What does the average unbelieving man or woman
in America think of the church today? The average
unbelieving man or woman in America, what do
they think of the church today? Some interesting
statistics came out recently from the Pew Research
Center, and I always like to see those types
of reports to see what's happening in our world.
In 2014, 2014, 63 % of Americans held a mostly
favorable view of churches in our country. And
I don't know if that encourages you, but actually
if you think about it, that's not a great number.
Six out of 10, not a great number. But can I
now share with you, it's gotten much worse over
the past 10 years. Much worse. That number has
now fallen to 51%. So just about half of Americans,
let me translate, 170 million people. in this
country no longer have a positive view of the
church. And in a similar trend, which probably
surprises nobody, the reputation of church leaders
has also spiraled down quite a bit. Now, I'm
sure there's all kinds of reasons for this. Part
of it is just this weird era we're living in
where, in general, we are losing trust in our
institutions. You can feel that trend happening
today. But it does make you pause and think,
what have we done or not done as Christians that
have caused our fellow citizens to have this
perception of the church? So in our call to worship
that we read just a moment ago from the Sermon
on the Mount, we heard Jesus say that we are
supposed to be the salt of the earth. Salt of
the earth. That means we're to enhance the flavor
of life in the midst of this fallen world. We're
to be flavor enhancers, showing the people. how
good and precious it is to live a godly life.
But then Jesus said, if that salt loses its saltiness,
its taste, then it's good for what? For absolutely
nothing. Then Jesus wanted to say, look, you're
also the light of the world. That means our lives
should visibly stand out in the midst of darkness.
And that collectively, the church is supposed
to be this city on a hill, this refuge of goodness
for people to look up to and see and say, I want
to be a part of that. And the purpose of all
this, according to Jesus, is really not about
us per se. It's about making the body of Christ
visible. And when people see how we live our
lives together, the idea is that they'd be drawn
to Christ and they would glorify our Father who's
in heaven. That's the purpose. Now, I realize
that God is fully sovereign over salvation, that
he will save whom he will save, but it is also
true that by our testimony, the testimony of
our lives each and every day, God has called
us to play a role in seeing sinners come to saving
faith. Sometimes that just blows my mind, that
he would let us participate in this. The question
is how we become so much like the world that
we've lost our saltiness. Has our light grown
so dim that we no longer stand out? So here's
the point for this morning. If we love the gospel,
if we want to have a platform to share the gospel
with a lost world, then we have to demonstrate,
each one of us, what a saved life looks like.
We have to show the world the beautiful fruits
of a relationship with Jesus. If not, what we
do is we give unbelievers reasons to reject him,
reasons to dishonor our Lord. So this is important
stuff. Grab your Bibles. We're going to Titus
chapter 2. We're back there. Back in Titus after
a couple weeks of celebrating the blessed season
of Easter. And glad to be back in this very practical
chapter. Now, I don't know if you noticed it
or not as we were going through the first portions
of chapter 2, but this idea of representing the
gospel well has already been a consistent theme
in Titus 2. If you remember, Paul started out
by laying out this really important contrast
for us. At the end of chapter one, he talked
about certain men, he called them out, certain
men in the churches of Crete who said, Paul said
this of them, they profess to know God, they
claim to know him, but by their deeds, by their
lives, they what? They deny him. They profess,
they say that they trust in Christ, but by their
lives they deny him. And then listen to this.
Paul says that that disconnect between what they
say and what they do renders them, listen to
the words, detestable, disobedient, and useless,
like salt that has lost its flavor. That's important
for us to see. So the truth is, This hit me as
I was studying. Hypocrisy in the church that
we're all so familiar with today, guess what?
It was present a long time ago, all the way back
to the first century, the early parts of the
church. Hypocrisy was there. Why? Because we're
humans. But then Paul lays out the contrast at
the beginning of chapter two, saying, but as
for you, Titus, I want you to tell the believers
there in Crete that they have to be different.
They can't be like those people. They can't just
say one thing and do another. They've got to
be salty. They've got to be flavorful. They've
got to be beacons of light. And this is how I
want you to do it. And then Paul gives Titus
these instructions. I want you to start by telling
the older men to do this. And then I want you
to speak to the older women and then to the younger
women and the younger men and give them specific
aspects of what a redeemed life should look like.
and command them to live that way. Here's what's
interesting. At the end of each one of those
sections in chapter two, Paul then gives a purpose
statement for each one. I'll put them on the
screen. But if you look at verse five in your
text, after speaking to the older men and older
women, he writes, they should be this way. Why?
So that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Then if you drop down to verse 8, after addressing
the young men and the young women, he writes,
they should be that way so that the opponent
will be put to shame having nothing bad to say
about us. Purpose statements, right? This is
why you should live a godly life. This is why
what you profess should be how you live. And
then today, if you peek ahead to verse 10, we
get a third purpose statement. He wants... this
particular group, to act this way so that they
will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
every respect. Now, who is he addressing in this
last section? Bond slaves. So look at verse nine.
