Letter to the Colossian Church- 13

Subtitle: A New Home- 2

Colossians 3:22-4:1. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 19, 2025.

Paul continues to address relationships in the home that would have been a part of the lives of some of the Colossians.

Slavery verifiably has been part of human history for all of written history.  All ethnic groups have been slaves and have enslaved others.  There is very little data on the prevalence of slavery in Colossae during the first century A.D.  There is more data on the prevalence of slavery within the Roman Empire during this period, but it would have had variance depending on where you are looking.  It is generally stated that 20% to 40% of households would have had slaves during this period of the Roman Empire. 

No doubt, there was enslaving going on before the Flood, since it is described as extremely wicked.  Yet, it would be clear that there would have been no slavery in the very beginning, as Adam and Eve began having children.  This would have been the same dynamic with the family of Noah when they stepped off the ark.

So, how did it start?  As sin enters our relationships and our familial connections become further and further apart, it is easier to embrace such activity for various reasons, whether economic poverty, war, or pure dictatorial subjugation.  Of course, the Tower of Babel judgment would have exacerbated this dynamic.  They spread out and could not understand one another for a long period of time.  This would break down any emotional connections that did exist.

Throughout history, slaves were often the survivors of war.  Instead of killing everyone, the victors would subjugate people as spoils of war.  Of course, kidnapping was actively pursued by many groups throughout history.  This would typically be those who don’t want to wage all out war.  It was very common for people who were badly in debt to indenture themselves to others.  The debt would be paid off by the master, and the indentured slave would work for a set number of years to cover that value.

One of the problems with slavery in the 1800s is that its intersection with the ideas of evolution to dehumanize slaves further.  Those who inhumanely treat others have somehow justified seeing them as less human than themselves.

It has been common to present the Bible as written in order to strengthen the institution of slavery.  However, this is not intellectually honest.  Most early Christians were not wealthy.  It was common for church gatherings to have slaves and masters worshipping together.  In this passage, Paul is not trying to justify or protect slavery.  Instead, he is speaking to those who have this slave to master relationship and challenging them to submit this relationship to Christ.

Let’s get into our passage.

Jesus is the Lord of our relationships: to the slave (v. 22-25)

Notice that Paul is addressing each one in a relationship and giving them an exhortation as to what they should do.  According to modern culture, what should he have said?  Modern culture is appalled that Paul does not declare that slavery is wrong and does not call for a protest in order to set all slaves free.  Of course, few give thought to how quickly the Christians would have been stamped out by Rome if Christianity made that the thrust of its focus.  Neither do we truly listen to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What we do know is that many slaves heard the Gospel and believed in Jesus.  Also, some of those who had slaves would believe in Jesus.  It would have been common in the early church for slaves and masters to be worshipping Jesus together.  Paul is speaking about their situation, not ours.  Even if we are to say that these verses no longer apply to cultures that do not allow slavery, we can recognize similarities to the relationship of employer to employee.

All economic systems have to come up with a solution for those who are unable to take care of themselves due to being overly indebted, or they have an inability to work.  Most of those solutions will bear a resemblance to slavery in varying degrees.  This is not to equate them, but to highlight that some of the same dynamics are at play.  Employees have a varying degree of freedom to get another job that depends on their skills or lack thereof.  So, as we go through this, we can recognize some applications to those who are not slaves and masters, but rather employees and employers.
Paul tells slaves that they should obey their earthly master.  Let’s note that the word obey here is not the same as the word Paul used for women.  However, it is the same word that was given to kids.  Paul does not get into all the issues and whether or not there are any exceptions.  If a master commanded his slave to worship Zeus, is Paul telling them they must obey and worship Zeus?  This is a ludicrous approach to what Paul is saying.  He is essentially saying that the main moral issue for slaves is that of obeying their master.  This may seem insensitive, but the Gospel is more concerned with our soul and what is ruling within us.  Good things can be done with evil motives beneath them.

I would point out that Paul uses the prepositional phrase regarding their master, “according to the flesh.”  This is a not-so-subtle qualifier to what he is saying.  A master may have a claim on your body and can, therefore, give you commands.  However, there are other ways in which they are not your master.  You have a higher Master (Lord) who is over both body and soul.

Paul then adds that they are not to obey with “external service.”  The word is literally “eye service” and has the idea of only obeying when others are watching or will find out from those around you whether you are obeying or not.  It is the picture of a person who cannot be trusted to do something unless they are heavily supervised. 

He then adds, “as those who merely please men.”  This is used here in a negative sense.  Thus, some versions add the word “merely.”  The descriptions that follow help us to understand that these are people who please others in order to get what they want out of them.  God is not interested in shallow obedience.  He wants deep transformation within the hearts of those who follow Jesus, the kind of transformation that causes a slave to obey their master in order to please God, rather than themselves.  This is couched in terms of a slave to a master, but employees ought to take all this to heart regarding how they should do their job.

Paul adds more to qualify their obedience, “with sincerity of heart.”  The word for sincerity is a singleness of heart, which includes being free from pretense and hypocrisy.  Then, he adds, “as those who fear God.”  A person who fears God is a person who knows that God will hold them accountable for their treatment of others and obedience to His Word.  God holds claim not just to my body, but also to my soul.  He is my ultimate Master.  Of course, He is not a Master like the masters of this world.

A slave is not saved by their perfect obedience to their earthly masters.  Rather, they are being reminded that they have a Master who sees everything and has made promises to you.  God is the background for all of our relationships.  Husbands and wives are accountable to God.  Parents and kids are accountable to God just as masters and slaves.

God desires us to be a good thing in each other’s life, but as He defines it, not us.  It is not enough to be neutral in our impact on others.  It is definitely unacceptable to be evil to one another.  In Christ, we are called to give ourselves to Christ and serve his purposes through us to others.

Verse 23 gives a larger principle that can be applied to any relationship.  Having mentioned the fear of the Lord, he now turns to how we are actually serving the Lord God when we serve others. 

“Do what you do heartily as for the Lord.”  The Lord needs to be the director of how we relate to one another, and He needs to be the one we envision that we are serving.  This is not a mental game of pretense.  Jesus really is our Lord, and we really will come before his judgment seat to give account for our service to him.

This reminds me of Matthew 25:40. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”  The same message is being given to slaves.  Do what you do as unto the Lord, and when you stand before him, you will be blessed.

I said earlier that our salvation is not dependent on how well we did this.  Our salvation can be secure while any reward from Christ is in jeopardy. 

