful that at the end of our lives, we have the possibility of hearing these great words from our

Savior, well done, good and faithful, what? No, it's not what the

Greek says. Translations put servant, it's doulos, it's slave.

Well done, good and faithful slave. That's what we'll hear.

That's what we'll hear. It may not be that you have such a sensitivity to that word, that you hear those words, you say, well,

Jesus, that's not culturally sensitive. You can't call me that. No, you are a slave to Christ.

There is no greater thing that you can be called than a slave to Christ.

You know, there was a church father, I forget which one it was, I think it was Ignatius or Polycarp, and he was brought before trial and he was about to be eaten by lions.

And they gave him one last chance to renounce, to renounce his faith. I think it was Irenaeus of Lyons, in fact.

He was given one last chance to renounce his faith. And he says, for 96 years, I have served my

Lord. Never has he done me wrong. Beloved, be a servant, be a slave to Christ and do as he bids you and do so out of sincerity.

Notice what it says in verse 5 again, bond servants, slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling.

Notice the relationship right down that way. This is all planned by the way. I'm just kidding. Notice what the scripture says here.

Serve with fear and trembling. Now, is this the way that we are to approach

God with fear and trembling or should we approach him casually? Well, beloved,

I'm afraid that there are so many people in the world today, even within the Christian church, who want to approach God in such a casual way that they disregard that our

God is indeed a consuming fire. Remember who God is. He's not your homeboy.

He's not your pet. He's not your personal genie. He is holy, righteous, almighty

God. And you are a poor, humble creature of the dirt.

Recall how God created Adam and Eve, how God specifically created Adam out of the dust of the earth.

Dust you are and dust you shall return. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, that it is the meek that shall inherit the earth.

Now, that word meek is very interesting. If you were to consider what the word meek means, it means essentially, it's a form of the word humble, to be humble.

But really look at the etymology of the word and you look at what it meant in ancient times.

It brought a connotation of a posture. And that posture was one whose face was towards the dirt, ones whose face was prostrate, ones whose face was as low as it could go.

That's meek. It's interesting that Jesus says it's those whose face are towards the dirt are the ones who will inherit it.

This is the posture of a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ. This is a holy, righteous, almighty, fearful

God. It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So great is the proper fear of the

Lord that it was indeed this very, very thought, very doctrine here that led towards one of the greatest revivals in history.

With the great Puritan revival in the 1700s under Jonathan Edwards, he began to preach a series of sermons, one of them being the most famous one.

Sinners in the hands of a what? Angry God. Not a nice God, not a casual

God, not a God that, you know, just wants to hug you and, you know, sing Chris Salmon songs over you.

You know, this is a different God that we're talking about. He's a fearful God. And when we approach him, it ought to be with fear and trembling.

Yet notice the context in the relationship here. Bond servants obey your earthly masters.

Okay. What we get, we're to approach God in a trembling and fearful way.

But why then should we obey our masters with that same reference?

Understand that God has instituted institutions and has allowed institutions as a means of representation of his authority.

So when it says in the scriptures, bond servants, slaves, obey your masters with fear and trembling, this speaks more of the slave of the servant's heart than the heart of the master.

We'll go more into that in a bit. But the key is here in verse 5, as we conclude that verse, with a sincere what?

Heart. As you would Christ. As you would

Christ. That's an important aspect of the teaching this morning, is that we serve, whether it's to our employer, our husband, our wife, our children, our friends, whatever relationship you find yourself in, you do that which is right with fear and trembling, and you serve out of sincerity as if you would serving

Christ. So when you examine, for instance, the story that we find in scripture where Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples, and he's washing their feet.

Did Jesus have to wash their feet? No. He didn't have to. But what he's demonstrating is a heart of servitude and humility that he'd wanted his disciples to follow in that same fashion.

Therefore, whatever relationship we find ourselves in, let us not be above the washing of feet.

Let us not be above serving others, even with fear and trembling, out of a sincerity that comes from the heart as we would be serving

Christ. So this is important. In your relationships, in your life, in your employments, you serve as if that person you were serving were

Jesus, as if that person that you were serving was Christ. This is why then Jesus goes on later to say that how we treat people and how we treat the least of these has implications even on that final day, because how we treat others is a reflection of how we treat

Christ. It's a reflection, and Paul is bringing out that truth too.

So we're following along in the teaching in the second bullet point. Servants were to obey their masters with a sincere heart.

In two books over in Colossians, chapter 3, verse 22, it says the

Apostle Paul writes this. Bond servants, again, here's that. This is essentially a very similar declaration that Paul's giving, but instead to the church in Colossae.