We'll look at these two verses today. Verse nine,
he says, Titus, I want you to urge bond slaves
to be subject to or submissive to their own masters
in everything, to be well -pleasing, Not argumentative,
not pilfering, fancy word for stealing, but showing
all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in every respect. So what we
have here are both negative and positive reasons.
for us to live in a way that is pleasing to God
first and foremost, but second, will draw people
to the doctrine of God. Negatively, we should
live godly lives so that our hypocrisy doesn't
dishonor the word and push people away. Positively,
we should live godly lives so that we shine this
beautiful light on the truth of the gospel. It
couldn't be more clear, right? We see it all
through the New Testament, this principle. Now
I'm going to come back to these two verses because
we're going to work through them very carefully.
But first, I can't just ignore who this is addressed
to in the passage. Bond slaves. So as I promised,
promised this what, four weeks ago? Four weeks
ago? We need to talk about the Bible's view of
slavery. So this has become a very hot topic
recently, just so that you know. What the increase,
the crazy increase in theological podcasts, I'm
literally looking for people who don't have a
podcast these days. They're so... They're so
all over the place. But apologetics being done
now on social media sites like X and YouTube,
it's everywhere. And the boldness of our enemies
in criticizing our faith is also growing. So
you've got this group of hostile people who are
pointing the finger at the Bible and claiming
that God condones of slavery, that he actually
approves of the moral evil of slavery, and therefore
their conclusion is, your God cannot be a moral
God. That argument is all over the place right
now. So it's good for us to be able to understand
the topic, address the subject, both for our
own peace of mind, but also so that we can give
an answer to people who attack the character
of the scripture. So look, I have limited time
today, but what I'm gonna try to do is walking
through a logical perspective on slavery in the
Bible. And we'll start with this very important
statement. Because of sin, We'll start there.
Because of sin and the fallen state of our world,
slavery is absolutely ubiquitous in human history.
It is everywhere. In every history book, in every
civilization, it is as universal and pervasive
as war. Between human civilizations, between
conquest and colonization, every general category
of people on the planet has been on both ends
of slavery. Sometimes having slaves, sometimes
being slaves. You just can't find people groups
that haven't been a part of that. So no, when
people say, you know, the early American colonists
invented slavery, don't laugh at them, but don't
let that stand. It's not even by a long shot,
right? In fact, slavery is not unique to any
single culture or civilization. And this is a
very, very important fact to know. The rules
and the customs of slavery throughout history
were not the same. Depending on the time, depending
upon the culture, depending upon the civilization,
all the customs of slavery look very, very differently.
Each civilization had its own version of slavery,
and therefore, we have to make sure we judge
each one based on those particular customs. By
the way, you should know that slavery has not
disappeared from the earth. It is still with
us in huge numbers. Today, there's somewhere
around 50 million people in the world who are
not free. victims of human trafficking, of forced
labor, of sex work, and a quarter of those are
children. Think about that. Women and girls make
up more than half of the slaves in the world
today. And the biggest perpetrators? Well, the
short list is India, first of all, China, North
Korea, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, and the
Congo. And you might be surprised to know that
the longest running, most expansive slave trade
was run by not Europeans, but Arab Muslims. Very
few people know this. Beginning in the 7th century
and running all the way into the 20th century,
Arab slavers have captured more slaves from all
over the world than any other people group. So
the history of slavery is quite muddy, but it's
been everywhere. Now, the biggest challenge those
of us in the West face when we look at the Bible
and try to discern its position on slavery is
the cultural baggage that we bring to the text,
right? Based on our experience and what we're
taught about slavery in this country. So for
us as Americans, we all have the same picture
in our minds when we think about the slavery
that took place in the American South. during
the colonial period. And that has been drilled
into our heads as students in school, and rightfully
so, because it's a dark stain on the history
of our country and a dark stain on the history
of our people. What took place in the American
slavery experience is called chattel slavery.
Let me try to define that. First of all, it involved
taking people from Africa and forcibly kidnapping
them, often separating them from their families.
taking them out of their homeland, importing
them to a foreign country, just that, imagine
the horror of that, of being forcibly taken and
separated from your loved ones. If they survived
being carried across the ocean, once they arrived,
they were utterly dehumanized, treated as property,
stripped of their rights, subjected to brutal
living conditions, and used as forced labor for
life with no hope of ever being freed. The other
thing that's unique and horrible about the American
chattel system is that it's rooted in racial
superiority and economic exploitation. That's
why we call it such a dark period in our history.
Now, why do I feel the need? I know that makes
us uncomfortable, doesn't it? Why do I feel the
need to share it? Because our enemies, what they
will do is they will cherry pick verses out of
the Bible, rip them out of their historical context,
and then try to say that the slavery in the Bible
is the same thing as American chattel slavery.
But it isn't. Those comparisons are not accurate.
That is so important to understand. So we need
to show people why they shouldn't impose their
conception of slavery and lay it on the scriptures.
Does that make sense? Okay, good. Now, obviously,
the Bible acknowledges the existence of slavery.
It responds to slavery. But there's no justifiable
reason to claim that the Bible approves of slavery.
There's no reason for that. As if it's morally
good or even morally neutral. It's always important
to recognize that when the Bible describes aspects
of human history, it doesn't necessarily mean
divine approval. Did you catch that? When it
describes human history, it doesn't mean divine
approval. So, for example, when actions like
going to war are described in the Bible or divorce
in the Bible or engaging in polygamy, those things
are documented for our edification, but we shouldn't
reflexively say, well, then God must approve
of them or God must condone them. And here's
the truth. There are valid historical reasons
for God making concessions, concessions for such
things at certain times in human history. And
I'll explain as we go along. In terms of the
Old Testament era, it's important to remember
that slave ownership was practiced in the ancient
Near East long before Moses came on the scene.
Long before the law was established, slavery
was everywhere. So the law that was given to
Israel neither instituted slavery nor ended it.
Instead, what God did was he regulated. slavery
through Moses, providing instructions for how
slaves should be treated. Why? So that Israel
would be different from the surrounding nations.
That's a big part of the law, right? And in the
surrounding nations, in fact, in the entire rest
of the world, slaves were absolutely brutalized,
had no rights whatsoever. And the reason for
the concession of slavery in that day was very,
very simple. It was a tool to help the poor survive.
Let me say it again. In many cases in Old Testament
Israel, the reason for that concession was it
was a tool to help people survive under harsh
conditions. It's very similar to the concession
that God gives about polygamy. We talk, why is
there polygamy in the Old Testament? Well, because
in that day, in that context, that history, women
needed the protection and provision of a man
to make it through life. And guess who got killed
in wars? Mainly men. So there'd be fewer men
than women, so polygamy became necessary. Otherwise,
you were going to have women just dying because
they're unable to fend for themselves. So does
God approve of it? Not necessarily. Does he make
a concession for the sake of survival? Yes, he
does. Does that make sense? And the fact is,
in ancient agrarian societies, it was often hard
to survive. So sometimes a person would literally
sell themselves into slavery. They would sell
themselves, what we would call indentured servitude,
for a couple reasons. Maybe to pay off a debt.
Maybe just so they have basic sustenance. And
sometimes a man would have to make a horrible
decision and sell a child into servitude in order
to save the entire family from starving. And
the hope was with the law and the protections
of the law that they could sell that child into
slavery and that child would actually be better
off with a more wealthy family and be provided
for and protected. Now, as I say that, I know
that sounds terrible. To our modern ear, that
sounds awful. But that highlights the exact problem
we have with trying to interpret a text that
is 3 ,500 years old. without laying our moral
standards from our day on top of the text. Now,
what the Old Testament describes is very different
and far better than the American chattel system.
First of all, it was often contractual and temporary.
It wasn't for life. Second, it came with built
-in protections for the servant. For example,
Hebrew slaves were only to serve for six years.
And on the seventh year, they were to be set
free. And you know what? The reality is, in some
cases, they didn't want to be set free. They
wanted to stay there because it was easier to
be a household servant and be provided for by
the master rather than being thrown out there
and having to fend for themselves. So it's more
complicated than the American experience. And
the law made sure that slaves were treated well.
Even when they were released, the law said, if
I release a slave, Not to just send them out
empty -handed. I'm to give them provisions, resources,
so that they don't fall right back into poverty.
So God regulated this carefully. Now, does that
mean there was no abuse in the system? Of course
not. Of course not. Would there have been slaves
that were treated poorly? Obviously, because
that's human nature. Were sometimes slaves taken
in wars, foreigners that were brought in and
treated poorly because they weren't Israelites?
I'm sure that's true. Again, all of that is part
of the sad truth of human nature. The system
isn't ideal. Again, it was a concession that
God made for the fallen world. But still, the
law in Israel provided options for people in
the midst of hardship, and it was far more humane.
than slavery in any other culture of the ancient
Near East. You tracking? This is important. Interestingly,
the Old Testament law is clear, very clear about
one of the most vile characteristics of American
chattel slavery. According to Exodus 21, the
capturing or kidnapping of people and selling
them into slavery was punishable by death. punishable
by death if you kidnap someone and force them
into slavery. And by the way, very few people
know this. This shows up in the New Testament
as well. Paul lays this out in 1 Timothy 1, 9
and 10. He includes in this list of some of the
most grievous sins, including murder, he includes
kidnappers or enslavers as a part of that list.
So any version of slavery that matches what happened
in the American chattel system in the South,
is clearly condemned in Scripture. I have to
say that very clearly. The conditions we see
in the American experience, clearly condemned
in Scripture. Everybody hear that? Okay, good.
Got really serious in here. Now, when we come
to the New Testament era, the historical situation,
again, is unique, and we have to treat it as
unique. Slavery in the Roman Empire was incredibly
widespread. I should have had a map for you on
this, right? This would have been the moment.
Excuse me. So estimates are that, get this, a
third of the people living in the Roman Empire
were living in some form of slavery or servanthood.
A third. Do you know how many people that is?
You've seen how expansive the Roman Empire is.
Many were taken slaves by virtue of being conquered
by Rome. which again separates it from the American
experience. Slavery in Rome was not based on
race or ethnicity. If you were conquered, didn't
matter what color you were, you were gonna be
a slave or a servant. Like the Old Testament
era, some people in the empire volunteered themselves
into servitude because it was either a way to
survive and catch this, in the Roman system,
for some people, it was actually a way to find
more opportunities to better oneself. Yeah, slavery,
to better oneself. So some slaves could be found
working in the fields. That's very common. Some
were trained as gladiators. Some were tradesmen,
able to serve wealthy families by doing a trade.
