Revealed Will for Christian Servants #1

Reading and Initial Context of 1 Peter 2:11-25

0:05 Now let us turn together in the word of God to the first letter of Peter, the book that we call 1 Peter.

0:16 And follow, please, as I read in chapter 2, beginning with verse 11, to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter 2, beginning with verse 11. Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your behavior seemly, or we might say becoming, among the Gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Be subject to... To every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or unto governors as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers, and for praise to them that do well.

1:17 For so is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bond-slaves of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.

1:39 Honor the king. Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward, an old English word that means little to us, also to the crooked, to the perverse. For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures greedily, or eats suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when you sin and aboppeted for it, you shall take it patiently?

2:11 But if when you do well and suffer for it, you shall take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. For hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile, found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep. But are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.

Addressing the Subject of Slavery in the Text

3:14 Slavery! Slavery! Slavery!

3:24 What images begin to be flashed on the screen of your mind when you hear that nasty word, slavery? The essence of slavery as a social institution is that one human being has property, in another human being. That's the essence of slavery. Not that someone has property in the property of another, but that someone has property in another person.

4:05 And having property in that person, he has the position of being owner of that person, and his authority over that person, is absolute.

4:21 If you were living in the Roman Empire at the time at which Peter wrote this epistle, about two-thirds of the way through the first century A.D., and you were asked in making an application for a loan or for some other business transaction to write down your assets, you might write down livestock, twelve sheep, two camels, and a half a dozen cows. And under real estate, you might put five acres or five hectares of land, and two houses and a barn.

5:01 And then you might also list my domestic and agricultural slaves. Ten adult male slaves, twelve adult female slaves, so many children of the slaves. And if you put it all under the broad heading, the personal assets, you would not have been stretching the reality. Slavery as an institution involves one human being being owned as property by another, and the one owned is absolutely subject to the will of his owner.

5:43 A bond slave is divested of all personal right and freedom. Now, why do I raise that subject? Well, for the simple reason that in our verse-by-verse exposition of 1 Peter, we have come, after a number of months, to chapter 2 and verse 18. And the first word that confronts us is servants, which, as we shall see as we study the text together, could rightly be rendered servant-slash-slave, or even better yet, house-slave.

6:22 House-servant-slash-slave. So that the subject of slavery is forced into this congregation by our commitment to preach through, verse-by-verse, the book of 1 Peter. And the only way to avoid it is to say, well, this subject is too hot to handle. God was not wise in ever putting it in his book, because someday it will be embarrassing, for a preacher who's expounding 1 Peter to come to it, and it was nasty of God to embarrass his servants.

6:59 No one's ready to take such a blasphemous position. So we are forced to reckon with the subject of slavery, because it is thrust upon us, not only in the sovereign will of God, but in the infinite wisdom of God, and in the tender love of God. Amen. Lord Jesus saw that if he were to nurture and cherish his people in the first century, right on to the end of time until he comes, they would need what is given to us through the pen of the Apostle Peter in addressing the subject of slaves, and in particular, how they are to relate to their rotten, stinking, unreasonable, unrighteousness, and believing that the heart of God is a heart of infinite wisdom, immeasurable love, as well as his throne, a throne of unrivaled sovereignty. I come without embarrassment to verses 18 to 25, determined to be as honest with the text in the exposition, and as close with the text in its application as we have been, in every other verse of 1 Peter.

Structural Overview of 1 Peter's Directives on Authority

8:28 Now, before we plunge into that section, let me just give a brief reminder of where we are in the overall structure of this part of 1 Peter. After Peter has told the Christians, and that's why I read verses 11 and 12,

8:45 that they are to abstain from fleshly lusts, they are to be committed to have a lifestyle that commends the gospel in the face of an ungrateful, unbelieving, and cynical world. That's the generic, the general call to the lifestyle of the believer. Then the first specific area that he zooms in upon is the area of the believer's relationship to various frameworks of authority. So he starts in verse 13, be subject to every ordinance or creation of man for the Lord's sake.

