Slaves, Part 2: Spiritual Application

Last time I was here, we spoke about a subject and a word specifically that some people would find uncomfortable. And if you recall, that word was slave. In the Bible, it talks about slavery, really from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible. And we talked about how many times the word slave is found in the New Testament. It, of course, is the Greek word doulos.

And many times, in fact, most of the time when you read the word servant in the New Testament, it really is the Greek word doulos that means slave, and literally translated slave. We talked about last time some of the translators of the Bible, why they had an issue with the word slave, because slavery in our minds is just not a pleasant thought, right? I mean, in America, we think back to the 19th century, 18th century slavery in this country. You can't condone it.

It was cruel. It was not right. God doesn't condone slavery. But as the translators, as they were becoming aware in the 15th and 16th century of the evils of slavery, they just had a hard time taking that Greek word doulos, even though in every other piece of literature where doulos appears, except the Bible, it's translated slave. They just had a hard time putting that in there because of the connotation of it.

And even today, as we hear the word slave, it probably conjures up some thoughts in our minds about what slaves are and how can that word be in the Bible. But it's there. It's there. Last time we talked about Old Testament slavery, and we talked about how there were really, in an age much different than we live in today, there were three classes of people. There were free people, there were semi-free people, and they were slaves. That was basically it.

You know, you were free, semi-free, you're slaves, and we talked about how even in the family of God, the family of Abraham, the ones through whom God would have built his nations, that Abraham and Isaac were free men. They were wealthy men. They lived in the face of other nations, and God protected them, and they remained free throughout their entire lives. Jacob, if you recall then, sinned. He tricked his brother out of the birthright, tricked his father out of giving him the blessing, and Jacob ended up being a semi-free person.

He had to leave home, the first of the family to have to leave home because no one was sure whether Esau, his brother, would kill him or not. He pretty much indentured himself to Laban and said, you know, I'll stay here for seven years, you know, and work for Rachel. He got tricked, and he had to work another seven years for her. But he was a semi-free. He had committed himself to it. He was free to leave, and at the end of those years that he spent with Laban, he went.

God led him back to be a free man. But then in the next generation, you had Joseph. And Joseph was literally a slave in every sense of the word that you and I think of the word slave. He was literally sold against his will into slavery. To the Midianite trailers, to the Midianite traders, and he found himself in Egypt.

He wasn't free to leave. He wasn't free to do his own thing. He had to do what his master said he had to do. There was no freedom at all for Joseph. His only freedom is doing what his master wanted him to do. And Joseph, if you recall, was a good slave. He did it with his might. He did everything Potiphar said, and so as you see, Joseph, he rose in that household to the point where it says that there was nothing withheld from Joseph at all.

Potiphar didn't even know what he had. He had trusted everything to Joseph. Potiphar, though, was a very good master. He was a good master. If you're going to be a slave, Joseph handled the situation perfectly, but Potiphar was a good master. He provided everything that Joseph needed, and he allowed Joseph to become everything he could be. He saw the potential, he saw the capabilities, he saw the wisdom in Joseph, and he let him grow into who Joseph could be.

The kind of master you would want to be in. Be under ownership or have as your owner.

On the other hand, then, we find that Israel. Israel was slaves. They moved into Egypt as Joseph was there and rose to be second in command of the entire country. Israel moved in, and as another king came along, they found themselves slaves in Egypt. But Israel's lot as a slave was far different than Joseph's. As opposed to Potiphar, who saw and allowed Joseph to develop into who he was going to be, Pharaoh at that time saw the capability of Israel. He saw what kind of industrious people they were.

He saw that they could cause him a problem. They were hardworking. They had many talents among them. He could see the blessings and the fruitfulness that they had. What did he do? He just wanted to hold them down. He did not want them to develop into who they could be. They were not allowed to use their talents and their capabilities. He was afraid that even if they allied with the people outside the borders, they would conquer Egypt. And so what he did was hold them down, never going to allow them to know and experience what they could be.

That's the kind of cruel master he was. And their only lot in life. They had no future. They had no hope. The only thing they could look forward to was death. And they lived a hard, hard life.

Not at all like the experience that Joseph had as a slave. And there you see the difference. Slaves in the ancient world wasn't always a bad word. If you had a good master, and if you were someone who was hardworking and who had embraced the situation, you would have a very good life. But if you had a cruel master like Pharaoh was, then your life was absolutely miserable.

And so we said last time, Pharaoh was a type of Satan. Satan has exactly the same thing in mind for us. He knows what the potential of mankind is. He knows why God created us, and he knows what mankind is supposed to be. But his entire intention is to keep them down. Never let them see the potential they have. Never allow God to ever develop them into who he wants them to be. Never let them see that future. And indeed, as we are slaves to Satan, we find that there is no future, there's no hope, and the only thing in the future is death.

No difference from the ancient Israelites of last time. So you learn so many lessons from slavery. Back in the Old Testament, we learned even more lessons from slavery in the New Testament. If you recall last time, we looked at the Greek word, doulos, and looked at how it's been mistranslated in the New King James and King James as servant instead of slave. And we talked a little bit about the difference between servants and slaves. If you're a servant, you're free to go to somewhere else.

If you don't like this employer, you can go to someone else. If you don't like what you're making here, you can look for another job someplace else. As a slave, you can't do that at all. As a slave, you are there, and you have no choice.