Many were domestic workers. It's true that many
of the girls became prostitutes. Some were children,
and this was common in the Roman Empire. They'd
been abandoned at birth and left on the streets
to die, and they would be picked up and, air
quotes, rescued into slavery. But at least they
would survive and be cared for. Some were promising
young men who went to elite families and sold
themselves into servitude for the purpose of
learning things like accounting, things like
medicine, things like politics. So the point
is, in the Roman system, there's this wide discrepancy
in what a slave or servant looked like. Some
slaves did nothing but hard labor all their lives.
Others actually became quite wealthy and powerful.
We know stories of slaves who rose up in a household,
ran their master's business, got their own families,
had their own children, their own pieces of land,
and became very powerful within the Roman Empire.
So there was mistreatment, but others were treated
very well. So the conditions you faced as a slave
in the Roman Empire depended upon the personality
of your master and the whims of your master,
and there's this huge discrepancy. from one end
to the other. So when the enemies of Christianity
ask, well, why didn't the New Testament writers
just blanket condemn slavery as a moral evil
and say it must be done away with? That is really
the big question that people are asking. Well,
this is part of the answer. The characteristics
of slavery in that time weren't universal enough
to just allow for one simple sweeping reform.
It just wasn't that simple. In many cases, banishing
slavery at that time would have been disastrous
because the entire Roman economic system depended
on the work of servants. Imagine this. You immediately,
you overthrow slavery in the Roman Empire. Immediately,
a third of the population has no work, nowhere
to go, and no way to provide for themselves.
That type of thing would have been catastrophic.
Millions would have actually starved to death.
if that had happened. So rather than attack slavery
as an institution, what God does is he allows
this concession for the fallenness of mankind,
and then, this is the beautiful part, from within,
he seeks to reorder the relationship between
slaves and masters and to provide certain protections
for his people who are caught up in it. In other
words, we're gonna undermine the institution
of slavery from inside. This seems to be God's
plan. So consider the power of this verse from
Galatians 3. We know this verse, right? Imagine
if you're a slave and you read this. You're all
sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For
all of you who are baptized into Christ have
clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free
man. Fascinating. So this verse represents the
heart of how the gospel transforms everything.
Being found in Christ breaks down all these man
-made barriers, including barriers of race and
social status. Now, even though that's true,
does that mean that every societal problem is
just gonna be, you know, cease to exist? Of course
not. What it means, though, is that in the kingdom
of God, no person is valued more than another
based on their earthly identity or rank. And
that changes everything. Sometimes we forget
how radically, I'll use the word, radically progressive
the gospel was in ancient times. It transformed
everything. It, through relationships, turned
them upside down and made people think. Very,
very important. Now, we know from places like
Colossians 3 and Ephesians 6 and 1 Timothy 6
and the entire book of Philemon that Paul repeatedly
commands a whole new perspective. for both masters
and slaves, telling both sides, both sides, reminding
them of their obligations before the Lord. And
being more concerned about Christian character
within social structures than overturning them,
Paul commands slaves, first of all, to render
good service to your masters, to be submissive,
to do good work. But then, and this was shocking
for this day, he turns to masters and says, and
you, Christian masters, have to treat your slaves
carefully and humanely. He even warns them in
Colossians 4 .1. He says, masters, grant your
slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you
too have a master in heaven. Ah, lest you think
you're this free man who can do as he wants,
you have a master in heaven who's always watching.
To Philemon, and I recommend you read the book.
It's fascinating. Paul writes and encourages
this friend of his, Philemon, to welcome back
a man named Onesimus, who was a runaway slave.
And the whole theme of the book is biblical love.
Paul calls Onesimus my child. This runaway slave
calls him my child, calls him my very heart.
He points out to his friend Philemon, who is
a slave owner. that this brother, Onesimus, is
now better than a slave. I know he ran away from
you, but now that he's a Christian, he's better
than a slave. He's a brother in Christ. And so
he says to Philemon, I want you to receive him
back like you would receive me. That turns everything
upside down, doesn't it? So all of that was designed
to encourage Philemon, basically, to move towards
setting this man free. So Paul upsets the apple
cart. In terms of just pure practical advice,
Paul mentions to the Corinthian church, to the
slaves there, he says, look, if you got saved
when you were a slave, it's okay to be content
in that position. Serve your master well, but
if you can get free, get free. Good advice, right?
And then he levels the playing field for all
believers, writing this, for he who was called
in the Lord while a slave is free in the Lord.
Likewise, who he was called while free is Christ's
slave. Playing field level. Friends, understand
how radical these words were for that day. How
radically progressive they were. And here's the
thing. The New Testament writers, the New Testament
writers did not see themselves as agents of sweeping
political change or even social change. That
was not their goal. Their aim was transformation
of the human heart, one person at a time, one
body of Christ at a time. That's what they were
after. But of course, over time, those small
changes in the hearts of men and women, in the
hearts of churches, gradually impacts cities
and cultures and countries and policies. And
that's eventually what we see in the abolition
movements in the West. first in the UK and then
in the US. Seeds are planted in the New Testament
that later would grow into movements for freedom
and equality and justice and human rights for
all human beings. So never let our enemies forget
this. The abolition of slavery in the West did
not come out of secularism. It was not a secular
invention. It was a movement led by Bible -believing
Christians. The moral foundation for those things,
freedom, equality, and human dignity comes from
the Bible. Not from the world, from the Bible.
