Responsibility to Superiors

Introduction and Context

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, September 10, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Rockville, New Jersey.

0:10 Now let us turn in our Bibles to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6, and as we did last day, Lord's Day morning and evening, I shall read the first nine verses in your hearing. Ephesians 6 and verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

0:44 And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ, not in the way of eye service as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. with good will doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that whatsoever good thing each one does, the same shall he receive again from the Lord,

1:31 whether he be bond or free. And you masters do the same things unto them, and forbear threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with him. Well, let's ask our gracious Master to send his Spirit upon us, to quicken us physically. I just saw someone give out a yawn that we could have put Noah's Ark in their mouth.

2:05 And there may have been others of you. It's amazing what you see from up here. But God knows our frame, and some of you may be yawning out of legitimate weariness. Some of it may be carelessness about preparing for the Lord's Day, in which case, confess your sin and then ask for grace and God will come and show himself to be a merciful God.

2:25 Let us pray for the help of the Holy Spirit.

2:30 Our Father, we are so thankful that you welcome us again into your presence. and we come with your word of promise that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more will you give good gifts to your children even give the Holy Spirit to those who ask so we come asking that your spirit will be present you know Father how this humid weather and its oppressiveness makes us dull mentally some suffering from various allergies and other physical distresses. O Lord, whatever our need may be, surely we are not asking amiss to consume it on our lust when we pray.

3:18 Send the Holy Spirit that preacher and people alike may be alive and alert to all that you would say to us through your word. O God, give the Spirit to the one who seeks to open up your word and give Him in copious measures to everyone seated in this place, that together we may know that we have heard the voice of our gracious Master speaking in and through the written word. We ask in His name. Amen.

3:48 Amen.

Theological Framework for Workplace Relationships

3:57 The Labor Day weekend, that is the last weekend before this, is considered by many of us as the end of summer vacations and the signal that it's time to go back to work and back into the workplace without planning for the two or three or four week vacation. And in seeking to be pastorally sensitive to that reality, we began last Lord's Day to look at a passage of Scripture that contains some of the most vital principles with respect to the relationship of children to parents and to teachers, and also this passage that has some very vital principles touching a biblical theology of work and labor,

4:43 the employer-employee-employee-employer relationships. Now last Lord's Day we looked at verses 1 through 4 and I sought to state the heart of these directives in these two simple propositions. In the morning we considered that the duty of parents is to nurture their children, and in the evening that it is the duty of children to obey and honor their parents. One of the members came to me after prayer meeting Wednesday night and said, Pastor, I want to encourage you.

5:17 And they told me how Sunday night when they go over the sermons with the children, that their youngest, who will not be three until not this coming week, but the following week, when asked the question, well, what did Pastor preach upon? And this little, not quite three-year-old boy said, well, obey your parents. Well, then the parents asked, what does it mean to obey, thinking the older siblings would answer. But the little guy, not three years old, said, to obey means listen to what they tell you and do it.

5:53 Less than three years old. What excuse do some of you who are eight and ten and twelve and fourteen and seventeen have? Listen to your parents and do it. That's your job description.

6:07 Well, may God help us, as this morning we come to take up in the exposition of the word, this portion, in verses 5 through 8, in which God sets before us his clearly revealed will for slave and master, for subordinates and their superiors in the workplace. for the relationship of employee to employer, and then in verse 9, employer, master, superior to the employee, to the subordinate, to the slave. And as we do, let me remind you of the larger context of this passage. After describing our great salvation in chapters 1 through 3,

6:53 that salvation that is in Christ and comes to light as God creates a new humanity in Christ, Paul then calls the people of God to a work, a walk, a lifestyle worthy of all of the privileges of that great salvation. And as he calls the people of God to that radically different lifestyle, He identifies it in the opening verses of chapter 4, in the opening paragraph, as that lifestyle will be lived out in the church. And then beginning in chapter 4, in verse 17, he will address how that lifestyle will be manifest, lived out among the heathen, among the pagan, among non-Christians,

7:40 both with respect to one's personal ethics, And then the ethics of the family, the ethics of the home, and the ethics of the workplace. Now as I sought to encapsulate the directives of verses 1 to 4 with those two simple assertions, parents are responsible to nurture their children, children are responsible to obey and honor their parents, So I want to give the distillation of the teaching of verses 5 through 9 under two equally straightforward simple assertions, and they are these. Verses 5 through 8 teach us that subordinates in the workplace are to be obedient to their superiors in a Christ-centered way.

8:31 Subordinates in the workplace are to be obedient to their superiors in a Christ-centered way. Verses 5 to 8. Then verse 9, which God willing I will expound next Lord's Day morning and complete this brief series. Superiors in the workplace are to relate to their subordinates in a Christ-centered way.