The only way out of that situation you're in is if you're sold or you die. Or if you have a good master who will allow you to work toward your freedom, that he will love you and he will help you to become everything that you could become. A servant had to always provide for himself. He had to always look out, where am I going to live?

Where am I going to eat? What am I going to wear? But a slave didn't have to worry about any of that. It was all provided for him. And if you were in first century Rome, and you worked for a master who had a nice home and lots of money, you had a pretty good life. Not every master was bad. And many, many people in the Roman society that had slaves loved them and accepted them as their family. They lived with them day and night, and they appreciated what they had to offer. Not all slaves had to work vigorously and rigor, with rigor, as the Israelites did.

If you had talent, if you were an educator, if you were wise, if you were an accountant, if you were an artisan, you were put to work in your skill. And many of the Roman society or Roman households relied on those people to do those things. But if you were a criminal, if you were a criminal, you might find yourself as a slave that was just worked to death. If you recall, we read through some scriptures where all the apostles, all the writers of the New Testament, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, even John, what do they call themselves? As we read the Bible, they called themselves the servants of God. But the real word that's translated, servant, is slave. They all called themselves the slaves of God. Let's turn back to Philippians 1.

Philippians 1, and this is just one of the many that I mentioned, you can see here in Philippians 1, verse 1, Paul and Timothy as they are writing to the church at Philippi, Paul and Timothy, your New King James version, says, bondservants of Jesus Christ. The word bondservants there is the Greek word, doulos. They're saying, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ. Slaves of Jesus Christ. Now, if we think of ourselves as servants of God, that's good. Certainly, service is part of being a slave. But when we think of ourselves and see what Paul says, and we think of ourselves as slaves of God, things begin to open up. We begin to see what our calling is more clearly. We begin to see what our responsibility is more clearly. And I hope as we go through the sermon today, you see that. Because today we're going to look at New Testaments, and we're going to look at the spiritual application, the things we learn from slavery and how it applies directly to us. And as we here are headed toward the Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread, and we're in the process of examining ourselves, a good question for us to ask is, are we good slaves of God? Are we good slaves of Jesus Christ? Do we understand that we have a really good master? Just as you heard in the sermonette. We have everything. You know, in the Roman first century, well, let me stay here in Philippians. You know, let's go to chapter 2 of Philippians in verse 5.

Philippians 2 and verse 5. We read this last time. Let's read it again, though, because even Jesus Christ refers to himself as a slave when he was on earth. Let this mind, verse 5, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God. He was willing to relinquish that, to fulfill the mission that he had. But he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a...there's the Greek word, doulos, taking the form of a slave and coming in the likeness of men. Coming in the likeness of men. He took the form of a slave.

It should cause us pause to think about what is God trying to teach us as we look at the words that he uses that his servants or his slaves used, not in any negative context, but in a very positive context. Because understanding who they were motivated them to become the people that God wanted them to become and to serve him in the way that he wants to be served. Now, in the Roman world, basically the history books will tell you there were two kinds of people. You were either free or slave. No in-between. You were either free or slave. That was just society back then. We have a hard time even imagining that, that everyone is either free or slave. Because none of us are slaves. We don't know anyone who owns them. It's hard to even imagine ourselves being owned by someone else. But in that world, in the first century, when Jesus Christ was on the earth, when the apostles were on the earth, that was life. And it wasn't all bad. They weren't all in misery. They weren't all, like the stories we read about slavery in America and slavery in Africa in some places. It wasn't all bad. And there are lessons. There are lessons we can learn from it. Let me repeat again. God doesn't condone slavery. And this is not a purpose to condone it at all. It's simply there in a part of life that we would learn the lessons from it that we need to learn. We go back a couple of books to Galatians.

Galatians 3. Some very familiar verses here. Galatians 3 and verse 26. Kind of gives you an insight. Here Paul is talking about when God calls us and we respond and we become part of his family, that we all become one. And as he says here, he kind of does the black and white thing. It's this or this and whatever. Galatians 3 verse 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. If you're baptized, if you've received God's call, accepted Christ's sacrifice, repented, been baptized, had the hands laid on you, received the Holy Spirit, you are now His. Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. And you remember life back then. The Jews saw things in black and white. You were either Jew or Gentile. And it goes when you become part of God's family, there's neither Jew nor Greek. And notice the next one. There's neither slave nor free because everyone was either slave or free. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

All one. All one. Not by the divisions of society, the physical divisions, but by the way God looks at us. Go back to Matthew 8 for a minute here. Just to show you the closeness that some slaves and their masters had.

Find a few verses here that we read a couple weeks ago or a few, maybe a month ago when we were talking about Jesus Christ. The one about full of grace and full of truth. That part of his grace to mankind was his healing. But let's look at chapter 8 and Matthew in verse 5 and use the words that the Bible says when it talks about this centurion who comes to Christ for his servant to be healed. Verse 5. When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him. Not just approaching him and saying, hey, pleading with him. He made a concerted effort to be there and he was begging Christ, saying, Lord, my servant, but it's not servant, it's doulos. Lord, my slave is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. Now, in the modern day slavery, we might think, oh, it's a slave, you know, his life isn't worth much. That is not at all with this man. He's there, he sought out Christ and he's begging. My slave, I love him, I trust him, he's part of our family. He's lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Christ said to him, I'll come and heal him, but the centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof. Just speak a word and my slave will be healed. Now, Christ could have taken that opportunity to say, you know what, you need to do with your slave, you need to free him. But he didn't say that, did he? Because it was just part of life. That was just life at that time. But you can see the feeling between master and slave that had developed in this relationship. Just say it, my slave will be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, he goes, to another one, come, and he comes. And to my slave, do this, and he does it. And when Christ heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, I say to you, I haven't found such great faith, not even in Israel. Look what this man has done. Look what he has done. And he told him, you know, your slave will be healed. But you can see the kinship, you can see the friendship, you can see the respect that's there. So when we talk about slaves, we learn the spiritual applications of slavery in the New Testament. Keep that in mind. And as we keep it in mind, let's go back to Deuteronomy 15.