And he says in verse 22, bond servants, or again, that's the Greek word doulos, slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with the sincerity of heart, fearing the

Lord. You see, the heart here is to come from a place of sincerity, out of not fear necessarily for the person, but out of fear for the

Lord. That's what should be making us eager to serve those who are in our midst, to serve our employer well, to serve those in the church well, is because we do so out of the fear, not of the master himself, but really, truly the true master,

Jesus Christ. And verse 6 brings out this important key, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, eye service and people pleasers.

You ever met one? You know, maybe we all had that kid in school who's what's called the teacher's pet, right?

Or we call them a suck up, you know? And then you had the, at work, you got the, you know, employee who's, when the manager's around, oh, he's doing everything perfectly, but as soon as the manager's gone, okay, back on the phone, and then they get the raise, and then they get the, you know, the new position when it's ready to move up the ladder.

And it's people pleasing, it's being of eye service, it's doing things only when it is convenient, only when you're being watched.

But the test of a true Christian is not doing good only when you are being watched, but it is what you do when you're not being watched, is what you do behind closed doors.

It's what you do when no one will give you any recognition for doing so, because your father, who sees in secret, sees all things, and he is the rewarder of those who do good.

And so our hearts ought to be in a position of servitude, out of sincerity, not by way of eye service, which is, again, only to do good when people are watching.

Because it's easy to do good when people are watching, because to a degree, we are all very good performers.

We all have a persona that we put forward, and when there are people in our midst, it is easy to perform to the expectation that has been set.

But how about when you're alone? Men, when you're before the computer screen by yourselves, how do you do?

Do you continue to be honorable and chase? Women, as well, in all aspects of life, are we being consistent with what we profess on Sunday, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday?

And the truth of the answer is, we are all sinful, we're all broken, we're all, Adam and Eve dropped us all on our heads, and we've all got problems.

Yet, who do we run to? Do we serve the Lord with fear and trembling, or do we do so only for eye service when people are watching?

May it be that we be not just people -pleasers, but pleasers of Christ, by living a sincere life of servitude in the kingdom of God.

Verse 6 again says, not by way of eye service as people -pleasers, but as bond -servants, slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

I want you to write this in. We must strive to be genuine, hard -working, and not insincere.

I want you to write that in, not insincere. So the previous one was servants were to obey their masters with a sincere heart, but we must strive to be genuine, hard -working, and not insincere.

Now, the difference between a sincere heart and an insincere heart is the intent. It's all about the intent and the desire of the heart.

If you don't want to do something, you'll do it begrudgingly, and it'll eventually show.

Even if you say, oh no, no, no, it's fine, it's great, I love doing this, you really don't, there's an insincerity there that will eventually rear its ugly head.

Yet we are called to be sincere, and the only way we can break down a heart of insincerity is by learning to fear and love

Christ. Because when we begin to fear Him, understanding that the

Lord's proper place is He is sovereign Lord, head of all things, all things are subject to Him, including you, and your life, and your sensibilities, and your desires, and your hopes, and your dreams, and your future is all subject to Christ's lordship, then you begin to see the proper position of the

Christian is to serve, is to serve. And in this way, we begin to break down a heart of insincerity, and then we find our love and our appreciation for Christ, that this sovereign

Lord of the universe would choose me to be His slave. You see, in the ancient world, slavery was not, did not have as many negative connotations as it does today, and for good reason, because the institutions were actually quite different back in the ancient days.

It would be an honor to be a slave in the house of someone of dignity, of someone of great report, or maybe even someone who was a royal.

It would be a privilege. Similarly, today we have in England, the queen has died, and there's a new king, and those who serve the king, they're not slaves in that way anymore, they used to be, they're now very well -paid servants.

But one of the controversies was that when King Charles became king, some of those who had been historically serving him as he was prince, are no longer going to be serving in his house now that he's king.

And so those employees or servants felt like they got the short end of the stick here, because they were serving him well for all these years, and now he's going to have other servants.

And that's kind of just the way the royal family works, right? The king comes in, and now the king has to have a specific people who are going to serve him as king now, no longer as prince.

And beloved, here we have the great privilege of serving Christ, being slaves in his house.

And he will not disregard us though. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10 says that God is not unjust as to forget your love for his name, and how you minister to his saints.

See, God is not unjust. He won't forget about us. He won't overlook the work that you have done in his name, and the work that you have done in serving and loving the saints.