Historical Context and Principle Application

8:59 And that's the essence of the teaching of the Spirit of God in these verses. Now then, we take up this morning the subject of verses 5 through 8, that subordinates in the workplace are to be obedient to their superiors in a Christ-centered way. Now it's obvious that this instruction comes to us in the setting of the relationship of slaves to their masters. And the reason it does is because of the pervasiveness of the institution of slavery in the first century Greco-Roman world.

9:41 And since God with the gospel came to these saints at Ephesus by the power of the Spirit and called sinners unto himself, in the church at Ephesus, or if this epistle is a more general letter, the churches in the Ephesian area, since they reflected God's gracious saving work in the real stuff of that society, there were obviously many slaves in the congregation or in the congregations, plural. As Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, observes, the Roman world was full of slaves. While some were servants of a lower type, others were educated, capable, in charge of great and responsible positions.

10:26 From the way in which this group is introduced in Paul's writings, we see how many slaves there must have been also among the Christians, and how at that time also Christians were slave owners. Verse 9 is addressed to masters, and in the context, the master would be the one who owned slaves. He goes on to write, We know that Philemon was a slaveholder, one of his slaves being named Onesimus. Christ and the apostles did not denounce slavery and call for its immediate abolition.

11:01 That's an incontrovertible fact in the light of the New Testament. However, Christianity followed a deeper, more thorough method. It undermines slavery with the spirit of Christianity by destroying it from within. And there I end the quote of Lenski.

11:20 So, don't let your mind get distracted. Well, why didn't Paul say, and you slaves, organize a violent overthrow of this demeaning system? You will find no such word in the New Testament. And if you don't like that, you've got a controversy with God, not with this honky.

11:41 God does something far better than to advocate and to agitate for the violent overthrow of an existing social order. and we shall see it as we study this portion of the Word of God. So that's why I've used as my heading, subordinates in the workplace are to be obedient to their superiors because though this instruction comes in the specific social-economic context of the institution of slavery, the principles within it are applicable wherever you have in the workplace a superior and an inferior, or a subordinate, and I've chosen that word rather than use inferior

Duty of Subordinates Identified: Obedience

12:27 with its negative connotations, the subordinate, the one responsible to take orders from another, and then directives to the one who is giving the orders. Now, as I attempt to unpack this very dense, rich portion of the Word of God, I will do so under two headings. We will consider, first of all, the duty of the subordinates to their superiors identified, and then the duty of subordinates to their superiors qualified. First of all, then, the duty of subordinates to their superiors identified.

13:06 What is the precise identity of their duty? Look at the text. Servants, that is, douloi, bond slaves, be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your masters. There is the essence of the duty of subordinates to their superiors.

13:30 The apostle uses an imperative form of precisely the same verb that he used in verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Servants, subordinates, be continually obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. What does that mean to obey?

13:52 And it should be translated obey. It's precisely the same form of the verb. Why they translated children obey and servants be obedient, I do not know. It's children obey, it is servants obey those who are according to the flesh your masters.

14:13 Subordinates listen to what your bosses say and do it. Just as children obey means listen to what your parents say and do it. God by the Holy Ghost uses the same verb in the same form addressing this other group, subordinates in the workplace. Here's your job description in a nutshell. Listen to what your bosses say and do it.

14:42 Now is there no qualification? Yes there is. Look at the text. Servants be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your masters.

14:53 What's that little phrase mean? According to the flesh are your masters. Well what Paul is saying is that these slaves, these servants, these subordinates have masters in the realm of the human relationship. They have masters according to the flesh, but in this very passage he is very conscious that these slaves have another and a higher master.

15:22 Notice in verse 9, And you masters do the same thing unto them, your subordinates, and forbear threatening, knowing that he who is both their master, their Lord, same word in the original, and yours is in heaven. So when he addresses the subordinate and says your duty is simply this, be continuously obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, the one qualification is that that obedience is to be rendered always recognizing the higher authority and obedience to the master must never be at the expense of disobedience to the master.

16:07 capital M. Whenever the master, small case M, commands us to do something that would mean a violation of the will and law of the master, upper case, capital M, then we must say with Peter in Acts 5 we must obey God rather than man But with that exception this obedience in the parallel passage in Colossians is to extend to all things Look at the parallel passage in Colossians 3. servants, slaves, subordinates, be continually obedient in all things

16:53 them that are your masters according to the flesh. In all things. Just as in chapter 5 he had said to wives, you are to be submissive to your husband in every thing the only exception being anything the husband requires that results not in my having a differing judgment, but if his directives would demand the violation of my heavenly bridegroom, I must disobey my earthly husband. That's the only exception.

17:30 And likewise here, the duty of subordinates to their superiors is clearly identified. Be continually obedient in all things. In all things, listen to what they say and do it. This means that when the boss gives an assignment and he has not asked you to be his counselor or his companion in making a judgment as to how best it can be done and your responsibility is simply to do it as the task comes from his hand, then your job is very simple.

