8.17 - Paul's Message for Slaves and Masters

In Ephesians 6, Paul concludes his comments on transformed relationships by giving instructions to Christian slaves and Christian masters.

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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Transcript

0:30

Well, happy Monday. For those who were on a Monday schedule. The podcasts are released, new and fresh every Monday morning. Noah, I want to give a shout out to Dusty, I tell you. Mm-hmm. Dusty, jolly is the brains. Along with Noah, but y'all know that the brains behind this, dusty keeps putting this together, getting this up, getting this out. And so thanks to Dusty jolly for the good work that he does, for those that are joining us, for those that listen to those that offer feedback, and you may not be up, this may not be a Monday for you, and that's all right. But. Praised be to the Lord. We're alive today and he's blessing us. We're in Ephesians chapter six. We were dealing with the parent child relationship. It was a real long one last week. Yeah, but it's hard for it not to be long. When you got two preachers in the room, one of'em is older. That likes to talk a lot. And the other thing is when you have such a, such a rich subject. And, and we know we're surrounded by so many families that just want to do what Ephesians six, one through four says to do. They just wanna be mm-hmm. What Ephesians six says we are to be as we walk worthy of the calling. And so today, Noah, we're moving into Ephesians six and we're looking at the servant master relationship. And it's interesting, 5, 6, 7, and eight. That's four, I think. Mm-hmm. Are mentioned to the slave of the servant and only one to the master. Mm-hmm. But that's what the Lord wanted to do, at least here in Ephesians six. We, we might look at Colossians three. So Noah, welcome into the studio today.

Noah: 2:00

Yeah, I'm glad, glad to be here and glad to continue this discussion in Ephesians chapter six. You know, this is, I think one of those sections that, we sometimes we struggle with a little bit on how to apply it because we don't, in, in, in 21st century United States of America, we don't have this master slave or master bond servant relationship. And so sometimes we try to approximate it to the employer employee relationship. And I think there's some application to be made there. But I think what we will see today is that. In some ways, this has an even broader application than anything that we've looked at. The husband, wife, the parent child. Mm-hmm. That this is actually gonna be maybe the most sweeping of applications that we can make. And like you said, we might end up in Colossians we hadn't. For, for those who are listening, Paul and I do not share notes ahead of time. So the fact that we both have Colossians three in our notes somewhere. Probably indicates that we'll end up there. But like last time, I think it'd be good since we're just gonna be working through a few verses here of chapter six, if we go ahead and read it. And again, this week I'll be reading from the ESV Ephesians six, beginning in verse five. Bond servants. Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would Christ. Not by the way of I 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 knowing that whatever good anyone does this, he will receive back from the Lord. Whether he is a bond servant or is free masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening. Knowing that he who is both their master and yours in heaven and that there is no partiality with him.

Paul: 3:51

Yeah. Well that was English standard.

Noah: 3:53

Yeah.

Paul: 3:53

Yeah. I love that. I love that there in Ephesians six. Really do.

Noah: 3:56

Yeah. Now you know, some, some translations are gonna say slaves instead of bond servants. Mm-hmm. Others might just say servants. It's, it's gonna be referring to the same same general relationship that again, we are, it's so foreign to us now both in, in nationality and in time period. But even with that in place, we can, even with that distance of not really being able to understand the relationship on a personal level we can see that this is extremely challenging.

Paul: 4:31

Yes.

Noah: 4:32

That this would be to some, this might initially feel like a punch in the gut. Like, this is not what I, this, this gospel that I've obeyed. This, Jesus that I'm following this as James would later refer to it, this perfect law of liberty that I'm supposed to be a part of. This is not what I was expecting to hear.

Paul: 4:55

Yes,

Noah: 4:56

this is not what I was expecting to to hear. Now again, we can broaden the scope here in the 21st century and, and look at like letters like Philemon, where. There. Paul takes a personal investment in one of these relationships and we can see how the gospel changes the, these relationships maybe on an individual basis, on a, on a case by case basis. But this is a general letter that's gonna be read aloud, and this is what the Holy Spirit has to say through Paul to slaves. Is, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would Christ.