That's not God's heart for you. He's a good king, and he'll take care of you well. And yet, the call for Christians in all aspects of life, particularly that of employment, is to be genuine, hard -working, not insincere, because of who we represent.

And who we represent is our master, Christ. See, a slave was often an extension of his master, representative even of his master.

And so he brought in, wherever the slave went, if you were to touch the, put a hand on the slave of another, you yourself could be put to death according to the

Old Testament law, because that slave didn't belong to you. As a matter of fact, he was not just a property of another, but he represented another.

And so if you were to put your hands on that, you could face great consequences. And similarly today, we as slaves of Jesus Christ, being the apple of his eye, when the world touches us,

Christ takes notice. Christ sees all the pain and suffering that you go through for his namesake, and it will not go unnoticed, and there will be a day of retribution, where he'll bring all things to light and under his righteous and good judgment.

And yet, here we have, again, an example of being genuine in the marketplace, being genuine in the job place.

You know, when I did an interview once, and they told me that this job, well, this job has a lot of things that just aren't fun to do, and it's actually a pretty hard job.

This is when I was, my first job at Hope Mission in Edmonton, to be an intake worker dealing with homeless men, and doing all the paperwork to bringing them into the shelter, and then having to regulate the shelter use, and making sure that they're not violating the rules, like drinking or doing drugs, and sometimes there's fights that break out, you're going to be, it's a physical job, it's a physical job, and then sometimes it's very mundane, there's a lot of mundane aspects of this job, and I said, you know, how would you handle these mundane aspects of the job?

And I said, well, I'm going to strive to do all things wholeheartedly, as if I was serving the

Lord. And these guys love that answer, they were like, that's a great answer, and really, it is a great answer, because it's from God's Word.

Wherever we find ourselves, wherever our employer is, whether it's a Fortune 500 company, or it's a mom -and -pop shop, we want to serve, we want to do well in our job, because we represent

Christ. And so, all things that we do, we ought to do wholeheartedly, onto the glory, and the fame, and recognition of King Jesus, amen?

That's why we strive to be genuine, that's why we strive to be hard -working, that's why we strive not to be insincere, but sincere, because we represent

Christ. And so, we want to do a good job, we want to do a good job, because of who we represent.

Look what it says in verse seven, rendering service with a goodwill, as to the

Lord, that's where I got that from, and not to a man, as to the

Lord. So, whatever we're working, whatever our hands find to do, Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about hard work,

Proverbs as well, two of the greatest and wisest pieces of literature ever to be produced, speaks of the value of hard work, and the value that your hands can produce.

Therefore, whatever you do with your hands, Ecclesiastes says, do it with all your might, wholeheartedly, don't do things half measured.

If you're going to do a job, do it well, and do it well unto the glory of God.

And that will gain you favor, not just with God, but with man as well. Because if we could change this in the culture, if we can find the world to actually praise

Christians, because of the work ethic, wouldn't that be amazing? That they'd say, you know, you guys are kind of weird, you believe in strange things, but you're hard workers.

And you know, a lot of places in the world, that's exactly what I hear about employers hiring Christians.

They're the most dependable, they're the most on time, they're the most respectful, they're the most charitable, and they're the most honorable.

And that's what we should all be recognized in our professions, in our line of work, and whatever that we do, people should say, this person, this employee is different.

He lives differently, and he produces good work with his hands.

That should be what we all strive to as Christians living under the world and the institutions that we live in, in regard to employment and employers.

Verse 8 says, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the

Lord, whether he is a bond servant or is free.

I want to address the elephant in the room, and that's because we're talking about the institution of slavery.

How then can it be that God's Word enables and allows and permits such a horrendous institution such as slavery?

The taking of another human life as labor that you can use in however you see fit.

Why does the Bible allow for that? That's a legitimate question, and it's an interesting question.

Why does the Bible allow for slavery? If you listen to any late night shows, you'll often hear liberal commentators say that the

Bible even permits slavery, and in fact it endorses it, right, as a way of saying the

Bible is morally obsolete for our day. To say the Bible does not truly set forth a moral principle that we should emulate and follow, that's the attack on the

Bible as God's Word, and here's the difference. They're missing a lot of context. First and foremost, there's a difference between the slavery in the

Bible versus the slavery that we had here in this nation for almost 300 years.

Very big difference. You see, the Bible is often critical of many worldly institutions, including the institution of slavery.

I've given you a list of scriptures from Exodus 21, Deuteronomy 15, Jeremiah 22 that you look at in your free time to show that God is oftentimes very critical of human institutions and how they take advantage of individuals, how they abuse their power, how they're even selling human beings.