18:08 Listen to what your boss says and do it. Don't argue with him. If he says, now I'm giving you this task, this is how I would do it, what do you think would be the best way? All right, now you contribute what he is asking from you.

18:23 But if he doesn't ask and it's not understood, your job is very simple. Listen to what he says and do it. When the sergeant is in the drill field and speaks to the enlistees and the privates, they are not to sit and dicker and argue. Subordinates are to obey their superiors.

18:47 superiors, when the office manager assigns a task, when the foreman lays out a job, when the president or the CAO speaks and you're a vice president, you are the subordinate. You're to do what they say without questioning. Now this is radical in this age. This is, But it's biblical.

19:13 Subordinates, servants, employees, privates, whatever the relationship is in the providence of God in which we are in the position of the subordinate, the will of God is clear. Listen to and do what your superiors tell you to do. Now, we can come up with all kinds of, Ah, but what if and but what if and but what if. Forget all that stuff.

19:45 Until before God you've said, Lord, that's as plain as the nose on my face. I don't know if I've ever internalized it. I was brought up in a home where I was allowed to question my parents' directives and never made to do anything I didn't understand the reason for. I went to a college where we were free to voice our mind, a bunch of young squirts in the presence of older people and give our opinion and challenge and all the rest.

20:12 Some of you have never learned the principle of obedience as obedience. You've never internalized this. And until you do, all the rest of the stuff is smoke. And you need before Jesus Christ your master to say, Lord Jesus, you are my master and as my master you tell me to continually be obedient to my superiors.

Qualification 1: Obedience as a Solemn Duty

20:36 Period. it. And the only exception is when they would request that which would clearly violate the revealed will of the Master who is in heaven. That's the duty of subordinates to their superiors identified. Now secondly, and this will take the bulk of our time, and if I stick more closely to my notes, you'll have to forgive me, because I do want to get through these verses, and so any one of them, as I said to my fellow elders, any one of them could flower out without in any way beating the thing thin at the edges. Let's look secondly at the duty of subordinates to superiors qualified. It's relatively easy to see the duty identified, to get it riveted

21:22 in our minds and I hope fused to our consciences, but now all of the rest through verse 8 is a qualification of that duty. How we are to render this obedience to our superiors. And there are five strands that qualify the duty. Five of them.

21:46 underscoring again that for the Christian it is not enough to do what God says. I must do what God says in the way and for the reasons which God reveals. Then and only then is it what Paul calls a good work that will receive the reward of grace in the last day. Alright, what are the qualifying statements?

22:09 Let's look at them. Number one, you are to obey your superiors with the deep sense that such obedience is a solemn and a sacred duty. You are to obey your superiors with the deep sense that such obedience is a solemn and sacred duty. How do we know that?

22:33 Look at the first prepositional phrase. servants obey them that according to the flesh are your masters with fear and trembling. With fear and trembling. Now here is a point where I must underscore what you've heard many times.

22:54 When you read words that have a current connotation, don't import that connotation. Ask yourself the question, what does God mean by the use of these words? and if we have other places where they are used, often that's the key to understanding their significance. And when the Apostle Paul uses the couplet of words, fear and trembling, what he's pointing to is the performance of a task with a deep sense that that task is a solemn and a sacred duty.

23:29 Let's look at a couple of examples. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. reviewing his ministry among the Corinthians when he came into their midst as an apostle and an evangelist and church planter. He writes in chapter 2 verse 1 I brethren when I came to you did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

24:09 Now, was it fear of what they might do to him? Well, at one point in his Corinthian experience, according to Acts 18, there was some fear after a mob was stirred up. But the fear and trembling that he refers to here is that sense that when Paul came, he recognized that to preach that gospel, the only gospel which is the instrument of God unto the salvation of the souls of men, this was a solemn and a sacred duty. So he did not come in the role of an orator to make people ooh and ah with his flashes of purple rhetoric.

24:49 He didn't come in the role of a philosopher to impress with his profound insights to the great universals of life. He said, I came preaching a message that I knew that Jews would reject and that the Gentiles would think was stupidity, and yet conscious of the solemn duty to preach Christ and him crucify. My disposition was one of fear and of trembling, great solicitude, great anxiety, that I would discharge my solemn and sacred duty as I ought. Look at another reference in Corinthians to see that this is the sense of it, 2 Corinthians 7.

25:30 The Corinthian church has already been addressed by Paul regarding a number of the aberrations. may have sent another letter that's been lost called the severe letter and now he sends Titus to see how they're doing and these people know when Titus comes he's coming on a serious mission in order to check up as Paul's representative with them and upon them and to carry back word and how did they receive him in that context look at 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 15 and his affection is more abundantly toward you while he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. I rejoice that in everything I'm in good courage concerning you.

26:18 When Titus came, recognizing that he was coming on a mission from the apostle to see how they had responded to his apostolic and pastoral counsel, they received him, not with flippancy, Hi old tight, how you doing bud?

