True Servants

Now, let’s read together from the New Testament in 1 Timothy 6:1. First Timothy 6:1:

“All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them.

“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Amen.

Now, before we study these verses, let’s go to the Lord in prayer:

Father, grant that you will enable us to hear your voice through your Word. As we listen to the voice of a mere man, we recognize that you choose to make your voice truly heard when your Word is truly taught. And so we pray that that might happen. Free us from every distracting influence, we pray, because of the seriousness of what we do—that we, the mere children of men, would listen for the voice of the living God. So then, whether in speaking or in listening, grant that we might hear you and be prepared to do whatever the Bible says, no matter how revolutionary it will be. We ask this in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen.

How is the church, then, to make an impact on society? Are we to believe those who have told us over a number of years now that the only hope for us in making an impact on the culture is going to be as a result of establishing political muscle and being able to bring that muscle to bear upon the legislators and those who share authority with them? Are we to be excited by the prospect that was raised this week of some conservative Christians posing the notion of another political party, as, if you like, a third way? Or are we to be concerned by that? Or should we simply be neutral to it?

But the real and foundational question is: What does the Bible have to say concerning the church making an impact on its culture? Does the Bible encourage us to think in terms of changing structures and organizations first and foremost, in order that we might then be able to have a context in which the gospel may flourish—which is exactly what is taught in certain circles? Or does the New Testament teach that it is right for us to think of the gospel transforming individuals first and foremost and for those individual transformed lives making an impact on the structures of a culture?

Now, you’re sensible people, and to you is given the responsibility of wrestling with these things, because to each of us is given the privilege of making an impact, for good or for ill, in the culture in which we live. And the fact is that opinions vary a great deal even among well-meaning Christians. But since the Bible is our sole authority, we must be paying attention to what the Bible says first and foremost and seeking to discover the precepts that it conveys as well as the patterns that it displays. And there are, very clearly, principles which run throughout all of Scripture. Not every express question that we may bring can be found, in the pages of Scripture, to be granted an answer. But there is no question of life that, when we turn to the Scriptures, we are unable to find the biblical principles which we can then bring to bear upon that specific question.

The Question of Slavery

Now, the most obvious question in turning to these opening verses of first Timothy 6 is: Why is it that there is no call on the part of the apostle for some kind of social revolt or disruption in relationship to the matter of slavery? Those who teach that the Bible provides, as it were, a mandate for some kind of political and theological liberation must be clearly disconcerted by coming to the passages where you would most expect to find that happen and discovering that it doesn’t happen at all. In fact, quite the reverse is seen to take place.

Now, the discovery is obvious: namely, that the destruction of slavery—because it is this matter of slavery which was on the mind of the apostle, and those who served as slaves—the destruction of slavery was not going to be brought about by insurrection or by agitation, but the whole matter was going to be dealt with—according to Paul’s instruction here, confirmed in the rest of the New Testament—by the transforming power of the gospel working from the inside out rather than a call which begins from the outside working in.

Now, we need to be very, very clear in coming to these verses that although slavery was the very bottom rung on the ladder of social status in the Greco-Roman world, it was actually, in many cases, preferred by people to freedom. Now, that will strike us as immediately strange, but if you want to read history, then you will find that what I’m telling you is true. The reason that people would prefer it at times to freedom was because it offered to them a security and, in some cases, good positions in households. Because we need to understand that there were an estimated sixty million people in the slave class, if you like, at the height of the Roman Empire. Indeed, secular history records that at certain points, one in three members of the Roman jurisdiction were themselves slaves.

Now, there were a variety of ways in which people ended up slaves. For example, some became slaves because they were taken as prisoners of war; others because they were criminals, and part of their punishment may have been incarceration, and the rest of it may have been for them to have been placed in a household to serve as a slave. Thirdly, people became enslaved as a result of indebtedness: they were indebted to a particular individual, there was no likelihood of the person ever getting his money, and so he took the person as a captive into his home, and the person, if you like, worked off their indebtedness by serving within the structure of the household. Others became slaves simply as a result of bandits who kidnapped them and took them away either in slavery to themselves or sold them into slavery for a profit—the kind of thing that you find, for example, in the life of Joseph, whose brothers sold him to the passing travelers, and they in turn sold him to Potiphar, into service. Fifthly, you could be sold into slavery by your parents. This is an intriguing one, and we can only imagine at some of the circumstances that led to it. But I’m sure it wasn’t simply trivialities—coming home late with consistency and eventually finding that you were sold as a slave. But it does have an intrigue to it that some of the others don’t. And we shouldn’t go down that road, but it’s food for thought over lunch with some of your teenagers. And the sixth way in which you could become a slave was you were born into an enslaved household. In other words, it sort of ran in the family: your parents were slaves, and you grew up, and you became a slave along with your brothers and sisters.