9:24 He said that's the area, I'm going to focus upon for a while. Then he gets specific into three branches of that. First of all, the relationship of the citizen to the state. So he says, whether to the king is supreme or unto governors.

9:39 And then that section culminates in verse 17 with honor the king. Would you live as a Christian there in Asia Minor, you believers, in the Roman Empire with Nero occupying the imperial throne? Would you live in such a way? That your lifestyle will shut the mouths of those who in their ignorance and prejudice speak against the Christian faith and against Christians?

10:06 Then you be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. And for starters, as a citizen, you embrace the rights of Nero and all of his underlings. Has he? Then he says, but I'm not done yet.

10:22 I now want to address another area that has to do with this business of submission to authority. So in verse 18, servants be in subjection to your masters using the same verb that he used in verse 13. Now he says we're going to shift the emphasis to the relationship not of the citizen to the state but of the servant to his master. And when he's done all of that, he says I'm not done yet.

10:47 I want to take up a third subset, chapter 3, verse 1. Look at it. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. So he picks up, three subsets of the whole theme of the Christian living as a Christian in relationship to authority, the citizen to the state, the servant or slave to his master, and the wife to her husband.

11:15 Now then, we've covered subset 1, verses 13 to 17. We're going to begin this morning subset number 2, verses 18 to 25. And may I say again, for you who are visiting and new to studying the Bible, if anyone tries to study the Bible, if anyone tries to prove things out of the Bible to you as a pattern, without making you think through what's the connection of thought, where is it, just get the little snippet here or there, you beware, you can prove almost anything from the Bible. Yes, I can.

11:43 I can prove you ought to hang yourself this morning. On the proof from the Bible,

11:49 I can. It says Judas went out and hanged himself. That's a phrase from the Bible. Then there's another phrase that says go down and do likewise.

11:58 I've got two phrases from the Bible together to prove you ought to hang yourself. You say, that's ludicrous. It's just as ludicrous to listen to the stuff that's proved out of the Bible on so-called Christian radio, Christian television. And so you need to cultivate that discipline of having a Bible in your lap and say, wait a minute, I'm not going to take any courage from the preacher.

12:18 I want fastballs down the middle of the plate. No curveballs. So I've tried to throw a fastball down the middle of the plate to show you how this thing about the slaves comes in in the unfolding of the passage. So we're going to begin this morning to study verses 18 to 25, the subject of which is the submission of the servant to his master.

The Obvious Structure: Directive and Incentives

12:39 And as we begin our study, I want, by way of introduction, to say three things. First of all, I want to say a word about the obvious structure of the passage. I want you now, if you can take your eyes off me and look at your Bibles, look at the structure of the passage. It's obvious.

12:56 Peter writes, Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the crooked, to the perverse. Now look at verse 19. For, for, this is acceptable with God. Verse 21.

13:14 For, hereunto were you called. And as you read through the passage, the structure is very, very obvious. Now, look up from your Bibles. I want to use illustration.

13:25 I don't have a blackboard. If you can imagine in front of me a large pyramid. Okay? Here's the base of the pyramid, the two angles coming up, and the apex or the top.

13:35 And what we have in the structure of this passage, at the apex of the pyramid, the tippity-top, is verse 18. Verse 18, in which we have the fundamental directive given. What is the directive? Servants, be in submission to your masters with all fear.

13:54 There's the fundamental directive. There are a few particulars that we'll look at. Now the rest of the pyramid, from this point all the way out and along the base, you know what that is? Verses 19 to 25 are the foundational incentives to comply with that directive.

14:12 Here's the directive. Simple. Obey your masters. Why?

14:17 What should be the incentives? What should be the motivations? What should be my sphere of reference? Peter says, I know this is heavy stuff.

14:27 This is not an easy directive. And you're going to need all you can muster to bring your mind and heart into compliance. And so he said, I'm going to give you a whole gamut of biblical incentives for, for, for, for. This is why you are to do what I've directed you to do.

