Slave to Sin or Slave to Christ?
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Good morning Harmony!
Today we get back to our series in Timothy, where we are examining what it means to be a gospel-centered people who are focused on seeing Christ glorified.
And today we’re going to talk about something that may seem irrevelant on the surface level, because it has been practically irradicated in present times, or at least that is what we see.
Today we are talking about slavery. Here in the opening verses to 1 Timothy chapter 6 Paul brings up the behavior of slaves to their masters.
And there are a lot of different types and views and thoughts on slavery, how it was in the Old Testament, how it was in the New Testament, how it was in the american slave trade. Sometimes it was indentured servitude, others it was a result of war, and still others it was just a result of grabbing someone and taking them somewhere else to have control over them and to force them to labor for no wages.
Paul’s view on slavery would have more than likely been that of the Romans, where people were either slave or free - there was no in-between for that. It was not based on race or ethnicity, as anyone could become a slave and almost all slaves could obtain freedom. And the free and the slave worked and lived together, only distinguished by social status.
Still today, we have slavery, or bondage, to different things. You could be a slave to debt, you could be a slave to work, or a slave to unforgiveness.
And much like that Roman aspect of being either slave or free, we have this same princilpe - we can either be a slave to sin, destined for destruction, or we can be a slave to Christ, having freedom from sin and death.
Our main point for today is:
Main Point: Although slavery is a product of sin, slaves should live for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.
Slavery, in the form of being subject to man, is a product of sin. Going all the way back to the garden, where Adam and Eve sinned and took of the fruit and the whole world fell into this sinful state, it changed everything. Sin affected all of creation, and that includes this concept that some people are subjective to other people as slaves.
At the same time, as slaves to Christ, we obtain freedom from sin and we should live to glorify God and advance the gospel of Christ, and so how we act towards those that do have authority over us should point others to Christ.
In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 6 Paul talks about how slaves are to behave:
1 All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed.
2 Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things.
Prayer.
Paul has spent a large part of the book on talking about how we are to act as the household of God, he has talked about women, he has talked about elders, how these households are to model and exemplify God’s household, how to treat those who have biblical authority, and now he ends how we are to behave as God’s household ultimately by talking about slaves.
And there are a lot of people out there in the world who look at this passage or others like it and would say that Paul is approving of slavery or is even promoting slavery because of the words here that Paul uses to explain the behavior of slaves.
But does biblical instructions on slavery imply biblical approval of slavery?
Slavery was very different in the Roman era than what we think of when we hear the word “slavery”, and we know or at least we should know that the American slave trade was completely sinful and wrong, but what about other types of slavery? What about slavery in the Old Testament, and the New Testament ages, did that kind of slavery have biblical approval?
Today as we look at this culturally sensitive topic, we are going to look at four ways that the Bible speaks about slavery and how the Bible addresses all kinds of slavery.
The very first way that the Bible speaks about slavery is:
1. Slavery is CONDEMNED by the Bible.
Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are created in such a way that we have equal dignity before our Creator.
So God created man in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.
Slavery was not present before the fall of man, before sin, it was not a thing in the garden.
When we jump forward to Revelation, we also see that there is no slavery mentioned in the new heavens and the new earth in chapters 21 and 22. Slavery is not a part of creation or restoration.
Earlier in 1 Timothy Paul mentions slave traders among those that are ungodly and sinful. chapter 1 verses 9-11:
1 Timothy 1:9–11 (CSB)
We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.
Galatians 3:28 is another prime example of how slavery is condemned in the Bible:
There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This isn’t saying that we aren’t different people, what Paul is saying in Galatians is that we are all equal before a Holy God. Our social statuses are set aside and we are all on an equal playing ground when it comes to how God views us.
James 2 tells us that we should look upon each other equally:
My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
We should be considering each other equal in the Kingdom of God, don’t look down upon those who are poorer or less priviledged, don’t treat someone differently simply because you have a better social status.
When it comes to how we should treat others, Christ sums it up - Matthew 22:37-40
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
First commandment-love God, second commandment, love your neighbor as yourself.
The Bible condemns slavery, but much like divorce, because of sin entering the world, it becomes a reality. God knows that this is going to become a thing, people are poor and have basic needs, and sin causes people to take other people and turn them into slaves.
And that moves us into the second way that the Bible speaks about slavery:
2. Slavery is REGULATED by the Bible.
Because slavery is a reality, even a necessity to our sinful world in order to provide for some, God gives us some regulations to slavery.
First, human trafficking, AKA the slave trade, is absolutely wrong. Exodus 21:16 speaks very clearly on this issue, that spans time from all the way back in Moses’ day to our present day.
“Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.
Let’s take a moment and acknowledge that the slave trade, both the American and the European, they were wrong. they did not meet the qualifications of being biblical in any perspective.
