Colossians 3:22-4:1 - Slaves and Masters
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Colossians 3:18-4:1]
18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. 22 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. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. 1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] Recently, we’ve been looking at the household code of conduct that Paul delivered to the church in Colossae.
After establishing the preeminence of Jesus Christ, Paul gave practical instruction on living the way of Jesus in the Christian home.
He had instructions for husbands and wives.
He had instructions for parents and children.
And today we’ll see that he even had instructions for masters and slaves.
But we might wonder, “Why does Paul have instructions for masters and slaves? Why doesn’t he just tell the masters to let the slaves go? Why does God even allow slavery?”
If we go back to the creation account in Genesis, we see that before Adam and Eve sinned against God, there was a husband and a wife. The husband-wife relationship existed before the fall.
If we go back to the creation narrative in Genesis, we see that even if Adam and Eve had not sinned against God, there would have been parents and children because God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. At least, in potential the parent-child relationship existed before the fall.
But the master-slave relationship only exists because of the fall; it only exists because of man’s rebellion against God.
If man had not sinned against, no man would have ever enslaved another.
But Paul doesn’t speak to what should’ve been.
Here in Colossians 3:22-4:1 he speaks to what is.
[CIT] He called on slaves to serve their earthly masters out of reverence for Christ, and he called on masters to deal with their slaves justly and fairly.
[PROP] From this passage we learn principles like obedience to authority, working with reverence to Christ, trusting the Lord to reward us and deal with wrongdoers, and dealing with everyone justly and fairly.
[TS] Don’t worry, you won’t have to remember all those principles. Hopefully you see them as we look at this passage in two PARTS: the slaves and the masters.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Part #1: The Slaves (Col. 3:22-25)
Part #1: The Slaves (Col. 3:22-25)
22 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. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
[EXP] Slavery was common in the ancient world. The economies of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were based on slave labor. In the first century A.D., one out of three persons in Italy and one out of five persons in the known world was a slave. It’s estimated that in a city like Colossae, one-third of the population might have been slaves.
To outright condemn slavery would have been the same as calling for anarchy and bloodshed, so Jesus nor His Apostles condemned slavery directly, but they did set forth principles which led to the condemnation of slavery.
Slaves had no rights, but masters were called to treat their slaves with justice and fairness and most were treated humanely. Some masters included the freeing of their slaves in their wills, and Paul said that slaves that could do so should obtain their freedom.
Slaves were often considered part of the family, which is why Paul speaks to slaves and masters after speaking to husbands and wives and parents and children.
Many slaves were greatly loved by their masters.
[ILLUS] Once, a Roman centurion’s slave was sick and about to die. He heard about Jesus and asked some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come heal his slave.
On the way, the centurion met Jesus and said, “I’m unworthy to have you come into my house… just say the word, and my servant will be healed,” (Luke 7:7).
Jesus marveled at this centurion’s faith, and when he returned home, he gladly found his slave in good health.
[EXP] In the ancient world, a person could become a slave because they were captured in war, because they defaulted on a debt, because they sold themselves or were sold as children to pay off a debt, because they were born to slave parents, because they were convicted of a crime, or because they were kidnapped.
Paul did condemn kidnappers in 1 Timothy 1:10, and Revelation 18 says that Jesus will overthrow those merchants of the earth who traffic bodies—that is, human beings—like cargo.
But until then, how were Christian slaves supposed to live in relation to their masters?
First, Paul said in Colossians 3:22 that slaves were to be obedient in all things.
Of course, all things doesn’t include sinful things.
If a master commanded his slave to sin against the Lord, the slave wasn’t responsible to obey.
Secondly, Paul said in the second part of Colossians 3:22 that slaves were to serve sincerely.
The opposite of serving sincerely is serving by way of eyeservice or working only when someone is watching.
That kind of service is only meant to please men but isn’t meant to please the Lord.
And that brings us to the third thing: Paul said in the last part of Colossians 3:22 that slaves were to fear the Lord.
This fear of the Lord is not fear of divine punishment but reverence for our Lord Jesus.
It is the desire to please Him in all that we do.
This is why Paul continues by telling those slaves in Colossae…
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
These Christian slaves with earthly masters were to understand that they were really serving the Lord!
He states it plainly at the end of Colossians 3:24, “It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
These Christian slaves would be rewarded for their Christ-honoring work in the Kingdom of God—that is the inheritance they would receive!
But those who did wrong—either slaves who used their faith in Christ to wrong their masters or masters who used their authority to wrong their slaves—those who did wrong would receive the consequences without favoritism.
[ILLUS] Onesimus was a slave, and Philemon was his master. For reasons unknown to us, Onesimus escaped his master and along the way met the aged Apostle Paul who was at this time a prisoner in Rome.
Paul told Onesimus of Jesus, the Son of God who lived the perfect life Onesimus should’ve lived and died the death that he deserved to die.
Paul told Onesimus that three days after His death, Jesus rose from the grave.
We can imagine Paul saying to him something like, “He died to save you Onesimus! He died to set you free from sin and death! He died and rose again so that you could be forgiven of your sin and made right with God!”
And then the plea, “Won’t you trust in Jesus, Onesimus? Won’t you give Him your life? Will you repent of your sin and trust in Him?”