26:34 Good to see you brother Titus. Brother Titus, I think you've come to, we want you to know we've taken these things seriously. And we in that solemnity and in the seriousness of the issues involved, we receive you Titus as a messenger of God. And then one other passage, very familiar, perhaps you've thought of it.

26:55 In Philippians chapter 2. as you have obeyed in my presence now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling for it is God himself who is at work in you. Work out your salvation not with the cowering fear of the whipped dog who hides in the corner with his tail between his legs.

27:22 No. But with that deep sense that it is a serious thing to be a Christian, to have Almighty God at work in me, that I might reflect the power and the transforming grace of the gospel. Work out your salvation with deep solicitude, with deep concern and seriousness. Now, I hope I've persuaded you that fear and trembling does not mean cowering in the corner for fear the master is going to come at you with a club and beat up on you.

27:53 No. you are to obey your superiors with the deep sense that you render such obedience as a solemn and sacred duty. It's the opposite of a careless cavalier attitude to the boss and to the task assigned. Now, do you see how this is part of the radical alternate lifestyle of the Christian?

28:19 When he says in chapter 4, 17, I say therefore and testify in the Lord, no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. How do the Gentiles walk? What is the attitude in the climate of our society between subordinates and their superiors?

28:41 Who in the world is he talking to me that way? Who in the world? That, tip, tip, tip. No sense that what I'm doing in obedience to my earthly superior is a solemn and a sacred duty before Almighty God.

28:57 Therefore, servants, subordinates, be continually obeying your fleshly masters with fear and trembling.

Qualification 2: Obedience with Singleness of Heart

29:10 Anything less is not Christian obedience. Second qualifier. Look at it. from with fear and trembling, another prepositional phrase, in singleness of your heart.

29:26 And what is that telling us? That's telling us you are to obey your superiors with the full engagement of your whole being in the performance of your duty. You are to obey your superiors with the full engagement of your whole being in the performance of your duty. You are to obey your earthly masters in singleness of your heart.

29:54 This is the opposite of a divided or a dual heart. When the superior gives his orders, you are not only to do what you are told to do, but you are to do it with the full engagement of your redeemed humanity. People ask me from time to time, why do you preach with such earnestness? because God put me together in such a way that when my heart is in anything, every cell of my body is in it.

30:23 And for me to preach any other way for me, I speak not for anyone else, would be sin. Very simple. Nothing more profound than that. And look at the parallel passage again.

30:36 Lest you think I'm pressing this beyond the analogy of Scripture, Colossians chapter 3, Servants, verse 22, Obey in all things them that are your masters according to the flesh, not with eye services, men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatsoever you do, work heartily, that is work from the soul.

31:02 Singleness of heart, in Ephesians, here it's out of the soul. We say to someone, yeah, you're doing it, but it's obvious your heart's not in it. The Spirit of God says, when you, as a subordinate, obey your superior, you are to do it not only with the sense that it is a solemn and sacred duty, but you are to do it with the full engagement of your whole being in the performance of your duty. Now we come to qualifier number three.

Qualification 3: Obedience as Unto Christ

31:36 Now there is some debate among exegetes whether this next phrase should be part of the former, and the commentators that I've consulted are divided on it, so I'm using it as a separate heading. Look at the little phrase, as unto Christ. So it is with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ. What's this telling us?

31:59 By way of qualification it is saying this. You are to obey your superiors with a conscious focus upon Christ as the ultimate object of your performance of that duty. You are to obey your superiors with a conscious focus upon Christ as the ultimate object in the performance of your duty. Obey your masters as unto Christ.

32:30 The same way he said to wives. Be subject to your own husbands as unto the Lord. You wives, see above and over and behind your husband the Lord who loved you and gave himself for you. He has directed that you be in submission to your husband.

32:50 Submit to him as to the Lord Look beyond Him to His Master and your master your Lord and his Lord Let your submission be Christocentric Let it be riveted to the great reality of the gracious authority of the Lord Jesus as unto the Lord. Now again, what a radical concept to see for a common slave, the sacred will of Christ and the glorious person of Christ as central when I'm responding to the command of an earthly master. The earthly master says, slave John, go out there and

33:37 clean the outhouses. At that point, the slave is to say, yes, massive, then give me my orders. but above my earthly matter is my divine and gracious master. It's Jesus the Lord who tells me clean the outhouse.

33:57 And it's Jesus the Lord that will be before my mind when I open the door and hold my nose. It's Jesus the Lord who will be before me in that demeaning task and I'll do it with fear and trembling with all of my heart because Jesus is worthy of nothing less. You talk about a radical concept in the workplace. No wonder Paul said, this I say therefore in testifying the Lord.

34:31 No longer walk as the Gentiles. This whole notion that a Christian is someone who tips his hat to Jesus and when he dies then he's somehow going to make it into heaven and in between it doesn't make really much difference. No friends, it won't stand up to the Bible. Here he is speaking to those who are at the bottom rung in the structure of societal pecking order.