Look at the words that Moses said as he was about to die, but he's refreshing Israel's mind about who they are, where they're going, and what he wanted them to remember. You know, the same words you'll be reading and will be reading as we head toward Passover. I'm no doubt going to talk about some of these things, but here in Deuteronomy 15.15, you know, verse for us to look at today and keep in mind. Verse 15 of Deuteronomy 15, it says, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the eternal your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. Remember that you were a slave.

Israel was slaves, and they had a bad master. They had a bad master, and they had no way out. They had no hope, no future. It was only God who redeemed them, who brought them out, and they should have understood, but they didn't. They were no longer slaves to Pharaoh, and a bad master who only wanted to hold them back and keep them from realizing what they could be. Now they had a good master who wanted them to be everything and the example to the world that he had called them out to be, but they never got it. They never got that this new master, they needed to serve him in exactly the way they served the old master, because this master would have brought them everything they could have ever hoped for, and more than they could have ever imagined. And they owed him the same determination, the same loyalty, and the same sense of service and commitment that they had to that old master.

But they never did. You know, we could say the same words to us today. Remember you were a slave. Every single one of us were slaves to Satan. Every single one of us. We had no choice. The rest of the world has no choice. They don't know yet that there is another slave, another owner, that they could be a slave to.

And they have no hope. All they have to look forward to is death, as long as they're under the control of that master. You and I have opportunities that God has given us if we understand our responsibilities and understand that we are slaves to a very good master. And that's a good thing. Well, let's go to the New Testament. Last time we talked about some things at the end that we learned from slavery as we looked at it in the Old Testament and compared some of the things to 1st century Rome. I've got five things today I want to talk about, and I could add many more to them. And you can certainly add more to them as you study this and contemplate it. But the first one we have is, you know, as a point I've already mentioned is, you know, your life and your quality of life depends on the master that you have. If you're a slave, you need a good master in order to have a good life. And we can see that pretty much played out for us here in a spiritual sense back in the book of Romans. Let's go back there.

And here in the book of Romans, at least in chapter 6, the translators were true to the Greek word. You know, the Greek word, doulos, they used it. They used it in chapter 6, appropriately, everywhere.

And I think they understood the spiritual application of what doulos means, that we'll be talking about today. In Romans 6, we're just going to read through verses 16 through 23 and contemplate it a little bit. In the guise of everyone is a slave to someone, either they're a slave to Satan or a slave to God. Verse 16, Romans 6, Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

What he's saying as he writes to the church in Rome and as he writes to all of us is, you have a choice. You have a choice. You can be slaves to sin, and that leads to death. Or you can be slaves to God, slaves to obedience, and that will lead to righteousness in life. The choice is yours, he's saying. You and I have that choice. Who will we obey? Who will we be slaves to? Who will we give our lives to?

Verse 17, he says, Notice that word were because they had come out of the world. They'd been called. They'd been repented. They'd been baptized. They'd received the Holy Spirit. They were members of the church, just like you and I. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, as we all were, but should not be now, but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine in which you were delivered. You saw the light. You saw the doctrine. You saw the truth. And you came out of that slavery that would only lead to death under the hands of a cruel and bad master, having been that form of doctrine in which you were delivered, and having been set free, or having been delivered, as the ancient Israelites were, and having been delivered from that master, from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

You no longer were slaves to sin. You gave that up. You gave that up. You chose to be slaves of righteousness.

And we'll see more about that here in a little bit. I speak in human terms, Paul says, because they got it. They understood that those that they in Asia, if you were slaves, you could be sold. Someone else could buy you. And then you lived under the laws of that household. And you lived under what that master wanted you to do.

You just did what the master wanted you to do, understanding your position in life. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented, past tense, your members as slaves of uncleiveness, that's what you did under the prior owner that you had, the prior master that you had, and of lawlessness that just led to more lawlessness. So now, present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

If you had a bad master, that was leading, and you did what he wanted you to do. You were subservient to him, and you sinned, and you were lawless, and that led to more. Now you've been delivered from that futile existence to an existence that has future and a hope. Now, embrace your new role as slaves of God. Recognize who your master is. For when you were, verse 20, past tense, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. You didn't obey righteousness. You weren't righteous. That wasn't part of your life. You were obeying your master. Sin, lawlessness. That was how you lived. You were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? So when we think back on our lives and think, you know, how cool we might have been, and how with it we might have been, and how wonderful our friends might have thought we were when we did these things, now we look back and think, you know, how silly I was, how stupid I was to think that was ever, ever the thing to be there. And Paul's saying, look back on it. Look under that master. What you did, what fruit do you have in it? What good came of that? For the end of those things, he clearly says, the end of those things is death. No option. It's death. Black and white. Jew or Greek. Slave or free. Male or free male. Life or death. Verse 22, But now having been set free, or having been delivered from sin, no longer under that master, now having freedom from that futile way of life that leads to death, but now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and in the end everlasting life.