When we mistreat one another, God takes that personal.  Mistreatment often occurs within a power imbalance.  However, the modern world wants to treat power imbalance itself as a problem, even the only problem.  The existence of imbalance of power is not what is evil.  It is what is done within the context of that imbalance.

This is an attack against God as Creator, whether they know it or not.  God has created everything with a diversity of power, both in nature around us and within humanity.  It is impossible to really create a society where there are no power imbalances. Thus, we tyrannize the whole in pursuit of something that can never be.

God doesn’t rail against these imbalances.  Rather, He warns us to be careful how we operate within them.  We will give account to the Power above all powers, and He takes it personally.

Are you strong?  Fine, but you might ask why God has given you strength.  It is not for crushing the weak while using your strength for yourself.  It is not for crushing a slave or an employee for your own ends.  Instead, it is to be a blessing to the weak and the lowly.

All people have a variation of things in which they are strong or weak.  We need each other.  We can be a blessing to one another by working together in order to please God.  If everyone is doing what they do as unto God, then our relationships with one another will be vastly different than what is typical within our society.

Verse 24 tells the slave that they will receive a reward of inheritance from the Lord.  Of course, in this life, slaves do not inherit anything.  However, Christians will inherit eternal life in a glorified body with Jesus.  We will even inherit a new heaven and a new earth in which there will be no wickedness.

You may be a slave to a man on this earth, but in Jesus, you are a son of a Heavenly Father.  You have a great inheritance coming from Him.  Does it look like it?  When we are being mistreated, used and abused, we can forget about the Lord Jesus.  How was he treated?  Did he submit himself to the mockers and the shame?  Yes, it may not be fair (or it may be).  God knows.  He has made us to be His sons and daughters.  He will make everything right in the end.  Do you trust Him?

The heavenly master will judge the earthly masters of this world.  Our difficulties seem long, but they are short in light of an eternity of perfect righteousness with God Himself.  The rewards and attainments of this world will diminish and fade.  They are here today and gone tomorrow.  But the eternal rewards of God never end and never diminish.  Many who are first in this world will be last in the life to come, if they even make it.  However, many who are last in this world will be first in the life to come.

If you only hope is in this life, you will decry the Bible as a book made by masters to keep the slaves in check.  There were some masters who became Christians like Philemon of Colossae.  There were even some people from the household of Caesar who believed.  But most were low class, and many were slaves.  Jesus and his disciples were not from the echelons of society.  They may not have been slaves, but the boot of the Roman empire and the religious leaders of Israel probably made it feel like it at times.

They made themselves slaves of Christ, who had made himself a slave of God the Father, in order to bring salvation and hope to a lost world.  This life is short and temporary compared to the inheritance and reward that God has for us.  I can be used of God for His purposes in this unfair, often godless, world.  But, after it, I will have glory with Him.  Those who have glory in this world have it much harder to obtain glory in the next.  Those who have no glory in this world need only to trust Jesus in order to obtain great glory in the next!

There are many masters who will not make it.  The real question for a slave is not about their master, but about their own destiny.  Will I make it?  Even when a slave gets his freedom, which is good, it doesn’t fix the problem that all men deal with and that is spiritual bondage in our hearts and minds. 

Thus, Paul ends verse 25 with the reminder that the Lord will judge those who do wrong and give them their consequences without partiality.  This is a double-edged sword.  The Lord will judge both slave and master.  He will not show the master partiality because he is a “greater man” in this life.  However, neither will He show the slave partiality because he had nothing.  He will judge both alike for what is in their hearts and the deeds they have done.  There are consequences to be had for how we live this life.  The courts of men may favor the rich in this generation and then change to favor the poor in that generation.  However, God shows partiality to no one.  Quit looking at the other person and excusing your sin.  Look to God and ask Him to help you cleanse your heart.

We often justify our sin in the name of injustices and wrongs done against us.  It doesn’t feel fair for God to do the right thing over the top of injustice and wrong.  However, it wasn’t fair for Jesus to take our sins upon himself and extinguish the wrath of God against sin.  Can I trust the judgment of God and the consequences that come from that, whether rewards or punishments, and whether those are temporal or eternal?

God did create slavery.  We did.  God did allow us to enslave one another.  He did let us sin against one another.  This was not because He condoned it.  Jesus himself once said about divorce that “Moses permitted divorce because of your hard hearts.”  Our hard hearts have brought many things into the world that God does not condone.  He can focus on divorce, or He can let the pain of it drive us back to the central issue, our hard hearts.  When you wrestle with the problem of softening a hard heart, then you will have scratched the surface of the wisdom of God on these matters.

To the master (v. 4:1)

It is clear from the structure of chapter three that this verse belongs with the previous chapter.  It is an improper chapter division.  Paul speaks to slaves and then turns and speaks to the masters.

It may appear that Paul was harder on the slaves because he spent four verses speaking to them, and now only one verse to masters.  However, we should not read this as him being hard on slaves and easy on masters.  Instead, he spends more time trying to help the slave see God’s wisdom because of their typical hardship.  Yet, with the master, there is a short command that is much like what they would give to their slaves.

So, what did the Holy Spirit move Paul to tell slave owners?  He tells them to give their slaves justice and fairness.  “Give” here has the sense of granting something.  This might hide the fact that this is a command to masters.  The Master of masters gives them a command to grant justice and fairness to their slaves. 

Justice refers to what is upright, virtuous and right.  It isn’t twisted and perverted for selfish reasons in any way.  A society may define this word poorly, but a Christian who had slaves should not be looking to society to define for them what justice is.  Jesus is the definition of justice and righteousness for the Christian.

Fairness has a sense of equality in it.  Paul doesn’t define what this equality would be, but it would definitely include the equality of being human, i.e., made in God’s image and loved by Him.

Equality, or fairness, is not about being equal in abilities and status.  Rather, it is about giving them what any human should receive in the light of their equal position before God.

Evolution completely undermined this issue.  Suddenly there was an intellectual reason why someone could treat a person of another race, not with equality of humanity, but something far less.  News flash: when you treat another human as less than human, it is you who is the subhuman and not them.

Paul then ends the command with a clear shot across their bow.  Do this “knowing that you have a Master in heaven.”  Their granting of justice and fairness is to be done simultaneously with the knowledge in mind that your Heavenly Master (Lord) is watching.

This short command and the accompanying warning are proper.  This is exactly how their position would be executed toward their own slaves.