Paul: 5:37

Mm. That as you would Christ. I love that. Colossians three verse 24 makes this point. It is the Lord Christ, you're serving. Mm-hmm. The power of the gospel that sets someone free, delivers them from their sins, but also reminds them. That, that they have been given new life they have been given good, given good hope through grace. And thank you Lord, and it is now the Lord Christ that I serve. So what would that look like in the first century in the various relationships? Well, you had slave master relationship going on, and the discussion in this podcast is not about a slave master situation of circumstance as it relates to today. That's another subject. Mm-hmm. But the issue at hand in this text is he's saying, when Christ has your heart be cry because you understand. That you serve the Lord Christ. How does that manifest itself in the various relationships? He's already addressed the home. He's talked about marriage. Now he has to deal with what was a real thing in the first century. There would be people sitting, I say sitting in the pews, but there would be people in first century churches who would be prone to think, and I get that on some level. My life should now be radically different because I'm in Christ. I have been set free. From sin. Mm-hmm. Shouldn't I be set free from this? Or my master is a Christian, shouldn't my master because of this relationship, we're brothers. Shouldn't my master do this, do that? And the way the Holy Spirit addresses all of these is he deals with the heart of the master and the heart of the slave. Mm-hmm. And I, I, I think we need to see something there. In a lot of the subjects that are sensitive subjects that address relationships and require a submission and a surrender of my heart, does Christ have my heart? Mm-hmm. And the approach is Start with a heart.

Noah: 7:49

Yeah. The what, what Paul says here in the end is that whatever the servant a slave is doing is as a bond servant. To Christ.

Paul: 8:02

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 8:03

So yeah, you might be a bond serving, you might be a slave to this earthly master, but ultimately what you're doing is not for the earthly master. It's for Christ, but because it's for Christ. This is the, this is the kind of weird feedback loop that happens because it's for Christ. Now it is for your master. Like the, because your heart is first Christ's, and therefore, your service to the master is out of service to Christ. Look, look how that transforms the, the actual act of service or slave, the fact that the obedience with a sincere heart. Not by way of I service or as people pleasers.

Paul: 8:49

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 8:50

To, but rather doing the will of God from the heart rendering service with a good will. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive back from the Lord. So it, it's interesting how there's, Paul is saying. Both things at once. He's saying, you're serving God, not your master.

Paul: 9:12

Right?

Noah: 9:13

But because your heart has been given to God, you are serving your master genuinely with a good heart, with their interests in mind. You're going to obey them. You're going to, you're going to do your work wholeheartedly. Mm-hmm. With quality, with sincerity. And it's because your heart is Christ.

Paul: 9:34

Amen and amen. Look, I, I had this instilled in me from, from my earthly father, as I know you did. In your case as well since, since this comes on the heels of a conversation we had earlier in Ephesians six about parent child relationships. I wanna offer this to the good parents who are listening today. You, you, there are a few things that you can do better in the. Training and in the developing of your children than to model before your children. The, the attitudes and the principles that are reflected here as it relates to servant master, and then as you talk about, you know, your boss or who you work for. When our children see their dad and their dads has a less than ideal boss mm-hmm. Cruel. And he just, he says, you know what, kids we work for the Lord. Hey, I, I do my best be because Integrity says this. Mm-hmm. I serve the Lord Christ and serving the Lord Christ means I, I keep my word, I, I honor the commitment that I made to this company, to this person. I, I'm never saying do wrong. But I am saying that, that there is a, with all your heart, you don't work just because somebody is watching you work. You don't only give your best under some situations and circumstances. No. And children can grow up and see that. Mm-hmm. And a mom and a dad, especially in a dad. And, and here's my point that translates into so many other areas of life. The, the respect that they now have. Okay.'cause look, you're, you're, you're a ball team. Your coach on the ball team, your director in the band, your teacher in the classroom, your teacher or someone in the church. Mm-hmm. You mean like, come on, you know, clearly they've got some problems here and clearly what's going on. They shouldn't be acting this way. Okay. They've got some faults they need to clean up. Yeah. But you can control you. Mm-hmm. And that's what he's saying here as unto the Lord, you serve the Lord Christ. What does that look like? And that's okay. That's not an easy thing to do.

