Living and Working in a Bad Situation - Part 1 (Eph. 6:5-9)

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Guarding the Honor of Marriage - Part 2 (Hebrews 13:4)

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Good morning. Are we good? We're good. I'm good. Are you good? Actually, I'm not good

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But I am saved. I hate to disturb the

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Patter of fellowship, but I'm gonna do it anyway Well, I'm glad you're here

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We enter this morning into the final Segment of this series that's been going on now for a number of months

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Out of the fifth and now sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians So before we pray and begin me you might open your

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Bible there to the sixth chapter Paul's letter to the church Ephesus Ephesians chapter 6 and let's ask the

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Lord's enablement and blessing upon our time Our father we are most grateful

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To call you our father through the gift of your only begotten

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Son We have been redeemed We have been purchased from the slave market of sin and We have been transferred as sons into your glorious kingdom to come how we rejoice in that reality of our new status in Christ And pray that our time here together this morning as we begin and and then continue throughout this morning that we would lean into the fellowship

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That we would seek by our words to be a blessing to others to encourage and strengthen those

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Who are weak? that our hearts would be soft to hear the

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Word of God and and The admonishments that surely come because our father and they come from a loving father who desires to Make us like his beloved son

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And so we can embrace that in faith Rejoice in it Because we love you in Jesus name.

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Amen All right, so we are in the sixth chapter the sixth chapter here of Ephesians and our text is

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Begins in verse 5 and runs through verse 9 so Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 5

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Slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh Fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ Not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart

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With goodwill render service as to the Lord and not to men Knowing that whatever good thing each one does this he will receive back from the

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Lord whether slave or free This is the final

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Teaching from the Apostle Paul under the the heading of the household codes so we've mentioned this several times over the months together here the household codes a

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Household in the first century was in many ways Foreign to us very different than what we would be used to what we would understand

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It was an extended household in which often multi generations would live together under one roof and For those living in the household if you were of a position where you had some economic

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Wealth then you would have slaves as part of your household and if you did not have economic wealth you might likely be a slave in the household of Someone who did and that's hard for us to understand that we have no experience with slavery at all

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We have what we've learned in school about American slavery But in terms of the slavery of the

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New Testament, which which the New Testament is born into we have nothing we have no correspondence really and What I want to do this morning is spend some time and looking at that and setting that as a background of the context for the later

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Exposition of Paul's words here and reading in verse 5. So we're really not going to get to the text this morning at all

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Because I think it's important It for us to to understand the culture and the background into which this whole

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Teaching comes Okay, so that's kind of what I'm after Now again just to be reminded in verse 18

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We've talked about this and talked about this where Paul says don't get drunk with wine, but that's dissipation. That's debauchery

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But be filled by the Spirit and then this filling by the Spirit plays itself out in the relationships of the household a redeemed household has redeemed the relationships and these relationships are very different than what these

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These pagans who are now believers have grown up with So everything about the way they lived has to be transformed by Christ.

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It has to change And so that affects marriage and so Paul spent a fair amount of time talking about that That and that affects how children and and parents and particularly fathers are to interact as well

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It's countercultural what Paul is saying and so here in the last of the household codes

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So we've dealt we've dealt with the head of the house as it were and his his Queen We've dealt with the children in the house

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It's kind of the next layer down on the authority structure and now Paul's gonna deal with the slaves

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The lowest level of the household, but they are still part of that household Very much part of that house.

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I Think maybe the closest I've ever experienced to it was some time that Carol and I were able to spend in India visiting a missionary there who had several household helpers, that's the right word helpers not servants, but helpers why because Managing life in India as a

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Westerner is like a Incredibly difficult and so they had helpers and they weren't just employees

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There was a there was an affection that grew Between them and so they became in a sense and a bit of an extended part of that household

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And that's the closest I've ever seen to what really going on behind this

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It's probably important to say right up front That there is no theological foundation or support given in the

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New Testament for slavery Okay, so we should say that there is no theological foundation

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Nor is there support in the New Testament for slavery and that is in stands out in contrast to the husbands and wives where we see

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Theological support right that the that the marriage is this picture of their of this great

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Eternal reality of Christ in his church There's theological support underneath children and parents found there in the law and the sixth commandment

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So forth one notice there in verses five to nine that there's nothing theologically underneath this

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Nothing theologically underneath it it is not supported by the

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New Testament That said Slavery has been part of the human experience for millennia for millennia

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And it reflects man's deep dark descent into depravity following Adams sin

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Following Adams sin, I'm reading a really excellent book on ancient history and one of the things that just Stands out to me as I read it is how widespread slavery was in the ancient world.