14:49 So that's just a word about the obvious structure of the passage. And it's quite obvious, isn't it? That if you counted up the words in your English translation, and I seldom do this, I just thought it would be a good mental discipline, and I counted them up in my English translation and then in my Greek text. And usually it takes more English words to translate Greek words because you often have words that we have to make separate are contained within the Greek word itself.

15:20 And when you do this, you will find that there are approximately 20 words for the apex of the pyramid, the directive.

15:29 Six times as many words for the incentives to the directive. It's a six to one ratio. It's a six to one ratio. If you just want to count verses, it's a seven to one ratio.

15:40 And apart from one verse that's shared in a list, they're all about the same length. Now, doesn't that tell you something? I mean, before you even dig into it, you say, wait a minute. Servants, in subjection to your masters with all fear, not to the good and gentle only, but to the forward, for, for, for.

15:57 What's this telling us?

16:00 God is telling us that he fully understands when this letter would be read in the churches there, in the provinces, in Asia Minor, now the land of Turkey, that when slaves slash household servants, however we render it, and we'll be coming to that, when we would hear this word, that as Christ free man, for notice he had just said, as free, he assumes that all of the Christians in Christ are Christ free.

16:33 And some of them might hear the word free men. How are you? I'm going to go home and tell my master Christ, Christ has freed me, buckle, I'm out of here. And then suddenly they hear in the next few breaths, slaves, in submission to your masters with all fear, not only to the good, but also to the nasties and the uglies.

16:58 Anyone think that one of them said, excuse me, pastor, I'm about to have a glory fit. That's the most wonderful thing I ever heard. I'm about to jump out of my skin with joy. I can go back home and I'm going to be a man.

17:11 And I'm going to be a man. And I'm going to be a man. And I'm going to be a man. And I'm going to be a man.

17:11 And I'm going to be a man. And I'm going to be a man. And I'm going to be submissive to my churlish, ugly, cussing, godless, unreasonable master who cuffs me, insults me, deludes me.

17:23 No. Peter understood. And behind Peter's sensitivity was the heart of Jesus for his sheep up in Asia Minor. And he says, in essence, I know this directive is not easy.

17:38 And I want to draw alongside. And I want to tenderly encourage and encourage and instruct and help you to comply with it. Now that's what we ought to learn simply from looking at the basic structure of the passage. But then secondly, by way of introduction, I want to say a word about the dominant content of this passage.

Dominant Content: God-Centeredness and Christ's Suffering

18:01 The dominant content of this passage. Did it strike you when I read the passage that two things are dominant in these incentives to obey the directive? Did you get them? This is what you're to do, Peter says.

18:19 And then he says, verse 19, for this is acceptable. Acceptable to whom? If for conscience toward God. The end of verse 20.

18:31 This is acceptable with God.

18:37 In the dominant content of the incentives, there is a God-centeredness in what Peter writes. He says, to be slaves, you've got to think beyond your master. Think beyond his whip. Think beyond his scourging tongue.

18:56 You live before the face of your God.

19:01 And then the second thing is, it's all about Jesus and how and why he suffered. It's very interesting. And we'll see more of that, God willing, as we unpack those verses, that the richest teaching on the death of Jesus in Peter's, Peter's letter is not found in his densely doctrinal sections. It's found in his practical sections when he's giving motives to Christians to obey gospel commands.

19:31 Now, does that tell you something? Now, if you don't get excited, you forgive me if I jump out of this pulpit because I've had all I can do to contain myself in my study. I sneaked out a few times and preached it to my wife for fear I was going to blow a fuse.

19:46 What do slaves in Asia Minor need to leave church on Sunday and go to church on Sunday? And go back home to a master that will meet them with a smile on his lips and an invective on his mouth and perhaps a whip after you've done your daily role the next day. What do they need? They need to have a soul percolating with the truth of the gospel.