Now let’s also take a moment and acknowledge that it still happens today. Human trafficking is very real and very much a problem today. According to the US State Department, human trafficing is one of the greatest human rights challenges around the world, and that includes in this country.
It was evil then, it is still evil now, and the Bible is clear that this type of slavery is, was, and always will be, wrong. Those that have done it, those that condone it, past and present and future, are guilty of sin.
Slavery is condemned by the Bible, and kidnapping and slave trading is especially condemned.
The second regulation to slavery is that it should be free from physical abuse. Exodus 21:26-27 tells us that we must not abuse slaves:
“When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his tooth.
Proper treatment of slaves is that we should treat them with dignity and we should treat them as equal human beings -
Again, the slave trade treated slaves as animals, but Scripture clearly condemns this sort of action. If a slave was beaten or mistreated, there should be consequences and reparations made by the slave’s master.
And here is a good carry-over to how we should be treating emloyees. If you beat an employee, there’s probably going to be a lawsuit, and rightfully so, and they are going to get compensation for you beating them. Your employees are not beneath you, and biblical slavery was similar in that respect.
And the Bible where it regulates slavery it can sound very much so like the employee-employer relations.
In leviticus we are told that masters are to care for their slaves, providing ample provision for them, and how they can have slaves under them.
It sounds very much so more corporate when it comes to biblical slavery than it does our image of what slavery was.
The third regulation was that the Bible promotes eventual freedom from slavery. In the Old Testament unless a Hebrew slave chose to remain with the master, they were to be set free in the year of jubilee, Deuteronomy 15:12
“If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.
And in the New Testament, Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:21 speaks of slaves becoming free if the opportunity presents itself:
Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.
So the background to this topic of slavery, the biblical concept of slavery, again, the Bible condemns slavery as we know it, it’s not evident in the beginning in the garden and it’s not evident in the new Heaven and the new earth, and even where it is mentioned in the Bible, it’s regulated to be very different from the way that we have percieved it today.
I would actually argue that this biblically regulated slavery appears to resemble more and more our employee-employer relations. Yes there are differences, we don’t all get to retire after 6 years of service and we get a lot more choice in who it is that we work for, we can quit, but there are a lot of similar dynamics in that they shouldn’t beat you, hold you hostage or kidnap you, and they should pay you fairly.
They aren’t the same, but they are similar.
The third way that the Bible speakes on slavery is that:
3. Slaves are ENCOURAGED by the Bible.
And this and the next point are really where Paul is headed here in 1 Timothy chapter six.
Just to refresh ourselves, verses one and two if 1 Timothy 6 again reads:
All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed. Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved.
Teach and encourage these things.
Now, none of us here, to my knowledge, are slaves.
But we do have employees here, and again, the similarities between the biblical regulations for slavery and how we relate to our employers are such that we can evaluate how this passage relates to us today.
And the Greek word for worker is different for that of slave.
That said, the word for slave contains the same root word as the one for servant, and a servant of Jesus Christ is a worker for the Kingdom, for the purpose of spreading His gospel, so looking at this passage we could exchange that word for slave with employee and the word for master with employer, and we wouldn’t be to far off.
Now, this passage is absolutely talking about slaves and how they should be have, but given the close ties between the slave-employee and the master-employer relationships, it would appear that this principle still works the same way.
And again, we have choices of who we can work for and who we continue to work for, so in reality the encouragement that Paul is giving to slaves who did not necessarily have that choice tells me that we should be all the more willing and able to do the things that he is encouraging us to do.
So if you are an employee, you should be regarding your employer with respect.
And that respect is regardless of if they are holding up their end of the bargain. Why do slaves do that? So that God’s name and His teaching will not be blasphemed. Why should we do that? So that God’s name and His teaching won’t be blasphemed.
And verse 1 is regardless of if that master or that employer is a believer.
Even if that person is not a believer, they are still created in the image of God and they still should be treated with respect as your master or employer.
Then Paul digs in even deeper for those that have believing masters, he says absolutely for us to treat them with respect - he looks back on what he has said about how we should behave as the household of God, and he reminds us that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and he tells us to serve them even better because those who benefit from their service as employees are believers that are loved by God.
Now let’s back up a little bit - how does this passage encourage the slave or the student or the employee who should be treating their masters, teachers, or employers with respect?
It ties to the last part of each phrase - when you serve, when you do your work, you should always be doing so to glorify God. We are to do everything to glorify God, Colossians 3:22-24
Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.
When we behave according to the mercy and grace that He has provided us with, we are going to desire to honor our Master, Jesus Christ, and we are going to honor and respect our earthly masters if for no other reason than to glorify Christ.
So when you serve your supervisor, do so as if you are doing that unto the Lord.
And if that master or employer happens to be Christian, then serving them should be all the more honoring because they are your brother or sister in Christ. Those Christian employers are or should be following the principles discussed earlier about not abusing their employees and paying them fairly, so we as employees and servants of God should be in return having a much easier time serving them.