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And now we're talking going back 5 ,000 plus years Slavery is very much there.

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It didn't take long for it to spring up And the reason it didn't take long is because it originates

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In the heart of the praise humanity our own history As a nation, we have a very dark chapter involving

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African slavery a very dark chapter and a chapter That was really a nation.

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I guess I should say that was only expunged of this through the shedding of the blood of over 600 ,000 men and boys

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It's a very dark chapter But as we begin this topic of slavery,

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I think it's helpful to provide some historical background So that's what I would like to do for a good bit of our time this way together

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Let's look at slavery in the ancient world, let's begin their slavery in the ancient world

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Most people became slaves in the ancient world in one of four ways one of four ways

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It would be through becoming a prisoner of war So prisoner of war the idea that you were kept in camps and then exchanged at the end of the conflict or something that None of that If you were captured in war as a prisoner, you would become a slave.

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You would become a slave the second way that people Became slaves in the ancient world as they were born into it

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They were born into slavery their mothers and fathers were slaves and they would be slaves too. They were born into it third

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One could enter into slavery by being sold to pay off a debt To be sold to pay off a debt the idea of bankruptcy and the clearing of your debts and a second chance and so forth

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Lies in the heart of the Mosaic law not in the heart of man And so if you were in debt and unable to pay you would be sold

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Into slavery to extinguish that debt. You could sell yourself into slavery for it or you would be sold by someone else and you would enter slavery and the fourth and Probably darkest of it all

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Was that you would be kidnapped by a slave trader? That you would be kidnapped by a slave trader and thus enter into slavery and God severely condemns that for example in Exodus chapter 21

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In Fact let's do that because we're gonna be there a little bit. Let's go over to Exodus 21

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I'll save you some time in a few seconds here Exodus chapter 21

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And We see God's severe Yahweh severe condemnation of Kidnapping by slave traders 2116

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He who kidnaps a man whether he sells him or he is found in his possession Shall surely be put to death.

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It was a capital offense for God Deuteronomy 24 7 if a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel And he deals with him violently or sells him then that thief shall die

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So you shall purge the evil from among you. It is a capital offense

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To kidnap for the purpose of slavery Paul in the

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New Testament also Reminds the believers of this reality in chapter 1 of 1st

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Timothy Beginning in verse 8 where he says, but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully

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Realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person But for those who are lawless and rebellious for the ungodly and sinners for the unholy and profane for those who kill their fathers or mothers for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching

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Kidnappers literally slave dealers man -stealers kidnappers

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Now the gods of the ancient world Viewed their worshippers as slaves they viewed their worshippers as slaves whose purpose was to serve them and the human king or ruler over these people of antiquity worth were thought to be the human embodiment of that God and Therefore it was very natural for them to accumulate slaves

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To serve them that that fit their religious system very well, but that's not true of Israel That's not how

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Yahweh thought of his people. They were not his slaves. They were his sons they were his sons and Because of their 400 years of slavery in Egypt When they were let out it took time for them to to have a

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Mental change of mind and heart from being a slave people to a free people.

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It took time and part of the glory and beauty of the

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Mosaic law is the is the provision by Yahweh to his people of a series of feasts festivals days off vacations if you like That that punctuated their calendar year and and allowed them to begin to escape of The the mindset of an endless treadmill of slavery.

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It was one way that God Helped them to Learn to enjoy their new status as his sons and not slaves and not slaves now

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Slavery in Israelite society That was antiquity of the pagans.

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What about Israelite society? Yeah, and this is not exhaustive by any means but here you go in a world of brutality

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Compassion was to be the ruling virtue of Israelite society in a world of brutality

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Compassion was what was to characterize? Israelites Society and it was buttressed by the repeated commands of Yahweh for Israel to never forget that they were once slaves themselves in Egypt Exodus 20 and verses 1 & 2

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Right here the preamble to the giving of the law Then God spoke to all spoke all these words saying

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I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery?