20:15 That's it. They need to have a soul suffused with a God-centeredness in all of their perception. Kids should respect it straight with respect to living before God and living under the impact of the gospel and you slaves are going to make it.

20:37 You see that? I can't reach it. You see it? Just look at the passage.

20:43 He doesn't say, for time will come when through the leavening influence of the gospel slavery will be dismantled as an institution and it was in the fourth century and it was in great measure the indirect impact of the gospel. But he doesn't say that. He doesn't say, for God will one day zap those rotten masters and get them and nail them and consume them. He says, no.

21:09 This is acceptable with God. And this is the very purpose for which you were called to be like Jesus. To Jesus who when he was reviled reviled not again. When he suffered he threatened not.

21:24 He took treatment that wasn't true to anything he did. Mr. Slade, man, it was your sins that drove him to the cross. Can you not for the honor of that Savior and for the testimony that will make you an enigma to your unrighteous master bear a few inductives from his mouth and a few cuffs from his hand that Jesus might have what he desires in you for whom he died.

21:57 And I trust if God lets us go through the passage in due course you will be able to see that Jesus you will be convinced with a depth of conviction you've never had before as I am that at the end of the day my brothers and sisters if we're to live as we ought it is not a matter of discovering some grave deep esoteric truth it's coming back to the basic issues of the gospel until they percolate through every cell of our being and influence every relationship that all of us in all times and in all circumstances. If that's not so then Peter lists it in the counsel that he gives by the guidance of the Holy Ghost. But then my third introductory word I've given a word about the overall structure secondly about the dominant content of the passage but then now notice by way of introduction a word of earnest entreaty when you say Pastor you've been pretty earnest already well I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry the stuff just been building up and building up someone asked the old preacher the preacher what happens in the pulpit to get you so excited he said well I study till my head's full I praise till my heart's hot and I get in the pulpit and I explode he understood

Earnest Entreaty: Patience with Questions

23:27 a good theology of preaching you study till your head hurts you pray till your heart gets hot and then you hope you get in the pulpit and explode a word of earnest entreaty I have no doubt that the moment I begin to open up the plain meaning of this fundamental directive and I demonstrate to any reasonable person that the word translated servants was house servants slaves people who were the property of their masters all kinds of questions are going to start rising in your minds oh but Pastor what and what evermore as we expound the particulars even more questions are going to rise and I want to make an earnest entreaty and my entreaty is this not to treat your questions like they're sinful but to treat them as premature or premature as you prefer ask God to give you a mental box into which you stop every question that arises before we've expounded the passage and pray that God will help you to put a heaven lid and an unbreakable padlock on those questions until we get through the whole passage and you say why are you entreating us to do that but for this simple reason until we have internalized the principles that are here in the passage we are in no position to deal with the nitty gritty tacky questions

24:56 well what about and what if and how you see let me use a parallel that may help you this is a vital principle of thinking as a Christian suppose this week I were to get a call from someone saying Mr. Martin I don't come to your church but I've heard that you believe the Bible and you try to guide people in what the Bible teaches I'm wondering if I may come and speak with you I have a 13 year old daughter and she was recently raped and we've discovered that she's pregnant and I and my husband are wrestling with whether we should encourage an abortion and I make an appointment for her to come what do you think would be the first thing I'd do open up my Bible and say to her now look you came for counsel I'm going to tell you all abortion under any circumstances is sin no no no before I could give any counsel about that very delicate element this is what the word casuistry means it's time to wrestle through particulars in ethical and moral matters where the Bible is not explicit you've got to take the Bible principles and bring them together in balance and apply them wisely you know what I would do first of all I would sit down with that woman and say ma'am before we deal with your daughter and the burning question that you're dealing with I'd like to just see where your head is at with regard to the kind of issues that you must be clear upon before you can make a righteous decision so I would start

