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Today we come to the third and final earthly relationship that Paul used to convey our relationship with God and what right submission ought to like to the Ephesian church. We’ve seen Paul’s examples flow from the marital relationship that exists between husband and wife to the parent/child relationship and now to work relationships. And the question that we’ve been asking each week is: what is Paul trying to teach us in each example? What is Paul teaching us about our relationship with God from this example of masters and slaves? Now, I need to address the elephant in the room before we really get started on this text. Don’t mistake these verses as a biblical endorsement of slavery. There are opponents of the Christian faith who will say how heinous these verses are because Paul not only doesn’t condemn slavery, but he seemingly has no problem with it. Now, we know from looking at the entirety of Scripture that Paul does have issue with it, but he simply chooses not to address it here. In other places he most certainly condemns it, just not here. I have a theological issue with homosexuality; however, I don’t walk up to every person that I know is a homosexual and condemn them right there on the spot. I don’t encourage them, but I don’t harshly condemn either. And my lack of condemnation at a given moment ought not to be misinterpreted as my endorsing such behavior. The reality of slavery in Paul’s time was that it existed. Despite what we may think and know of it today, it was a common practice in Paul’s time. That doesn’t make it right, but its commonality does make it a fairly universally understood teaching illustration. Also, I would remind you that slavery at that time wasn’t racially driven like what comes to mind today when we think of slavery. It was more national or cultural than anything else. Think if you will of the Hebrews in Egypt. Paul uses slavery here as an example simply because it was one of the predominate work relationships of his day, and a third avenue for teaching right submission and obedience.
Today we come to the third and final earthly relationship that Paul used to convey our relationship with God and what right submission ought to like to the Ephesian church. We’ve seen Paul’s examples flow from the marital relationship that exists between husband and wife to the parent/child relationship and now to work relationships. And the question that we’ve been asking each week is: what is Paul trying to teach us in each example? What is Paul teaching us about our relationship with God from this example of masters and slaves? Now, I need to address the elephant in the room before we really get started on this text. Don’t mistake these verses as a biblical endorsement of slavery. There are opponents of the Christian faith who will say how heinous these verses are because Paul not only doesn’t condemn slavery, but he seemingly has no problem with it. Now, we know from looking at the entirety of Scripture that Paul does have issue with it, but he simply chooses not to address it here. In other places he most certainly condemns it, just not here. I have a theological issue with homosexuality; however, I don’t walk up to every person that I know is a homosexual and condemn them right there on the spot. I don’t encourage them, but I don’t harshly condemn either. And my lack of condemnation at a given moment ought not to be misinterpreted as my endorsing such behavior. The reality of slavery in Paul’s time was that it existed. Despite what we may think and know of it today, it was a common practice in Paul’s time. That doesn’t make it right, but its commonality does make it a fairly universally understood teaching illustration. Also, I would remind you that slavery at that time wasn’t racially driven like what comes to mind today when we think of slavery. It was more national or cultural than anything else. Think if you will of the Hebrews in Egypt. Paul uses slavery here as an example simply because it was one of the predominate work relationships of his day, and a third avenue for teaching right submission and obedience.
We have to keep in mind that all three of these relationships are calls to submission (wives, children, slaves). That’s what Paul’s trying to teach here. Remember, we’re in the midst of talking about how to put off the old self and put on the new. The only way that that can be done is not by the sweat of our brow or our most valiant efforts, but by our complete and total submission to God. Paul is using these three different examples to teach submission because everyone could relate to at least one of these three relationships, if not all three. And even though slavery doesn’t still exist in our world today (at least not in our society), I think that these words from our text today are just as true for us today as they were during Paul’s time. However, instead of slaves and masters, we must think in terms of employees and bosses. So, I’m probably going to jump back and forth saying slaves one minute and employees the next. Just bear with me and know that when I say slaves I’m referring to modern-day employees. Paul says that slaves are to obey their masters “with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as [they] would Christ.” Now, to me this is a hard word both in the historical and modern context. Historically, Paul is saying that those who are enduring the harsh conditions of slavery should serve their masters with a sincere heart; no doubt something that would be quite difficult and against one’s natural inclination. The modern context or application of these words would be that we are to work for our bosses with all that we have; treating our jobs with the same level of care and importance that our bosses do. I’m fortunate in that I love my job. However, not everyone has that luxury. I’ve worked in some jobs where it was a struggle to get up and go each morning. So, I know that the reality of this statement in our modern context is quite difficult as well; maybe not to the same level as slavery, but still difficult.
