Grace Fellowship    02/20/09    Christian Slavery    Colossians 3:12 - 4:1

CLICK HERE to listen to this sermon in MP3 audio.

We are going to consider a topic today that I hope will permanently change your thinking about your relationship as a Christian to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If that happens, and I pray that it does, it will also have the effect of permanently changing how you and I live our lives for Him.  However, let’s begin with a brief review by reading our text beginning in Colossians 3:12, reading down to chapter 4, verse 1.

3:12  Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

4:1  Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.¹

We’ve looked at verses 12 through 17 for some weeks now.  We’ve looked at our personal relationship with God in the three words in verse 12.  Our relationship with God is one of Him choosing us, Him setting us apart for Himself, and Him loving us.  We are chosen, sanctified, and loved by God.  According to our text, it is that relationship that defines all our relationships with other believers, particularly those of our own church family.  That it affects the local fellowship of believers is evident from Paul’s “one another” statements.  God’s chosen, sanctified, and loved people are to bear with one another, forgive one another, teach and admonish one another.  And though it isn’t specifically stated in these verses, it is certainly evident here and throughout the New Testament that we are also to love one another.  It is God’s love for us individually that moves us to love each other corporately.

Last week, we examined how God’s people are to love each other, and we asked ourselves some hard questions.  Just as it is good to have physical checkups on a routine basis, it is good for us to regularly examine ourselves spiritually.  We need to care for our spiritual well-being as it relates to our walk with Christ and with one another.  While we certainly want to keep our attention on Christ and the wondrous things He has done and is doing on our behalf, we also need to occasionally turn our focus upon our own hearts.  Too much self-focus can be detrimental.  We don’t want to be introspective to the point of being self-absorbed.  But we do need to take our spiritual temperature on occasion.

So let me present those questions to you again that we considered last Lord’s Day, in abbreviated form:

1.    Do you and I live and interact with one another as God’s people with a love that is apparent to people who may be looking on?  Does the world know WE are Christ’s disciples because of our love for one another? 
2.    When was the last time you or I showed loving compassion and kindness toward someone else in this congregation?  Is that kind of love typical for us, or is it the exception?
3.    Are you tolerant of the peculiarities and differences you see in your brothers and sisters?
4.    Does the peace of Christ rule in our hearts?  Is there a sense of peaceful togetherness among us?  Or does conflict and unforgiveness better characterize our church?
5.    Are you exceedingly thankful to God for what He has done for you?  Does that gratitude include being thankful to Him for placing you in this church body with these believers?
6.    Does the word of Christ dwell in us richly and are you willing to listen to, and be taught, corrected, encouraged and warned from the Scriptures by someone other than your pastor?
7.    Do we sing songs together simply because that is our standard operating procedure? Or is our singing to God and to each other motivated by truly thankful hearts?
8.    Do we live together as a body of believers in a manner that is pleasing and acceptable to God?

Those are hard questions, but they are necessary questions if we are going to be obedient to His commands to us.  That’s what these verses are: commands.  These things are not optional for believers.  God does not ask us to be like Christ.  We are not merely encouraged to be holy.  We are ordered by God to live together according to the words we read here.  This is what holiness looks like in our relationships to one another.  I would encourage you to read these verses regularly and meditate upon them so that we all might enjoy a healthy church life.

All of that raises another issue, and we see it in this next section beginning in verse 18.  Paul has addressed the believers in Colossae as a whole, and now he begins to explain how they (and we) are to live individually in our interpersonal relationships primarily within their own families.  Wives are to submit to their husbands.  Husbands are to love their wives.  Children are to be obedient.  Fathers are to be patient.  Slaves are to obey their masters.  Masters are to treat their slaves well.  The key words here are submit, love, and obey.

I listened to a sermon recently by John MacArthur entitled Slaves for Christ.  In that message, Dr. MacArthur pointed out some things from Scripture I had never heard before, and much of what I am about to share with you comes directly from that sermon.  I thank the Lord for raising up men like John MacArthur and others to teach us the Word of God.  Let me begin with a quote from his sermon.  We have talked about how Christians today make much of having a personal relationship with Jesus.  MacArthur said, speaking of believers, “You do have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.  You are His slave.“ ²

The Greek word which is translated “slaves” in Colossians 3:22 is the word “doulos”.   “The word ‘slave’ appears in the New Testament 130 times in the original text.  You will find it once in the King James [Bible].  Once [out of 130 occurrences in the New Testament] the Greek word “slave” is translated slave.  You will find it translated ‘slave’ a few other times in other texts, like the New King James text and even the New American Standard text, and it will be translated “slave” when, one, it refers to actual slavery, or two, it refers to some kind of bondage to an inanimate reality [such as sin].  The New Revised Standard Version is fairly consistent in translating doulos as slave.  But whenever it is personalized, the translators seem unwilling to translate it “slave.”

Usually, “doulos” is translated in our English Bibles in ways other than slave.  Sometimes you will find the word “servant” or “bondservant”.  Those are more acceptable, more palatable words.  We don’t like the word “slave”.  But there are other Greek words for “servant”.  However, the original Greek word “doulos” always means “slave” and should always be translated that way.    

MacArthur: “This word doulos in the Greek should never be translated anything but slave...never.  Do you remember these words, Matthew 25:21?  “Well done, good and faithful......,” that’s what you’ve read all your life.  That is not the word for servant.  That is not any of the six words for servant.  That is doulos.  Well done, good and faithful slave.”

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 7, and look at verses 22 and 23.  What does it say there? 

22 For he who was called in the Lord [i.e. the man who was saved] as a slave is a freedman of the Lord.  Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

Turn back a few pages to 1 Corinthians 6:19  

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  

Again, MacArthur says here, “‘You were bought with a price.’  There is no more defining expression in terms of what it means to be a slave.  It means to be owned.”  

So what practical difference does this make for us whether we use the word “slave” or “servant”?  “When you give somebody the gospel, you are saying to them, ‘I would like to invite you to become a slave of Jesus Christ.  I would like to invite you to
- give up your independence,
- give up your freedom,
- submit yourself to an alien will,
- abandon all your rights,
- be owned by, controlled by the Lord.’  
That’s really the gospel.  We’re asking people to become slaves.”

That word carries with it many bad connotations for us.  When we hear that word we think in terms of racial inequality.  We think of whips and chains and torture and kidnapping.  We think of slave ships that were packed with human beings like cattle.  There is much in that word “slave” that is distasteful.  We think of war and discrimination and murder.  

Certainly, even in biblical times, slavery was not pleasant.  But it was not the equivalent of the slavery of the southern states in 19th century America.  The Jews had laws regarding the treatment of slaves and therefore Jewish slaves had certain rights.  During the year of Jubilee, all slaves were set free.  Slaves could purchase their own freedom.  In the case where the slave was treated exceptionally well, he could opt in as a permanent slave to his master by having his ear pierced with an awl.  There were protections built in to the Jewish system of slavery.  Most slaves came from one of two sources: Captives in time of war were forced into servitude rather than killed, and then voluntary slavery usually in times of poverty to pay debts.  The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.  Proverbs 22:7.

When English Bible translators have been hesitant to use the word “slave,” wrongly replacing it with words like “servant” or “bondservant”, we lose the full impact of what our relationship to Christ really is.  In the first century, slaves and servants were two very different things.  Different Greek words were used to differentiate between servants and slaves.  Servants were hired, paid, and could quit their jobs if they wanted to.  They were employees.  Slaves were bought, not paid, and could not quit.  In the New Testament era among the Gentiles, slaves had no personal rights, they could not be citizens, but they could be publicly crucified if they attempted to run away and escape their masters, as an example to other slaves.

Slaves owned no property.  They were deprived of any will of their own.  They were completely subjected to the will of their masters.  That is the definition of slavery.  Slaves were completely at the mercy of their owners.  That is why it is very interesting and important when the apostle Paul repeatedly introduces himself in his letters to the various churches as a slave: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:1),  “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1), “Paul, a slave of God” (Titus 1:1).  The apostle James opens his letter in verse 1 with “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  That statement is particularly interesting when you consider that “no man can serve two masters.”  2 Peter 1:1 - “Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.”  “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1).

If the apostles and writers of the New Testament considered themselves to be slaves of God and the Lord Jesus, what are we?  Well, the very first verse of the book of Revelation answers that question clearly.  Please look there with me because I want you to see this with your own eyes:  “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His slaves the things that must soon take place.”  Jesus is a slave owner.