Let me end with a few more things about the Bible and slavery.  Does the Bible (God) condone or even promote slavery?  No. In fact, it was Christian men and women who fought for the abolition of slavery.

When you analyze the Bible, you find that the Old Testament prohibited kidnapping, particularly for the purposes of pressing them into slavery.  Did every Scripture-quoting master in the South make sure that none of their slaves had been kidnapped?  Quoting Scripture improperly does not reflect God and His Word.  It reflects the heart of the person.

The Bible did allow economic slavery, i.e., indentured slavery, but it called for better treatment than was common among the nations.  This is connected to the permitting of divorce.

The abolitionists saw the fact that all humans are made in the image of God, the message of the Exodus and God’s heart for those under hard bondage, God’s moral laws and condemnation of oppression.  They saw that the message of Jesus and His Apostles called for a different treatment of one another.  They worked to change the system.

Praise God that we do not have open slavery anymore.  However, there is still oppression and black-market slavery.  Yet, even if we could free every single person within our boundaries, or on the planet, it still begs the question of what is going on in your heart and mind.  Are you truly free?  My body may be free while my heart, mind and soul are in bondage to sin and selfishness.

May God help us to hear His heart in these passages.

A New Home II audio

The Letter to the Colossian Church- 12

Subtitle: A New Home- 1

Colossians 3:18-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 12, 2025.

Up to this section, Paul has spoken to the Colossian Christians in general terms that would apply to them all.  In this section, Paul moves to the different relationships within the home.  How does a Christian wife, husband, child, parent, etc., live?  What is Christ calling them to do?

The Roman world and the Greek world had picture of what the family should look like.  In general, the husband was the king of the home and his word was law in the home.  Yet, Paul begins to speak to people in these situations about how Christ would have them live.

Of course, not every person hearing Paul’s admonitions would have a home that is fully Christian.  It would be able to complain that our situation is not perfect.  Yes, that is true, but the Perfect One is with you to help you honor God the Father and please him.  God does desire for us to experience His goodness in this life.  However, in those cases where we are experiencing a relationship that falls short, and may even be with someone who is not a believer, the eternal goodness of God can swallow up any evil that is done to us.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus is the Lord of our relationships (v. 18-21)

Throughout these verses, Paul continually reminds us that the Lord is not just a part of our relationship with others.  He is also the Lord of how we operate within those relationships.  He is the one that we are trying to please.  This is opposed to trying to please the other person, or only ourselves.  When we please Christ, we become a part of the solution, but when we please ourselves, we are a part of the problem.  I may not be the largest part, but I am a part nonetheless.

All of our relationships need to be surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, in which we ask him this.  “Lord, how would you have me to be in this relationship?”

The first relationship of the home that Paul deals with is that of wives and husbands.  Before we get into the specific exhortations that Paul gives to them, we should talk about how different churches approach these passages.

There are some who approach these passages with a view called complementarianism.  They are said to be complementarians in regard to the husband and wife relationship and in regard to the roles of men and women beyond the home.  A wife is to complement her husband in the sense of completing him or making him perfect.

Here is an image charting their differences.

Complementarians believe that men and women were created with equal human dignity before God.  However, they were created with a distinct function and role.  Women can use their gifts, but it is not their role to lead the home, lead a church or to lead society.  Thus, God will not call and empower a woman to lead the home, church or society.  Some of them will leave room for situations when men refuse to do their role.

Egalitarians.  These are those who approach passages like this with a view called egalitarianism.  This word comes from the idea of equal.  They believe that men and women were created equal, not just in human dignity, but in all things.  They do recognize that men and women have distinct gifts and roles within this equality.  However, those distinctions do not warrant exclusive male leadership in the home, in the church or in society.  They believe that God can empower any person He chooses, male or female, to fill roles in the home, in the church and in society.

Both believe some similar things, but disagree about whether God intended there to be a hierarchy in the home and the Church that must be led by males.  A way of thinking about this is to use the concept of a team.  Whose team is the home?  Is it the husbands team, i.e., Team Husband, and the wife is simply on the team in order to help Team Dad win?  Or, are they one team before God, i.e., Team Husband and Wife Unity, in which both work together through their unique God-given abilities as one in order for Team Unity to win?

We should recognize that modern feminism has muddied the waters here.  It makes it easy for complementarians to accuse egalitarians of compromising with society, letting culture drive their theology.  Let me just say that some egalitarians are doing just that, which is the wrong reason to be an egalitarian.  Conversely, egalitarians can accuse complementarians of continuing an unjust subjugation of women for the sake of their own ego and power.  Again, let me say that some complementarians are doing just that, which is the wrong reason to be a complementarian.

At the root of this debate, there are God-fearing Christians who sincerely disagree about the purpose of God in the creation of men and women.  When you approach passages with one view of God’s purpose, you will read passages such as this in a particular way.  But, if you adopt a different view of God’s purpose, you will see that the passages may not be saying what you thought they were saying.

There are many women who are complementarians.  Are they trying to subjugate themselves for the sake of the ego and power of men?  I don’t think so.  You can believe they are brain-washed, but many of them are godly women who are seeking to honor God and His Word.

There are also many egalitarians who believe that the Bible is fully inspired of God.  They have arrived at their position, not by ignoring Scripture and portraying it as outdated and uninspired.  Rather, they have arrived at their position with sound Scriptural arguments.

Both sides of this debate need to honor one another by dropping attack lines that become ad hominem when we attempt paint the other group with a broad brush.

We are a Pentecostal church.  Pentecostals are not a liberal movement within the Church at large.  They held to the inspiration of the Scriptures and believed that many of the Protestant denominations had ignored parts of the Bible (the gifts of the Spirit) through a self-serving theology that was not right.  Pentecostals were among those first groups embracing the healing of black and white relationships.  They also saw that the Holy Spirit empowered women to preach, evangelize, and go into missions.  Many a church in America was started by a woman who believed God enough to do something.  Many a mission field in this world was opened by a woman who dared to believe God and stepped out in the power of the Spirit.  Some of them were put in those positions when their husbands were either killed or simply died.  They stepped up in faith and continued the work.

It was in this environment that Pentecostals began to see that perhaps these passages had been used to emphasize hierarchy when they were never intended to teach it.

Let’s be clear about a few things.  God loves women AND men.  He loves wives AND husbands.  He loves kids AND parents.  He loves slaves AND masters.  This does not mean that God condones of everything that we do.  No, He loves us enough to tell us the truth about all the ways we are destroying ourselves and one another.