Now, it’s also very important to understand: in sketching that in, you’re getting this picture that enslavement is not a small group of people who are peculiarly brutalized in the culture, but it is a 33 ⅓ percent of the culture. It represents not only the most basic kind of laboring—manual labor—but slaves were also artisans. Some of the most skilled craftsmen in the culture would themselves be slaves. They were also teachers and tutors; they were, if you like, in the professions. And they would also, many of them, be serving as physicians. So, if you think about it, you could take, for example, the cross-section of this group in here—about fifteen hundred of us or so, maybe a little less—and you could say that approximately five hundred of carpenters and teachers and doctors and business folks would, in that context of first-century Greco-Rome, we would have found ourselves in the context of enslavement.

Now, the reason I labor this point is because I want you to understand that the context to which Paul is writing is not immediately akin to the racially motivated slavery of the 1930s and ’40s and ’50s here in the United States. And you know that I’ve worked hard to tell you that we will never understand the Bible, we will never be able to understand the Bible and apply it to the now, unless we understand it in the then. Unless we understand the historic context in which it is written, we dare not begin to immediately make application to another point in time. First we must see it there; then we apply it. And the danger is, in coming to this issue of slavery, as soon as we, at the end of the twentieth century, see the word slavery, we begin to think of certain scenes that would not have been the scenes to which Paul was writing in first-century Greco-Roman culture. Now, in saying that, I’m not suggesting that there is nothing to be learned from this for that, but I’m simply making the observation. And it’s an important distinction.

It is also important to understand that… And this is a question that always comes up. I remember doing a Bible study at the law school here at Case Western way back in ’94, ’95, and we did the book of Titus together. We went through it, a group of law students and myself. And I remember getting to a verse that we’re going to come to in a moment or two and getting into a huge discussion that lasted for one session and then another session about why it was that Paul apparently gave credence, if you like, to enslavement and why it was that he was not agitating for some social disruption and some radical change. And it is an obvious and important question to any thinking individual.

Part of the answer is in what he does not say. Now, let me try and explain this as simply as I can. Throughout his epistles, he addresses various groups, and he gives instructions concerning them. He addresses classes of people, if you like. At one point, he will address husbands and wives. And when he calls for husbands and wives to live in a certain way, because this is part of the social structure of life, he underpins the call to live in a certain way by quoting foundational truths from the rest of the Bible.

I can see your eyes are glazing over, so turn to Ephesians chapter 5 for just a moment. Let me illustrate what I mean. Ephesians 5:31: he says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and [his] mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” Now, what he is doing there is he is quoting. He is appealing to the way in which God has established things to be from the beginning. In other words, he says, “Now, here is a social unit. Husbands and wives, this is how you are to live, and this why you are to live this way.” So he takes it, and he substantiates his call by quoting Scripture.

You find the same thing in Ephesians chapter 6 in relationship to the way in which children are supposed to submit to their parents. And people will say today, “Well, the children don’t have to do this. Why would they have to do this?” The answer is, “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”[1] What makes it right? The law of God makes it right. What about the law of God? The fifth commandment: “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.”[2] So in other words, he says, “Husbands and wives, this is your part in the social climate. And this is why: the Bible says so. Children, this is your responsibility, and I am underpinning it by telling you—by quoting Scripture.”

Now, when he comes to the issue of slavery, he doesn’t underpin it with anything. He doesn’t go somewhere and say, “Slavery is fine, and slavery is okay, and slavery is part of God’s plan,” as it were. “And let me tell you why by quoting the Bible.” He doesn’t because it isn’t. And that absence is a crucial indication of Paul’s heart and mind in relationship to that fundamental question that we’re raising.

To those who are enslaved, Paul says, ‘If you can get out, get out.’ For those who are masters, he says, ‘If you can let your slaves go, you should let them go.’

In fact, Paul’s conviction is that slaves should leave their bondage if they’re given the opportunity. First Corinthians 7:21, he says, “Each of you should remain in the situation where he was when God called him.”[3] “Were you a slave when you were called?” He says, “Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.”[4] I can’t stop here in 1 Corinthians 7, but it’s a very important cross-reference. He says, “Were you a slave when you were called?” Now listen to what he says: “Don’t let it trouble you.” In other words, that’s not the big issue. He says, “However, if you can get out, get out.” Now, at the other end, when he writes to masters—for example, in Philemon—he encourages the masters to seize the opportunities of manumission, which is the big word for the setting free of a slave. So to those who are enslaved, he says, “You know, if you can get out, get out.” For those who are masters, he says, “If you can let your slaves go, you should let them go.”