God is critical of those things, but Paul was writing in a context where Rome is essentially the world power and is, in fact, an evil empire at that time.

And in fact, this evil empire was persecuting the Jews and the Christians at once. Yet not once does the

Apostle Paul, or any other apostle or writer of the New Testament for that matter, call for the downfall or demise of the institution of Rome and its institutions of slavery.

He doesn't call for the demise of the empire. He doesn't incite Christians to overthrow this system of oppression.

Instead, Paul, along with other New Testament writers, wanted to play the long game.

See, in the Bible, worldly governments are looked upon as beasts. If you look at the book of Revelation, you look at the book of Daniel, the nations are represented by beasts.

So they're not great. These are not benevolent beasts. These are monstrous beasts who do murderous and monstrous things.

Yet Paul, knowing that he is under the sovereign hand and control of God and that all of history and all the nations are under the sovereign hand and control of God, that they would eventually be overcome by the kingdom of Christ.

See, Paul wasn't interested in overcoming or overthrowing Rome because he knew Christ would overcome and overthrow

Rome through his kingdom, through the church.

You see, in Daniel, we see this vision of this statue that Nebuchadnezzar sees in his vision and his dream, the statue representing all these nations.

And it ends with this feat of iron and clay representing the essentially the world order that comes after Rome.

And he sees this mountain, the mountain of God, Zion. And from this mountain is carved this huge rock.

And this rock comes hurling towards the statue and it destroys it and demolishes it and brings it to pieces.

Paul knew that the kingdoms and institutions of this world would be destroyed and obliterated by the kingdom of God.

Therefore, there's no reason to take up arms or to go up in arms about the institutions of this evil empire.

He was playing the long game and he was calling Christians to play the long game of perseverance, knowing that Christ would overcome his enemies, that Christ would have the victory over the wicked institutions of man.

And even today, this still rings true. Christ shall bring to nothing every earthly power and all things will be under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Amen. So what implication does this have for us as Christians?

Well, there's two things I want you to realize. The two greatest weapons against tyranny for the

Christian is our witness and martyrdom. Those are the two greatest weapons at our disposal.

Our witness, our testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that which we believe in our heart, that which we confess of our mouth, and that which we declare to the nations.

Jesus, this good news will be preached to all the nations. That's our job. We are great commission

Christians who are called to bring forward this gospel of the father, son, and spirit to all nations, teaching them the obedience of the word of God.

And we would overcome them by our witness and martyr them. In Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, we see those who've been martyred for the testimony of Jesus.

And the word they receive is this, they overcame the beast, that's the nation, that's

Rome, by the word of their testimony. By the word of their testimony.

Rome was crumbling because of the word of the testimony of Christians and the shed blood of martyrs.

That's how we win the world. That's how we win the nations. It's by being witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Didn't our Lord say before he ascended to glory, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth?

We are indeed his witnesses. Witnesses of his death, burial, and resurrection. That he is alive and that he is alive and well in us and in the church.

And though the world may be calling for the demise of Christianity, we call for the demise of this world because King Jesus is coming back.

Amen? But we do so not with violence nor by revolution.

So I want you to write this in, Christians overcome oppression, including the oppression of slavery, by our humble conduct and witness of Jesus, not by revolution.

And by that I mean violent revolution, because it is a revolution of sorts to be a witness of King Jesus, to be humble in our conduct, even in the face of adversity and persecution.

Jesus says if someone smacks you, you do what? Turn to their cheek. You don't turn their cheek, you turn your cheek.

And that's the call. It's a humble life of submission, even submission under tyranny.

Even submission when it may cost you your life, but you win at the end.

Those souls who are slain for the testimony and witness of Jesus are in glory.

All the martyrs who have come before us and all the martyrs who shall come after us will be in awe and glory and seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Therefore, how we look at slavery, how we look at institutions of this world ought to be from the framework and lens that God will ultimately have the final say, and that we overcome not by revolution, but by our humble conduct and witness of Jesus Christ.

You know, ours was the only nation out of all the western nations that had slavery. Ours was the only nation that had to fight a civil war where millions of people on both sides lost their lives.

The bloodiest conflict in American history because both sides who died were American.

Yet, all other civilized western nations were able to demolish the institution of racial slavery by the abolitionist movements led by the

Christian clergy. It was through the witness and testimony of Christians that slavery was abolished in the western hemisphere.

