Colossians 3, starting at 22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward. of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. With all praying for us that the That God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of God for which I also am in bonds So far I read an extra verse That's okay. Let's pray and ask for the Lord to illumine our hearts this morning Holy God in heaven we come before you and as we turn now to your word I pray that your spirit would come and mightily move upon each one of us, upon me, upon each one of us as we hear. I pray that your word would penetrate into our hearts And I pray, Lord Jesus, if there's anybody here who does not know you, that you would do a work of divine grace in their lives, that they would come to know the Savior and see life and know you as their Lord and as their God. And Lord, as we do know you, may we grow in our faith and build one another up in that most holy faith in which you so shape us for your glory, for your namesake. In Jesus' name, amen. Colossians 4 verse 1 we're opening up kind of the last of these sections where Paul is dealing with domestic relationships we saw in starting at verse 18 he starts all these relationships of wives husbands children's fathers Servants or slaves and now the last one would be masters and he gives them one verse in this Epistle in Ephesians. He puts a little bit more in there But he picks this last category because it's such an important one in our lives, isn't it? How we relate to one another as employers to our employees. And in those days, it wasn't so much employees as it was slaves. But Paul is speaking here to masters who were Christians, people who loved Jesus, who were born again. and who confessed him as Lord of their lives. Probably the most familiar one to Colossae would have been Philemon. We talked about him last time. He was a citizen most likely of Colossae. Now these people owned their slaves and so really what you got to understand as you see the word masters is a word of power and of position. These were men of wealth, of prominence and They determined the housing, the food, the physical well-being and even the punishment for their slaves. But in many ways that corresponds to employers in the sense that we give wages and stuff like that. There's of course a lack of correspondence in that we don't get punishment. And most of the time we don't provide the housing and the food for these people, but in those days it did. But nonetheless, I'm going to again look at the angle of employers and ask questions regarding that this morning. Because we do determine as employers in many ways the conditions and the pay of our employees. At the core of the idea of a master is power and authority. Now, ask yourself, where am I in a position of authority and power in my life? Maybe parents to your children. Maybe you are a business owner and you are able to have people working for you. Maybe you're not an owner but you're a manager. Maybe it's in a board or in a committee or even in other areas of life where you have that power over other people. And Paul just gives us two very instructive words here. He says, be just and be equal as masters. The idea of to give here in the Greek, it's in what's called the middle voice. And what that means is that give so far as you are concerned. To the extent of your power, be just and equal, because not everything is within your reach. There are things that you would like to do for those who are under you, but you can't. You might not be able to provide housing or to provide an enormous salary increase, but what you can do, Paul says, you should do. And that's what the word to give there implies in the middle voice. And I just think it's an important thing to highlight. Then he brings the word just, which is dikaios, which Also often its close associate word is righteousness. Do that which is right or just. Those two words correspond really closely together and they all refer to the standards of God. So doing what is right and that which is moral in the eyes of God is doing what is just. Now this isn't moral relativism which our culture loves to talk about, well, you know, I do what's right because I think it's right. And the standard is smeared over the masses of people and there is no absolute standard. In biblical language, doing what is just always corresponds to God's standards. There's an absolute. And so Jesus says to the people, he says, judge not according to appearance, but he says, but judge a righteous standard. And of course, by that, he's referring to the standard of God. And the second word here, equal. In equality, Paul simply wants masters, employers to do that, which is give their servants what is due to them, what is fair. If the servant is bound to serve the master, John Ede writes, then the master is bound equally to certain duties to the slave. That's an important one to remember because I think there is a sense at which when we're the ones in charge, we think that we've kind of got it made and we're kind of in charge, so we don't always give what is equally due to them. But Paul says very clearly, give them what is equal in the sense of corresponding to what they deserve. When the servant has done their part, Master should do their part. There are piles of verses I could pick up in the Old Testament that deal with this. I'm going to just highlight one. This is from Deuteronomy 24, where God says, Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers. So even if he's a foreigner, that are in thy land, within thy gates, At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor and sets his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be a sin unto thee. And so God in the Old Testament already was very concerned about the poor and about the servants and about paying them and giving them their due. And so Paul really picks this up again in the New Testament. Are you a penny pincher? As a boss? As an employer? Are you the kind of guy that times lunch breaks to the T? Are you the kind of guy that treats your employee like a number? Last week I spoke with somebody and I asked him, so how was it to work there? And he said, well, and this is, I know this business is owned by a Christian, he says, I feel like a number. Or he felt, he quit. That's not just and equal service. Being nice to your clients but treating the workers like necessary equipment. Paul says that's not the way we ought to treat one another, particularly masters where it is within your reach to change that and to set the tone and the atmosphere of your workplace. You compliment people working for you. Do you recognize what they do? All these things come to us when you think of these words of being just and fair. If you're taking notes at all, there's four passages I encourage you to look up, or if you've got an amazing memory, just remember them. Jeremiah 22, 13-16. Very powerful words. James 5, 1-5. Luke 12, 41 to 48 and Lastly the one that really struck me first Peter 3 verse 12 when it talks about how our prayers are hindered when we don't deal righteously and so Paul calls us to be wise in giving fair treatment to those under us and The whole grounding he gives is a straightforward one when he says knowing that you also have a master Heaven and there's a play on words there because the exact same word is used. It's curious So in the beginning lords or masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal knowing that you also have a curious a lord a master in Heaven and so no doubt he's playing on both of them. You see the thing is we tend to think of things as within our own reach as ours. A little kingdom of me. This is my business to run. I will choose who I hire and what I pay them. I choose to purchase what I want to purchase. And with regards to my position, I call the shots. Now that is totally foreign to the apostles' theology. Christian masters are equally slaves before the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Master, Jesus Christ. Before His throne there is no rank. Paul made that very clear in verse 11 of chapter 3 when he says there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, and then he says it, bond, slave, or free. But Christ is all. In the realm of the Christian Church, we are all one before Christ. And just a brief comment to the side, it's not in my notes, but I think it's very instructive. This verse gives the precedent, I think, for the abolishment of the slave trade. I read many commentaries that picked up on that, and I do agree that as this verse gets carried out, the slave trade dwindles, and the whole idea of having slaves, I think, does die out. So, that's just something to think about. As you look at verse 18, 19, 20, 21, and all the way through and into chapter 4, what's the overarching theme of the grounds of the Christian life? Well, word keeps coming back. Verse 17, do all in the name of the Lord. Verse 18, wives, excuse me, submit as it is fit in the Lord. Children, obey, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Verse 23, servants serve as to the Lord, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive. So it's no wonder then that in this final place, Paul again picks up the Lordship of Christ in the believer as the central pivotal way we live our lives. The anchor of the Christian life is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Practical Christianity, what everybody says, how does this apply to my life? is buttressed in the Lordship of Jesus Christ to us. What does he say here? He says, knowing you have a Master or a Lord in Heaven. Now without hesitation, I think the whole book of Colossians chapter 1 and 2, for those of you who have been with us that many years, we saw the preeminence the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15 of chapter 1 says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, which means preeminent one, the supreme one, the high one of every creature. Colossians 3 verse 1 says that Christ sits on the right hand of God. He's not an earthly king. He doesn't live in a presidential palace. He's not even an archangel. That'd be way too low for King Jesus. He is Lord of heaven and earth, the holy angels, eternally. It says they cover their faces and their feet, and then they fly the seraphim, and they say, holy, holy, holy. That's how holy our Lord Jesus is. His lordship is way above what we can ever imagine. It's Jesus of whom it is written. It says that He is the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy. He dwells in a high and holy place. And please, don't take these words as Sunday School theology. This is real. This is real. Slave owners may have prided themselves in their status, they may have abused their position, but they are answerable to King Jesus. There is no higher court of appeal than the Lordship of Christ. He is the Lord of the Supreme Court of Heaven and Earth, and He presides over everything. He is the rule. He is the measure. He is the standard of what is right and wrong. And I just want to take a few minutes here to think about if masters are called to be just and equal, how is our heavenly master