Paul’s Chief Concern

Now, let me ask you a question—and it’s rhetorical; you don’t need to shout out. But look at the first two verses, and ask yourself this question: What would you say is Paul’s overarching concern in these verses? Is there a phrase that encapsulates what Paul is, if you like, really on about? What would you say, from these two verses, is his uppermost concern? Now, I don’t think there is any doubt about this. In fact, just an understanding of the English language makes it plain. And the answer is in the phrase that comes after the word “respect” in verse 1: “so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.” What is it that drives Paul’s life? This. What is it that undergirds Paul’s instruction? This. What is it that is to constrain the life of the believer irrespective of circumstances? This. Because the Shorter Scottish Catechism is right: “[The] chief end [of man] is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”[5] That is the whole explanation of human existence in a phrase. And it is on account of the fact that we choose to disregard that vital principle that our lives are essentially in such disarray.

The same emphasis is to be found when Paul writes to Titus—and you can turn a couple of pages over and see this. In Titus 2:10—beginning, actually, in verse 9—he says, “[Listen,] teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything.” That in itself is amazing, isn’t it? I mean, if you don’t think it’s amazing, you’re not thinking. “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, … not to steal from them, … to show that they can be fully trusted.” Why? Answer, look: “so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

What is the whole purpose of God? To get glory to his name. How does he get glory to his name? As a result of the worshippers that he seeks giving him glory. The Father seeks worshippers so that that may say, “O God, you are very great”; that they may do that for which they have been created. And therefore, if that is the overarching concern of God—that he would be glorified—then it is the uttermost concern of the gospel that those who are redeemed would glorify God. “You mean, even if their circumstances stink?” Yes! “Even if their lives are less than they hoped for?” Yes! “Even if they’re at the bottom rung of the social ladder?” Yes! “If they’re at the top?” Yes! His overarching concern is that the life of the Christian would make the teaching about God and Jesus attractive. Attractive! Now, you understand attractive, don’t you?

When he goes into chapter 3, he says, “If you want to be attractive, let me remind you to remind your people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.” “Good”! You see, because all this shouting and barging around and making a big fuss and bother isn’t attractive. It isn’t attractive! And we’re supposed to make the gospel attractive, “to slander nobody, to be peaceable, to be considerate, to show true humility towards all men.” He says, “Because if you think about it, the only thing that distinguishes you from the pagan who is involved in all these things is the fact that,” according to verse 5, “God our Savior saved us.”[6] He saved us.

Where did he save us? Where we are. So if he saved a businessman, he saved him in his business. If he saved a slave, he saved him in his slavery. If he saved a schoolboy, he saved him at his schoolbooks. And as a result of salvation, there are going to be implications in the environment in which we live our lives. But as a result of salvation, he doesn’t transform our social circumstances per se, and he certainly doesn’t overturn civil jurisdiction.

And the tragedy of it is that we have been more influenced than we realize by the kind of disruption that gave rise to the United States of America, where you have one group of English people fighting another group of English people, and the winners call themselves Americans. But in that experience, we established in this country a pattern for the way things are done. And it is therefore hard to realize that the church is not a democracy, and it is hard for the church to realize that the methodology that God has chosen to use to transform a culture is not the transforming impact of revolution. But when you have a nation that is built on revolution, and you have a church that is tied to that revolution, then you can see how it will champion all kinds of ideas. “We’ll teach them in history, we’ll believe them at home, we’ll impact them in their family life, and we’ll be able to keep the sorry mess of 1948 in Alabama and justify it.” Because they won’t read the Bible—or, having read it, they won’t do what it says. Now we’re doing it all over again at the end of the twentieth century—just another deal, another day, another business. When will we ever learn?