Noah: 11:47

Yeah.

Paul: 11:47

That's not,

Noah: 11:48

I love where you took that because that, that's the direction I think that for our practical application today, we need to be able to take this is understanding that this. Certainly applies to the master slave relationship. That's the first century application. Mm-hmm. It also applies at least to some extent, with any authority relationship that we are a part of, that this is setting, this is setting the groundwork for the integrity, as you called it, right? That we need to be developing in ourselves and developing in our children. And I, I say this with admittedly, a little bit of hesitation because I don't want it to be misunderstood. I'm not saying you can never leave a job. I'm not saying that you can never change what church you're a part of. I'm never, I'm not saying you can never distance yourself from in a relationship that you know, distance yourself from someone that you were previously close to. So don't mishear what I'm about to say, but I, I would suggest that in our current cultural climate integrity and loyalty and commitment. Are rare commodities.

Paul: 13:04

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 13:06

And it is increasingly easy in whatever situation, work or church or relationships or any of num of the number of things that you mentioned, even in in school and commitments that we would make in that kind of an environment. It is ever easy to flake.

Paul: 13:24

Yes.

Noah: 13:25

It, the, the, the water gets hot, things get difficult. It's not fun anymore. And so we leave whatever the situation is. Now, first century slaves didn't have that option,

Paul: 13:37

right?

Noah: 13:38

And so some might say, well, this is just because they didn't have the option to leave. Here's how they should, here's how they should you know, I behave themselves how they should work in that kind of a situation.

Paul: 13:52

Well,

Noah: 13:53

to be fair, that they did have the option of running away,

Paul: 13:58

right?

Noah: 13:59

And I think a lot of 21st century mindsets would say, yeah, that's exactly what you do. You're free in Christ, you run, you leave, you go, you go live out your freedom in Christ somewhere else away from this oppressiveness. And that's not what Paul says.

Paul: 14:14

No.

Noah: 14:14

And so again, don't mishear me. I'm not saying there's never a time for a change. There's never a time for leaving. What I am saying is maybe integrity means sticking around a little longer and working a little harder,

Paul: 14:29

sticking around a little longer, working a little harder. Yes. And you're gonna find out that when, when times are tough. You find yourself on your knees saying, Lord, I understand that this is your word and your will for my life in this relationship. It. And so I'm gonna do this because you will help me to do this. I'm gonna manifest this kind of spirit and this kind of attitude. It will, it will demonstrate itself and how I serve and how I work and my loyalty and my allegiance. It's not gonna be easy, but it's the next right thing. And so maybe that's one of the reasons why there at times the Lord himself taught this way when he was, when he was saying some things that were hard for people to hear. He brought'em back to this concept of life is lived one day at a time. Just do the next right thing. Trust the end result to the Lord. And that's easy to say. Not easy to do. But He doesn't leave the master out.

Noah: 15:31

No, he does not. He brings the master

Paul: 15:32

in. I love the Colossians account. So Colossians if you just erased chapter divisions now, you would be in chapter four, verse one of Colossians. He says, masters give or provide your bond service. What is just and fair. Mm-hmm. The Ephesians six passage has, you know does this and you masters do the same things to them. Give up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven. With him there is no partiality. He makes that point. In Colossians for you, you got a master in heaven. The point is to the masters in this relationship, you do what is just and fair. Mm-hmm. I've spoken to the slave, I've spoken to this person in the relationship now to you who have the authority, who have the rule over, you have the power to do so many things. Harness that in a good, gentle, fair, and right way.'cause remember this, in the end, you have a master. And when you stand before that master who's in heaven. God, you want the Lord to deal with you. In a way that's, that's just and fair and right.