34:56 And he says, you servants, see your task in this way. It's a task that ultimately comes to you from Christ the Lord himself. But then, as so often happens with Paul, the moment he mentions something about Christ, He goes into orbit. We come to this third aspect of the qualifying of how that obedience is to be rendered.

Qualification 4: Attitudes Flowing from Christ-Focus

35:22 And when he mentions Christ, then it flowers out in statements that are put before us negatively, positively, and summarily. And so we're going to consider them as the fourth qualifier is, you are to obey your superiors with the specific attitudes which will accompany this focus upon Christ. If we take our orders and begin to implement them as a solemn and sacred duty with fear and trembling, as we begin to implement and determine to put our whole being into it in singleness of heart, as we implement it looking beyond the earthly master and the earthly employer and the earthly boss to Christ himself,

36:08 Paul says, here are the things that will flow out of that. First of all, negatively, look at the statement. Verse 6, not in the way of eye service as men pleasers. When you've gotten hold of these principles in the workplace, Paul says, you will not fulfill your task, carry out your obedience with an eye to please men, not as men pleasers in the context of eye service.

36:41 What's he saying? he's saying you will not work doing only that which you would do if the boss's eye is on you you'll work as diligently and thoroughly and carry out his orders as obediently as if he were at your elbow in every step of your task because you know Christ is at your elbow and you're doing it as unto Christ how will that flower out? not with eye service, as a man pleaser. It means doing the task in a different way if the master, the boss, the foreman is present or the office manager is watching you.

37:23 No, he says, don't let your work that is done unto Christ with all your heart, with fear and trembling, ever be marked by this characteristic. it will neutralize your testimony that I'm doing my work is unto Christ. If you're doing it is unto Christ, you know the eye of Christ is there, though the eyes of the boss, the foreman, the lieutenant, the CEO, may be a thousand miles away. That's negatively.

37:51 The next thing that flowers out positively, look at the passage, not in the way of eye service as men-pleasers, but as bond slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. As slaves of Christ. What's it mean, Paul, to do it as unto Christ? He said you will do your work conscious you're not only Mr. John's slave.

38:16 You're Christ's slave. You will be conscious that you are bond slave of Christ thereby doing the will of God from the heart. Think of what he's saying. You mean the tasks outlined for a slave by the master are a revelation of the sacred will of God?

38:38 Paul says exactly. You get up in the morning and say, Oh God, I want to do your will today. God says, Go to your boss and hear what he tells you. That's my will for you.

38:48 You see that in the passage? not, he says, as I mean I service as men pleasers but as bond slaves of Christ you love to do the will of God as Christ reveals it how does he reveal it? through the orders of your master that's how he reveals it the same way he reveals his will for your children through the directives of your parents children obey your parents in the Lord the Lord speaks in the directives of your parents servants, subordinates, employees Christ in God or God in Christ speaks to you when your superior speaks. And therefore, if you're doing it as unto Christ, it will not be with eye service as a man pleaser,

39:33 but it will be in the consciousness that I'm the bond slave of Christ, privileged to do the will of God from the heart, from the soul, literally.

39:45 But then he speaks summarily. He goes from negatively stated, positively stated, summarily stated, verse 7. With good will, doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men.

40:01 With good will, and here's the center of this aspect of the flower, doing service, literally slaving. Doing service is a translation of one Greek participle that takes the word to serve as a slave. Slaving with good will Slaving as unto the Lord And not unto man Slaving and it's qualified With good will A radically different disposition With a ready good will For one that does not want to be compelled The heart has gone before The subordinate into his task The hands, the head, the feet Follow this cheerful disposition with goodwill, slaving as unto Christ and not as unto man.

Qualification 5: Persuasion of Future Reward

40:54 Now, we have seen that the qualifications point to the fact that we are to obey our superiors with a deep sense that such obedience is a solemn and sacred duty, fear and trembling. We are to obey our superiors with the engagement of the whole being. we are to do it with singleness of heart we are to obey our superiors conscious of a focus upon Christ as the ultimate object in the performance of our duty what will that mean? negative, positive, summarily now then here's the fifth qualifier you are to obey your superiors with an enlightened persuasion of the reward of grace that is to be given you in the day of judgment

41:40 you are to obey your superiors with an enlightened persuasion of the reward of grace that is to be given you in the day of judgment if you perform your duty this way. Look at the text. Verse 8. Knowing in the midst of all the implementation of these things there is something you are to know.

42:08 And he uses a perfect tense at the verb to know, which means you've come to know and you continue to hold as a fact of knowledge. That's why I've used the term you are to obey your superiors with an enlightened persuasion. There is something you've come to know but it's not been tucked away in the chambers and archives of the mind. You continually hold it before the mind.

42:33 And what is it that you have come to know and are presently persuaded of? It is this. and knowing that whatsoever good each one does. Now in the context, what is the whatsoever good each one does?