just and equal? Because he is the center of that. Turn with me please to Hebrews chapter 1, and I'm just going to read a verse there that speaks about how Jesus was and is. Hebrews 1, again, verse 1, positing Jesus against the angels, saying, He is so much greater. And in verse 7 it says, And which of the angels, he says, who makes his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. And then the contrast, but to the son, he says, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is a quote from the Old Testament, Psalm 45, but notice the path to Jesus exaltation was his love for righteousness. He loved doing the right thing. It was his passion to do the right thing and to hate iniquity. And it's no wonder then that the scepter of his kingdom, the way he's going to rule is with righteousness. Oh, that we would come to grips with the heart of Jesus for righteousness. And therefore, for us as employers, or for us as we're over other people, to do righteous things, we display who Jesus is. We put Him on a showcase and say, Our Lord loves this. And as we treat one another in a right way and in a fair way, we are echoing our great Master. But we need to know His heart, and this verse gives us such a nugget of His heart. May we pause to give thoughts about the compassion of our Lord. Throughout the Old Testament, He speaks of the poor and the needy and for justice. One of the great Psalms that refers to that is Psalm 72. Read it at home. I actually read it in our call to worship, but it's constant for Jesus' call to righteousness. He's a righteous ruler. And masters, employers, you have the power, and parents I would say here too, to give somebody a word of encouragement. Are you the kind of guy that's known for breathing over the necks of the people under you? Do you ream them out when they make a mistake? Or are you the kind of guy that is gracious and tender and has tremendous patience, as Jesus has had tremendous patience with us? And our King Jesus, He's also perfectly equal, fair to us. Last passage to look up in this section, Isaiah 11. It's Christmas. And as we think of Christ coming, let's just see this Christmas passage highlight the kind of Messiah we have. Isaiah chapter 11, starting at verse 1, and it says, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him, the Spirit of God will make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither shall neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness Shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." See, our King Jesus and the kingdom that he is building is one of righteousness. And that's what he wants us to have. He's not duped by appearance. He looks in the heart. Our righteous King doesn't go by hearsay. Do you do that at work? Such-and-so said that to you, and now suddenly you believe what he said, and your view of this other person has been changed by what hearsay has done. Jesus isn't fooled by that. He's not fooled by the prayers of the hypocrite. Our Master is clothed with the belt of righteousness. You know, just think that the royal robe of His rule is surrounded by righteousness. That's quite something. Everything He does in His rule is righteous. And that's the echo that Paul uses for us as employers, as people in charge, as people with authority, that robe Christ's rules, surrounded by righteousness. Now I'm going to shift gears a little bit, because Paul says in this verse that you have a master. You see that? You have a master. He doesn't say that being a just and fair boss makes you a servant of King Jesus. It's not because we treat our workers nicely, it's not because we're well liked by our employees that we then purchase a right into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this verse, consistent with all of Scripture, teaches that we must first be purchased by the Master. We must be first under His rule. We must be first His slaves before we can ever think of serving Him. That is the theology of the entire Scriptures. We must be owned by Him. We do not pay our way into His kingdom and into His Lordship. You have a master in heaven paul says and the cause Of that or the reason of that lordship is just living is equal living is doing all these things he addresses here in the passage And this is the last verse where paul deals with domestic relationships So i'm going to close this entire section off with the question. What does it take? to be a slave of King Jesus? What does it take for Him to be my Lord and my God? Maybe you're sitting here this morning, and you've never admitted it, and you wouldn't admit it to anybody. But you're banking on something good you think you have. You're a religious guy. You're nice. You're an all-around decent person. Of course, Jesus is your Lord. I mean, after all, Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. In Psalm 24, the psalmist says this. He says, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy presence? You know what he says? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Those people can go before the King of kings. That's the standard. That's the bar to come before the Lord of heaven and earth. How are we doing when we measure ourselves against that? Are we able to stand? Am I able to stand before the throne of King Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth? Just look at them. What about clean hands? He that hath clean hands. Did you use your hands for sin, maybe, today yet? Maybe you did some grievous thing in your history when you were young. Maybe you did steal things. Maybe they were little things. Maybe they're little things at school that nobody knows and you're like, well, whatever. You know, small stuff. Maybe it was bigger stuff when you were a teenager. Maybe you used your hands to turn on the television to watch pornography, to watch exceeding violence. Maybe you've hurted your brother and sister, or hurt them, sorry, this week in completely unnecessary ways with your hands. You know, so the hands reflect what we do. That's what David means. He that has clean hands. What have you done with your life? How did you do this week? What about the next one with a pure heart? Jesus says to the Pharisees, He says, you know, you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What's in your heart? What's in my heart? What motivated that sarcastic comment you made to somebody this week? What drove you to speak rudely to your mother? What was in your heart when you fudged the numbers at work Friday? Or when you cheated on the test at school and nobody noticed? I did that. I remember doing that. What about the next one? Not lifting your soul unto vanity. Not lifting your soul unto vain, empty things. You see that? What are you worshipping? Do you crave a big bank account? Maybe you adore the attention of having the nicest car, the best kept house with all the bells and whistles on it, or the honour of being the smartest in the class, or the status of being the best player on the team. Is your life a pursuit of vain things? the best business, the biggest tractor, the picture-perfect family. What about the last one here? Swearing deceitfully. You ever lied before? You know, we can all look down and admit we have. We have sworn deceitfully. Ever used your words just to stretch the truth a little bit? To manipulate to get your way? To get their attention? You see, the verdict is in, isn't it? For me to think that I can ascend to the holy hill of God before King Jesus is impossible, isn't it? I can't earn that. I can't merit that. I can't deserve that. It's flat out impossible. The Bible actually says He is angry with the wicked every day. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. God is angry with the sinners every day. It says, Psalm 711. You see, without coming to grips with this, and I'm serious, without coming to grips with what we just thought about, briefly, we'll never know Him as Lord of our lives. Never. That's what Oswald Chambers said, he says, we will never know Christ as Lord of our lives unless we first know our own sin. The fact of the matter is our Lord Jesus is so holy, so perfect, so absolutely righteous that even the holy angels dare not be unveiled before him. What are we thinking? What does this world think that Jesus is going to let them into heaven just because they're decent? Unbelievable. But I just need to look at myself. And the heart that I had before I knew Christ was one that I thought, you know, I am, I'm pretty good. I can be there. I can be there. In Luke 18 verse 9, Jesus gives a parable and he says, it says in this description of the parable, it says, unto certain people which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And then you get that, that person that says, you know, I fast twice a week. I do this, all this kind of stuff. I'm not like them. And the other person that says, just says, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus says, which of those two are white righteous or justified? See, the very first mark of a Christian, those who say, Jesus is my Lord, is somebody who has given up trusting in themselves, stopped trusting what we can do. And that is so freeing. There's something in you, and ask yourself this question carefully, is there something in me that I hang on to as making me worthy? Am I grabbing on to that sliver of merit? Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you do know you've led a life of sin. You know that the path you're on is one that has led to heartache, pain, Disappointment because you've tried and you've tried and you say, you know, I'm gonna renovate my life I'm gonna be the pious person. I ought to be I'm I'm gonna go to church twice I'm gonna read my Bible. In fact, I'm gonna read through the Bible in a year Even less I did it in three months. Maybe you say to yourself, whatever but you're not satisfied. Your heart is still waiting and The choices you've made in your life, they're not satisfying you. Even your church attendance leaves you walking away Sunday after Sunday, and you're empty. You're empty. Some of us here this morning, I believe, could be there. We walk away. Are there sins in your life that nobody knows about? You don't even dare to share them with your husband or wife or your parents. But you are terrified of dying and standing before God. Perhaps you're here and you're hurting. And you want to be free from the guilt. You want to be right with God. So how do you become a child of King Jesus? How can you be delivered from wretched sins that oppress you? You see, because Christ won't have a trace of our righteousness. A trace of our righteousness before Him. What will you do? The fact is you can do nothing. You can't do a thing. The good news is that Jesus came into the world to save those of us Anybody of us who is truly at an end of themselves. I said truly Because this isn't about putting on a facade this morning. I'm not going to put on this face Holy holy Lord refine me all this stuff truly in your heart Have you come? Have I come to an end of myself? Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You see, the master who Christians know is the master who came to seek me, a lost person, me, a destitute person, me, a broken person. Jesus saves broken people. He saves the downcast. He saves the people that have come to an absolute, total, and utter loss with themselves. They've given up every hope of trying to fix their life. They've given up everything of trying to become Mr. Bible, Mr. Christian, Mr. Person Who Sits in Church All Sun. We have quit. We have surrendered everything of ourselves. See, Christmas is when we remember that the Lord of Heaven came into this mess of sinners who hated Him. How did Jesus treat those people who hated Him, who rejected Him? The Bible says He had compassion on them. Our Jesus is a Lord of compassion upon the destitute. But He hates, it says in the Bible, the proud. He hates the proud. And that's why, please take inventory of your souls. I beg you, take inventory of your souls. I had a dream. I woke up at 3 o'clock this morning. And somebody dear to me had died, and it just gripped me. We must take inventory of our souls. Do I know Him as Lord? Do I know Him? Don't leave this morning without knowing Jesus as your Master, without completely resigning from all your effort, from all your merit, and coming to Jesus. He has compassion on the broken. Our Lord lived 33 years on this sod without one act of sin. Never did He sneer with contempt just because He felt that it was the right thing to do and that He hated people. That's not our Jesus. He never sinned. Not once. Not once. Did He ignore the Father not once? Did He not render reverence to the Father? Did any of the charges laid against King Jesus ever stick? Oh, they had their accusations. The Pharisees hated Him. Even duplicitous Pilate said, I find no fault in this man. And then he sends him away anyway. What does Peter say in Acts 3? This is right after everything had taken place. What does Peter say? He says, but you, put yourself in there, but you denied the holy one and the just. See those words, the holy one and the just? It's no wonder that Paul calls servants to be just because they look to their master who is the just one. And it says, and you desired a murderer to be granted. unto you and killed the Prince of Life. The condemned murderer and seditionist Barabbas was let off the hook and the Holy Lord of Heaven was crucified. It was His unjust crucifixion that is the hope of the world. It is the unrighteous murder of the Son of God that was the determined plan of God to save sinners like you and I. Jesus said, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. He gave Himself. The Lord we serve is the Lord who gave Himself. The price to purchase my freedom from slavery to sin and death was paid by the Master, by the Lord of Heaven. Now, how can that be yours? How can that be mine? How do I know I am justified? The most important question I need to ask myself. How do I know I am justified before God Almighty? How can I be a righteous child of the King of Heaven? Romans 3 says that it is ours by faith in that Jesus. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's free. It's totally, absolutely grace. It is not earned by 10,000 works of righteousness that we do. It is received by faith. By faith. When we repent of our sins and turn by faith to Jesus, as our righteousness, hear those words carefully, as my righteousness, When I look to Him as my righteousness, the Spirit unites me to Him. And I am united to all the benefits and all the winning of His blood, the victory of His blood, the victory of His death and of His resurrection. The Bible says it, and it's the verse that converted Martin Luther, that just shall live by faith. By faith in Jesus. Maybe you're a Christian and you have lost sight of this. Maybe your week was terrible. Maybe you did things yesterday, last night that you were totally just ashamed of. Maybe you have gone, not just for a week, but for months in dread, in downcast and heavy and burdened again. The joy that you once knew is gone. Then look afresh to Christ. Look afresh to the value of His blood. It never loses its worth. The love of Jesus never fails. John Bunyan, when he was saved, writes this about the gospel. And if you're saved, you're going to resonate with this. And if you're not, I hope the Spirit opens your eyes to resonate. He was sitting in church. And the pastor had read from Corinthians, my grace is sufficient for thee. And he says, these words did suddenly break in upon me. My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. Three times together. And oh, I thought that every word was a mighty word unto me. And then, this verse from John 6.37, whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. I saw, John Bunyan writes, that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame of heart. that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, today, forever. It's from that life that the Christian can be transformed. It's from his life. It's from his righteousness. It's from knowing him. It's no other way. Knowing you have a master. in heaven. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you that by faith we may know you, that by faith we may be saved, that by faith your righteous blood was applied to our account. Lord, if there's anybody here whose heart is aching, there's anybody here who does not know you, there's anybody here, Lord, and you know them, would you do a work of grace in their lives? Would you allow the gospel to become lovely to them. And Lord, help each one of us to live not as a means to salvation, but being saved, to live that holy, righteous life to which You call us. In Jesus' name, Amen.