The Assemblies of God is egalitarian, but it has not made it a core doctrine or even one of the Fourteen Fundamental Truths.  These can be found at AG.org.  I dare say that there are many people in the pulpit and in the pew who are on both sides of this issue.  May God help us to have grace with one another.

In our passage, Paul’s goal is not to subjugate women, kids and slaves.  He is teaching us all how to honor God in our relationships.  He is teaching us to operate out of a desire to accomplish the purpose of God rather than declaring our rights.  So now, let’s get into our passage.

To the wives:  Be subject to your husband as is fitting in the Lord.

There are many reasons why a woman might be chafing in a marriage.  Some of these would be in her husband and the society around her.  However, when she is honest, some of them would also be within herself.  We should recognize here that Paul is giving “homework” to each person for them to do.  It is in our nature to look at the other person’s homework and complain that ours is too hard or not fair.

Paul’s purpose here is not about protecting a patriarch.  Rather, we need to remind ourselves of what he had written just moments before this in chapter 3 verses 9 through 11.  Christians are being renewed into the image of Christ, which is not impacted by our relational differences.  Paul had listed racial difference (Greek or Jew, barbarian, Scythian), religious difference (circumcised or uncircumcised) and class difference (slave or free).  He could have listed the difference of male and female because he actually does this in Galatians 3:28.  Paul is not saying these differences no longer exist, but that they do not change the fact of what it means to become like Jesus.  Anyone in any situation or station of society is able to become like Jesus.  In that sense, it makes no difference what you are.  It does make a difference in what you may need to do and what you may need to sacrifice in order to be renewed into the image of Christ.  Paul is not denying that.

The word that Paul uses for “be subject” is an imperative.  However, it may come across as something that is done to you, i.e., “Let yourself be subjected.”  This is not what Paul is saying.  The word is not passive.  It is something that she is doing to herself, and it has the idea of taking a place under another.  It does not have a connotation of worth and importance.  The general of the military would be subject, “take their place under,” the king, or Caesar.  It is ultimately about taking a place to serve.  In this case, it is to serve their husband.  He does not say that husbands are kings and should rule thus over their wives.  He simply tells wives that they should give themselves to serving their husbands.

He then adds the phrase “as is fitting in the Lord.”  The idea of it being fitting is that this activity measures up to the bar that has been set by our Lord.  The Lord Jesus subjected himself to becoming a servant in order to serve humanity.  He even subjected himself to death on a cross.  He did so out of love for us, not out of hierarch.  We were not greater than him.  We didn’t even deserve him at all, much less in that capacity.  Yet, Jesus did so out of love.  He did not hold on to what his rights were and, instead, served the purposes of God the Father.  If this is the One we say we are following, if this is the one who is our master teacher and who we are becoming like, then it is fitting for to look for ways in which we can pick up a towel and serve others in our life.

Because Jesus took the lowest place and served us, God is even now subjecting all things to him (1 Corinthians 15:27).  Do we trust the same Father that Jesus trusted to lift us up at the proper time?

When people read hierarchy into this passage, it is coming from this word “be subject,” precisely because it has the sense of under in it.  Yet, I believe that I have shown above that it is not about hierarchy.  You must always lower yourself in order to serve another, and this is what he is asking wives to do.  Serve your husband for God’s purposes (not his).

Of course, Paul does not describe what this should look like.  There is a cultural issue here that can affect what a wife who loves Christ will do to serve her husband (be he Christian or not).  Our society is very different.  The ways in which a wife is to choose to serve her husband will be impacted by it.  Yet, ultimately, the wife is not called to serve the purposes of society or herself, but of God.  The only hierarchy that is actually here is that of Christ over the life of all Christians (wives or husbands).

One last thing about this.  Ephesians 5:15-33 is a passage in which verse 22 is parallel to this verse.  We should notice that the verse 21 actually commands each Christian to subject themselves to one another.  Again, not out of hierarchy, but out of love.  Interestingly enough, the verse about wives and husbands is actually “borrowing” this verb from the prior sentence.  It literally says, “and wives to your own husbands as to the Lord.”  We would say it is missing the verb, but this is a common technique in Greek.  The prior verb from verse 21 is implied in the statement.  “[A]nd wives [subject yourselves] to your own husband as to the Lord.”  Again, it is the Lord who is the hierarchy here.  We are all to be subjecting ourselves to one another.  And, in this context, wives are told to subject themselves to their husband for the purposes of Christ.

The modern world may accuse the Bible of hating women and subjecting them, but this is what men have done who either don’t understand what Paul is saying or are using him for their own purposes wickedly.  All through the New Testament Paul is teaching Christians to follow the example of Jesus and even his own example.  That is the example of laying down your rights in order to serve the purposes of Christ, God the Father, in the life of another person.

This brings us to Paul’s instructions to husbands.

To the Husbands  love your wives and do not be embittered against them

Paul could have turned around and told husbands to submit themselves in service to their wife, but instead, he uses the term “love.”  “Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.”  In the Ephesians 5 passage, he adds “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…”  The sacrificial love of Christ did not demand that his position in heaven be honored.  Instead, he laid his body and life down for the good of the Church.  Husbands should sacrificially love their wives for her good and in obedience to God with humility.  Clearly, this would cancel out acting like Caesar over your wife.  If the husband is a king, then the wife is a queen.  However, she should not be a queen in the way pictured in the book of Esther.  Rather, she should be a queen who sits at his side, a team, ruling the home.

Notice that Paul adds the idea of not becoming bitter towards her.  What sorts of things make a man bitter against his wife?  Whatever offenses a husband may have experienced from his wife, he must still love her by forgiving her and not letting his heart be hardened toward her.  Hebrews 12:5 warns that a root of bitterness can spring up and cause trouble and defile many (i.e., both of you, the kids, and beyond). 

How can a husband not love a woman who is submitting herself to serving him?  Also, how can a wife not serve a man who is sacrificially laying his life down in order to love her?  Even when we agree with the wisdom to this, we may withhold with the excuse that the other person is not doing their job.  However, we do these things to please the Lord, not to get a specific action out of our spouse.

Paul does not flesh out what it would look like for a husband to sacrificially love his wife.  Does the husband simply let the woman run the show and never have strong opinions about things?  Should the woman submit in everything without question and without opinion of her own?  Is the husband always right?  Or does the husband die to his own opinion and let the wife always be right?  As you walk through those questions, you may see that there is a mutual submission beneath to these commands for wives and husbands.