I believe this to be a foundational principle of Christian living, and it is this: what Paul is saying here (think it out) is the matter of our circumstances—while not irrelevant—the matter of our circumstances are not the big issue. Concern about my well-being or my status or my significance or my rights is always subservient to a concern for God’s glory. So you see, the Bill of Rights is the Bill of Rights. We understand that. It has definite connections to foundational principles that are biblical in their framework. But the Bill of Rights, as to every other human-created bill, bows beneath the instruction of this book, because the best of men are men at best. And when we start to live our Christian lives thinking that somehow or another, everyone, and God included, owes us something and that he is supremely concerned to get us out of all of our predicaments, to transform our circumstances, to make life just one long vacation, and that God looks upon our lives and tries to move everything in that direction, you can see why people’s heads are so messed up. You can see why they’re so mad at God, because it hasn’t come out the way expected. It was never the way God intended. He would have written it in the Book if he wanted it that way!

While not irrelevant, the matter of our circumstances is not the big issue. Concern about my well-being or my status or my significance or my rights is always subservient to a concern for God’s glory.

It would have been possible for Paul to mobilize the Christian slaves into some kind of insurrection of revolt. There’s no question of his leadership ability. They could have overturned, to a certain degree, the social structures of the time. It would have been hard for them to make a radical impact on sixty million and beyond, but nevertheless, they certainly could have been an irritant. But as a result, it would have meant discredit to the name and glory of God. And so what might have been—or what was, if you say—a legitimate concern, a sorry circumstance, a poor predicament, a definite injustice was lived through for a concern for God’s glory.

Now, if you just think for a moment, shoot your mind forward to the cross of Christ. First Peter, what does he say? That “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, but he committed his cause to him who judges justly.”[7] In other words, the whole central emphasis of Christianity, the very crucial event of biblical theology, the pivotal event of human history underscores this principle. If Christ had been thinking about his rights, he would never have died upon the cross, would he? For he had rights to everything. He created the whole universe! If Christ was thinking about his circumstances, he would have never lived as he lived. If Christ was concerned only for his status, then he wouldn’t have had to go and sniff out a donkey from somewhere; he would have had a whole host of stallions upon which he could have come riding into Jerusalem. So how could we have this Christ who has given us an example that we should follow in our steps be the one who does all the dying, all the suffering, deals with all the mess?

When I am concerned for my name, my rights, my just desserts, I am probably at my least useful in the kingdom of heaven. You can write that down. When I am concerned about my name, my rights, and my just desserts, I am probably at my least useful in the kingdom of heaven. But when I realize that I’m a slave and I am without rights, when I recognize that I am totally dependent upon my heavenly Father to bestow upon me blessing or judgment in his way and in his time, then my impact in the kingdom and for the kingdom will be far greater.

Now, it would have been one thing if Paul was living in the relative luxury of a small vacation dwelling on the island of, let’s say, Crete, and he was writing to Timothy, and he was telling Timothy, “Tell these folks this is what they ought to do.” Their response would have been, “How would he feel that he could do this from there?” But the fact of the matter is, Paul is not calling people to a life with which he himself is unfamiliar. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, in answering the charges that were raised against his apostleship, he lets the people know that he understands what it is to live in the face of the most dreadful circumstances. Two Corinthians 11 and partway through verse 23: “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.” Thirty-nine lashes was the maximum sentence under law that an individual could receive, and in many cases, it was enough to debilitate the body to such a point that they died soon after receiving the lashing. Paul says, “Five times I received it.” So he says, “I came to you in weakness.”[8] He got himself beaten up that many times. “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, … I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, … have been constantly on the move. I[’ve] been in danger from rivers, … danger[s] from bandits, … danger from my own countrymen, … danger[s] from [the] Gentiles; … danger in the city, … danger in the country, … danger at sea; … danger from [the] false brothers.”[9] He says, “This is not, like… You don’t think I’ve been having a picnic or something, do you?” He says, “I’ve labored. I’ve toiled. I’ve gone without sleep. I’ve known hunger and thirst. I’ve often gone without food. I’ve been cold and naked. And beside everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” He says, “You’re weak? I feel weak. You’re led into sin? I burn. If I must boast though,” he says, “I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”[10]

Now notice verse 31: “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.” And that little phrase gives the key to his whole business. That’s his whole philosophy of existence. That’s his whole life. He says, “The one thing that is true is that the God and Father of the Lord Jesus is to be praised forever. And he may be praised in my beating, he may be praised in my imprisonment, he may be praised in my enslavement, he may be praised in my prosperity, and so on.” He says, “But the key thing is, that we can’t lose sight of—the whole reason for our existence—is that the God and Father of the Lord Jesus would be praised.” No, you see, if in order to achieve that, God must bring his people through the most difficult of days, if he must crush the church in America to achieve that, then fine! Crush on! Because the reason for our existence is not that we would all be healthy, wealthy, and wise. It’s not that Christianity would release us to a life of ease. But it is that God would be forever praised!