Look what God has delivered you from. He's taken you out of a life that leads to death to a life that leads to life. From a condition and a status that only can lead to death if you obey that master, to the status of one that can lead to life if we obey this master. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Two masters. We all obey the other. We all follow the other. We are all owned by the other. As it says in the Bible, we are all sold under sin. But now we've been redeemed. Now there's something else that God has offered to us, and we no longer, if we've accepted—I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. You'll see here in a minute— but if we've accepted Jesus Christ's sacrifice, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we become slaves to God.

Let's go to the next point. It makes all the difference in the world if you have a bad master or a good master, whether you have life or death in your future. You and I, everyone in this room, have life in our future because we have a good master if we choose to be under his control. Second point. As a slave, they understood that they were literally owned by their master. Literally owned by their master. You'd always see that in the example of Joseph. He was literally owned. He was just a product. He was just merchandise. People bought him, and that's what they did back in that day and age. Even in the first century, you buy this slave and you buy that slave. You don't like this slave. You trade them in for another one, sell them to someone else. People were just merchandise. But they were literally owned by their masters. And so, we are literally owned by our master.

But out of the physical sense that we might think of, but certainly in the spiritual sense. Let's go back to Matthew 20. Look at Christ's own words concerning this.

Matthew 20. We begin in verse 25. This is the occasion. These are the words of Christ. After the mother of James and John came to it and said, Grant me this wish that my one son will sit on your right hand and the other one will sit on your left hand. It kind of irritates the other disciples that are there. Christ teaches them a lesson here about what it's going and what it's about. As he goes into verse 25, he sets the difference between what rulers in the Gentile world see their role as versus rulers in the kingdom. Matthew 20 verse 25. He just called them to himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. Now, in the New King James, it says servant. The Old King James, if you have that, it probably says minister. There are occasions when you read that word servant, it literally means servant. As we talked about last time, it's the Greek word diaconos. It is where we get the word deacon from. People deacon serve. Deacon serve, and that's what he's talking about there. So he's saying, if everyone wants to be great among you, they must become your servant. They must be willing to serve in whatever capacity that is to serve. Most of the time, remember, though, when you read the New Testament and you see the word servant, it is doulos. Most of the time, it's slave, not in that case. Verse 27, and whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Properly translated in New King James, I think, in the Old King James, it says servant there. Whoever wants to be great or first among you, let him be your slave. That's right there should tell us there's something God wants us to learn. And those disciples, as they heard that, what does it mean to be a slave? Why would God say that? But that was for the last time we talked about that. Let's go on to verse 28. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom. A ransom for many. Now there's that word ransom. You know, we know what a ransom is. It's a price you pay to free someone. And indeed, in the Greek, it means the same thing. It's from Greek, Strong's 3038. It literally means a loosening, a redemption price, a price paid that was paid for slaves or captives. And Jesus Christ says, the Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many. He was going to pay the price for slaves or captives. He was going to redeem them. The same word that we read back in Deuteronomy 15, 15, when God brought Israel out of Egypt, he redeemed them and brought them out of Egypt. And as he looks at us, he paid the ransom for us. We were sold under sin. We were clearly slaves of Satan. But he paid the price that we could be free from that. He paid the price for that. Just like someone in the first century and first century Rome could do and say, you know what? I kind of want that slave you've got. I'll pay whatever price you want. I want him. And when they struck a deal, he left that old master, and he came over and he had a new master. Left the old owner, now had a new owner. And Christ said, I'll pay the price. All you have is death. That's the only future that you have. I'll pay the price. That you have a future and a hope.

Well, let's go to 1 Peter because 1 Peter talks about the same thing here. 1 Peter 1.

And we'll begin in verse 17.

1 Peter 1. 17. 1 Peter 1. 17. He says, If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, without partiality, he doesn't have favorites, and say, you know what? I kind of like you. OK, so I'm going to let you slide on this one. You didn't do everything the way I said, but I like you, and therefore you're going to get by. No, no, no. Everyone is in the same boat. God says, clearly what he expects for us to do, just like an owner would say, clearly what he expects his slaves to do, I expect you to do it. You're mine. I bought you for you. I bought you. I paid for you. You do what it is. If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Be aware of what's at stake, he's saying. Understand what you're doing. Understand that you are serving, and that you are a slave in the same sense as the physical slave might in fear say, you know what, I'm going to obey everything that that master says. Because that was his job, and if he was a good slave, he embraced it. It became his heart. It became what he wanted to do. When he woke up in the morning, his thought was, how do I please my master? How do I please him? If he was a good slave, you know, as you look at Joseph, I think when he woke up in the morning, he thought, how can I please Potiphar? What can I do? And he probably also prayed to God, how do I please you and continue to live the way you have called me to? So verse 17, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed —there's that word—that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. He's saying, you know what? Look all around you. Anywhere you go in Roman society, you see these people being bought with gold and silver. He's saying, that's not what you were bought with. You weren't redeemed with corruptible things like the rest of these people. They knew exactly what he was talking about. The price that was paid for you was Christ's own blood, a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's what you were bought and paid for, much more precious than any gold or silver that a slave would be traded from one owner to another. He, indeed, speaking of Christ, verse 20, was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, to redeem you from a hopeless, futile, going-nowhere existence. He was manifest in these last times for you, who, through him, believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Under the old Master, you had no hope. You had no future. There was nothing. Now, your faith and your hope are in God. A tremendously good Master, who has all of mankind's best interest at heart.