26:25 asking her questions I would say do you believe that human life begins at conception and she wasn't sure I'd go to my Bible and try to persuade her that it does then I would ask her do you believe that the wanton destruction of human life without God given authority is murder now notice I didn't say taking human life in all times and places it's murder no I said the wanton destruction of human life without God given authority is murder do you believe that and I'd see if she had a biblical definition of murder and then we would move on to a lot of other biblical questions that form the stuff and the framework within which alone we can come to her particular burning pressing personal question you see the point well in the same way it'd be very understandable if some of you come after this morning when I hope to give a broad overview of verse 18 and say but pastor what about this with slavery and what about that with slavery if I say to you be patient I'm not blowing you off because I'm afraid of something but we're not going to be competent to take up those particular questions about the outworking of this until our minds are steep in the biblical principles found in the passage so my appeal to you is

27:54 be patient hold back the questions just like we did when I preached in the first part of the previous section and we went through it and a number of your questions were resolved and some lingering ones you've told me got resolved when we came to the last four imperatives honor all men love the brotherhood fear God and honor the king so that's my earnest appeal to you to be patient and keep a nice tight lid on the box where you put what may be very legitimate questions but they would be ill-timed if we were to address them on the front end well with those three introductory words behind us let's come now to the passage itself what I want us to do this morning is I want us to talk to verse 18 children when you read I'm looking for one of the children to put her eyes on me I just happen to look at her she often does and children when good now you're looking when you read a book do you talk to your book you read a poem do you talk to your poem if you're going to be a thoughtful perceptive reader you need to learn to talk to what you read talk to it ask it questions and then listen to its answer that's what we're going to do this morning we're going to look at the fundamental directive or if you'd like to fancy your title God's revealed will for Christian service that's verse 18 now let's talk to our text

Precisely Who is Addressed: 'Servants' as 'House-Slaves'

29:21 we're going to talk to it in terms of four questions and we're going to listen to the answer that the text gives us question number one will be precisely who is addressed then we're going to ask the text precisely what are they commanded to do and then thirdly precisely how are they commanded to do it and fourthly to what kind of masters is such a response required question number one precisely who is addressed your Bible says what you're listening to it what does it say to you it says servants be in subjection to your master so you say my Bible's already talked back to me it's already told me in answer to the question precisely who is addressed it is servants but now listen carefully here's the problem with reading our Bibles don't immediately slap on the word servant in your English Bible what a servant is to you and to me in 20 late 20th century American culture you better ask yourself this question when the people to whom this letter came there in the first century out there in those five Roman provinces and when Peter wrote that letter and put down this word servants what did Peter mean what did he want them to understand he was

30:50 who did he he want them to believe he was addressing and he doesn't use the standard word for a bond slave someone who is the property of another you've heard that word mentioned many times from the pulpit doulos that's a bond slave someone who is unquestionably the property of another he uses the word oikates the Greek word oikos is house one of the first vocabulary words I learned in first year Greek and when I had little mental crutches I remember that mental crutch so that takes me back almost five decades I remember saying oikos of the house that's how I remembered oikos is house oikos and it stuck you say that's silly but it stuck so I've never had any problem with remembering oikos and so you have a root that draws us to the concept of house but it is a house servant so then the question comes does that mean a domestic such as you might hire to come in five days a week do your cleaning some of the cooking some of the yard work etc no as we look at the use of this word and it's found only four times in the New Testament and its usage in secular literature and in the context it is clear that these oikotes were slaves who were primarily engaged

32:20 in domestic endeavors as opposed to broader endeavors such as agricultural endeavors now how do we know that well first because those who are over them are called what look at your text again what are they called they are called masters servants be in subjection to your masters and the word translated master despotise is a word used of God as a despotise an absolute owner and ruler of his world and his people the despotise who bought them and when it was used with reference to human beings it referred to a master who owned and had absolute right of government over his slaves so when he says servants he's not talking about domestic servants in the category of 20th century American culture he's talking about those who would indeed be the property of the despotise secondly if you look at the four parallel passages in the New Testament where clear directives are given to slaves the word doulos is used 1 Corinthians 7 21-24