That’s why when the apostles get a hiding in Acts chapter 5, even after Gamaliel has intervened on their behalf—when they were taken before the Sanhedrin, and they said, “You know, these guys are preaching Jesus Christ, and they’re destroying Jerusalem, and it’s chaos out there, and we need to deal severely with them,” Gamaliel stands up and says, essentially, “Listen, if this is of God, you won’t be able to stop it. And if it isn’t of God, you really don’t need to bother about it.” And Luke records that he persuaded them. And then it says, “So having been persuaded, they took the apostles in, and they gave them a good hiding, and then they sent them out, telling to preach no more the name of Jesus Christ.”[11] If Gamaliel had been a little more persuasive, then they wouldn’t have got the hiding, but they got the hiding and then sent out. And this is what Acts 5:41 says: “And the apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been set free and were now able to go home and have coffee and have a nice evening. ‘Bless our evening and our tomorrow, Lord. Amen.’” No! “And they left rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of getting a hiding for the name of Jesus Christ.”[12]

Now, this is revolutionary, folks. This is absolutely revolutionary. This is completely upside down from where most of us live our lives. This is upside down from where most of us have decided Christianity is supposed to take us. Some of us are actually here this morning because we think that Christianity and God is a means to an end, and the end is our well-being; that God is a cosmic genie; that somewhere in here there’s one of those wee brass lamps, and if one of the ushers or somebody can give it to us, then we can take it home, rub the brass lamp’s belly, produce the genie, and ask him for stuff. And apparently, that’s why he exists: so that we can get a lot of stuff, so that we can be successful in our business, so that illness will not come our way, so that all will be well with our families. Get a life! It’s not true to the Bible, and it’s not true to human experience. Do you know how much pain and heartache is represented in the Christian community in these few pews in here alone? If that were the answer, we would be liars! We would be missing it! No, no, through all the changing scenes of life, in sorrow and in joy, in pain and in plenty, in provision and in weakness, God’s name is to be praised. Now, when I begin to get even the tiniest glimpse of that, it is a worldview which is revolutionary.

Through all the changing scenes of life, in sorrow and in joy, in pain and in plenty, in provision and in weakness, God’s name is to be praised.

And remember that redemption does not simply declare us right before God and give us a new status, does not simply provide for us the Spirit to indwell us, but gives us a new mind, a new way of thinking. And you should be able to identify a Christian in conversation because he’s had his life turned the right way up. And the way you’ll know that is because when you hear him talk, it will sound as though he’s talking upside down. Now, the reason he sounds upside down is because he’s the right way up. Because the majority of people are upside down, so if they meet someone the right way up and the majority always rules, they assume that he must be standing on his head and talking out of somewhere else. And so is that… (Out of his hat, that is.)

And so, let me just summarize the three principles—three clear points from this passage, and we just give a moment or two to them. Took a long time introducing it.

Respect for All Masters

Number one: there is to be respect, says Paul, for all masters. There is to be respect for all masters. “All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect.” Now, you find the exact same thing when Peter writes to the scattered believers of his day in circumstances that were certainly less than ideal. First Peter 2:18, he says, “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.”

Now, when you apply this to the contemporary environment, and you’re going back to your work tomorrow, and your area manager is not exactly the most congenial individual, the person who runs your little department in the lab is just horrendous, the principle applies. Obviously, it had a striking impact to the people in the Greco-Roman world, but it is no less dramatic in being applied today: “Consider your masters worthy of respect.”

Now, this is simply an outworking of the New Testament principle of servanthood. Servanthood. The call of Christ is a call to enslavement. “Make me a captive, Lord,” we say,

And then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conqueror be.[13]

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be [the] slave of all.” Then he says, “[Think about it:] even the Son of Man,” talking about himself, “did[n’t] come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[14]

The same principle runs through the Epistles. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:19, says, “Though I am free—I belong to no man—I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”[15] “To win as many as possible.”

“What are you doing, Paul?”

“Well, I’m trying to win as many as possible.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m trying to see unbelieving people become committed followers of Jesus Christ.”

“Why?”

“So that they might prove themselves to be the worshippers from John 4 that the Father seeks.”[16]

“Why?”

“So that God, who created us for the praise of his glory, is praised and glorified in all that we are and all that we do. And for that reason, and since it is such a compelling issue for me,” says Paul, “I’m prepared to make myself a slave in order that people might become the worshippers of God.”