And Onesimus did; Onesimus the slave trust in Jesus as His Lord.
Paul referred to him as “my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,” (Philemon 10).
In other words, Paul was Onesimus’s spiritual father because he was instrumental in the Onesimus’s new birth in Christ.
But Paul has some hard news for Onesimus, although he was now free in Christ, he was still legally a slave belonging to Philemon.
So Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon, and Philemon went.
This was an act of repentance from a slave who was more concerned about pleasing Christ than he was about having his own freedom.
Paul requested an act of forgiveness from a master who would be welcoming back not just a slave but much more, a brother in Christ.
We don’t know the rest of the story.
We don’t know if Philemon forgave Onesimus and sent him back to Paul or if he made Onesimus continue on as his slave.
Either way, what we see in Paul’s letter to Philemon is the way that Paul expects the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change the relationship between masters and slaves.
In reality, Philemon and Onesimus were now brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were both under His authority.
[APP] You are not a slave, but you are under authority.
We Christians are under the authority of the Lord Jesus.
Children are under the authority of their parents.
Employees are under the authority of their bosses.
Citizens are under the authority of their governments.
So long as it is not disobedient to Christ, let us obey our earthly masters with sincerity, seeking to honor the Lord Jesus as we work heartily in whatever we do, understanding this: It is the Lord Christ whom we serve.
[TS]…
Part #2: Masters (Col. 4:1)
Part #2: Masters (Col. 4:1)
1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
[EXP] Masters were commanders. They spoke and their slaves were to obey. But masters were called to be granters or givers in Colossians 4:1. They were called to give to their slaves justice and fairness. This is how they masters were to deal with their slaves—they were to treat them justly and fairly.
Masters had the power, slave were in a disadvantaged position. It would have been easy for a master to take advantage of a slave.
Certainly there were many masters in the ancient world who worked their slaves too hard and too long for too little payment.
Certainly there were many masters in the ancient world who promised freedom and only delivered more servitude.
[ILLUS] We might think of Jacob in the OT. On the run from his brother, Esau, Jacob ended up at his Uncle Laban’s place. He met and fell in love with his cousin, Rachel, and agreed to serve Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel.
When the big day finally rolled around, Jacob was tricked into marrying Laban’s other daughter, Leah, and then was forced to work for Laban another sever years to finally marry Rachel.
Laban did not treat Jacob with justice or fairness.
He did not give him what he owed him.
And he did not treat him honestly.
[EXP] Justice is giving what is owed, and fairness is treating people honestly.
A worker—even an enslaved worker—deserves his wages, and he deserves to be treated honestly.
Earthly masters who know they have a heavenly Master that they will answer to treat their slaves justly and fairly.
[ILLUS] I once read a story about boy, Harry, who worked for a Christian shoemaker and repairman named Mr. Dan Mackay. This was in the days before you could just run down to the store and pick up a pair of shoes; each pair had to be hand made.
Harry’s job at Mr. Mackay’s shop was to pound the leather for the soles of the shoes.
A piece of cowhide was cut to suit and was then soaked in water. Harry would take a flat piece of iron over his knees and a flat-headed hammer and pound the soaked cowhide until it was hard and dry.
Once it was hard and dry, the leather wouldn’t shrink up and pull away from the nails or stitches once the shoes were constructed.
In addition to selling quality shoes, Harry said Mr. Mackay’s shop was a real witness for Christ in the neighborhood. There were verses from the Bible on the walls…
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The boy said that on the counter of the shop sat Mr. Mackay’s open Bible and a pile of Gospel tracts, and whenever there was opportunity customers were “spoken to kindly and tactfully about the importance of being born again and the blessedness of knowing that the soul is saved through faith in Christ.”
But there was another shoemaker a block away, the very opposite of Mr. Mackay. There was no verses on the walls, no Bible on the counter, no Gospel tracts, just lewd stories of sinful adventure that he often shared with the other neighborhood boys who came by his shop just to hear them.
As Harry repeatedly passed by the other shop, he noticed that this other shoemaker never pounded the soaked cowhide soles once he took them out of the water. He never pounded them, and he never waited for them to dry. He just nailed them on while they were still wet!
One day Harry went inside that shop and asked the other shoemaker about his tactic, “I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?”
The shoemaker snickered, “The customers come back all the quicker this way, my boy!”
Harry didn’t understand that the shoemaker was cutting corners and robbing his customers; he just though he learned a new approach which might help Mr. Mackay.
He ran back to the shop and excitedly explained everything, “We don’t have to pound them until their dry and hard. We can just nail them right on and the customers will come back quicker, and we’ll make more money this way…”
Mr. Mackay stopped his work… “Harry,” he said, “I do not cobble shoes just for the four bits and six bits that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God. I expect to see every shoe I have ever (worked on) in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, ‘Dan, this was a poor job. You did not do your best here.’ I want Him to be able to say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”
[APP] The way that Mr. Mackay thought about his work is how we all should think about our work.
Whether we work as slaves or as masters—in our day, we might say, as employees or employers—our aim should be to have the Lord Jesus examine our work and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
As pioneer missionary, C. T. Studd, wrote…
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