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I? Am your God and I have delivered you from slavery and therefore

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You shall live no longer as slaves Now the slaves themselves because they did exist still

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Had a specified a market value. We see this in 2132 a specified market value

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That was based upon their expected labor contribution see 2132

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If an ox gores a male or female slave the owner shall give his or her master 30 shekels of silver and the ox shall

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Be stoned 30 shekels of silver was the price of the slave The importance of that is that it establishes a market value for a slave in other words a man knew what he was worth and And what it would require to redeem him from his slavery

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It wasn't arbitrary. It wasn't negotiated. It was fixed and it was fixed by God It was his purchase price a free

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Israelite Who made a rash vow in the heat of the moment? could pay money in lieu of Committing himself to a lifetime of service in the tabernacle.

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We see that in 21 I'm sorry Leviticus 27 1 2 3 so we'll look at that Leviticus 27 1 2 3

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Again, the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the sons of Israel and say to them When a man makes a difficult vow

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He shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the Lord If your valuation is of the male for 20 years even a 60 years old and your valuation shall be 50 shekels of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary 50 shekels you could redeem yourself from a

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Unwise rash vow of a lifetime of service to the Lord in some form or fashion

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Now that's significant by the way, because for an average person it would be one shekel a month would be their income

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That kind of gives you an idea over four years of wages if you make a rash vow

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Wake up the next morning and say what was I thinking? There is a way to get out

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Now in Hebrew society foreign slaves All right. So it pocket just a little bit about Hebrew slaves foreign slaves were also to be treated humanely and This stands in direct contrast to the inhumane treatment that Israel herself received at the hands of the

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Egyptians, but for example in in Exodus 21 20

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We read that they can be beaten but not killed a Foreign slave in Hebrew society can be beaten by their master, but they cannot be killed 21 20

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If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand He that is the one who struck him shall be punished if however, he survives a day or two

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No vengeance shall be taken for he is his property now at first reading of that.

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That sounds really Drastic and cruel doesn't it? Hang on to that because I will address all of that here in a moment

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But I would note for you there then it says he struck with the rod that's the same Hebrew word that's used for the rod of Proverbs Where were you there, you know beat your son with a rod and he won't die

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Okay, he may tell you I'm dying But he won't die. They could be beaten

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They could not be healed further. Here's an interesting idea

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They have to be released if they are permanently injured by their master 21 26 and 27

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If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it He shall let him go free on account of his eye

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And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth

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Now that's very interesting, isn't it? You can beat him. You cannot kill him if in the process you knock out a tooth or Bind an eye

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Then he shall go free I'm saying about that a bit and I thought you know what?

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Hey when you get old you lose teeth and eyesight naturally naturally,

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I think What is happening here? Is this this the tooth and the eye stand in for all other lesser parts?

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Basically what God is saying is yes, you may beat them Because they are disobedient

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You can't kill them and you can't beat them up in such a way that you disfigure or wound them

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Even down to knocking out a tooth. That's pretty That's pretty controlled Particularly in a world and a culture where that would be incomprehensible beyond that 2312 a foreign slave owned by a

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Hebrew It was mandated that they enjoy a Sabbath rest 2312

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Six days you are to do your work but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the sons of your female slave as well as your stranger

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May refresh themselves. In other words, they get one day off in seven. That is also unknown for slavery in the ancient world

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One day off in seven if you were a

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Hebrew and a slave of another Hebrew slave then you are to be treated as a hired worker and You had a regular and predictable emancipation for example, the the a debt slave a

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Hebrew that is sold into a debt slavery to another Hebrew as a six -year Six -year term of service and At the end of that sixth year his master is to set him up financially and send him out

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Exodus 21 Well, I'll tell you what let's just for the sake of time

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Deuteronomy 15, let's go there Deuteronomy 15 12 to 18 If your kinsman

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Hebrew man or woman is sold to you Then he shall serve you for six years But in the seventh year you shall set him free when you set him free.