The Bible is the very reason why slavery was
eventually overthrown here in America. Amen?
Okay, deep breath. I know that's a very cursory
look at this issue. And I can see the emails
coming this week. It's good. If you have questions,
let me know. Reach out. We can sit down. buy
me a coffee, right? We can sit down, we can talk
about it. But now we need to get back to Titus
2. Can we do that? Okay. In light of what we
just talked about, let's look again at these
verses as Paul addresses Christian slaves in
Crete, verse 9. By the way, before I do that.
Spurgeon commented on this text. I thought, you
know, it's good to get a Spurgeon quote in here.
Here's what he wrote. He says, which they were.
That's what we're about to get into in verse
nine. Let's look at verse nine again. Paul starts
by writing, hey Titus, I want you to urge or
exhort bond slaves. Now, just stop, I'm sorry,
we're gonna stop right there. I want you to think,
maybe this question comes to mind, maybe it doesn't,
but let me ask it. Does that initial phrase,
urge bond slaves, does that mean that slaves
would have been present in the life of the church
in Crete right alongside men and women who were
free? Absolutely. Does that mean that there would
have been slaves present with people who owned
slaves? Absolutely. The answer is yes. So while
that, because of our American experience, that
is so hard for us to picture, the evidence indicates
that in first century Greco -Roman churches in
the West, they were socially mixed like this.
Both Jew and Gentile, worshiping side by side.
People said it couldn't be done, but it was happening.
And slave and free. worshiping side by side.
Now, was it always easy? Probably not. Were there
probably some issues? Absolutely, because we're
human beings. But it was made possible by the
nature of the gospel. The social status of being
a slave or a master was a secondary issue to
early Christians. What mattered most was they
were found in Christ. So regardless of their
social condition, that's my brother, that's my
sister. It levels the playing field. In fact,
It's likely, and I don't have actual evidence
for this, but it's likely that you could have
a slave, an indentured servant probably, in a
local church who was an elder with spiritual
authority over a slave owner in the church. That's
how radical the gospel was in that day. Just
another proof, by the way, that New Testament
slavery is not the same thing as American chattel
slavery because that would never, ever happen
in the American South. You with me? Okay, now,
when we look at this text, it's really hard to
make application with this because I don't expect
anybody here to ever be a slave. But the church,
gosh, that was bad. I got nothing from that.
The church has traditionally talked about New
Testament passages like this one, and it's in
multiple books. in terms of modern -day employment.
Now, it's not a perfect parallel, right? But
there are some similarities between you or I
taking a job today and somebody in the first
century who would have sold themselves into indentured
servanthood. There are some parallels. It's not
a perfect analogy, but regardless of that, it's
always good for us to consider our lives and
employment. and to ask the hard questions about
whether we're being salt and light in our workplace.
So that's what we're going to do. And this is
where we should start, because here's the thing,
you guys. For most of us, our workplace is probably
going to be the most common place where we find
ourselves in evangelistic situations. That's
probably, for most of us, the most consistent
mission field that we will have. And that means
we all have a huge responsibility to be a testimony
to Christ in those places. Now, I know that the
market's changed in the last 10 years or so,
so I know a lot of you got, used to be, I'm gonna
sound like an old guy, back in my day, we went
to an office to work. It was amazing. Like nine
or 10 hours in an office or at least some type
of place of work. And you ended up spending a
lot of time with your coworkers. A lot of it
was work, but some of it was casual conversation.
opportunity to share the gospel. And so we take
that seriously. And so you should, if you go
to an actual place of work and you haven't thought
about it before, what a mission field you have
right in front of you each and every day. One
of the pillars of our church covenant says this,
we commit to living carefully in the world, recognizing
that we have a special obligation to lead a new
and holy life. And that is uniquely true in the
workplace. We have great opportunities. So within
this passage here in Titus 2, you see five important
principles for servants. So we're going to walk
through them. And as we do, I want you to think
about how am I operating right now in my workplace
or in my sphere of influence? Am I doing these
things that we see in this passage? And before
some of you check out, because we do this, right?
We're like, ah, it doesn't apply to me. Before
you check out, let me address some other situations.
If you primarily work from home, and you're not
doing in -person work with others, you still
have a responsibility here because you still
do have important interactions in your work where
you can shine a light. It might be with clients
or with team members. It might be on the phone.
It might be online. Maybe it's in Zoom communications,
whatever. Do not discount this passage just because
you're not in a traditional working place. In
fact, I would say to you, if you work from home,
you probably need to think outside the box in
terms of how can I create some opportunities
to be with people, right? Because we get siloed
in our home offices, right? We need to be with
people. Why? For the purpose of evangelism, for
our testimony. If you're a stay -at -home wife
slash mom, slash homeschooler, I want to remind
you, you also have a boss. And he's always with
you. I'm not talking about your husband. I'm
talking about the Lord. He's always with you,
your boss. And you have an even heightened responsibility
because the people that you oversee in your life,
those little eyes, those little ears, they see
and hear everything. So nobody gets to check
out on this. You good? Okay, principle number
one. Verse 9, be subject to or submissive to
your own masters. There's the S word again, right,
that shows up in Paul's letters. He likes to
use the word submit because so much of life is
submission. I know in our brains we immediately
go to wives, correct? But we all submit to all
kinds of things all the time. First of all, we
submit to God. But then we also submit to governing
authorities. And we submit to law enforcement.