33:48 Ephesians chapter 6 verses 4 and 5 Colossians 3 22-25 and 1 Timothy 6 1 and 2 the slaves there are called doulos but the directives given are strictly parallel to the directives that Peter gives here for these house servant slaves so if the same directives are given to the uketes as are given to doulos or douloi we have every reason to believe they are in basically the same place so I have to say that I have to say that I have to say that I have to say that and my third reason for saying that is this that the incentives given assume that the house servants are not free employees who simply serve due notice or quit when they desire when we read the incentives about bearing the treatment of unjust and unrighteous masters even being buffeted what are the words used when Jesus was struck with blows of people's hands and Peter says you must embrace your place and your role this is not the advice that would be given to someone who has a choice about his employment so bring those three reasons together and I am prepared to say with the

35:18 vast majority of responsible commentators when we ask our text the question precisely who is addressed it is slaves that are addressed slaves who for the most part are working in a domestic situation now then that raises this question why would a letter to churches in Asia Minor have to contain a relatively large and major section addressed to slaves well the answer has two parts to it number one because of the extent of slavery in the Roman Empire in the first century you know how extensive it was this was an eye-opener to me in doing my background reading let me give you what has been a helpful summary by Curtis Vaughan one of the most competent this generation exegete who has an excellent commentary on first Peter he writes we must remember that Peter was writing primarily for Christians who were his contemporaries and his words had immense relevancy for that day first century society economically and politically was in fact based on slavery it has been estimated that there were as many as 60 million

36:47 slaves in the Roman Empire in many of the leading cities half the population were slaves many of them were well educated and held responsible positions within their masters household and then Wayne Gruden another contemporary commentator solid helpful scholar he writes in a similar vein it must be remembered that first century slaves were generally generally not universally well treated were not only unskilled laborers but often managers overseers trained members of the various professions doctors nurses teachers etc nevertheless their service was involuntary in earlier Roman history slaves had been acquired through war or kidnapping from foreign lands in the period of Roman conquest people were in the category of being stolen through conquest they were made slaves these were what we might call second third generation slaves who had been born in a setting where their parents or grandparents were the original slaves and so they were brought up in these households however their legal status social standing and opportunity for economic independence were clearly lower than others in a Roman society their freedom could be purchased remember one of the leaders said to Paul

38:16 I purchased my citizenship at a great price and Paul says with a little cheeky bit of sanctified pride I'm a natural born Roman citizen you had to pay for yours mine came with my purse so that's something of the extent of slavery in the Roman Empire at this time in human history therefore if the gospel is going to people where they are and in the circumstances in which it finds them it should not surprise us that there were a significant number of converted slaves not only in the churches of Asia Minor but remember slaves are mentioned in Romans in 1 Corinthians slaves are mentioned in 1 Timothy in Ephesians and in Colossians and there's one whole epistle that has to do with returning a runaway slave called Philemon you cannot enter the world of New Testament Christianity and duck your head and say I'm going to ignore this you can't do it why in answer to that question I said number one the extent of slavery in the Roman Empire in the first century and number two because of the powerful impact which the gospel made on that particular segment of society in the first century because of the powerful

39:44 impact which the gospel made on that segment of society I've already indicated in these major church epistles Ephesians and Colossians 1 Corinthians etc etc slaves are present in fact one commentator mentioned something that never struck me it was his conviction that the language in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 most likely had reference to the number of converted slaves who would have been present in the church at Corinth and as I've reflected on that comment and looked at the passage I think it has much to commend it verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 1 behold your calling brethren not many rise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God chose the and this is what slaves would be called the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise and God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong and the base things of the world that's what slaves would have been considered the base things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong And the base things, the things that are despised, did God choose.

41:12 And the things that are not, people who have no economic status, no status of individual liberty, they're a bunch of nothings, he says, God chooses.