42:50 The good is the slave obeying his master in the way God says he should do it and God says whatsoever good thing is done, whatsoever task is accomplished as a subordinate in a biblically framed response to the directives of the superior, this is a good thing not to earn my salvation but to bring upon me the reward of grace in the last day. Look at the language. Knowing you slaves are to know this and keep it before you whatsoever good thing each one does. Isn't that wonderful?

43:34 No slave is insignificant to God. Each one does. Your Father looks over you. Yes, in the providence of God you're the subordinate.

43:45 You're the one who takes the orders. You're the one who must implement the directives. But you are not impersonal. You are not down on the rung of importance.

43:55 Your Heavenly Father, your loving Savior, takes notice of each one who does a good thing. And notice what it says, the same shall he receive again from the Lord, whether bond or free. He points to the truth of 2 Corinthians 5.10, that we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ.

44:21 That each one may receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. But you notice here he doesn't mention the negative side. he just says that each one may receive again from the Lord the good thing that he's done. Put yourself in the place of a real slave not just a subordinate in a free society a voluntary employee one who has enlisted in the military there you are and you wonder as you face a new day that has tremendous demands upon you physically and emotionally to face the day knowing this, that every time I obey my Master out of these motives and with these perspectives,

45:09 my loving Father and my gracious Savior, to whom has been given all judgment, He will see every single deed I do in obedience to my Master. And in the last day, He who has worked this disposition in me by His grace and upholds me to do His will in the power of His grace will actually reward me for what His grace has worked in.

45:40 Am I going to make any difference about how you respond to your superiors? It will make all the difference in the world if you believe this. And He wants these slaves to believe it. It's the capstone of the qualifiers.

45:55 He puts this as the capstone in all of this. See beyond the present circumstances. See beyond the present distresses and difficulties and inequities and unfairness and all the rest. And look down to the last day.

46:12 And see that the Master, to whom you are doing your work, as unto Him you perform your task, He will smile and say, well done, good and faithful servant. No thought in here that man is earning his salvation. Remember where this comes in the epistle. This comes in chapter 6 to us.

46:35 He's already opened up that gracious salvation that comes to us rooted in God's free sovereign electing grace. Chapter 1 verses 3 and following. That salvation procured for us by the redemption in Christ. That salvation applied by the Spirit.

46:52 That salvation he describes in chapter 2 where he says, for you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He's the one who puts the disposition and gives the power and the enablement and yet wonder of wonders he'll reward the very fruit of his grace in us.

47:13 And say well done. What we say is when we've done all we're on profitable service God says I have a different opinion. Well done. Good.

Radical Perspective and Application

47:24 And faithful servant. That's to be the perspective. Now. Do you see.

47:33 Why I keep using the word. This is a radical perspective. This means that Christians. Wherever they are found.

47:42 In the place of being the subordinate. Who take this seriously. Who don't simply listen to a sermon on it. And let it pass.

47:51 But who periodically. Before God. with an open Bible in the place where they get alone with God. Go over these things.

47:59 Pray them in. Examine themselves and say, Lord, I've let this slip. Help me. Help me to have that qualifying principle.

48:06 Lord, enable me here. Enable me there. Do you see what it means when the Word of God says that we will shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation?

48:18 I mean, it was bad enough when I was working my way through college. It's much worse now, but I can remember the opportunities I got to witness in that big factory there in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when I walked around cleaning urinals, singing hymns, and sifting cigarette butts out of the sand cans. People say, what in the world are you so happy about? And I tell them why, serving a good master.

48:46 You know, many times, oh, I want to be a witness. Well, you are. You're being a good one or a bad one by the way you work. By your body language, when your boss gives his orders.

48:58 By the measure to which you give your whole self to the task. Are you a minimalist? Just barely do what's required. Or are you a maximalist?

49:07 The boss has to come and say, look, you're overproducing. Well, thank you, sir. I do that because I'm doing this for someone higher than you. What do you mean higher than me?

49:17 you don't see him but I lived before him you talk about giving an answer to everyone who asks you maybe we get a lot more questions if we got this work ethic worked into us by the power of the Holy Ghost People will begin to scratch their head and say what in the world makes you tick? Everyone else is grousing and griping and want shorter hours and more benefits and all the rest. And we have in so many places the tyranny and the downright goonery and muggery of labor unions. and I'm not saying that all labor unions are guilty of goonery and muggery but when they'll hold the throat of a whole nation captive to get what they want it's a form of thievery and extortion condemned by the word of God

Summary of Duty and Application Points

50:02 now you don't like that? I'm sorry, that's reality and if this is the disposition with which we the people of God approach our tasks surely we will be light and salt in a wicked and perverse generation. Now, I want to conclude this morning with several applications and observations.