We submit to the courts. We submit to elders
at church. Yes, wives submit to their husbands.
Children submit to their parents. And here, employees,
we submit to those whom God has put over us in
authority. Now, we've already seen in Titus 2,
the Greek word for subject to is hupotasso. As
I shared earlier, it means to order yourself
under someone of a higher rank. It's a military
term. order yourself under them, hupotasso. So
in the workplace, we voluntarily submit ourselves
to our bosses. How are you guys doing with that?
Good? Sure. Now, the phrase in everything should
be qualified by everything that doesn't require
disobedience to God, right? Or everything that
doesn't violate my conscience based on scripture.
So if your boss orders you to lie, or to go into
dishonest business practices, you have every
right to say, I can't do that. But other than
that, and that's usually a rare occurrence, we're
to do as we're told. Now, as I say that, having
been an employee for many, many, many years in
my life, I know how many thoughts and feelings
come to our mind in terms of the temptation to
disobey those who are in authority over us. We
think things like, well, look, My boss hasn't
earned my respect. Or I don't think my boss really
knows what he's doing. Or I'm pretty sure I know
a better way to do this. Or my boss isn't as
kind or sensitive to me as I think he should
be. Or the tasks I'm given are beneath me. And
then there's the ever -present, based on what
I'm doing, I should get paid more. Okay? Newsflash.
In every... you will ever have on this planet
Earth, there is something to complain about.
Because it's run by human beings. Trust me, I
know this because I've had some awful jobs. Not
this one, by the way. Man, I've been working
since I was 16 years old. I worked as a Little
League umpire. I worked in a machine shop. I
sold shoes in a mall. Whew, stories. I worked
a job installing lamps and ceiling fans. I've
delivered mail. I've worked as a security guard.
I've done so many crazy things. And in every
one of those jobs and more, I had many reasons
to be unhappy. The thing about our culture today
is it tends to feed grumbling. I know social
media is a part of this, right? It feeds grumbling.
We have to be careful with this as Christians.
It feeds, the culture feeds our sense of victimhood.
The response today, back in my day, you just
kind of sucked it up if work was hard. Today,
we run straight to the HR department. Christians,
too. We run straight to it. Now, don't get me
wrong. Sometimes we should take serious issues
and work through that process. But even if we
did run to HR for something, always with caution.
Why? Because our testimony is at stake. It's
not just us. We represent Christ. We're ambassadors.
So whenever possible, you want to work through
grievances and conflicts at work using biblical
principles. But we often don't think about that.
We just respond. And we respond like the world.
And we lose our salt and our light. We want to
use biblical principles. That means even in our
conflicts, we exhibit proper submission. And
we show patience and we extend grace. And we
engage in productive communication, not just,
you know, using our tongues to hurt people or
to complain. All with the hope of showing the
unbelievers around you that you are different
from others. That you don't handle things in
a selfish way or a nasty way like everybody else
in the world. We've got to be salt and light,
even in our conflicts. But submission is at the
center of all that. So let's make sure we understand.
Interesting, when Peter addresses this issue,
here's what he, he adds a condition to this in
his first epistle. He says, servants, be submissive
to your masters with all respect, not only to
those who are good and gentle, ah, but also to
those who are unreasonable. That verse hurts,
right? Because look, it's easy to be submissive
to a good boss, but even when they're unreasonable,
we have an obligation here. And if a first century
slave can do that, you can do that. Because you
actually have an advantage they didn't have.
You can walk away from your job. You can quit.
Now, if it comes to that, if that's what's best,
you need to quit a job. Even taking that step
should be done in a way that is respectful and
submissive so that the world, again, says that
guy or that girl handled that differently. They
have a different boss. Their true boss is the
Lord. They claim this as they worked here. They
profess Christ, and guess what? They lived it
out. It's beautiful. So yes, your job is primarily
about your financial needs, but there is so much
more at stake when you go to work. So much more
at stake than just the practical side of it.
So tomorrow, tomorrow's Monday, right? How many,
we love Mondays? Love them. Tomorrow, I want
you to think differently as you go to work in
whatever capacity you are working. Are you pointing
people to Christ by the way that you work? That's
principle number one. Second one, there it is.
Also verse nine, urge bond slaves to be well
-pleasing. In other words, employees should show
excellence. Do things that are good and acceptable
to the one who has authority over you. Think
right now, the work that you're doing. If your
boss walked in the door, would they say, he or
she works with excellence? Here, his work, her
work is well, good, and pleasing to me. That's
important. The Greek word there, by the way,
for well -pleasing shows up nine times in the
New Testament. Other than this one use in Titus,
it always refers to pleasing God. That's important.
The implication is this. When you work in a way
that is pleasing to your boss, you're working
in a way that pleases the Lord, which Paul explicitly
says in his letter to the Colossians. Look, slaves,
in all things, obey those who are your masters
on earth, not with external service as those
who merely please men. but with sincerity of
heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do
your work heartily as for the Lord rather than
for men. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
Do you go to work with that in mind? How excellent
would your work be if you knew that Jesus was
sitting next to you at your workstation? How
excellent would your work be? He is, that's the
point. He is. So how would that affect your attitude
at work if you knew Jesus was right there at
your workstation? Your attitude, how would that
change it? How would it impact your commitment
to the job, about your honesty, about your diligence?