It will be through the witness and testimony of Christians that we will continue to overthrow wicked institutions, and the one that is most pertinent today is the institution of abortion, where people think it's a right not just to enslave another, but to murder another, and the abolitionist movements that will lead the way will be the one led by Christians and the witness that we give.

May it be so. I finish with this last text of scripture in verse 9.

Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.

This has a lot of implications for those in the Christian church today who hold on to a social gospel, who hold on to a radical almost

Marxist view of Christianity and of the world system that we live in today, because I've got a lot of friends who've graduated from seminary, who've come out on the other end to be essentially advocates of social justice theory, who believe that we should be leading the way in regard to the abolition of certain things like racial discrimination, and by the way, the way that we do it is by dismantling systems and powers, okay?

Big problem with that is that nowhere does Paul advocate for that. He doesn't advocate for the abolition of systems and powers as the social gospel advocates for, but instead it is by humble submission that we ultimately win, and God's word is not just for the servant or the slave, but it's also for the free, and also for the masters or the employers in our modern context, that they too have a standard of conduct that they ought to live by.

Now, we don't have slave masters today, thank God, but we do have employers, and if you are an employer, how you treat your employees matters.

You are to treat them with dignity and respect, the same reverence that you desire from them, it's the same reverence you ought to give in return.

You ought to serve your people well, ought to offer a good wage, something that you can live on, be a person of integrity and pay your individual well, your employees well.

That's if you are an employer, or if you desire to be an employer. Maybe we're in Silicon Valley, maybe there's going to be some person here who's going to start a

Fortune 500 company in the future, who knows? So recognize this, how you treat people matters, especially those who are under you, because you'll be held to a higher standard.

That's why Paul saying to the masters, do the same to them, treat them with dignity, respect, and with a good conduct, and then he says, and stop your threatening, don't threaten them, don't threaten people, even in your relationships with your wife and your kids, don't threaten them.

Yet, as it continues on to say, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, ultimately demonstrating that we have but one master, the

Lord Jesus Christ, and with him there is no partiality, for he says there is no partiality with him, which means he is not a respecter of persons in regard to whether you're black or white,

Hispanic, Asian, whether you are of a royal descent or non -royal descent, whether you are a person who has money or no money, whether you are employed or unemployed, whether you have a husband or wife or you don't, regardless of who you are and your circumstances,

God sees the heart, God sees the heart, and by that he will judge you, by your heart and by your actions, he will judge you.

Doesn't matter if you are Tim Cook or the janitor at Apple, each person is worthy of dignity and respect, and each person will be held account for how they treat others and whether or not they treated others as Christ would have them be treated.

So our last part I want you to write there is that there is no partiality. Masters, employers must act with no partiality, since we will all have to give an account to the only true and living master, the master of your soul, the master of your life, even

Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior and Lord. It is to him every knee shall bow, to him every tongue shall confess that he is

Lord, even to the glory of God the Father. May you come to him today if you have not done so.

Come and submit under the lordship of King Jesus, knowing that he is truly Lord and he is truly the only master, truly worth serving.

May you know him and recognize him as the proper head and sovereign of all things, by confessing yourself as a sinner, knowing that you have sinned, you have offended, you have broken the law of a holy and a righteous

God, but he has made a way for you to be made right with him today through the cross of his son

Jesus Christ, who lived the life that you could not live, died the death that you deserved and was raised again on the third day to glory, where he is now seated and ascended at the right hand of God the

Father, interceding for you even now as we speak. Christ is interceding for you.

May you recognize his intercessory work and receive him as Lord, and those who have received him as Lord, may you continue to depend on him as the sovereign and as the king and as the master of all believers.

Let me pray. Gracious Master, Lord Jesus, we come before you asking that your will be done in our lives, your kingdom come, your will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

Lord, help us in our weakness, help us in our frailty to see how powerful and majestic and great you are as our master.

Lord, help us to be humble slaves, to serve you out of a humble heart, not begrudgingly, nor out of insincerity or for some type of gain, but instead that we would do so out of the desire of knowing thee, the only true

God, and the one whom you have sent forth, Jesus Christ. Father, help us in our weakness to see the strength that you provide.

Help us to be good servants, good slaves of Jesus Christ. Help us also to be good slaves to one another here in the local church, in the body of Christ, to serve one another too from a heart of sincerity and one that is overflowing with thankfulness for all that you have done and provided for your people.

I pray for those who have not yet committed their lives to Jesus Christ, that they would hear the gospel today and heed the words that were preached and come under the bondage and submission of King Jesus, who is the only one who can set men free.

For it is said of you, Lord Jesus, that he who the Son of Man sets free is free indeed.