Beloved, is that not why we call Him our Lord and Master?  The presence of a “Master” assumes the ownership of “slaves”.  He is the Lord.  Who are His slaves?  That’s us.  That is every believer.  We were bought.  We are owned.  We are the property of Christ.  We do not belong to ourselves.  We have no rights of our own.  We are not free to live our lives as we please.  We only desire to do His will and be pleasing to Him.  A slave cannot have two masters.  God alone is our Master, and we serve Him exclusively.  

Turn with me to Luke 17 and I want to help you see exactly what I’m talking about. 

 

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant [slave] plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant [slave] because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants [slaves]; we have only done what was our duty [what we owed to You].’”

It is difficult for us to even seriously consider the reality of what slavery was in the first century.  No one wanted to be a slave.  Believe it or not, the status of a slave was below that of a Scythian!  A slave had no status at all because he was not free.  The Greek and Roman worlds held freedom and citizenship in the highest esteem.  The slave had neither freedom nor citizenship.  The slave had nothing.  Slaves were expendable.  Slaves owed the sustaining of their lives to the generosity and mercy and kindness of their masters.  The only way a slave had any status at all was because of the status of their owner.  It was rather prestigious, at least among slaves, to be a slave in Caesar’s household!  He was the ruler of the world!  That was the only way a slave had any status at all.  And even there, you were still a slave.

 So we ask the question, “To Whom do we belong?”

All people everywhere are slaves to something.  The Scriptures tell us we are born as slaves to sin.  Sin has total dominion over us from the cradle to the grave as unbelievers.  It rules over us, it will not set us free, and we cannot free ourselves from it by our own effort.  Sin is the cruel task master of the entire human race that eventually kills and condemns us all.  We do not have freedom from sin, but rather we are in bondage to it.  We do not have a right to be liberated from the slavemaster of Sin, and in fact, we don’t even want to be free from him.  As unconverted people, not only do we have no desire to be set free from Sin, but we love it.  We are gladly willing to serve Sin all our lives, until it kills us and casts us condemned into the Hell we deserve.

It is into that slave market filled with condemned slaves to Sin that Christ came to us.  It is Christ who purchased us for Himself.  And He purchased us, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with His own blood. 

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,  19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

It is by His blood that the chains have fallen off and our hearts have been made free from bondage to sin and death.  It is to Him that we owe our eternal lives.  Now we no longer belong to Sin.  But we are also not our own.  We have been bought.  Now He is our Master.  He is our Lord.  We belong to Him, we are His.  He can do with us as He pleases.  We are His unprofitable, but eternally grateful, utterly willing and forever happy slaves because He is such a wonderful Master and Savior.

But beyond that, God the Father adopts us into His own family.  His slaves become His sons and daughters.  Slaves are made co-heirs with Christ.  The Lord Jesus, by His own blood, redeems us, purchases us, forgives us our sins, removes our guilt, grants us eternal life, prepares a place for us in Heaven, raises us from the dead and gives us new, death-proof bodies, and causes us to live for eternity in happiness and joy and holiness, where thieves cannot break in and moths and rust cannot destroy.  Our Master loves us to such a degree as to die in our place, unprofitable slaves that we are.  Even if we were to live our entire lives for Him sinlessly, even so, we would still only be giving Him what is due to Him, what we owe.  

Now, having looked at the nature of our relationship to our Lord and Master and King, look again at Colossians 3.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  [Or literally, “It is the Lord Christ to whom you are enslaved.“] 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

4:1  Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master [ i.e. You also are a slave] in heaven.

I can’t help but think how our own history might have been vastly different if the original English translators had translated every occurrence of “doulos” as “slave”.  What would our history look like if Christians had been taught for the past 500 years that we are not servants, but slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ?  Would we have allowed slavery?  If we had, would it have looked significantly different?  According to MacArthur, the Bible neither condemns nor condones slavery.  It just acknowledges its existence and gives instructions to those who are slaves and to their masters.  The mistranslation of that one word may have been partly responsible for how much pain and suffering and injustice in the world?

So when we as the Lord’s slaves are commanded to love our wives, submit to our husbands, obey our parents, and any other command, what is the only proper response of a slave?  “Yes, Lord.”  Yes.  
Keep this in mind as we work our way through this text in the coming weeks.  Keep this in mind as you read the Bible in the coming decades.  The only appropriate response to our Master as His slaves is, “Do with us Lord, what you will.  We belong to You.”  Do what You will.  We belong to You.
----
1. All Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version.

2. http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/80-321