Let's go back and see what Paul says. You can also mark down in your notes if you want Ephesians 1-7, where Paul uses the same analogy and using the word redeemed. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 6. See his epistle to the Corinthian church, a portion of it.

You remember the Corinthian church? Corinth was a lascivious society. It was steeped in paganism, of course, and sexual immorality ran rampant through that society. As people were called out of that society, they had a lot that they had to overcome and a lot of the renewing of the minds of what was right and wrong that they had to learn as they were going to follow God. Here in 1 Corinthians 6, a chapter that kind of spells out for us the type of sins that if we commit, we won't be in God's kingdom. Down at the bottom here, let's just look at 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20. Paul says, That's you and me. You were bought at a price. You were purchased. You were purchased out of slavery from one owner, and you became the slaves of another owner.

You were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We belong to Him. That's what He's saying. He bought you. You're His.

Let's go back and look at verse 15. The verse is leading up to verse 20 there. And understanding slaves of God and understanding our status and what God sees us as, the same thing that Peter, Paul, James, John, Jude, and even Jesus Christ saw themselves as. Let's look at these words leading up to verse 20 where it tells us clearly we were bought with a price. Verse 15, Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? Certainly not. He's saying you are bought with a price. You belong to God. He owns you.

Your master says, don't do that. Are you going to use your body to do this unseemly thing? Paul says, of course not. That was the master you used to serve when you were a slave to him, but now you are a slave to God. And so you would never do that when you're a slave to God. Certainly not, he says. And we can understand that when we understand, used to be slaves to Satan, used to be the people in Corinth, slaves to that society, and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, but today, not that way at all. No longer serve that master anymore. So he says, don't you know these things? Or don't you know, verse 16, that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? The two, he says, shall become one flesh. Were you called to do this sin? Were you called to be aligned with that sin? Of course not. That's not what your master would have you do. That's not at all what the rules of the household are. That's not at all what the master desires is. And the job as a good slave is you please the master. You live by his rules. Because if you don't play by his rules, if you don't embrace it with all your heart, you're never going to rise. In position. You're always going to be seen as a rebel. A good master was looking for a good slave who would embrace him and live his way and follow him implicitly. And he could see his heart just like Potiphar saw Joseph's heart. Just like God sees our heart. Are we good slaves to him? And Paul is taking it right down to the physical here in this example for the Corinthians. In verse 18 he says, flee sexual immorality. Well, that was one of the major things in Corinth. We could just say flee sin. Sin was the thing of the old master. That's what we used to be slaves to. When you come into a new household and under a new owner, you don't live by the old rules anymore. You live and you're very aware and you consistently apply the rules of the new master. You live by his way in his house. Flee sin. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or don't you know, Paul says, that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God. And you are not your own. You are not your own. Aren't those telling words? We are not our own. We were bought and paid for. And when we committed to God and Jesus Christ through baptism, we became their slaves. No longer our ideas, no longer our way, but his way. Learning and living by the laws of the master, the very, very, very good master that we have. Or as Jesus Christ would say, when you accept him, deny self. Live by his way if you understand what it means to be a slave of God. And if you understand the very good, impartial master that we serve.

Well, we can talk about slaves, doulos, and 140 or 170 times it's mentioned there in the New Testament. But you can't talk about slaves without masters. Every slave has a master. There's no such thing as a slave without a master. That's just part of the definition. If you have a slave, you have an owner. And Christ talks about that. Let's go back to Matthew 10 and talk about masters for a while. We've talked about good masters and bad masters. We know that God is a good master. We'll see that even more here in a few minutes. But this concept of master, you know where doulos shows up 170 times, I think, in the New Testament? The word for master, the Greek word for master shows up 700 times. 700 times in the New Testament, it's all over the Bible. Matthew 10. Matthew 10, let's look at verse 24. These again are Christ's own words.

And he says here in verse 24, a disciple, a student, a disciple is not above his teacher. Well, we know that. At least the world used to knew that, right? When I was a student, I never thought that I was above my teachers. Today, maybe some students think that. The Christ says the disciple is not above his teacher. First, and going on to verse 24, nor a slave, because servant there is doulos, nor a slave above his master. The Greek word translated master there is the Greek word kyrios, K-Y-R-I-O-S, sometimes K-U-R-I-O-S, but it's kyrios.

And it shows up, as I said, several hundred times in the New Testament. Sometimes it's translated master. We kind of know what masters are. Sometimes it's translated as Lord. Little L, lowercase L-O-R-D, when you read lowercase L-O-R-D, that's the same word kyrios, that's translated elsewhere, master. And sometimes even capital L-O-R-D is kyrios, referring to Jesus Christ, master. So when you read the word Lord in the New Testament, you might replace it with pastor and get a new flavor for who it is we're serving, that he is our master. And we are his slaves. That's the relationship that we are in, and it's not a bad relationship. It's a relationship that leads to everything good, things that we can't even imagine.

So he goes on in verse 25, and he says it's enough for a student that he'd be like his teacher and a slave like his kyrios. And then he says, if they have called the master of the house, bills above, how much more will they call those of his household?