Look again at the passage on the screen from
Colossians 3. Look at those phrases, with sincerity
of heart and work heartily. What does that mean?
That means that our work should be more than
just reluctant compliance. Okay, fine, I'll do
that. Okay, whatever. This is beneath me, but
fine, right? We can get grumpy like that. Work
heartily as to the Lord. Your work should be
done with a sense of responsibility. And can
I, I'll be honest with you, with joy and with
thankfulness, even if you're not loving it at
the moment, with joy and thankfulness, why? Because
God has given you a job and God is providing
for your needs. So turn that thinking around.
He is your supervisor. That's number two. Number
three, urge bond slaves not to be argumentative.
Antilego is the Greek term here, and it just
means speak against. Speak against. It's a compound
word. Christian workers should not be known as
those who verbally undermine those in authority.
That comes in all kinds of forms. We're not to
mouth off to the boss. We're not to directly
talk back to the boss. But more common, We're
not to go behind the boss's back and talk poorly
of him. That's the more, a lot of us don't like
confrontation, so we'll hold our tongue in person,
but man, get into the back room. We used to call
this water cooler talk. Is that phrase still,
it's probably not even used. Remember, Kim? You
remember. What that meant was workers would get
away from the boss and gather in the break room
around the water cooler, and what would they
start to do? Yeah, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk. usually running down the boss or
the company in general, which is so great for
company morale. But what a temptation. We tend
to do that, right? That's not to be us as Christians.
That's not to be us. Again, if you rightly see
Jesus as your true boss behind your earthly boss,
then you're not going to have that rebellious
spirit. I can't tell you how many times in my
life I've seen this with employees. They get
bitter on the job. They don't like their boss.
They don't like being told what to do. So what
do they do? They subtly sabotage the work. They
find ways to resist. They start slacking off
more. They start doing half -hearted work. They
start doing personal things on company time,
right? And grumbling throughout the day. It's
not to be us. We have a higher standard. Paul
addressed this issue when he wrote to the believing
slaves in Ephesus. This is such a good passage.
How many times has Paul addressed slaves? It's
a big deal, right? Slaves, be obedient to those
who are your masters according to the flesh with
fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart
as to Christ. So he repeats what he said to the
Colossians. But listen to this now. Not by way
of eye service. In other words, not only when
your boss is looking at you. You know, they say
the character of a person is when nobody's looking,
what do they do? How hard do they work? Not as
people pleasers, he says, but as slaves of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart. Okay? So,
look, if there's a proper form or process at
work to air real grievances or make suggestions
about improving work conditions, yes, a Christian
employee is free to do that. But again, always
with wisdom and sensitivity with an eye towards
submission. Again, why? Because your testimony
is at stake. Overall, the Christian in the workplace
should be known for having a cooperative spirit.
They should be known for always seeking the best
of the company that they work for. Being a valuable
team member. Being known as that guy or that
girl who just is upbeat and positive and is working
hard. And by the way, Those things should be
true of us even if our boss is a Christian. Ooh.
Because sometimes we'll go, ah, my boss is a
Christian. I can slack off. Uh -uh. The standard
is even higher. That's a whole other sermon.
Adam at okillbible .com. Number four. We've got
to get through this. Number four. Verse 10 now.
Urge bond slaves not to pilfer. That seems pretty
obvious, right? Don't steal things. But there's
a subtle temptation here. How many of you guys
have ever had a job and over time you start to
feel underappreciated? Every hand should go up,
right? Or underpaid, every other hand. Okay,
good. You feel like the company, you know, I've
had this before. Company's making money hand
over fist. I can barely pay my rent. What happens?
Bitterness. Resentment begins to sink in. And
suddenly the employee finds himself justifying.
Taking advantage of things. Take a little bit
here. Take a little bit there. Maybe play with
the slush fund a little bit. Lie on an expense
account. Don't put in the required hours. Cheat
on my time card. That is all pilfering. It's
pilfering. It's stealing. For the Christian,
we know that God is watching. Not only what we
do, but the motivation of why we're doing it.
And he is our true boss. Listen, when we defraud
our employer, we're sinning against God. You
gotta know that. So this one's about honesty.
Honesty in all aspects of your work. And again,
if you put yourself out there as a Christian,
which you should do, when appropriate in the
workplace, when the day comes that you get caught
cutting those corners, what are unbelievers supposed
to think then? Are they gonna judge you? Yes,
but more importantly, they're gonna judge our
Lord and dishonor Him. So it matters. Last one,
number five. Also verse 10, urge bond slaves
to show all good faith. In other words, Christians
should be faithful and trustworthy. Faithful
and trustworthy. We should be known for this.
Your boss should know that you are loyal to him
and to the company. He should be confident that
if he gives you something to do, you're gonna
get it done. He should know that as a Christian,
you're the type of person that works hard to
come through when he needs it. That kind of worker
is incredibly valuable to an employer, but also,
more importantly, stands out as a light in the
darkness. Just different from the rest of the
world. Bosses notice these things, right? Dave,
others have been a boss, you know. When someone
works this way, they stand out. So if you want
to make a difference in terms of evangelism,
these are the principles. Be salt, be light.