He actually makes the very same point in another way when he writes to the Galatians in 5:13. And he says, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”

So, respect for all the masters. Why? Because Christians are supposed to be, within the framework of their lives, respectful. And this express circumstance here of enslavement does not mean they are to do anything less.

Now, the other aspect to it is this: the eschatological aspect, the “not yet” aspect. This is brought to bear upon the circumstances that these individuals face. Peter puts it like this in 2 Peter 3: he says, asking the question, “Since this whole world is passing away, what kinds of people ought we to be?”[17] “Since the whole world is passing away, how then should we live?”

Now, you see, here is another indication of what happens to a Christian when they get turned the right way up. Because contemporary worldviews do not believe that the world is passing away. “The world is all we’ve got.” They are the ones driving around the stickers that say that the earth does not belong to us; we belong the earth. “You cannot distinguish between the Creator and his creation.” That’s pantheism. “And since we are part of the creation, then you cannot distinguish us from the Creator himself. Therefore, we are actually part of the Creator. And therefore, I know that God said, ‘I Am That I Am,’[18] and that he is that he is, but since”—Shirley MacLaine—“I am part of what he is, therefore, I am that I am.” So we have man as God, in charge of their own destiny. “No,” says the Bible, “this world as we know it is passing away.”

Now, when you think about where you are today in relationship to the fact that it’s passing away, it ought to change certain things. For example, when you think about how concerned we are about all the stuff—about whatever stuff you’re concerned about… Like, I had a lawnmower that was a wreck—partly a good lawnmower, but a wreck of a good lawnmower. I asked a friend to take it somewhere for me, and then I said, “Oh, the string is broken. Please take it to the repair person.” So they took it to the repair person, and then I started to get nasty notes asking me for $159 to come and pick my lawnmower up. I said, “For a piece of string, $159?” But anyway, I went down, and I gave him the $159 and took the sorry lawnmower and put it in my trunk and brought it home.

And as I was maneuvering it and wriggling out of the thing and put it in, I looked at it, and I said, “You know, all of this is going in a garage sale eventually.” And I’m not just talking about the lawnmower. I’m talking about the car. I’m talking about everything. I’m talking about the house. I’m talking about the cutlery, the drapes, and everything. You see those places, don’t you? They’re on 91. You drive up, and something that a husband and wife went out and said, “Oh, what a beautiful little chest! Oh, won’t it look nice with the flowers and everything else?” And I’m buying it for thirty-five bucks and taking it away. And I’ll get rid of it as well!

Do we really think that what we can grab and get and handle and hold is real? Is it right that he who dies with the most toys wins? Oh, contemporary culture says, “Absolutely! This is all we’ve got. There’s no tomorrow. Death ends it all. Therefore, get it now.” The Bible says, “No, this world is passing away. And since the world is passing away, what kind of people ought you to be? Really good people. Really attractive people. Really honest people. And if you find yourself in circumstances that are less than best, then you are to display in that circumstance the fact that you view the world totally differently. We’re not going to stay here! We’re going home! And the way that I can endure my circumstance now, as a slave, is in light of fact that one day, I’m going to be a king; that although I may live as a slave, I’m actually a prince in God’s house; that although I may be living in this worst little situation, in fact, in Christ, I’ve been raised to the heavenly places.[19] And “this world is not my home; I’m just a-passing through.”

See, we don’t sing this stuff very much. We don’t sing stuff about heaven. There are hardly any songs about heaven at the moment. Why? “Who needs heaven? Who wants heaven? Goodness gracious, this is fantastic! Don’t move me from here; I’m having a great time!” Then a telephone call from the doctor says the blood count wasn’t what it should be: “Hey, talk to me about heaven.” Then the pink slip: “Hey, we’re going to heaven.” Then the roof leaking: “Don’t worry, we’re going to heaven.” But as long as it’s all plain sailing: “This world is my home, and I’m not passing through. I’m going to stay here for as long as I can, I’m going to get as much as I can, and I’m going to place all my confidence in that.”

The lady who wrote a book called [The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom]—Suze something—said this: “When I finally managed to make more money than I could ever imagine, to wear a Rolex watch with my designer clothes and vacation on my own private island, I found myself as miserable and empty as I could imagine. And I was forced to conclude that if money does not hold the key to happiness, then I have no idea where the key is to be found.” See, she doesn’t know what the Christian knows. And that’s why out of the experiences of slavery, even through the years—and I want to be careful in the saying of this, lest I misstate myself—but that is why out of the experience of slavery have come some of the most wonderful statements concerning an understanding of God and his providence, concerning the fact that “even though my master may be an ogre, and even though I may be in the experience of deep injustice, and even though all of this needs to be put to rights, and I hope sooner rather than later, I’m going to take my children, and I’m going to gather them around me, and I’m going to say as the grandmother in the huddle, ‘Hey, listen kids: all God’s children got shoes. And when we get to heaven, we’re going to put on our shoes, and we’re going to roam all over God’s heaven. And don’t you ever forget that.’”

Now, I don’t suggest for one moment that the expectation of heaven was to diminish the rightful concerns for the liberation necessary from brutal racism. All I’m saying is that those who experienced that and left a testimony behind were those who, in understanding the pain, the emptiness, the hatefulness, the wrongfulness of it all, left a legacy for the listening world which said, “Listen, we understand that this world is not our home and we’re just passing through.” And that’s why, you see, slave masters were eventually brought down. That’s why Newton eventually says, “Amazing grace!” Why? Because he has encountered, not simply at the level of his peers, but he has encountered at the level of those whom he has brutalized the most amazing statements concerning God and his glory.

Don’t you think they spoke to one another? Don’t you think that slave master said, “Who do you have in your house at the moment?” and somebody said, “You know, I’ve got a young guy in my house at the moment. He’s incredible. I’ve had no one like him in a long time. He’s up first thing in the morning. He sweeps the place. Anything that is to be polished is polished. He whistles. And you know, I have overheard him muttering under his breath, and I think what he’s muttering has something to do with that Jesus of Nazareth. And I haven’t worked out whether there’s a direct correlation between this Jesus business and the cleanliness of the floor, but I think there might be.”

“Oh,” says the man, “that’s funny you should mention that, because my wife was telling me just the other day that we have a young slave girl in our house with the most tender eyes, with the most kind hands. And my wife was saying she’s never had anyone care for the children in a way that this girl cares for the children. And she lives in dreadful circumstances. And funnily enough, my wife was saying that this girl has been mentioning this Jesus of Nazareth person too.”

Now, what were they doing? They were making the gospel of God our Savior attractive. Ugly is easy! Ugly’s easy! I have ugliness down! I am ugly! I can be very ugly! My natural bent is ugliness! Attractiveness—that’s going to take God! That’s going to take the power of the Spirit! That’s going to take a right kind of revolution!

You a pain in the neck to your boss? Cut it out. Cut it out! Why? So that you might get a rise? I don’t care whether you get rise. For the sake of the glory of Christ. That’s the point he makes: respect for all masters.

Christian Masters and Christian Slaves

Secondly—and I’ll just mention this—no less respect for Christian masters: “Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers.”

Now, let me just give this to you in a way that you’ll get immediately. You get pulled over by a policeman for doing forty-nine in a thirty-five. And when he comes up to the car and you roll the window down, you recognize him. He’s a Christian. And so you say to yourself, “Super! I’m in the clear. Beautiful. Beautiful!” And instead of saying, “Hello, Sergeant Wilkins,” you say, “Hey, brother. Nice morning, isn’t it?” And the policeman says, “Give me your license,” and writes you up and sends you on your way. Why? Because our relationships within the body of Christ do not overturn civil jurisdiction. That would be corruption, and Christians are not supposed to be corrupt. They’re supposed to uphold the rule of law. Therefore, if we deserve it, we should get it.

And in the same way, he says, the slave might be tempted to expect special treatment from his master because he’s a Christian. They go to the same church services together. They actually were sharing a hymnbook the other night. And so he thinks, “You know, maybe I won’t have to strive as hard now.” No, because the guy’s a brother, because the woman is a sister, does not preclude the slave from submitting to discipline and earning his keep like his non-Christian counterparts.

Our relationships within the body of Christ do not overturn civil jurisdiction. That would be corruption, and Christians are not supposed to be corrupt. They’re supposed to uphold the rule of law.

In fact—and this is the third thing, and with which I conclude—believing slaves should be the best. Believing slaves should be the best. Instead of despising or looking down on their masters if they’re non-Christian, they should serve them even better. If they’re Christian, then they should make an all-out attempt to show that they’re not going to allow the relationship to make them disrespectful or slack or careless. Because when a Christian employee is disrespectful, slack, or careless, he or she supplies the unbelieving world with ammunition to criticize the church.

When the Christian worker has the worst kind of attitude coupled with the least amount of service, then they do a disservice to the name and the glory of God. The people say, “You know, I know I saw your sticker. But you can stick your sticker, because I am tired of picking up after you in this office. All your files that you leave lying around,” says the pagan, “Mr. Christian—’cause you’re going to your Bible study; you’re going to get spiritual now and leave the secular world behind—because of all of that stuff, I am running around picking up your stuff.” Or, “You know what? I am tired of covering for you for the first twenty-five minutes every morning here when Mr. X wants to know where you are. What are you doing,” says the pagan, “sticking more stickers on your car? I suggest you cut with the stickers and you start with promptness.”

You see, think about this: Time magazine, Newsweek, and everything is waiting for us all to go out there and be the Christian right, you see. They all got us all earmarked for that—you know, “We are lobbying for this, we are lobbying for that,” and everything else. What they don’t expect us to be is radical in our own immediate environment—just transformed in the way we live our lives.

Do you want to live for Jesus Christ this week? Let me tell you what to do. Let me give you words: timeliness, cleanliness, kindliness, honesty, and zeal. You get it? Timeliness, cleanliness, kindliness, honesty, and zeal. See, walk the walk. The people are fed up with all this talk, fed up with all this banner-waving claptrap. I’m fed up with it! But I’ll tell you what, they will respond to you when you’re timely, kindly, clean, honest, and zealous.

“Oh, I envy you,” you say. Well, I envy you. “You don’t do anything. You just go up in a room somewhere.” Well, okay. Fine. But I do envy you. You know, I have worked before this. I’ve had some high-level jobs, you know. I was a butcher—at least a butcher’s assistant. I couldn’t say that I graduated. But some days I would like to go back there to that little blue van and the trips to the abattoir, where I brought back the sheeps’ heads in the metal trays, and then I skinned them while they were still warm and took the eyes home to my mother as a gift. Anybody can buy flowers; not everyone can come home with a couple of sheep’s eyes, you know.

But my boss was a big, burly Yorkshire man called Mr. Pegg, with a P. Used to say, “Hey up, lad. Get yourself up the road there and get it done, and get back down here and get it cleaned up.” And I would scrub that thing—that butcher’s block thing, with all the creases of all those chopping things that went in, with all that blood—with that big brush, with those bristles that bust your fingers for you, they were so sharp. And I liked getting that really clean. And I liked it when I delivered to the lady whose husband had had a stroke, and I liked the chance to have the little joke with the husband before I left. And I don’t ever remember giving out tracts. And the only sign on the van said “Pegg’s Butchers.” But I discovered something that is foundational to the Bible: if you just walk the walk, you’ll get a chance to talk the talk. But if you talk but you don’t walk, you will speak—and so will I—but no one will hear.

If I was a cleverer guy in a different environment, then I would have called this message “No Walkie, No Talkie.” But since I’m not that smart, it’s just called “True Servants, False Teachers.” We’re coming to the false teachers next week. It’s devastating stuff. This is bad enough this morning.

Let’s pray:

O God our Father, your Word is sharp as a two-edged sword[20]—cuts into our lives, shines on our paths.[21] So we pray that you will take your Word and help us to apply it in a way that is simple and yet potent in its influence. Save us from this dreadful notion of spiritual life and then another realm of secular life, as if we could somehow decompartmentalize them, and when we came in here, we were spiritual, and then when we went in the lab, we were secular, and so on. Help us to understand that all that we are and do is spiritual, because you have made us that in Christ.

So we pray this morning that you will take our lives and grant that they might be consecrated to you, and that in our consecration, that we might genuinely care for one another. We bring our lives afresh to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

[1] Ephesians 6:1 (NIV 1984).

[2] Exodus 20:12 (paraphrased).

[3] 1 Corinthians 7:20 (paraphrased).

[4] 1 Corinthians 7:21 (NIV 1984).

[5] The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1.

[6] Titus 3:1–5 (paraphrased).

[7] 1 Peter 2:23 (paraphrased).

[8] 1 Corinthians 2:3 (NIV 1984).

[9] 2 Corinthians 11:25–26 (NIV 1984).

[10] 2 Corinthians 11:27–30 (paraphrased).

[11] Acts 5:38–40 (paraphrased).

[12] Acts 5:41 (paraphrased).

[13] George Matheson, “Make Me a Captive, Lord” (1890).

[14] Mark 10:43–45 (NIV 1984).

[15] 1 Corinthians 9:19 (paraphrased).

[16] See John 4:23.

[17] 2 Peter 3:11 (paraphrased).

[18] See Exodus 3:14 (KJV).

[19] See Ephesians 2:6.

[20] See Hebrews 4:12.

[21] See Psalm 119:105.