50:26 And this is why I decided not to try to preach the whole passage, though I had done my homework and was prepared on paper to preach verse 9. It would have been, it just would not have been responsible. So, final summary and application. Here is God's unmistakably clear word to all subordinates with respect to their duty to their superiors.

Observation 1: Assumption of Christ's Lordship

50:48 Slave as unto the master, employee to the employer, privates to the sergeants, sergeants to the lieutenants, vice presidents to presidents and CEOs. The duty identified, obey your masters in everything. The duty qualified, fear and trembling, a deep sense that such obedience is a solemn and sacred duty. with all your heart, full engagement of your whole being, as unto the Lord, a conscious focus upon Christ, and then the things that flow out of that negatively, not in the way of eye service as men pleasers, positively servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, summarily with good will doing services unto the Lord and not unto men,

51:33 and then with the consciousness of the last day upon us. Now then, what do we say to this? Well, I have several things. Number one, note the clear assumption of the Apostle Paul that all real Christians are the willing slaves of Christ who've been given a fundamental desire to please Christ by doing the will of God.

52:01 You see, this paragraph, the part of it I've expounded, makes no sense whatsoever unless Paul's assumption is a reality. He's assuming as he brings this group of the congregation before his mind, slaves. He thinks of them. How does he think of them?

52:18 He thinks of them as those who have a master who could sing the hymn we sang before the sermon today. My glad submission to my master. He makes it clear. There's a clear assumption that all real Christians are the willing slaves of Christ who've been given a fundamental desire to please Christ by doing the will of God.

52:41 There's not one exhortation in here. And you slaves who are only saved but not surrendered, I can't give you instruction until you take Christ as your master. You've got him as your savior. You're prepared to die and go to heaven, but you don't have him as your lord.

52:54 There's no exhortation about submitting to the lordship of Christ. There's an assumption that every one of these Christian slaves is the joyful bond slave of Jesus Christ. As unto Christ, as the slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, as unto the Lord, in verse 9, Christ is their master. Now what does that tell us?

53:17 Well it tells us that if the great salvation described in chapters 1 to 3, beginning with God's free, sovereign, electing, love and grace, that salvation based on the redemptive work of Jesus, applied by the Spirit, if we've received that salvation, we, sitting here this morning, are conscious and joyfully confess our identity to be this, bond slaves of Christ. Sons of God, yes. When we view our relationship to God from one biblical perspective, we are sons and not children in knowledge, children in the age of immaturity, who need all kinds of external props to keep us in line.

54:03 No, according to Galatians 4, we are full-grown sons, indwelt by the Spirit, and able to cry, Abba, Father. But what we are as sons in all the privileges and liberty of filial access to God does not cancel what we are as bond slaves of Christ. They are not inconsistent. They are not at war with one another.

54:24 And frankly, I have no sympathy for any who teach that they are. And this passage lays the emphasis not on the filial freedom of a son, but the joyful embrace of the yoke of Christ by a slave. Is that you? Is that you? Is that you? Is this assumption a reality in you?

54:51 you have a master and you say oh God by grace I do I love his yoke I love his will revealed in his word I love his will when revealed through my boss because he says when you obey your masters you're doing the will of God showing yourself to be true bond slave of Christ and you see it's that relationship to Christ that is the keystone in the arch of this whole segment of instruction. It is the assumption that these slaves joyfully embrace the higher master and that pleasing that master by doing the will of God is the fundamental, baseline, prevailing disposition of heart.

55:37 Not the perfect, unassailed, unqualified disposition. No, they have remaining sin. they must put to death the beads of the flesh like all of us do. But that's the basic state of their heart.

55:53 And if it's not yours, I say it kindly, my friend. If you say you're a Christian, you're a Christian of the kind which the Bible does not recognize.

Observation 2: Transformation of Life and Relationships

56:04 Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And if he's your Savior, he's your Lord. If he's not your Lord, he's not your Savior. Second thing we observe from the text, note the clear demonstration that real and vital Christianity radically transforms the whole of life and all human relationships.

56:32 Real, vital, biblical Christianity radically transforms the whole of life and all human relationships. When Paul issued the call in verse 17 of chapter 4, no longer walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Their minds are vain when it comes to constructing a God-honoring work ethic. They have nothing but self-interest of the individual or the group by which to move the wheels of energy and enterprising spirit among the workforce.

57:10 They have no Christ. They have no day of judgment. They don't have the stuff to come up with a viable work ethic. We do.

57:19 and here the apostle is saying that real, vital, biblical Christianity transforms the whole of life and all human relationships it changes husbands from tyrants into sensitive, gracious, loving nurturing, cherishing heads and leaders of their wives and of their families it transforms women from opinionated, independent brassy, outspoken, contentious witches into loving, gracious, appreciative, submissive wives. It changes smart-aleck, rebellious, stubborn sons and daughters into loving,

58:05 trustful, obedient sons and daughters. Changes fathers to all they know to do is bark commands and issue punishments, provoking their kids to wrath every time you turn around. It changes them into those who are graciously reasonable in their dealings with their children and seek to nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord and it changes every subordinate in his relationship to his superiors. That's vital.