To the Children  be obedient to your parents in all things

As we come to verse 20, this should go a bit quicker.  Children are called to obey their parents in all things.  God has given their parents charge over them.  The parents are not perfect, and God knows this.  Yet, no kid is perfect either.  They all need good correction, nurture, and supervision.

Children are called to submit to the will of God in their life and obey.  Of course, we can come up with all kinds of questions.  “What if your parents tell you to worship Baal?  Do you have to obey then?”  I believe that this is pushing the passage further than Paul intends it. 

We can also recognize that this is a command to a child within a home, and not a command to adult children that they obey their parents.  No, they will leave their parents and cleave to their spouse.  Yes, they are commanded to still honor their parents, but that is not the same as saying you should continue to act like a child in their home.  The relationship is moving to a new phase.

In all of this, we can see that kids have to deal with a rebellion problem that is in their hearts.

To the Fathers  do not exasperate your children

This command is given to fathers, but that does not mean mothers are unimportant.  Children are told to obey their “parents” plural. Yet, in these societies (specifically the Roman family), the father ran the home and would be the disciplinarian.  Thus, Paul addresses them.  Yet, the instructions would apply to mothers as well.

“Do not exasperate your children so that they will not lose heart.”  To exasperate a child is the idea of stirring them up or provoking them.  This can lead to them losing heart, being broken-hearted, or even dispirited with a broken spirit.  Parents are responsible for the raising of their children, but this does not mean that God wants you to break them like a wild horse.  Children are not animals to be trained.  They are made in the image of God, and their training and instruction should reflect that.

It is a sad thing to see kids who have been traumatized by parents who have abused their duties.  This is not what God wants.

Yet, stern discipline in and of itself is not trauma, if it is done rightly and for the right purposes.  If it is done in anger, then it is wrong.  If you are angry during discipline, then stop and take hold of your anger.  Bring it into subjection to the love of Christ.  Then, discipline them out of love and with the right spirit.  We need wisdom in this area.

Of course, both parents and kids fail.  We can repent of our failures and forgive one another.  A lot of parents who really messed up their kids have later come to Christ.  This is sometimes because of their kids, but sometimes not.  Of course, imagine the shame of a person as they realize that their sinfulness harmed their child and it continues into that child’s adulthood.  It is good and right for such a parent to apologize and ask the forgiveness of their adult child.  However, you should then give them space to work through it.  Pray for them.  Do not pressure them but love them regardless of their choices.

You may have a beautiful restoration of relationship, and then again, you may not.  The point is to take ownership of your own sin and love your adult children (or your parents if forgiveness is needed the other way. 

Parents, discipline your kids, but don’t break them.  They are the one that God the Father loves.  He asks you to train them for their future life.  Yet, he does not want you to cause them to stumble.  We will all give account to the Lord Jesus one day and should live with a healthy respect for that truth.

A New Home 1 audio

The Acts of the Apostles 30

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense VI

Acts 7:44-50.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 8, 2023.

This is the sixth part of Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin, Israel's high court at the time.  Stephen has reminded them of Abram's call, the Patriarchs, the first attempt of Moses to deliver Israel, God' sending of Moses back to deliver them, the events and prophecy of Moses in the wilderness, and now today, the tabernacle of witness.  The tabernacle is with them in the wilderness, but Stephen's point is significant enough to be broken out as its own point.  He is calling them to remember the Tabernacle of Witness.

Our church buildings are not simply houses of worship.  We sometimes use words without thinking through the full import of what they put across.  However, sometimes words and phrases are used to diffuse the truth of what God is doing in His Church.  We have seen in this Republic the tendency over the years to lump churches into the same boat as synagogues, mosques, scientology centers, wards, etc., with the phrase houses of worship.  Our laws are written equating all of these things, but they are not equal.  There is an intended spiritual sleight of speech that is being used to pigeon-hole Christians.

It would be more correct to call our church a house of the Lord, a house of Jesus, of Yeshua, of Yahweh.  It is a place that belongs to the God who created the universe, and to His Son, the Lord Jesus, God's Anointed Savior.

However, even this misses the greater point that we will talk about today, which is the point of the New Covenant, the New Testament.  It is not about the building, but about the people who gather there.  Everyone who has truly put their faith in Jesus has become a house of Yahweh, the place where His Spirit rests.  More than this, we are being built together into a greater house of Yahweh as a corporate tabernacle.

Think about how this would impact the Israelites of the first century A.D.  This place that was geographically located, and was restricted with laws that gave only the high priest access to the place of God's presence, would now be located within the hearts of believers, of me!  That which I had always been taught to treat as holy and sacred is now me.  I have become a special place where God wants to rest and commune.  Furthermore, the body of true believers are pictured by the apostle Peter as individual, living stones being mortared together by the Holy Spirit in order to create a group of people within whom the Spirit of God dwells.  There is something special, holy, sacred, and incredible about God's Church and their gatherings that the world cannot copy.  There is something special, holy sacred, and incredible about you when you put your faith in Jesus.

In fact, just as Leah and Rachel "built up the house of Israel," so the Church of Yahweh is built up as we walk in spiritual intimacy with God and birth new lives into the Kingdom of God.

No, we are not merely a house those worshiping the works of our hands and the desires of our hearts.  We belong to the King of kings and the Lord of lords over everything in the heavens and on the earth!

Let's look at our passage.

Remember the tabernacle of witness (vs. 44-50)

Stephen calls them to remember the tabernacle that was built in the wilderness.  The tabernacle was a portable tent structure that served as the place of sacrifice and meeting with God. 

The Bible uses several terms of the tabernacle. The first word, mishkan, simply means a dwelling place and is a reference to God dwelling within it.  The other word, ohel, also means dwelling, but at its root is the concept of skins, as in animal skins.  It most often is better translated as tent, even though it came to be used of even permanent structures as Israel transitioned from being a camping society (forty years in the wilderness) to a more established people.  The tabernacle was a tent-like structure with several layers of animal skins sheltering the Holy place, and the Holies of Holies.

Stephen uses the phrase Tabernacle of Witness, which in the Old Testament would actually be the Tent of Witness.  Incidentally, another phrase that is used is the Tabernacle of Meeting.  The word translated as meeting is hard to translate.  It refers to special appointed times, and was used of the feasts of the Lord, both as calendar dates to observe and as prophecies about special appointed times that they symbolized.  However, Stephen emphasizes the word "witness."  The tabernacle was not just the dwelling place of the God of Israel, but also represented His witness, His testimony to Israel and the world.  This word is used of the stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.  He was told to place the Testimony, the Witness, into the ark of the covenant.  The ark was also referred to as the Ark of the Testimony, which was placed within the Tabernacle of Testimony.