41:26 He might bring to naught the things that are. Well, it could well be that there were a number of slaves in the church at Cologne who, when they heard that language, said, God, that's me. Thank you, God, that you set your love upon me and revealed your grace to me. So in answer to that first question, when we talk to our text, precisely who is addressed?

Relevance for Modern Employees: From Lesser to Greater

41:54 The answer is, slaves are addressed. But you say, fine, but what in the world will that have to say to me? I'm not a slave. By the grace of God, there is nobody.

42:08 There is nobody on the face of the earth that can say by legal rights supported by the government that I am his property. If he fills out his sheet with his assets, he cannot put me down. Well, bless God, you are not. There are many places in this world today where there are slaves.

42:29 And unlike much of the wretched slave trade that was supported by our own country in another generation, the worst slavery today. It's not white on black, but black on black and brown on brown.

42:53 And in every racial segment of this world, there is the horrible practice of man-stealing which the Bible condemns, bringing people into horrible and wretched slavery. And in that situation, no doubt, this passage would have...

43:16 had a relevance that we will never understand. But did the Lord Jesus see that we would be the recipients of a socio-economic structure in which there is employment by contractual arrangement, by voluntary commitment? Yes. Though that was not the situation in Bible times, does that mean now we don't have an adequate guide for faith and practice?

43:43 Not at all. And here again, one of the commentators, in my judgment, has beautifully identified how we make the leap from the horizon of the first century and the meaning of this text to those people in Asia Minor to the next horizon of how does it apply to us almost 2,000 years later. Listen to these very perceptive insights, again by Curtis Vaughn. From a practical view, we should keep in mind that if Peter could command slaves, who had no rights, to be loyal to and work faithfully for their masters, how much more would he urge honest and faithful work upon Christian employees of our day, who enter voluntarily into their employment, who can bargain with their employers, and who can terminate their relationship to a company at any time.

44:45 You see his argument from the lesser to the greater? That if within such a limited framework, loyalty and submission are demanded, how much more in a more compatible framework, where there are external incentives as well as internal and gospel incentives. And it's in these passages that we will find principles that are to regulate how we are to relate to those who have legitimate rights over us in the employer. The employer.

Recapitulation and Call to God-Centered Living

45:20 The employee relationship, though they do not have the absolute rights of ownership that a slave holder had over his slaves. And now as I look at the time, I realize we can't ask the final three questions. I don't want to overload you. It would be a joy for me.

45:38 I'm not tired, but I am conscious that we don't want to irritate and unnecessarily provoke problems with the children. So let me try to leap over, and then we'll just have to go. When we come back, the next message, I just am constrained that we have to deal with these introductory perspectives and half-suspected we might not get through the remainder of the material. But let me just recapitulate and try to drive home what we've established this morning.

46:07 We've come in our opening up of the passage to this section in which Peter, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is giving explicit directives to slaves and the relationship there to sustain, to their masters. And as we come to the passage, we must come with a heart that says, Oh God, I'm ready to follow wherever the track of Scripture takes me. And in so doing, I have no question that some of you are going to be challenged at some very fundamental points because you have bought in to the libertarian, anarchist, humanistic approach to this whole subject. And you're going to be challenged.

46:52 Well, you shouldn't resent that as a Christian. If you're a Christian, your attitude is, Romans 12, 2, I do not want to be conformed to this world. I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind that I personally may prove what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God. And in that framework, I would urge you to plead with God that He would bless our careful working through the passage.

47:21 The three more questions. The three questions we have to ask of verse 18 and then the unpacking of these incentives in verses 19 through 25. And plead with God that together, all of us may be under a consciousness of the tunelage of God the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. Then I would say this to you who may sit here and the whole exercise this morning.

47:46 I mean, you really say, I mean, this takes it. I mean, I can understand when a pastor gets excited. I mean, I can understand when a pastor gets excited about this, that, and the other. We get excited about slavery and masters, master-masters and all the rest.