There are a lot of employers that take advantage of their employees, but they shouldn’t be, but on the flip side of that Paul here is talking to employees and servants and how they should not be taking advantage of their masters. We’re encouraged, here, by Paul, not just because we can benefit from having those Christian masters and employers, but also because through all of it, regardless of how that master or employer treats us, we are serving a risen Savior.
And that is how we get to the fourth way that the Bible talks about slavery:
4. Slavery is REDEEMED by the Bible.
Slavery is condemned by the Bible and ultimately again as we get to the end of the Bible slavery is redeemed by the Bible.
God takes this term of being a slave and He transforms it into this powerful image of God’s goodness.
Last week for Easter Sunday our title was Our Suffering Servant, where Christ willingly went to calvary for us.
In Philippians 2:7 Paul writes that Christ took on the humility of a slave:
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
Christ takes on the form of a slave, emptying Himself of His glory, He could have come as the conqering King, but instead He came a humble servant to bear our iniquity on the cross.
He washed the feet of His followers.
He came to serve His creation, Mark 10:45:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The essense of Christianity is that our Master, our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to be our Servant, so that we might gladly become His slave.
Paul identifies himself this way in many of his letters, I , Paul, a slave to our Lord Jesus Christ. A slave belongs to another, they are under the authority of another, and Paul says I am a slave to Christ!
You are either a slave to Christ, or you are a slave to sin.
You can be a slave to your sinful desires, the lust, the greed, the deceipt, the drugs, whatever it is that you have given over to that fails to satisfy and fails to bring peace, and freedom, or you can be slave to Christ that brings true peace and true freedom from sin and the grave.
The Bible says in John 8:34
Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
and in Romans 6:11
So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
You are either a slave to sin, or you are a slave to Christ.
During the years when slavery was legal in the United States, a gentleman happened upon a slave-bidding in a crowed street. The man paused to observe the activities. As he watched from the edge of the crowd, he saw one slave after another led to a platform, their arms and legs shackled with ropes as if they were animals. The gentleman studied the group of slaves waiting nearby. He paused when he saw a young girl standing at the back. Her eyes were filled with fear. He hesitated for a moment and then disappeared briefly. When he returned, the auctioneer was about to start the bidding for the young girl he had noticed beforehand.
As the auctioneer opened the bidding, the gentleman shouted out a bid that was twice the amount of any other selling price offered that day. There was silence for an instance, and then the gavel fell as, "sold to the gentleman" was heard. The gentleman stepped forward, making his way through the crowd. He waited at the bottom of the steps as the young girl was led down to her new owner.
The rope which bound her was handed to the man, who accepted it without saying nothing. The young girl suddenly looked up and spit in his face. Silently, he reached for a handkerchief and wiped the spittle from his face. He smiled gently at the young girl and said, "follow me". As they reached the edge of the crowd, he continued to a nearby area where each deal was closed legally.
When a slave was set free, legal documents were necessary. The gentleman paid the purchase price and signed the necessary documents. When the transaction was complete, he turned to the young girl and presented the documents to her. Startled, she looked at him with uncertainty. Her narrowed eyes asked, what are you doing? The gentlemen responded to her questioning look. He said, "Here, take these papers. I bought you to make you free. As long as you have these papers in your possession, no man can ever make you a slave again.
The girl looked into his face. Slowly, she said, "You bought me, to make me free?" As she repeated this phrase over and over, the significance of what had just happened became more and more real to her. "You bought me, to make me free?" Was it possible that a stranger had just granted her freedom and never again could she be held in bondage and servitude to any man? As she began to grasp the significance of the documents which she now held in her hand, she fell to her knees and wept at the gentleman's feet. Through her tears of joy and gratitude, she said, "You bought me, to make me free....I'll serve you forever!"
You and I were once bound in slavery to sin. But the Lord Jesus paid the price, to make us free, when He shed His Blood at Calvary.
Are you a slave to sin? Or are you a slave to the Savior?
Would you stand and pray with me?
If you’d like to know more about knowing Christ today, I’d like to ask you to do one of three things.
One, you can make your way up here after I pray, and we can talk about what that looks like and how you can do that today.
Two, on the screen behind be is a number, you can simply text that number and I will receive that text and we can schedule a time to talk.
The third option is there is a connect card attached to the bulletin, you can simply fill that out and when the ushers come by here in a moment you can drop that in the offering plate, and someone will reach out to you today to discuss what it looks like to know Christ.
And maybe you’re here and you are struggling with whether or not you should fill out a card or send that text, or come up here. If that’s you and you are even considering that, but you don’t know what to say or how to say it, then here’s what I ask you to do. You can send that text or fill out that card, and just say “call me” on it and leave your number. We’ll set up a time to talk and explore just what that looks like for you.
There is nothing sweeter than knowing the peace that come from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior.