I invite you to take your Bible and turn to 1 Timothy 6. And I will share the first five verses this morning. Paul says, but as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them, because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth. who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such, withdraw yourself." Let's pray. Father, we ask the blessing on the preaching and reading of your Word this morning. Lord, help us to take it to heart, live as you would have us to live, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this month I plan to complete study of 1 Timothy, and this morning we're going to look at two topics. Now generally I try to focus just on one topic when I preach, but we're going to look at both because there is a relationship between the two. They both deal with responsibilities in the Christian life. We have work responsibilities, but we also have worship responsibilities. So the title of my message this morning is Christians at Work and at Church. But there's a unifying theme in these two scripture passages, and that is honoring the Lord and honoring His Word. For example, look at verse 1 where Paul says that Christian servants are to serve in such a way that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. And in the last of verse 2, he says, teach and exhort these things. Then the last of verse 3, Paul refers to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which accords with godliness. So basically, Paul is teaching that our lives and our words should not contradict the teaching of Scripture and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to live consistently with the doctrines of the Christian faith so that our lives are a good witness for Jesus. You know, who you are on Sunday and who you are at work on Monday, There ought to be consistency there. And we're going to talk about that this morning. And so I want to share first of all with you some work responsibilities. Now, so far in chapter 5, Paul is talking about different people that we are to give honor to. He talks about giving honor to the elder members of the church. He talks about giving honor to widows. And not just respect, but also families should see to it their widows are cared for. And if they don't have family, the church should step in and help widows. Talks about honoring pastors, including giving sufficient financial support for pastors. But as we move into chapter six, he talks about a different group of people that should receive honor. And this may seem somewhat surprising. He talks about slaves giving honor and respect unto their masters. But you need to understand the context in which Paul was writing. At least one-third of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. Barclay estimates that there were at least 60 million slaves at this time in the Roman Empire. And these slaves were generally treated little better than animals. In fact, he talks about them being under the yoke, which is a metaphor for animal service. And so these slaves had no rights. and the authority of their masters over them was absolute by law of the Roman government. In fact, the word translated master is the Greek word from which we get our English word despot. Have you ever described someone as a despot? Well, they were absolute in control over their slaves. Now there were a number of ways that a person would become a slave in that day. One of the primary ways is through war. Those who lost the war oftentimes were carried off as slaves. And then some would become a slave through legal action. For example, they couldn't pay their debts. or they would be kidnapped by someone and sold as a slave. Believe it or not, sometimes parents would sell their children into slavery. And of course, many were born into slavery. And so this was a pervasive part of society in that particular time. What's sad is that even though slavery has been abolished, There's slavery still going on in our world today. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that results in some people being sex slaves, becoming sex slaves. others living in virtual slavery until their trafficking debt has been paid to the smuggling cartels, and so slavery is still going on today. But as you can see, slavery was so ingrained in Roman society, and knowing that it would continue for years to come, Paul does not make efforts to try to abolish slavery because he knew that would be futile, he knew it would result in much bloodshed, but instead he applied Christian principles to existing institutions. You know, our responsibility, first and foremost, is not to change our circumstances, but to live godly within our circumstances. And so Paul shares principles here about how slaves were to relate to their masters, even though they were in a very unfortunate situation. But you know, Even though Paul did not make efforts to abolish slavery through violent revolution, what he taught what the Bible taught led to the eventual diminishing of the practice of slavery in the Roman Empire. In fact, St. Patrick, who at one time was a slave himself, condemned slavery and encouraged Christians to set their slaves free. Eventually, Christianity led to the abolition of slavery in more recent times, And we certainly should be glad of that. Christianity spread among the slave population. Many slaves were in the churches that Paul would write to. And realizing that any institution wasn't going to change, again, Paul wrote about how slaves and masters were to relate to one another. And I believe that the principles that Paul gave to slaves and masters relate to our situation when you go to work. The relationship between employers and employees, between bosses and those who serve under them. Now, I realize we have a number of retired people here today, but how many of you still are employed? Okay, quite a few of you are still employed. You go to work, you have a boss. And how are you to relate to your boss? Well, I think there are some principles here that apply to you. That even if you don't go to work and have a boss at work, you still probably work for somebody, right? Even if it's somebody at home. And so what are we to do? Well, first of all, we are to give honor to our bosses. Verse 1 says, let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Again, remember the context. Chapter 5 talks about giving honor various people, and even slaves are to be sure they give honor and respect unto their masters. And this is a general principle that is found in the Word of God. In Romans chapter 13 and verse 7, Paul says that we are to render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, fear to whom fear is due, Honor to whom honor is due. And even though you may not like the position, the decisions of someone in authority, you are nevertheless to respect them and honor them if they are in a position of authority. You and I may not agree with a lot of what President Biden has done, but we are always to respect the office of the President of the United States. You may not like Trump. Well, you still must respect the office that he holds. At all times, give honor to whom honor is due. And you know, this manner of giving honor and respect is something we are to learn from the time we are little bitty. You know, the Bible says in the Ten Commandments, honor father and mother. You learn to honor and respect at home to your parents, okay? And then we send you off to school and you give honor and respect at school to your principal and to your teachers. You learn it at school. And then if you learn it at home and learn it at school, then you won't have trouble when you go to work giving honor and respect to your boss. If you get in the military, you better learn some honor and respect, because they will see to it that you give honor and respect to your superior officers. The police officer, the law enforcement in our society should be honored and respected. And what has happened the last several years as police officers have been disrespected, is destructive to society. And so we need to learn to give honor to whom honor is due, to those who are in authority. But note how we are to give honor. You see, remember the word honor literally means to value. And so we are to value their role in having authority and leadership. Without authority, without leadership, things tend to descend into chaos. Without leadership, nothing gets done. And so we are to give honor and respect to those who are willing to be in leadership and authority positions. And so even Even masters are to be given honor, Paul says, because they are in a position of authority by Roman law. That means to speak respectfully. That means to listen to what they say to you and do what they say to you. Give honor to them. But why? Why should Christians especially give honor to those who are in authority? Well, Paul says in the last of verse one, so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed or slandered. You see, Paul was concerned that if Christianity prompted Christian slaves to rebel against their masters, then society would get the idea that Christianity is a rebellious religion. and it would hurt the cause of Christ. And so Paul wanted to be sure that in every situation where there is authority that Christians give honor and respect to those in authority. You see, Paul lays down the principle that we should always be concerned about how we act and how we talk gives honor to the Lord and doesn't hurt our witness for the Lord. And besides, we need to be as concerned or more concerned about our eternal reward than we are our temporal condition. You know, Jesus said in Matthew 20, 27, whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, Jesus said, be a servant and you will be great. You will have great reward for all eternity. And so Christians need to go to work and do a good job and give honor and respect as a positive and good witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. I think Christians ought to have the best work ethic of anyone. But notice also, the special instructions concerning Christian bosses. Now imagine, here's a slave, and a lot of slaves became Christians. And some of these slaves might witness to their boss. And some of these bosses would get saved. And what's the first thing that a Christian is going to think when his master is a Christian? Well, why aren't you setting me free? Why are you keeping me in bondage? And so instead of honoring their boss, they start to despise their boss. In fact, notice what he says in verse 2, And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren. And so, Paul was concerned that you're supposed to give honor to those in authority, but yet if you have a Christian master, you may think, well, I don't have to honor them. I don't have to respect them. I despise them for keeping me in bondage. And you can apply this to situations to today. What if you have a boss that's a Christian? And you start thinking, well, you know, since I'm a Christian and he's a Christian, he ought to treat me kind of special, you know. You know, if I slack off at work, he's going to not hold me accountable. If I want to take some extra time off, he's just going to give me extra time off because he's a Christian. If I want a raise, he's always going to give me a raise and maybe even give me a more generous raise. And if he doesn't, then I'm going to look down on him. I'm going to despise him because he's not being the kind of Christian boss that he ought to be. Let me tell you a very important principle. You are to be the kind of Christian you ought to be regardless of what the other person does. What the other person does should have no difference in you doing your job right. And you being the best worker, you being the best Christian that you can be. And if you think they're not treating you like they ought to treat you, even as a Christian, shouldn't affect the kind of respect you give, the kind of honor you give, the kind of job you do at work. And then furthermore, Paul says in the last of verse 2 that the Christian should serve a Christian boss even better. Notice what he says in the last of verse 2. Rather serve them because those who are benefited as believers are believers and beloved. Paul turns the situation completely around. Instead of focusing on ourselves and the kind of treatment that we're getting, Paul says you ought to be thinking first and foremost about how you should be serving that brother in Christ, how you should be benefiting that brother in Christ. After all, Jesus himself taught and modeled service. You remember He said, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Then after washing the feet of the disciples, a job that a slave would do, Jesus said, you ought to wash one another's feet as I have modeled that example for you. And so Paul says, The fact that he's a Christian ought to motivate you to serve him even better because you're benefiting a brother in Christ. And then he also calls that brother in Christ someone who is beloved. Because you are to love your brother in Christ, that also should motivate you to serve him well. Remember Galatians 5.13, Paul says, through love serve one another. One way we show our love is with our service and giving good service. And so a change in perspective makes all the difference in the world, whether you're at home or whether you're on the job. And speaking of perspective, I wonder how many of you want to be happy. I think every hand would go up. Yeah, I want to be happy. Well, let me tell you the secret of happiness and it's something of a paradox. You see, the more you focus on yourself, your wants, your needs, the more unhappy you're going to be. Because oftentimes your needs and wants aren't going to be fulfilled and you're just going to be down in the dumps about your situation. But instead of focusing on yourself, you focus on others. That's the pathway to happiness. As you love others. As you serve others. As you give to others. As you bless others. You know what's going to happen? You're going to be happier. Partly because those blessings and love and everything's going to come right back to you oftentimes. And so selfishness is not the pathway of Christ. It's not the pathway of the Christian. A self-focus, but other focus is the pathway. And so Paul says, listen, when you're working under someone in authority over you, you be mindful of doing a good job, of giving honor. Be mindful of your witness for Christ. be a positive witness on the job. But he also talks about some worship responsibilities in verses 3 to 5. When we gather for worship, there are responsibilities that we have. Now, some of us have teaching responsibilities. And that's found in the last of verse 2, where Paul says, teach and exhort these things. Pastors and other teachers in the church have a responsibility to teach and exhort. Now, to teach means to help you learn about what you should believe and what you should do. And exhort means to encourage and motivate you to do what you are taught to do. And when you exhort, you have to appeal to the mind. You have to appeal to the will. You have to appeal to the heart to encourage people to do what they ought to do. And so we have teaching responsibilities. I and others in the church have teaching responsibilities. And you, if you're not a teacher, all of us really under a teacher have Learning responsibilities don't. You need to listen. You need to take it in. You need to apply it to your life. Be sure you fulfill these worship responsibilities. But the second main responsibility we have in this text is that we are to withdraw from those who are not teaching the truth of Christ. Paul says in the last of verse 5, from such withdraw yourself. Now your translation may not have those words because some of our oldest manuscripts, those words are missing. However, those words are taught in other passages of the New Testament that you are to withdraw yourself from someone who is teaching contrary to Christ and the Word of God. And here in verses 3 to 5, Paul is clearly dealing with false teachers. And so how do you relate to those who are not teaching sound doctrine? Yes, you are to withdraw from them. You don't listen to them, you don't read their books, you don't go to their seminars, and you certainly don't send them offerings, please, if they're a false teacher. And so how can you identify a false teacher? Well, Paul, in this text, gives three ways. First of all, by their teaching. In verse 3, Paul says, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent or agree with wholesome words, even the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness. All right, so he's talking about someone whose teaching is different from the teaching of Jesus. It's different. from the teaching of the apostles found in the New Testament. Now, if there's a preacher who never preaches about hell, is that different from Jesus? You bet. Because Jesus talked about hell quite a bit. Sometimes you spot the difference not in what they say, but what they don't say. that is so much taught in the Scripture. So if they are teaching differently from the Word of God, then that's a false teacher. And then in the middle of verse 3, he talks about that they should consent or agree with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if they're teaching differently, then you are to Withdraw from them. Don't listen to them. Don't give them an opportunity to teach or preach in your church. Use discernment. On the other hand, Paul talks about two correct characteristics of sound doctrine that they will be void of. And what are those? First of all, they should be teaching wholesome words or healthy words. Sound doctrine promotes spiritual health. And if their teaching doesn't help Christians to grow stronger in the Lord and become spiritually healthy, then that's a sign that they're not teaching good doctrine. And so, are they preaching spiritually healthy words. And then secondly, in the last of verse 3, we see that they are to consent or agree with the doctrine which is according to godliness. Their doctrine should produce godliness in the lives of people. Look at chapter 3 of 1 Timothy. You see the qualifications of pastors and deacons. And the focus is their character, their godliness. If they're not godly, if they are not of godly character, they shouldn't be pastors, they shouldn't be deacons, because that's what Christianity produces, is godliness. On the other hand, false doctrine tends to promote sin in the lives of people. It doesn't produce godliness. And so analyze their teaching. And then secondly, take a look at their traits, how they live. Jesus said in Matthew 7, 20, "'By their fruits you shall know them.'" So notice how Paul describes these false teachers in verse 4. He says, "'He is proud, knowing nothing.'" These false teachers oftentimes have a lot of pride. Oftentimes they're very capable speakers. They seem to be very knowledgeable and very proud of how knowledgeable they seem to be. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1 says that knowledge puffs up. And so if they tend to display an arrogance and a pride about them, about their abilities and about their knowledge, then that's not a good sign that they are truly following Christ. And he says they're not so smart. They actually don't even understand the truth, Paul says. In verse 5, they're men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. So look at their life. Are they Christ-like? And then finally, observe their talk. Now some people are good talkers and they think that they're able to talk and use arguments and they can win arguments and they get into philosophical and theological arguments and battles And boy, if they're really sharp on their feet and good with their tongue, they can come out on top and impress a lot of people. And so in the middle of verse 4, Paul says that often these false teachers are obsessed with disputes and arguments over word. Man, they'll be hair-splitters. They'll make mountains out of molehills, They seem to have a morbid delight with quibbling and word battles. Then in verse 5, he says that they engage in useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds. Now, you won't tell it from the English Bible, but in the original Greek there, he used the word that describes something that was common in that day. and that is people who are good at speaking would actually earn a living by going around and gathering crowds and giving lectures, whether they be philosophical lectures, the Greeks loved philosophy, or they found out that you can make a good living in the religion business. In fact, in the last of verse 5, he describes them as among those who think that godliness is a means of gain. And so here were these false teachers that learned that they can make a really good living in the religion business. You realize that there are some Christian preachers and singers that are multi-millionaires. because of the religion business that they are in. And so Paul says in chapter 5 that pastors are to be financially supported, but if a pastor seems to be greedy and is more interested in the accumulation of wealth than in helping people grow in their Christian faith, if they're preaching a prosperity gospel, which has become so common today, then they are probably not the kind of preacher and teacher you ought to be listening to. And you know what happens when people get into these competitive religious arguments? Paul says in verse 4, "...from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicion." You know, you had all these religious teachers in competition with one another, each trying to gain the bigger audience, each trying to get the most income from their audience, and they would be envious of the success of others. And then, as it says there, they would engage in strife with one another, reviling, slandering one another. Oh, don't listen to that person. Come over here and listen to us. so forth and so on, and evil suspicions. Paul says you can see from their lives the kind of people that they are, and if you realize that they are not Christlike in their teaching and in their life, then withdraw from such as they. Once you recognize someone who is not a true teacher of God, someone who is not Christ-like, then you don't go to their church, you don't go to their seminar, you don't read their books, you don't listen to their teaching over the Internet. So let's review. How well are you representing Jesus at work? Are you giving honor? In respect to those in authority over you at work, are you doing a good job? If you have failed in recent days, would you confess that to the Lord and ask Him to help you to live by these biblical principles? And if you are a teacher in this church, are you following the last of verse 2? And if you are a Christian, and most all of us are, The question is, have you learned enough of the Bible to be able to discern whether someone is teaching consistently with Scripture or not? Oh, it's so important that you be not led astray. Learn the Word of God so that you can discern the difference between a true teacher of God and someone who is not. a true teacher of God. And when you have a good teacher from God, then you be faithful to learn from them. And when you recognize someone who is not truly of God, then you don't give them the time of day. Would you bow with me in prayer as we reflect? Lord, help us to take these principles, both at work and in church, and live as you would have us to live. Thank you for the guidance of your word. And help us to live in accordance with your word. And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name, amen.