So in summary, we go to work with the idea of
looking right through our employer and into the
face of Christ. Best way to think about it, look
right through him or her and look at the face
of Christ. That's my true boss. And again, remember
that if you go to work and talk about the Lord
and then you fail to do these simple things and
they're not hard, it's really just motivation
of the heart. You can pray that the Lord would
strengthen you for that. Just know that eventually
you're gonna give unbelievers reasons to doubt.
the truth of God's word. And we don't want to
be responsible for that. Okay, got to wrap up.
Final statement of verse 10 is so important.
It's the perfect way to close out this section.
Look back at verse 10. Not pilfering, but showing
all good faith so that they will adorn or bring
credit to the doctrine of God our Savior in every
respect. Now, in one sense, the gospel doesn't
need adornment. Right? It is the good news. It's
the best news that's ever been given to humanity.
And God doesn't actually need our help to save
his elect. But as hard as this is to understand,
he's ordained to include us in that work. He's
allowed us, redeemed sinners like us, to participate
in spreading the good news. And while that requires
us to speak up, our verbal platform for witnessing
is built on the character of our lives. We have
to know that. That's what the word adorn means,
by the way, in the original Greek. It's the verb
cosmeo, which is where we get our English word
cosmetics from. Cosmetics. It refers to, get
this now, arranging something in an orderly manner
so as to enhance its attractiveness. Does that
fit cosmetics? Arranging something in an orderly
manner so as to enhance its attractiveness. This
word was sometimes used in classical Greek literature
to talk about how a jeweler takes a precious
stone and arranges it on a setting so as to show
off the beauty of the stone. It's not about the
setting. It's about the stone, right? And that's
what our lives are supposed to do. We don't draw
attention to ourselves. We make Christ attractive.
We add brilliance and splendor to the truth about
God's word. You and I are the setting that the
stone goes in. Our lives are the setting. Christ
is the precious stone. We want him to look beautiful.
We want him to look attractive. So a Christian
out in the world, humble and submissive, well
-pleasing, not argumentative, honest, faithful
and kind, he or she makes Christ attractive.
And guys, this is all we're called to do. This
is the great thing. We don't save anybody. We
don't. Only God can do that. Our role is to play
our part. We seek to please the Lord. We seek
to be a good ambassador. And then we step back
to see what God does. And he will save whom he
will save. And here's the other cool thing about
this. We don't have to be perfect in this. We
really don't. This is an important principle.
All of us are going to make mistakes, even in
the workplace. We're going to make mistakes.
We're going to be imperfect. We're going to have
a bad day and we're going to lose our cool. We're
going to snap at somebody. Right? Or we're going
to say something in a work environment that we
regret later on. Or we're going to be critical
of our boss. And we're going to want to take
those words back, but they escaped our lips.
Or we're just, you know, we're going to get lazy
and not work as hard as we should. But when we
do that, when we drop the ball in our witness
and it's been compromised, God then gives us
a whole new opportunity. We can go to our boss
and confess that. We can go to our boss and say,
you know what? I haven't been working as I should.
And I know that's not a good reflection of our
Savior. And guess what? Because that is so unusual
in the world today that anybody would ever own
their mistakes and apologize and confess their
sin, that will stand out in a dark world. Does
that make sense? It's a whole new opportunity.
It's actually maybe even a greater opportunity
to witness for Christ to say, I blew it. But
here I am. I want to make it right. And will
you forgive me? That's life -changing stuff.
So even in our mistakes, the Lord can use those
things to glorify himself. And then just one
final truth to encourage you. Sometimes I hear
people say to me, you know, Jeff, when it comes
to spiritual things, I don't feel like God has
really gifted me to do anything in particular.
Like, I feel kind of useless for the kingdom.
But look at this again, this simple command to
just adorn the gospel with your life. Any one
of us can do this. Any one of us can do this.
And when we adorn the gospel this way and make
Christ attractive in the midst of a dark world,
we can see people come to know Christ. We can
see people saved for all eternity by nothing
but a faithful witness. So you may not be able
to get up here and preach or teach a sermon or
whatever, work with children, whatever. You can
adorn the gospel tomorrow in the sphere of influence
that God puts you in. God is able to use any
one of us to draw others to himself and save
them for all eternity. All we have to do is stay
acutely aware of who our true boss is. Amen?
Let's bow our heads. Father, thank you for our
time and the word this morning, Lord, so much
for us to chew on. And God, I know that many
in the body are probably processing through this
issue of slavery and how hard that is in our
world today to look at it and understand how
morally wicked slavery was in the experience
that we have been taught and how wickedness continues.
to spread all over the world, Lord, but help
us to have eyes to see exactly how you have been
gracious to your people in the midst of this
fallen world. And Lord, will you challenge us
even today as we think about the week ahead of
us, even going to work tomorrow, will you challenge
us to think rightly about being ambassadors in
the workplace, that we would be that setting
that... that shows you off as the precious stone.
May we be the city on the hill. May we be salty
employees, Lord, that just flavor life in the
office. Whatever it is, Lord, would you do that
work in us? Challenge us, convict us, Lord, and
just cause us to grow closer to you as we continue
to spread the gospel. Lord, thanks again for
today. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name.
And everyone said, amen.