Because slave and masters live together in one place. If the master was held an ill repute, the whole household was. That's what he's saying. They're calling me these things. If you see yourselves and I'm your master, they're going to have the same attitude toward you. So we see this master, which is a word we fully understand if we have a master. Let's go to Colossians 4. And among the many, many, many places that we could turn and see the word master, in Colossians 4, Paul uses the word, and he gives some instructions to physical masters in this day and age.

Or that day and age, of course, in this day and age as well. Chapter 4 of Colossians. And verse 1. Masters, it's the Greek word kyrios. Masters, give your...you see the word bondservants? It's a doulos. Masters, give your slaves. What is just and fair? Knowing that you also have a kyrios in heaven. So he's saying to physical masters who own slaves, because there were people in the church who owned slaves back then.

Christ never said it's wrong. Get rid of them. But it was just a part of life back then, an everyday part of life. And he's saying to the masters of them, you treat them well. You treat them well. You be a good master. Knowing that you have a master in heaven. Someone that you are serving who owns you and who directs you and who you have a responsibility toward. Masters, give your slaves what is just and fair. Knowing that you also have a master in heaven. It helps us to understand a little bit more.

And as you work with these words and understand the great meanings, and as you read, you'll see more and more what it is that we need to do. Now, there's one thing about slaves. Today we live in a society that's free. We don't know any slaves. It's pretty much, I'm going to guess, for the most part, at least legally slavery is abandoned. We know that there are other things that go on in this earth. But it's gone. We live in a time of freedom. None of us are owned by anyone else physically. We know that we're owned by God. We've seen that clearly, I hope.

We're not owned by anyone, but if we were, part of slavery is you are loyal to that one owner. It's not like today where we might have a job and we have a full-time job and we have an employer and we're loyal to that employer. We put our eight or ten hours in every day to that employer. And then at the night, you know, we have a different employer and we're going to go over there and work part-time and you know the thing for him.

Now we might have two masters physically, but when you were a slave, that didn't happen. You had one. You had one owner. And your entire life was revolving around that one owner. There was no split loyalties. There was one owner. In fact, if you were a slave who didn't understand that you had one owner and you were loyal to him, you might find yourself in a lot of trouble. And that could lead to imprisonment or even death. But you had one master. Christ addresses that specifically here back in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6.

And in verse 24, he says this. Something that we, the people back then would have understood exactly what he was saying. He says, No one can serve two masters. No one can serve two curios. It's not even, it's unheard of. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. One master, completely loyal to him. No split loyalties. No double-mindedness. One master. And he goes to, right to the point, he says, you can't serve God and Mammon. You can't serve God. You can't be a slave to God and also have your eye on Mammon and how you're going to serve that God. You can't have an eye on, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this and whatever. You have, you are bought and paid for by God. You have one master, and your complete loyalty is to him. Spiritually speaking, slaves couldn't be double-minded. They were there for their master to please him. To be there at his back and call, it was the only way out. If you had a good master of slavery, that would lead to death. Let's move on to another point here. Point three. Your job was to obey and be loyal and learn to please your master. I've said that several times. The job of the servant, the job of the slave, I'm sorry, was to keep his master happy. And he was to embrace that life, even while he served God in it, just as we saw the example of Joseph. Let's go back to Jeremiah 29.

Jeremiah 29. And Judah. God brought Israel out of Egypt. He brought Judah out of Egypt. He gave them freedom. He wanted them to be the examples of the earth. He wanted them to have them ride on the high heels of the earth. And have people see, they never did get it. They became slaves to the nations around them, and they wanted to do the things that they wanted to do, rather than the things that God wanted to do. So they lost their freedom. And God sold them into slavery again. It was his will that they would be sold into slavery. And Judah found themselves captive to Babylon in Jeremiah 29, verse 4. This is what he says to those captives who were slaves going back into slavery to the Babylonian Empire. Verse 4. Thus says the eternal of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be increased there and not be diminished. Live your life. That's where I want you to be. That's where you're going to be. Don't go there and be rebellious. Don't go there and say, I'm going to break my way out. I'm going to mastermind some way to get back to where I want to be. That's where God said to be. And seek, verse 7, the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it. For in its peace, you will have peace. Embrace the situation that you're in. Pray for the peace of that city. Be good slaves. That's the status that you're in now. Let's drop down to verse 11. You can read later, verses 8-10. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Eternal, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Our Master, under him we have future and a hope. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter what situation or place or circumstance, our Master places us in at that time. No matter where. Now we can think of Joseph. He fulfilled those verses, and he never even read those verses. When he went to Egypt, he embraced his life there. And he did very well. He did very well. And he had a good Master. He ended up who would think it that a slave would end up second in command of all of Egypt, the greatest power on earth at that time. But he embraced his situation, and he did it the way God said to do it. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 7.

1 Corinthians 7, let's see what Paul has to say about our Master and doing his will and following him and understanding he has the right because he owns us, to put us where he wants us to be, and to do with us what he wants. 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7, you'll remember, is a chapter on marriage, but right in the middle of it, Paul has some scriptures here pertaining to slaves. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 20. He says, Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Verse 21, Where you called while a slave? That's the Greek word, doulos. Where you called while a slave? Don't be concerned about it. But if you can be made free, use it. So he's saying, you know what, if you're called as a slave, remain a slave. Continue in that. If you have the opportunity, it's not wrong to be free, but don't spend your life and your time then thinking, I can no longer do this. God will lead you to where he wants you to be. At that point, he called you in the status of a slave, stay there, and do it well. Were you called to be a slave? Don't be concerned about it, but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man. Well, he was a physical slave, and he was a slave before to Satan, but you know what? Christ God set him free from being the slave of sin, the slave that leads to death. So even in that light, he may still be a physical slave, but now he's a free man in Christ. He's no longer under the bondage of a cruel and awful master. Likewise, he was called while free. He is Christ's slave. You may think he's free, either free or slave, in the Roman society, but he is slave to Christ. He's been bought with a price. His responsibility is to be loyal, faithful, and embrace his role to his owner.