Noah: 16:39

Yeah. You know, a consistent theme across scripture is that where there is authority, there is responsibility.

Paul: 16:48

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 16:49

And in fact, there is more responsibility and there is therefore more accountability from God with what is done. We see that in how shepherds are talked about, how elders are talked about. We see that in how teachers are talked about, people who you know, not many should be teachers. Why it as there is more authority comes, more responsibility. In fact, if we backed up just a few more verses back into the husband and wife relationship, the husband as the head of his wife, some people might complain that, oh, well he doesn't say as much to the husband as, as he does to the wife, but what he says to the husband. Put so much more responsibility and accountability before God. We have to recognize that same thing here with Master and Slave. Yeah, it's only one sentence, but he is, he is giving a hard message to those who are in positions of authority with this authority. Remember that you are not the authority and you are gonna be held accountable for how you exercise authority. And I think that's part of why this section has such broad application, even though it's specifically about masters and slaves, is that at any given point in our lives, we are either under authority or in a position of authority. Mm-hmm. And for most of our lives we're both, it just depends on the context of

Paul: 18:17

Right.

Noah: 18:18

Of, you know, that we're, that we're talking about whether we are in a position of authority or under authority. And the overall message that Paul's getting across here is whether you're under authority or in a position of authority. Your allegiance to God dictates how you behave.

Paul: 18:35

Oh, I like that your allegiance to God dictates how you behave. Yeah. I mean, and he, he makes the point here to the masters. Remember there there is no there is no partiality, no favoritism with God. Mm-hmm. He, he doesn't play favorites and you who are in positions of power and authority, you don't play favorites either.

Noah: 18:57

Right.

Paul: 18:58

What, what, what's the Lord telling us? He knows us. Better than we know ourselves. There is a tendency at times for those who are in positions of power ruling over someone in a relationship to make demands of someone to place expectations on someone that are not fair and they wouldn't want it done to them. Mm-hmm. Or they wouldn't even do it to someone else who was under their rule. Mm. How, how we see people. Influences how we treat people. Yeah. And how we see God influences how we see people.

Noah: 19:37

Yeah. You know another way of phrasing much of what Paul teaches here in regards to masters and slaves would be what Jesus said earlier that we call the golden rule. Mm,

Paul: 19:50

yes. Yes.

Noah: 19:51

How would you want them to treat you? How, how would you like to be treated? That's how you treat them. And, and any slave would want their, would, if they were in the position of a master would want a slave that does good work. And any master, if they were suddenly in the position of a slave, would want a master that is just and fair and kind.

Paul: 20:14

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 20:16

And it, it's not any more complicated or simple than that. Yeah. It's, it's, it's heavy. But it, it's, that's what it is.

Paul: 20:26

It's very heavy. So here, here's the so what for me? So since we're bringing this kind of. To a close. We've gone from chapter five all the way to chapter six. In, in, in verse nine. We've gone through various relationships. Mm-hmm. Now, you know, if you read this like a letter, we have chapter divisions, we have breaks where they most likely didn't have breaks. Right. If you're hearing this red. Like a letter. Now you've, you've understood that he's taken people to a point of, okay, what does it mean to Walkworth? Here's the calling. Now I'm telling you to walk worthy of the calling. Here's the relationship that you have with the Lord Christ. I speak concerning Christ in the church, but I've already talked to you about the marriage relationship. Now let me talk to you about parents and children in that relationship and oh, let's, let's deal with another relationship that would manifest itself in the church. So you've got people in Christ Jesus who are hearing these that deal with every kind of relationship that you can imagine. Right there in that church. And I got to thinking about what's the so what here? Here's one takeaway I have besides the obvious, here's the worthy walk. Mm-hmm. Here's the proper behavior that that is expected of people who say Jesus is Lord. Beyond that, look in the various relationships, what it does for the church. It sets us up in a place, a better place and position where the gospel has the significance. It makes the, the teaching of Christ. It makes the gospel to quote another passage more attractive. Hmm. It makes, it's like I wanna know more about because the, the, the Lord Christ that you serve. Tell me,'cause I, this, I can't explain this any other way for you to act this way towards a master who's treating you this way for, for your kids to look like this at this age, for the home to be functioning like this. I mean, well I serve the Lord Christ. Jesus is Lord. I mean, we, we have this relationship and what a beautiful thing. And I think it sets us up in a position that that makes it easier for us to share. The very message and the very one that we say means the most to us.