Paul continues by saying, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ.” There’s that “of Christ” again; similar to “as the Lord” or “in the Lord” that we’ve seen the past few weeks, but we’ll deal with that in a minute. As I was reading the words eye-service and people-pleasers, I thought back to the summer of 2004. I was working at Starkville Country Club in Starkville, MS on the grounds crew trying to save up enough money to buy an engagement ring while Amy was in a town about an hour north of Baltimore, MD working at a horse farm. I got up every morning at 4 am to go cut grass until about 3 or 4 pm. My first day there, the head of the grounds crew told me that I always needed to be busy. If you finished what you were doing, then go weed eat a ditch or wash carts or something. Well, one of the guys that had worked there for a while was lying under a tractor one day. I thought that it might have broken down on him, so I stopped to ask him if he needed any help. After finishing my question, I could then hear that he was snoring. I woke him up and he got mad at me. “Don’t you know how this job works? You’re just supposed to look busy. You don’t have to actually be busy all the time. That’s only for when any of the bosses are around.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first or last coworker that I have had who felt the need to simply look busy (i.e. do actual work only when someone important was looking). Paul is calling us to constant work. If you recall the account of creation in Genesis, God called Adam and Eve to constant work as well, with the Sabbath rest coming on the seventh day. It wasn’t that God told Adam and Eve to simply look busy, but to work and care or God’s creation. Basically, God was commanding them to submit to Him and to work and care for His creation just as if it was their own. I want you to just hear the rest of the words that Paul gives to the Ephesians here: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.” Do you hear the words of care that slaves or workers are to have? Working from the heart; earnestly working. And we’re not working to please man, but to please God. I don’t care if you’re a pastor like me or a teacher or a welder or a ditch-digger; whatever your occupation is, you are to do it as a servant of God. No matter your vocation, you are to seek to bring honor and glory to God’s kingdom through the right working of your job. I’m not going to call out any companies specifically, but we’ve seen different restaurants and merchants operate in a manner that honors God while still providing equal or better service than those who don’t. We’ve seen individual people who work in the same job (and sometimes for the same company) as someone else, but yet God is honored and proclaimed through one of them and not the other. Paul is calling all people to submit to their work (i.e. their employers), but to do so while honoring God.
Before moving on to the masters, Paul tells slaves of their reward. He says, “knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” Paul is saying that the blessing in all of this is that through our submission we will receive something much greater back in return. We don’t just submit in order to get the reward, but because we submit we are rewarded. Because we submit, because we honor God in our vocation, God is going to give us something so much greater. In fact, he’s already given us this great gift in the person of Jesus Christ, and he’s going to continue to give us this great gift through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our hearts, shaping us more and more in the image of Christ. Now, I do need to say before moving on that submitting to our masters is similar to that of wives submitting to husbands and children submitting to parents. It’s similar in that all of these are not simply blind submissions, but are submissions in so far as the respective heads are in line with the will of God. If a boss tells you to be dishonest, to steal, to do shotty work that might endanger the occupants of a building, then we as Christians are not compelled to obey them. We are compelled to obey God first and foremost.
Paul makes this point very clear in his only comment aimed directly at masters (or employers) when he says, “masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.” Masters do the same. In other words, bosses are to be held to the same standard as their employees. I can remember growing up; my father owned a paint manufacturing business. If he ever asked his employees to work late in order to complete a big job, then it was just understood that he was going to be right there with them. There was never a sense of “I’m the boss. I’m above that. That’s what I pay you people to do.” Anything that he expected his employees to do was something that he was completely willing to do himself. I can’t count the number of times when I would go and see him and arrive to find his clothes were twice as filthy as anyone else that worked for him. Employers are to hold themselves to the same standards as they would employees. Doesn’t this sound almost identical to the relationships that we’ve seen the last few weeks? Doesn’t setting realistic standards and having mutual respect for the other party in a relationship sound just like what we said about the relationships that exist between husbands and wives and parents and children?
Now, I want take some time and pull not only this text, but all three of our examples together with the few minutes I have remaining. For starters, I love the part that Paul puts in there about both slaves and masters having the same Master (notice the capitalization of the “M” in this usage) in heaven. It’s worth noting that the Greek word that is translated master throughout this passage is the word kurios, which is translated in most other passages as Lord. I don’t think it can be lost that Paul could have used a different word for master, but specifically used this particular word in this passage. Paul’s reminding us that no matter slave or free, employee or employer, that we ultimately serve the same Master, the same Lord. The same could be said of the other two relationships as well.
Whether we are the designed head of these relationships (husband, parent, or master) or the ones who are called to be in submission (wives, children, or slaves), our status with Christ is unmoved. In Paul’s words, “there is not partiality with [God].” Yes, we have different roles to play on this earth and yes we are called to different responsibilities within those different roles, but our service is ultimately to God. Look at it like this, in the overall scope of a company, the job of everyone is to create a quality product. There are undoubtedly different roles held by different people, but the task of creating a quality product remains the overall unified theme. As we’ve been talking about these relationships and the overarching theme of submission, we have to remember the context. As we’ve already said, they are given to us on the heels of Paul’s teaching about putting off the old self and putting on the new. We are able to put on the new and shed the old only by submitting to Christ. But don’t forget that this is part of an epistle that Paul wrote about the Church. Doesn’t this talk about all serving the same Master and all working towards the same goal just scream out to you about how the Church (by that I mean both universal and local) should operate.
No matter what role we have in the Church, the bride of Christ, we are to fulfill our role. We are to do our job not matter what that job is. Sometimes we’re not going to like our job. Sometimes we’re not going to like giving what we are called to give, doing what we’re called to do, or giving up what we have to give up in order to serve the Lord. However, that is what we are called to do. In other words, we are to submit ourselves to the will of God. We aren’t to say, “Lord, I’m willing to do whatever it is that you are calling me to do as long as it is located where I want, giving me what I want, and not making me uncomfortable.” No! Instead, we are to simply say to the Lord, “I submit. Use me however you see fit; even if that means to my personal detriment.” The bottom line is that we must understand who we are in our earthly relationships, while also understanding who we are in our relationship with God. We are to always serve God, be in submission to Him, and obey His will for our lives.
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