47:57 But did you not hear what I said when I was looking at the overall structure? That the bulk of the passage has to do with the incentives that Peter knows will move these real Christians there in Asia Minor. He knows that slaves in the most difficult situation, if they're true Christians, and you start writing to them about something that is at stake, something that is acceptable to God, something that's well-pleasing to God, something that has to do with fulfilling the purpose for which God called me, namely, that I might follow my Savior, my Savior who took my sins, not just a few cuffs and blows from Roman soldiers. He took my sins. Peter knows he's got these Christian slaves at the deepest recesses of what they are. Now, I ask you, when I talk to you about doing what pleases God, does that get you where you really are? Or do you sit there and say, please, me, is that where you're at?

49:08 When I talk about what will cause Christ to be delighted with the fruit of His suffering, does that get you where you're at? You know what I mean when I'm asking that? If one of your friends sidled up to you today in the foyer, said, I'll tell you about my latest CD, for some of you, that really gets you where you're at! You try way too strict your Walkman on and hear that hellish jungle music.

49:40 There's no beauty to you. Pleasing God doesn't mean diddling to you. My dear friend, do you really believe that's all God made you for? Come on, get honest.

49:54 Do you believe that's all God made you for? That the only thing that finds you where you're at is the latest song, the latest rage in the rock scene, the latest movie that everyone who's with it sees? Do you really believe that's all God made you for? No, He made you to know Him.

50:25 He made you that the most thrilling thing in life would be. You mean if I do this by His grace, that pleases Him? He made you so that what Christ has done for sinners would be the most powerful motivation in your life, wherever it touches you. That's what He made you for.

50:50 And until that's where you're at, my friend, you're lost. You're lost. You're wandering and meandering in a horrible maze that's going to take you to hell. And my heart yearns for you.

51:11 Go to God and say, God have mercy on me. That the only things that get me where I am, are the things Pastor mentioned and a host of others. And God, I know I'm for something more noble than this. And cry to God to show you what you are to make it undone, helpless sinner.

51:35 And what He's graciously done in the person and work of His own dear Son. And give yourself no rest until you can come to a passage like this and say, yeah, I'm one of those slaves and I heard a letter saying, look, this is what you've got to do. And my first reaction was, no way, can't do it. And when I heard the words from Peter's pen read by one of my pastors, this is pleasing to God.

52:02 Oh God, that got me. That's where I'm at. And when you went on to say, for here unto were you called, because Christ left you an example. God, you got me.

52:11 That's where I'm at. And when you said, it's Christ who bore my sins. Oh God, you got me. That's where I'm at.

The Need for the Shepherd and Overseer of Souls

52:19 And how'd all that happen? You look at verse 25. He says, you were a sheep going astray. That's what I just told you, didn't I?

52:32 You're lost. You stray. You're in an impenetrable maze. So were they.

52:38 So were these slaves. But He says, you are now returned unto what? A set of rules and do's and don'ts? No, that's not the Christian faith.

52:49 He says, you are returned to the shepherd and to the overseer, the protector of the soul. My friend, that's what you need. You need to be returned to the shepherd and to the overseer. May you go to Him.

53:08 May you go to Him. Oh, our Father, how we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We marvel as we ponder these words written nearly 2,000 years ago, but oh, so relevant.

53:38 And we pray that You would write them upon our hearts. Pray that You would brood over those whose consciences tell them they were made for something more than what they are. Oh, God, be with us, Your people, if the central truths of the Gospel no longer thrill us. If thinking of doing things that please You no longer thrills us, Lord, plow up our backslidden hearts until the thought of doing what pleases You, what is acceptable to You, what fits the calling that is ours in Christ, is the most obsessive, thrilling reality to us.

54:21 Oh, God, help us to shake off every last vestige of dullness and the spirit that would look upon enthusiasm in everything is legitimate, except to be enthused about You and Your truth and Your ways. God, have mercy upon us. Bless Your Word. Continue Your gracious presence with us throughout this day, we ask in Jesus' name.

54:50 Amen.