Noah: 22:58

Hmm. Yeah, that's a really excellent point, a really, really beautiful point. That the, the beauty of the gospel and the, the beauty of Jesus can be seen in these relationships because they've been transformed by him. They've been transformed by, by what he's accomplished. And I think that that's challenging to us as well, because if that, if that's not visible in our relationships. Then it's probably an indication that we have not yet been, we're we're, we're still, we're still needing to be transformed more in our, in how our, how we conduct our relationships, our integrity in these relationships. You asked a question a moment ago, how do you view people? The other day, I excuse the story. At 23 minutes into the podcast the other day, I, I ran a quick errand. It needed to be quick. I needed to get it done, get home, work on some other things. So I'm driving to HEB and people are walking across the parking lot. They're slowing me down. I can't find a parking spot. Then I get the parking spot and I'm trying to get across and there's cars and I need to get a cart and there's someone else is already getting a cart. And I stopped for a moment'cause it was just this moment of I'm not viewing these people as people. I'm viewing them as obstacles. I've got a goal in mind. I've got a mission in mind, and because these people are getting in my way, whether they're in their cars or outta their cars or getting a cart, they're not people anymore. They're just something that's in my way.

Paul: 24:36

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 24:38

Let me suggest that that is not isolated to a quick errand to HEB. That can happen in every relationship that we have. And when we start to do that, it ought to be a big, fat reality check that we are not being transformed by Christ in how we view the people that he created, whether it's in our marriages. In our parenting towards our parents Master slave authority and under authority brothers and sisters in Christ, how do we view the people around us? And I think what one of the things, one of the takeaways from this section is we, if we are in Christ and we're being transformed by Christ, then and more we will see these people, not just as people. Created in the image of God, but people that God has put us in a position to serve and to do good for in the roles. In the way that he has placed us.

Paul: 25:47

Yeah. Well I love that. I love that. Great, great Summer. We're, we're gonna, so we're gonna stop at this point not'cause we want to stop, but because we, we, we need to move on. Thank you for those that are listening. We're, I'm gonna suggest, and most of, you know, as we're, as we're finishing out Ephesians six, you know, that we're gonna move into what is typically styled the armor of God, and some really beautiful passages and pictures there. That will certainly strengthen us in the Lord. I'll offer you this as we close out this podcast. He having said all that he said. He then says, finally. And that's what preachers do. That doesn't mean they're done, but he says this or, or the Holy Spirit through Paul says this, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his light. All these relationships and all these responsibilities that we've been talking about as podcasts are big and big, and they're way too big for us. Mm-hmm. But not for our God. Amen. And God is looking for people who will trust him. Who will rely on him, and he says, if you will trust and rely on me, then you will be my people that listen to my wisdom, respond to my word. I will be the strength that you need. And man, every, every parent in the room that's hearing this every marriage relationship that's going through its ups and downs, every relationship where your job is this, and your boss is this and kids that are hearing this, I'm telling you the Lord is really good at what he does. And he's looking for people who will just humble themselves and say, I trust in you. Help me to be who you want me to be so I can do the next right thing. So that people want to know you and know your son. So thank you for those that are listening today. Continue in this journey, our goal is to glorify God together. We're in this together. Don't forget this. We just wanna stand strong.