The interesting thing about a witness, or testimony, is that it can have a warning aspect to it.  God's law and words to Israel were both a witness of the good that they should do and how God would respond, and a witness of the evil that would come upon them if they did not follow God.  Moses tells them, testifies on God's behalf, that they would be unfaithful to God and that God would kick them out of the land.  Yet, He would later restore them back to the land.  The testimony is a double-edged sword.

So, we should recognize that the testimony is that testimony that God has given of Himself, and it is connected to the place where He dwells.

Stephen points out that God appointed them to build the tabernacle, instructed Moses in how it was to be constructed, and lastly, accompanied those instructions with a visual.  Moses was God's mediator and would relay all of these instruction to them.

Stephen emphasizes in verse 44 that the Tabernacle was built "according to the pattern that he [Moses] had seen."  This comes from Exodus 25:40 where God reminds Moses to follow exactly the pattern that God had "shown him" on Mt. Sinai.

We get this picture in the Bible, and here, of God as a Master Builder.  I know that groups like the Freemasons make a big deal out of God as an Architect, but they are merely ripping off God's true nature for their own fleshly gain.  God is the builder of all creation, and He did not use random mutations to create it all.  When Chuckie Darwin introduced his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Yes, that is the full title), he believed that the cell would be confirmed as simply a box, like a Lego® brick.  He also mentioned that this theory required all things to be reducible.  You should be able to show how complex things like the eyeball could "evolve" from less complex things that originally had other purposes.  There would be a clear path of reducing an organism from a high level back to a single-celled level and even further.  Of course, over time science discovered that the cell is more complex than a modern city.  In fact, one protein is so complex that the odds of even the smallest of them being created through random mutations are astronomical, and that is just one aspect.  Another problem is that most mechanisms within different species are so complex that we find irreducible complexity.  Several things are useless in and of themselves, but work together to accomplish a particular function.

Though I have taken some time to show the weakness of the Theory of Evolution, it is weak particularly because of the master building, master engineering, that God has done in the creation.  Like any builder, God considered all that He would make in its design, but also in whether it would be worth it or not.  In eternity past, God determined it was worth it.  Remember, the next time you feel that life isn't worth it, that God has said it is worth it, has said that your life is worth it!  Can you trust Him?  He's got this!

God is the builder of David's dynasty, and Jesus is the builder of the Church and the New Jerusalem, its dwelling place for all eternity.  Hebrews 8:5 explains to us that the tabernacle was a copy, a shadow, of the heavenly dwelling of God.  So, God had shown Moses a pattern.  I don't think He showed him blueprints, but most likely gave him a glimpse of the heavenly tabernacle.    We will deal with this point more in a bit, but humans were also built, or fit, to be a dwelling place for God as a replica of the heavenly tabernacle. 

God is the builder of history.  He is the One who tears down and builds up.  No nation rises up or falls, but at God's command.  We will all serve Him.  We will either serve him in righteousness, worthy of reward, or serve His purposes through our wickedness, worthy of destruction.

Stephen then reminds them in verse 45 that the tabernacle was brought into the Promised Land and used up through the days of David, whom God used to conquer all the land that God was giving them.

This tabernacle was more than just a symbol, or a metaphor, for God's presence.  God's presence was actually localized there.  The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night would actually come down upon the tabernacle and could be seen by the people.  This visible presence seems to move to inside of the temple at some point.  Eventually, the prophets would speak of the Spirit of God leaving the temple and it becoming ichabod, without [God's] glory.

This is in contrast to the temples of the nations surrounding Israel and those in Canaan that they had come to dispossess.  Those temples were ornate and probably made the tent structure that Israel had seem unimpressive.  However, they were mere fictions and wishful thinking that had been taught to them by fallen spiritual beings.  God did not inhabit their temples, and if anything was there, it was a worthless fallen entity that was powerless to help them against the One True God.

It is as if God sees what the nations are trying to do and decides to authorize Israel to make a true tabernacle for Him.  I am not saying that God is reactive because He would have seen this coming and already planned to work it into His purposes.  In fact, we should note the God who created the whole universe, seen and unseen, humbled Himself to be localized in some way in a tent structure in the wilderness with the people of Israel.  This building of dead skins represents when we die to our fleshly nature and become a dwelling place of His Holy Spirit.  It is not the thing that God is wanting, but is only a stepping stone, a prototype that helps us to see.

It was perhaps looking at the temples of the surrounding nations that led David to want to build a permanent structure for God, a temple.  Or, it could have simply been recognizing that he was dwelling in a palace that he had built for himself.  Why don't I build a better place for God?  David then tells the prophet Nathan what is in his heart.  Nathan knows that God is blessing David, so he tells David to go ahead with it without asking the Lord.  Before Nathan even leaves the palace, God pulls him up short and tells him to go back and tell David that it wasn't his job to build God a house.  However, his son Solomon would do it.

In 1 Chronicles 22:8, David explains that he had too much blood on his hands from taking the land.  God did not want the violence of force associated with His dwelling place.  This does not mean that David shouldn't have done what he did.  David fought the battles of the Lord.  Yet, there is more to this than just David's bloody hands.

In 2 Samuel 7, God actually responds to David with the question, "Will you build a house for Me to dwell in?"  Think of it.  A man building a house for the One who built the Galaxies, and the atomic nucleus, whose wisdom and being is truly beyond our comprehension.  God reminds David that He has dwelt in a tent from Egypt to David's day (400+ years).  Hmm, I wonder where God dwelled before the tabernacle?  The tabernacle was not built because God was homeless.  It was built to point to a greater Truth.

Instead, God promises to build David a house (a dynasty) and his son will build him a temple.  This first temple would be built by Solomon.  Yet, Solomon fell away from the Lord towards the end of his life.  Also, the first temple itself, which was supposed to be God's "permanent house," was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians (really by God) because Israel continued its idolatry in the face of God.  When they came back into the land later, a second temple would be built, which was in existence during the days of Jesus.  This permanent temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.  God's permanent houses are doing so well.