Verse 23, you were bought at a price. Same thing he said a chapter ago in chapter 6. You were bought at a price. Don't become slaves of men. Remember who you are slaves to, but don't seek to become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. Let God direct your life. Let him be the one to lead you, because he knows where he's taking you. He knows what your potential is.

He knows what he has in mind for you, a future and a hope. Let him lead. Don't take matters into your own hands. Let him lead you.

Collagions. We were in collagions 4 a few minutes ago, and we read about masters. Let's see what Paul, under the inspiration of God, has to say about slaves. Collagions 3. Collagions 3, verse 22. Bondservants. The first word in verse 22 is, it's doulos, slaves. Slaves, obey in all things your masters, your kyrios, according to the flesh. Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. Don't serve them, and then at night go back and say, what a jerk that master is.

I know so much more than him. Embrace it and serve them with sincerity of heart, just like you serve as a slave, our master God. Whatever you do, whether it's slave physically or free physically, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. Whatever you do, whatever state God has you in, do it well. Embrace it. Do it with sincerity. Do it to the best of your ability. Become profitable servants, you might say, as we look a little down the road.

Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the word of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. Remember, he's saying, whatever we do, remember who is your master. Remember who is your master, and do it his way. And remember, he will direct your life. He will lead you to where he wants you to go.

Let him, just as a physical slave, didn't make his own decisions. They trusted it, they relied, they were faithful, the good slaves, to their masters. This is the point number four. Slaves are totally dependent on their masters. Masters, owners provided everything. They provided homes, they provided food, they provided clothing, they provided it all. The slaves' job was simply to please the master, the master's job was to make sure he had everything else that he needed. When Joseph lived with Potiphar, Joseph was there to please Potiphar and please God.

He wasn't worrying about what he was going to wear in the morning. He wasn't going to worry, he wasn't worrying about, where am I going to get this food, where am I going to sleep at night? He knew. He was sleeping in his master's house. His master would provide his clothing, and his master would provide his food. His job was simply to please the master. Matthew 6. We read Matthew 6 a few minutes ago, and we read about, you can't serve two masters but just one. But following that verse in verse 25, Christ talks about this.

Verse 25, very familiar verses. He says, therefore I say to you, don't worry. After he says, you can't serve God and Mammon. And his impetus is, his incentive is, work, please God, serve him. Therefore I say to you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body what you will put on. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Somebody's saying, you know what? Slaves, they don't have to worry about that stuff. They just have to do what their master tells them to do.

Look at the birds of the year. They don't sow or reap or gather in the barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of more value than they? Don't you realize what your potential is? Don't you understand what he's working with you to become? Verse 28, so why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not a raid like one of these.

Serve God. He's your master. Do what he wants you to do. He'll take care of the rest. 31, therefore don't worry, saying, what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? Slaves, in the first century, they weren't asking those questions.

If they had a good master, for after all these things, the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. What he's saying is, you be good slaves. You do what he says. You follow his principles. You follow his way of life. You embrace it. And if you're a good slave, your very, very, very, very good master will provide. But your very, very, very good master wants us to become very good slaves who trust and rely on him just as the slaves, the physical slaves, in the first century, learned to rely on their masters, but they gave them their all.

And in Roman society, many, many slaves were well thought of and well provided for by their masters, who did give them a future and a hope as they would serve them for, most of the history says, 14 or so years. Well, let me view Matthew 10, verses 5 to 10, that you can look at later. Now, Jesus Christ gives an example of this in real life. You remember in Matthew 10, Christ sends out disciples two by two. And he tells them, you know, I'm sending you out to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast demons out, cleanse the lepers. So I'm going to give you all those powers.

And you remember what he says after that? He says, don't take, you know, don't take any, don't take two tunics, don't take a knapsack, don't worry about money, don't take all, more sandals, just go. You do what you have, I'm equipping you with what you need to do, go do it. And don't take any of the other things. And it's an interesting thing for him to say. It's like telling us, go away for two or three weeks, don't pack a thing, just go. I would have a hard time doing that, right? I mean, we would be like, wait a minute.

But the disciples did it. And then in Luke 22.35, as he's at the Passover, he asked them a question. He says, do you remember when I sent you out and I told you don't take any tunics and don't take your knapsacks and don't take any money with you? And they, of course, say yes. And he goes, did you lack anything? They said nothing. They didn't lack anything. They just did and did. They just went and did what God said. He saw to it and provided everything. Let's go on to number five. The ultimate for a slave was to win his freedom and become a Roman citizen.

You know, in Rome, I think you probably heard this before, but in Rome, the slaves became just a part of the family. If they were good slaves and good masters, they were just part of the family. They lived there every day. Children looked at them as just part of the family. They looked up to them. And masters, if they were good, would even give the opportunities to earn freedom and to set them free.

And some would even adopt their slaves in as part of their family, make them part of their family so they were part of the inheritance that their family would have because they were that close, they were that much of a family. And if you were with a good family, a good master, and if you were a good slave, you're his future in the hope that you weren't going to die a slave, but you were going to have a very good life, and you had some light at the end of the tunnel.