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You shall not send him away empty -handed You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat

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You shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the

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Lord your God redeemed you Therefore I command you this day It shall come about if he says to you

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I will not go out from you because he loves you and your household since he fares well with you Then you shall take an all and pierce it through his ear into the door and he shall be your servant forever

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Also, you shall do likewise to your maid servant In other words at the end of his service

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You are to to launch him financially much in the same way that Yahweh launched

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Israel Financially when he delivered them out of the slavery of Egypt You remember they were each to ask of their neighbor for articles of gold and and silver and clothing and so forth

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Thus they plundered the Egyptians essentially what they got was the back wages for 400 years of service so in ancient

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Israel Yahweh did not abolish slavery but He carefully regulated it in order to present or prevent its worst abuse

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He did not Abolish it, but he carefully regulated it in order to prevent its worst abuse and that Reality set the nation of Israel wondrously apart from all the other peoples

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In Deuteronomy chapter 4. I just find this these couple of verses chapter 4 beginning in verse 5

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To be such a helpful Permanent key to understanding the

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Mosaic law Deuteronomy chapter 4 and beginning in verse 5 see

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I Have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my

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God Commanded me. This is Moses speaking that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it

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So keep and do them For that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say

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Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for what great nation is there that has a

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God so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on him or What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law?

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Which I am sitting before you today What he is saying is that when then pagans look on to the law of Moses Which when we read it quite frankly, it's kind of alien to us and there are lots of parts of it that we go

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I don't know how that works. That doesn't sound so in comparison To what existed at that time

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It was head and shoulders Absolutely head and shoulders and and I say it's a hermeneutical key for me.

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And I think I'm not alone in this is That it Pushes me to try to peek into the law and find the heart of God in it

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What where is the love mercy and grace of Yahweh reflected in this law?

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and I think that's The approach to take all right slavery in Israelite society

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Slavery in the Roman Empire We kind of moving historically now. We're coming up into the

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New Testament slavery in the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was deeply dependent upon Slavery to operate it was a slave society

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It's estimated that as many as 15 % of the people were slaves As many as 15 % of the population of the

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Roman Empire were slaves in the large cities of the

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Empire The number could be as high as 30 % 30 % Most of this early slavery was the result of the conquest of the expansion of the

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Roman Empire back to prisoners of war By the time of the New Testament most of the wars of conquest were behind them and So the primary source of slavery for them was those born into slavery

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Born into it That's how the Empire functioned the slaves who lived in the big cities or on the large farms

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Occupied virtually every station of life They could be found as cooks cleaners personal attendants tutors physicians

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Nurses household managers janitors delivery boys managers of estates shops and ships as well as salesmen contracting agents and civil servants

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In other words, they were found all through the spectrum of society as slaves those

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Slaves that still came into slavery through Warfare because the

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Roman Empire was a bloody Empire. So it was always conflict at its edges Generally went to the

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Coliseum or the mines which was a death sentence

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Under Roman law a slave was considered property and thus could not contract a legal marriage

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They were property that could not contract a legal marriage The standard

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Latin term for a farm slave was instrumentum vocalis a talking tool a talking tool a

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Slave could not represent himself in court a slave could not inherit inherit rather And often a slave was subject to more severe physical punishment

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Then would their owner be for the same criminal act? In other words, there was a two -tiered justice system on the other hand on the other hand

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Life for the freeborn peasant was a very very difficult hand -to -mouth existence

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They often lacked the economic security of a slave who served in the household of a generous and considerate master who would provide housing and clothing and food and opportunity that for a peasant

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Would not have slaves could earn money

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They could own the property They could even own other slaves if they had adequate resources.

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They could buy their freedom Many of the city slaves would be emancipated by their masters at some point in their life and If their master was a freeborn citizen, then the slaves children would be also granted

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Roman citizenship So the child of a slave of A master who was a freeborn

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Roman citizen could themselves become Roman citizens and Roman citizenship was worth something as the

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Apostle Paul demonstrates Because slavery was not ethically based

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It would be nearly impossible to determine a person's legal status or social standing by just looking at them

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You can't just look at them and say oh you're a slave You can't, you couldn't

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Manumission, that's the word for setting a slave free, was woven into the Roman system and a city slave could generally be counted upon being set free somewhere around the age of 30

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Farm slaves generally remained slaves their entire life It's not uncommon for a wealthy slave owner upon his death to provide in his will for the release of a portion of his household slaves

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Additionally the slaves could purchase their own freedom through the accumulation of earnings from a side business

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Some slaves were treated very well by their masters, but others were abused

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Peter speaks to that in 1st Peter chapter 2 Beginning in verse 18

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Servants slaves be submissive to your masters with all respect

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Not only to those who are good and gentle but also to those who are unreasonable For this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly

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But what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patient Suffer for it you patiently endure it this finds favor with God Where you have been called for this purpose

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Since Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps

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So despite the economic and social stability that the system provided there in the first century

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It was still fundamentally based on a threat of violence and coercion at its core

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Even the first century Roman philosopher Seneca He recognized this and implored slave owners to control their anger the pagan philosopher

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Seneca common methods of coercion included threatened beaten beatings and sexual harassment and selling a male slave away from the household and Depriving him forever of his wife and his children

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Those were some of the means it was into this social and economic environment

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That the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ came to set men free the set men free

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Not free from their physical slavery But from the eternally harsh and cruel slavery of sin

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This is mankind's greatest need and it is the gospel is

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God's most gracious answer to that The message of the gospel is not a message of social or economic deliverance and thus it is not socially or economically bound

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It doesn't favor a particular ethnicity It is not restricted by education by wealth by family connection

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By religious background by political affiliation by circumstances of birth It is equally powerful for men for women for boys for girls

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For the young for the old right indeed for any who will call upon the name of the Lord Shall be saved

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Romans 10 and verse 13. What does that mean?

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What does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? What does it mean?

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It means to acknowledge your sin And with it your need of salvation

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It is to recognize that this world is fundamentally broken and and I am fundamentally broken and twisted

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The Bible calls that sin the Bible calls it sin I Think I say

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I do What I don't want to do what I know to be wrong I try to reform myself and yet I do it again

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I'm a slave I'm a slave to my own wicked passions and I deserve the punishment of God.

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I Deserve the punishment of God. I have no way out of this slavery

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No way out Paul writes in Romans chapter 3

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The end of his great indictment of the world both the religious world of the

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Jew the irreligious world of the pagan and I think also the moralistic world of the pagan

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But beginning in verse 9 of chapter 3, he brings his summary to a conclusion

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He says what then are we better than they not at all? We have already charged that both

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Jews and Greeks are all under sin as it is written and then listen to this indictment

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This is my indictment and this is yours There is none righteous

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Not even one we are all unrighteous There is none who?

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Understands there is none who seeks for God. We are ignorant and we are rebellious all have turned aside together

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We have become useless. We are willful and rancid. There is no one who does good

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There is not even one we are immoral to the core Their throat is an open grave.

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We're corrupt with their tongues. They keep deceiving We are deceitful in our hearts. The poison of asps is under their lips.

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We are dangerous Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. We are hostile their feet are swift to shed blood.

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We are violent Destruction and misery are in their paths. We are we are destructive the path of peace.

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They have not known we are restless There is no fear of God before their eyes. We are arrogant. That's us that's what slavery to sin looks like and there is only one solution

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I Need a Savior I Need a

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Savior. I need someone who is not fatally flawed. I Need someone from outside the system to pull me out of it.

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What does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It means to believe That Jesus Christ God's own

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Son came into this world as my substitute my substitute

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To live the perfect life I cannot live and I have not living and fulfill the law of God on my behalf to succeed where I have failed

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To understand that he has died on my behalf and he has paid the price for my sin the price

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I cannot pay he paid First Peter 3 18 Christ died for sins once for all the just for the unjust

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So that he might bring us to God it means to believe that he rose from the dead on the third day and He conquered sin and death demonstrably so and Offers that same victory to me

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God raised him up again

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Act 224 Putting an end to the agony of death Since it was impossible for him to be held in its power and when by faith

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I Call out to God To count his righteousness as my own and believe that his death burial and resurrection

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Can and will be mine if I will trust him and him alone

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Then I become And a recipient of eternal life rise up and follow him

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Rise up and follow him let's pray our father the

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The devastation the wickedness

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The blackness of Set of slavery stands as an analog

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There's something much deeper much greater Much more destructive

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For to be a slave in this body even of an unrighteous master is to suffer surely

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But to go into eternity as a slave to sin Is to suffer eternally how grateful we are

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How grateful we are? That your son left the throne room of glory and came

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To live as a slave as it were and to offer himself for us my father.

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I pray This morning in this place and at this time For that one among us

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Who has yet to entrust himself or herself to Christ?

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Acquaintance with Christ will not do we must close with him

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We must have union with him and that can only come as we call out for him to save us

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May you do your good work even now in that one for the glory of Christ alone