Solomon and the first temple were a fulfillment of God's promise to David, but they were a falling-short fulfillment that served as a shadow of the true Son of David who would build the true temple of God.  The destruction of the former two temples points to a better permanent home for God.  Jesus is the perfect Son of David who comes forth to build the perfect temple to God.  In fact, Jesus laid the foundation for the third temple while the second temple still stood (for only 40 more years).  The third temple is the True Church of Jesus Christ.  It is a physical temple in that humans have bodies, but it is spiritual in that God dwells in our hearts and minds.  Even this follows the previous template.  Our mortal bodies cannot be the permanent home of God's presence, but He humbles himself as He did in the wilderness and takes up residence within us.  The permanent Temple will also be "built" by Jesus as he resurrects the saints with glorified bodies that are incorruptible.

This brings us to our last point.  God is too great to be limited to a mere building on earth.  Stephen quotes from Isaiah 66 to drive this point home.  This greatness of God is a developing theme throughout the Old Testament.  At first the ark is spoken of as a throne of Yahweh.  The mercy seat had cherubim wings to serve as a kind of backrest.  Yahweh is spoken of as dwelling between the wings and above the mercy seat, sitting upon an earthly throne.  Later, the ark is referred to as God's footstool (Psalm 132:7-8).  Notice that God is getting bigger.  In Truth, God is not getting bigger, but He is incrementally expanding their understanding of just how great He truly is.  The Isaiah 66 passage expands this to the point where the whole earth is God's footstool and the heavens are His throne.  In fact, even the heavens fall short of the full glory of God.  All creation is truly His footstool.

Do you not see that God is not in need of us to build Him a house.  He is already building a permanent house out of us.  We do need to lean into this process and cooperate with God.  Instead of focusing on how nice our building is, we should focus on what kind of dwelling place we are for God.  Am I a shabby, dilapidated temple?  Am I a temple that has been devoid of the word of God like it was in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22)?  God's time with Israel was a humbling of Himself and yet it was a real thing.  Through unbelief, they missed out on the fullness of what it could have been and ended up losing it altogether (as a nation). 

We too are in danger of hearing this truth and falling short.  In 2 Corinthians 3:16, Paul says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  Perhaps, you find yourself saying, "Well, I don't feel like God's dwelling in me."  Really?  Where in the Bible does it say it is only true if you "feel it."  That would be like a husband not following through in the actions of faithfulness because he just isn't feeling it.  "I know God said we would become one, but I'm just not feeling it.  I want a divorce."  We judge ourselves by our own words.  Jesus didn't go to the cross because he was "feeling it."  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly!  Love has feelings, but it must never let feelings drive its actions.  It is not even duty that drives love.  It truly is love itself that becomes the driving force behind the actions of love; God is love.

You cannot make yourself a temple of God, but you can cooperate and lean into the work that God is doing, even if you don't feel it.  Walk by faith and trust God to do the dwelling.  Jesus laid the foundation for your spiritual life and the Church as a whole.  He leads us like a master builder in our personal life and in the experience of your local church up to the Church as a whole.  God knows what He is doing so we simply need to trust Him!

You are His desired place of rest for eternity.  Yes, much of life calls for trust and faith in Jesus.  Like a marriage, we come to Christ and embrace his love by faith.  We don't know what all we will face in this life, but we will face it with him for better or worse.  Of course, he promises to work all of the "worse" stuff to our good.  What a deal; what a Lord; what a Savior!  His desire to dwell in you, and within us all, should lead us to turn to Him with all of our hearts.  We are His home, and He is ours!

Defense VI

Putting on the "New Man" at Home II

Colossians 3:22-4:1.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 5, 2018 and is the 2^nd part of a sermon that was preached on July 22, 2018.  If you haven’t read or listened to it first then please do so.

Today we pick up where we left off several weeks ago.  In summary this section is about believers in Christ taking off the “old man” and putting on the “new man.”  Of course the old man that we put off is our own nature with its thoughts, feelings, and desires.  The New Man that we are putting on is Christ.

When we stopped in part I, we had begun talking about what it means for a slave to “put on the new man.”  This relationship between masters and slaves was very common in those days and could not be overlooked.  Though western societies may be able to say that they don’t have slaves anymore, we must be careful of discounting these words as no longer relevant, or as morally corrupt.  As I said in part I, the western world has simply taken the slave class and added them to the poor class.  Though they are no longer owned as property by another, they still are at the mercy of those around them who have money and jobs in order to make a living.  Thus these words should be seen as speaking to the relationship of the fortunate and the less fortunate, the haves and the have-nots.

Slaves obey your masters

In verse 22, slaves are told to obey their masters.  In fact, they are challenged and commanded to please God by working hard even when the earthly master isn’t looking.  This is to be done out of a sincere heart that fears God.

In case you haven’t spent time thinking about why even the New Testament emphasizes a positive aspect to a fear of the Lord, I will take a few moments to stir your thinking on this.  It is easy to say something that goes like this.  Fear was proper when people were under the Law of Moses.  But now that we are free in Christ we should no longer fear God.  Besides, doesn’t the Bible say that “Perfect love casts out all fear?”  The problem is that this one verse is not all that is spoken in the New Testament about fear.  We cannot ignore all the other verses, like this one here, and others like Philippians 2:12.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” (NKJV)

The perfect love of God casts out all the fear in regards to His heart towards us.  When you recognize Jesus is on the cross for your sins, you no longer fear that He doesn’t love you.  You know that He has laid down His life for you.  However, this is not what the phrase “fearing God” means in verse 22.  There it is talking about the restraint we should have when tempted to sin.  Like Joseph when he was being seduced by Potiphar’s wife, we must shudder at the thought of sinning against The One who was willing to die for us.  When we are walking in harmony with God we are secure in His love and need not fear that He will change His mind.  However, when we are tempted by sin, we should shrink back from the hideous thought of betraying our Lord’s sacrifice, not because He will quit loving us, but because I might quit loving Him and become an adulterer at heart.  To summarize, the fear that is cast out is in regard to God’s love.  The fear that should remain is in regard to sin’s ability to pull our heart away from the Lord and destroy us.

In verse 23, Paul adds that they should do everything as if unto the Lord.  This verse is not only about slaves.  First of all, all Christians are slaves of God and thus this applies.  However, even contextually, Paul is just stating for slaves what he already stated for all Christians in verse 17.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” (NKJV)

Now in verse 23 Paul has added the word “heartily.”  It means that we don’t just outwardly perform the duty.  Instead we put our whole heart into doing it. 