And so it is with us. We're slaves of God, but God sees us in different lights, and as we work with him and as we yield to him, we see him progressing us along in what he thinks of us. Let's look at John.

John 15. John 15. In verse 15, these are words that Christ spoke before he was arrested and crucified to his disciples after that last Passover that he was on earth. John 15. And verse 15. Well, we'll begin in verse 14. He says, You are my friends, speaking to his disciples. And he would say these same words to us today. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. You are my friends if I do whatever I command you. Well, I think as slaves went into one household, and their master said, you know, do this and do that, and that slave worked hard to do whatever that master said.

After a while, they developed a relationship with the other, like Joseph and Potiphar. And Potiphar would have said, Joseph's my friend. He's a slave, but he's still my friend.

And Christ says to us, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you... Ah, verse 15. No longer do I call you Doulos. No longer do I call you slaves. For a slave doesn't know what his curious is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my father, I have made known to you. You're part of the family now. You can know more than just a slave.

I've seen you. I've seen how you've embraced your role. I trust you. I see your heart. I see how you work. You're no longer a slave, even though they were still slaves, but in the mind...

of the master, they were friends. Romans. Romans 8.

So, slave to friend. And in Romans 8, this is a chapter about the Holy Spirit. You remember well, verse 7, where it talks about how the carnal mind, the natural mind of man, is enmity against God. It's not subject to His law. It can't be. It can be when we accept the fact that our new master bought and paid for us and gives us His Holy Spirit, so we can please Him if we truly and with all our heart want to. Let's drop down to verse 12, chapter 8. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors. Debtors. We owe a lot. We owe everything to God. We owe everything to Jesus Christ. He bought and paid for us. He redeemed us with His own blood. We can understand what Paul says in Romans 12.1 and 2, when he says, it's your reasonable service. It's just your reasonable service to offer yourselves as living sacrifices to God. That's what a slave did. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. That's the old master. That's the old slave we were. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It all depends on which master you serve, and every one of us in this room have an opportunity to serve a good master or a cruel master. For as many, verse 14, as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. They become family members, legitimate, legal family members. These are sons of God, for you didn't receive the Spirit of bondage, again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, or some would say, sonship, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Just like the Roman slave who became a part of the family. He was naturalized, but you know what? God puts His Spirit in us. That Roman owner couldn't put his DNA in that slave, but God puts His Spirit in us. The Spirit itself, verse 16, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we be glorified together if we follow Him and remain loyal to Him every step of the way right to the very end. Slaves, to friends, to sons. Revelation 1. Revelation 1 and verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His...there's that word, doulos again. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His doulos, His slaves, things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His slave, John, who dutifully and responsibly reported it and recorded it for us. Drop down to verse 5. Now drop down to verse 4, where the sentence begins.

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us, indeed paid the price for us, and washed us. And the Greek word there, wash, is a complete washing. Complete, total body washing. Just as in baptism. Clearing us from our sins, forgiving us all our sins. As we choose to put to death the former self. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests. To His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And has made us kings and priests. That's the future. That's the hope. If slaves to friends, to sons, to kings and priests.

Much the pattern that Joseph followed, right? Joseph was a slave, became a friend, Potiphar pretty much let Joseph control everything. Joseph ended up as second in command of Egypt. And God says to those who are His slaves. Follow me. Be a good slave, and I'll make you kings and priests. Something that's unheard of for a slave. Especially a slave who had no future and no hope in his prior life. I'm a little over time, but let me conclude here in Matthew 25.

Matthew 25. I'll give you an assignment, but you know the parable of the talents that is recorded here in the middle part of chapter 25. I'm going to read just a couple verses here, but you remember the parable as the master. Let's read. Let's read verse 14 here. And again use the Greek words in their proper translation. Verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own slaves and delivered his goods to them. The one he gave five talents, another two, another one, to each according to his own bibility, and immediately he went on a journey. And then you know what happens and what happens to the person who had five that multiplied it by 100%, so he had ten, the two turned into four. But the one just stayed at one. It didn't grow at all. It stayed exactly the same. And down in verse 26, as you recall, when his Lord, little L-O-R-D, right, Curios, as his master, came home, he's a little upset that that one talent is still one talent. And in verse 26, it says, his Lord, we can replace that with master because it's the word Curios, but his master answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, you gather and gather where I have not scattered seed. You ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Take the one talent from him and give it to those who have more, verse 30, and cast that unprofitable slave into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When that day of accountability comes, and when the master returns, and he says, Look what I gave you, what did you do with it? None of us want that script written about us to be called a wicked and a lazy slave. That wasn't profitable to our master at all. Now, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But on the other hand, for those good slaves who dedicate their life and who embrace the role that they've been given the opportunity to embrace, who do it with all their heart, mind, and soul, look what he says in verse 19, to the one with five and then also to the one with two. After a long time, the Lord, the Kyrios, the master of those slaves, that's Doulos, after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, s the Greek word kyrios, master, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more talents besides them. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. Well done, good and faithful slave, you were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

So the question for us, as we examine ourselves and as we move closer to Passover, is, are we good slaves? Are we good slaves the way that God would have us be good slaves? Do we appreciate what a good and a great master we have and what he offers us? And do our actions every day reflect the recognition of who we are and who we serve?