Observation 3: Gospel as Cure for Degenerate Work Ethic

58:38 Read biblical Christianity and I tell you something folks. It's not fostered and nurtured and produced by cute little ditties. in place of solid substantial sermons. It's not fostered by musical forms such as I saw to my pain for five minutes last night on the Billy Graham telecast.

59:01 My wife called me down from my study. I thought I was in Nashville watching a hoedown with the Gaither brothers. God dishonoring, tripe, trivial. thousands of years and I'm prevailing with saying Lord how in the world do I get this condensed stuff out in one message this is the stuff folk there are people who do it better than I but at least I have peace of conscience I'm trying to give you the stuff on which you can feed and become strong in Christ thirdly note the clear revelation of the desperate need from the proclamation of the gospel as the only sure cure for a degenerated work ethic.

59:48 What do we need to do with the degenerate work ethic? We need to preach the gospel to our fellow workmen. If Christ gets in the inside as the master, then they'll start taking all this stuff seriously. You've heard the story, haven't you?

60:02 That when the Spirit of God worked so mightily in one of the Welsh revivals, many of the men who were saved were miners. They went back into the mines, and this may be one of those stories that gets better every time it's told but it's told many times so I'm going to tell it. They said the poor mules didn't know how to respond because the masters were no longer barking out their orders with curses and attending their orders with whips. The poor mules didn't know how to respond.

60:29 Mules felt the power of the gospel.

60:34 This is what our fellow workmen need. This is what those around us need. the gospel that makes Christ precious as Savior and as Lord and brings them in willing bands as we sang to his feet saying, Lord Jesus, you're the master. I'm the slave.

Observation 4: Emphasis on the Internal Disposition

60:52 Whatever my position is in the pecking order of superior, subordinate, subordinate, superior, Lord Jesus, out of love and gratitude, I want to serve you. I want to do your will. Teach me how to think of my work and how to perform my work. with fear and with trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto you, not with eye service as a man pleaser, but singleness of heart, as unto the Lord and not unto man.

61:22 And, O Lord, help me to constantly bring near the last day, that I may in joyful anticipation believe that every good thing I do, I shall receive in kind as the reward of grace at the last day. and then my final observation I hinted at it in the beginning I park on it now as we close do you see again how the emphasis of the Bible is not on the externals but on the internal Paul says here's the essence of the duty of subordinates one imperative verb with a little qualification one imperative verb slaves be continually

62:07 obeying your fleshly masters but now he says it's not enough that you put your feet where your master says to put your hands on the objects no no he said now I'm going to tell you the internal spirit and disposition that must mark that obedience and he spends the rest of the section dealing not with the external act but with the internal disposition You see, at the end of the day, Solomon's words are true. Guard your heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life. The emphasis we've said we appreciate in those books by the Trip Brothers, going to the heart. The emphasis in that book I recommended in the previous hour, The War of Words.

62:56 He goes to the heart, for out of the heart proceed the words. And you see, the emphasis here is on the heart. do you see that in the passage he's dealing with the internal disposition that's the place of warfare and I pray that God will help us to do business with him in that area wherever we must so that with hearts that have internalized and embraced these directives we may indeed by the grace of God manifest that we are the new humanity in Christ and if any man is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed the new has come and no little part of the new is our work ethic whatever our sphere of work and labor may be may God help us

Concluding Prayer

63:43 by his grace to walk in the ways of his truth let's pray our father we are so thankful that you have not left us at the mercy of the social engineers of our day you have not left us at the crass, humanistic, self-centered motivation of so many about us. Lord, we can only praise you that we have your word as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that your Holy Spirit would take the things we have meditated upon this morning and write them powerfully and permanently upon the hearts of all of us as your people.

64:29 for those who sit here still with the clenched fist against you and therefore against your will revealed in any area of life we pray God that you would yet in mercy conquer their pride and their stubbornness that they may know the exquisite joy of being set free from the tyranny of living life by their own standards may they know the exquisite joy and delight of being bond slaves of Christ we thank you Lord Jesus that your yoke is easy and that your burden is light we thank you that in grace you will reward the very things that your grace has worked in us surely this is grace upon grace

65:15 and for this we thank you forgive us oh forgive us when we have not been obedient to our superiors. Forgive us when we've been externally obedient, but we have not done it with fear and trembling, as unto you and not unto men. Forgive us, Lord, when we have done it with something less than the whole heart and the whole soul. Forgive us when we've allowed our minds to terminate upon human relations and not look beyond them to the final day.

65:48 God, help us. may your word correct us and purify us and encourage and strengthen us and we pray that lasting fruit will be born from our consideration of this portion of your word this day we ask the praise and to the honor of your beloved son in our savior and our delightfully owned master the Lord Jesus Amen