It is worth noting that the effect of what Paul is doing here is not a means of keeping slaves quiet and away from revolt.  Paul is not working for the master-class to keep the slaves in subjection.  Rather, he has just helped the lowest people of society, whose lives and duties give them no obvious sense of purpose and meaning, to see that there is a holy aspect to the thankless and abject station that they have in life.  Regardless of how the world views you and your place in it, God sees you as His servant and that is a high position indeed.  Such an idea lifts our hearts out of the muck and the mire, washes it off, and says, “You serve the King of the Universe!”  It is only our myopic and snobbish elitism that cannot see how many slaves came to find hope in the Gospel that they never found in revolts.  In Christ the Christian slave could lift up his head and know that His true Master loved him greatly.  This in no way supports slavery, but rather supports the slave who had no hope of getting out of their situation.

Paul goes on to explain why a slave, or employee for that matter, should obey this command.  First, they will receive the reward of the inheritance.  The inheritance that Paul is talking about is the one that all believers will inherit from God the Father.  Though they have no inheritance in this world, Christian slaves know that they stand to inherit from God alongside of every other station and class in this world.  This life is simply a testing ground.  The life to come is our inheritance.  No one can touch it or separate you from it.  Thus the slave could be faithful to God because God is always faithful and will reward our service to Him in temporal things with eternal things.

The second reason a slave should obey in this matter is because God will repay those who do wrong without partiality.  Now, this sword cuts both ways.  On one hand the slave, who remains in anger and hatred, and refuses in this matter will also be repaid with judgment from God.  On the other hand, the main purpose is to encourage the slave who tries to obey their master and yet is wronged by the master.  Many harsh, unrealistic, oppressive masters have existed in this world.  But here a play on the word reward is made.  Those who wrong slaves will be repaid by God Himself.  How does a person keep doing the right thing when others treat them wrongly?  Typically we become frustrated, angry, and vengeful.  We throw off the altruistic purpose and take the path of our flesh.  We reject Christ and embrace Satan.  These destructive works of the flesh then pull us down into the slavery of sin.  However, when I recognize that even those who abuse me will have their day of reckoning before God, then I can focus on my part of the situation and let go of theirs.  God is an impartial judge.  He does not say, “It’s okay that you were overly harsh with your slave even though he tried his best to be faithful to your commands.”  No.  The Lord of Heaven that sends Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man into the fire will also pay back those who never seem to have to pay for their sins in this life.  With God, no one is ever “too big” to fail and that should be a shot across the bow for all those in this life who have position over others.  By the way, even if society says it is okay to abuse slaves because they are your property, God will then treat you as you treated your slaves.

Masters treat your slaves justly and fairly

Though chapter three ends at verse 25, verse one of chapter four clearly goes with chapter three.  For those who aren’t aware, no part of the Bible was written with chapter and verse divisions.  These were added later for convenience.  In the 13^th century AD several chapter schemes were created and then later in the 16^th century verse divisions were added.  The point being that we should be aware that the chapter divisions are not always in the proper spot.  Chapter four verse one is the counterpoint to chapter three’s instructions to slaves.

Notice that if Paul was just trying to prop up a hierarchical system, he wouldn’t say what he does to masters.  He would most likely tell them to obey the magistrates and the king.  But instead, Paul tells masters that if they have put on Christ it will affect how they treat their slaves.  This is critical because it is the tendency to treat slaves as subhuman, property, and undeserving of basic human treatment that makes it so odious and loathsome.  It is too easy for those of the higher class of society to look upon those of a lower station as being something less than human.  This dynamic did not cease with the Emancipation Proclamation.  It continues to this day.  The leaders of our governments have come to see certain parts of our citizenry as less of a human as they are.  This is always used to justify tyranny.  In the 1800’s it was common to hear slaves described as less evolved and thus on par with animals.  Throughout all of history slaves had no redress for any “wrongs” against them.  They were simply property.

Yet here masters are warned that God will take note of how they treat their slaves.  Both the slave and the master are equally human and therefore imagers of God.  Psalm 62:9 says, “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.”  The point is that those of high estate are not of greater substance before God.  If you buy into the idea that they do, or that they will somehow be treated differently then you are deluded.  Many a king, magistrate, judge, lawyer, politician, business owner, etc. will have their eyes opened on that day that they stand before God and give account for treating others as somehow less than human.  All humans should be respected as human beings created by God for His purposes, and created higher than the animals, yet lower than the angels.

The treatment is qualified by the word “justly.”  James 5:4 gives a picture of the lack of justice in those days when it says, “The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts!”  It is easy for masters, business owners, and their management to have unreasonable expectations for slaves or workers.  When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, Pharaoh gave the unreasonable demand that the Israelites continue to meet their quotas while additionally having to get their own straw (see Exodus 5).  The key here is that historically masters have done what is in accordance with the commands and laws of their country.  Such laws cared little for slaves.  But God does care for them.  Thus the justness of a Christian’s actions toward their fellow man is not determined by what is acceptable in their country.  It is determined by God.  Many people today are spouting and perpetrating injustices in the name of justice.  They believe that the end justifies the means.  All such self-justification will melt when you stand before God.  The question is what does God think is just and righteous?  His word makes it very clear.

The word “fairly” is also used.  This could be seen in relation to other servants, i.e. treat all the slaves equally without partiality.  However, it is more likely meant in relation to how the slave serves the master.  It is only equitable or fair that the master treats the slave kindly when the slave’s life consists of the lowly duty of serving you.  The slave’s task is not easy.  It is only fair that the master not oppressively add to that task out of selfish concerns.  In fact it begs the question, “How harsh of a task master is God to the master?”  It is intended to make the master realize that he will be held accountable for how he treats his slaves.

Verse one ends with the reminder to masters that they have a Master in Heaven.  We are all in subjection to God.  Clearly, He is not like we are.  But He will hold all men responsible for their actions in this life.  The ultimate principle here is to focus on your side of the relationship, and do it in a way that pleases God despite what others do or don’t do.  We are serving Him in this life not self or society.  If we can righteously work for a change in society then that is good.  But the end does not justify the means.  The goal does not justify the path that we take to get there.

This is the new man: a person who is not trapped in the constructs of today, whether hopelessly furthering them or vengefully rebelling against them.  Even if your flesh and heart wants to identify as homosexual, transgender, white nationalist, black power, ad infinitum, we are called to identify as simply a follower of Jesus.  Instead of seeing ourselves as a 99%’er we are called to see ourselves as a follower of Jesus.  Whatever the distinctions that this world tries to put on you, or you want to take upon yourself, today Christ calls you to drop those things and come follow Him.

New Man II audio