I just finished a really good biography on David Livingston called The Daring Heart of David Livingston. David Livingston would have been a missionary in Africa in the 19th century. He was a bit of a controversial figure in the sense that he was probably a better explorer than he was a missionary. As a matter of fact, he ended up parting ways with the London Mission Society because he had much broader goals in mind than simply taking the gospel into Africa. And I think in a lot of regards, probably Livingston came to a clear understanding of his own gifts. He had a very scientific mind. And I think he realized that he needed to utilize that in some other directions. Never lost sight of his faith. His journals reflect that throughout his life. But one of the other things that became associated with Livingston is the abolition of slavery. William Wilberforce had already blazed ground in Britain from more of the standpoint of Parliament as a politician of sorts. He was advocating and lobbying for the eradication of slavery from England and certainly from West Africa. And so Livingston's following sort of in his footsteps there a little bit. He's on the ground in Africa, and he has seen all of these horrible, horrible things. And every time he would come back to Britain to kind of report on his latest expedition, he would bring this to the attention of the British people. He was wanting to quicken their conscience as it related to this great system of abuse. And some of the scenes that he depicts in his journals are just heart-wrenching. They're treading through the jungle, and they come across the body, the dead body of an African woman, tied, bound to a tree. And they come to the next village and kind of inquire as to what this means or what this symbolizes. And they said, oh, this is the common practice of the slave traders. If someone was sick or too weak to keep up with the march, instead of letting them go, they would tie them to a tree and let them die. Because if they did recover, they wouldn't want them to be utilized by another slave trader. Just the sheer brutality. At one point, the British started patrolling. They did get more involved. They started patrolling the waters off of East Africa. And it got to the point where when a slave ship would see the British frigate coming, they would jettison the slaves out into the ocean so that they would not be apprehended and so that the rest of their cargo would not be confiscated. horrible, horrible atrocities that Livingston brought to the attention of the British public and became a tremendous advocate for abolition of slavery and the slave trade. And just a month after Livingston's death, significant legislation was passed, and Britain became much more involved, and many of Livingston's desires and aspirations were fulfilled in that regard. I bring that up because our text this morning addresses the issue of slavery. 1 Timothy 6. Continuing to look at Paul's letter to his young apprentice, Timothy. And here in 1 Timothy 6, this issue of slavery is addressed. And what I think is notable is that Paul says nothing against the practice of slavery. we would expect given our context, not only of African slavery on this continent, but also of what we know today of human trafficking, right? And some of the many atrocities that are being perpetrated around the world. We have this context, and so as we read Paul talk about slavery, it somewhat shocks us. Not what he says, but also what he doesn't say. He doesn't address the things that we maybe think that he should or we would expect him to address. In this particular text, there is not even any mention, any word of exhortation, any word of caution or confrontation towards slave owners. But he chooses only to talk about and give instruction for Christian slaves and how they should live and how they should work. And so this kind of hovers over this whole text as we look at it. Why does Paul take the particular tact that he does? Why does he not speak out as a Wilberforce or a Livingston did? Paul had such tremendous influence. He was such a gifted thinker and had such reach in terms of his influence. Why did not Paul take a more direct approach to speak against slavery? So I'm going to let that kind of sit there for just a moment. And I think as we move through the text, we'll begin to see and sense Paul's burden and Paul's passion and why he takes the particular tact that he did. Now there's also a question here in this text as to who exactly these people are that are referenced in 1 Timothy 6. The English Standard Version refers to them in v. 1 as bond servants. The King James refers to them as servants. The NIV translates them as slaves. And I would suggest to you that these are slaves. These are people who don't control their own schedule. They don't in any way contribute to their own wealth. They work for someone else. They follow someone else's order. The text further reinforces this by using the terminology of those servants who are under the yoke. We talked about this a little bit with my kids, and one of my kids thought we were talking about an egg yolk. That didn't make a lot of sense in this passage, you know, to them. So we had to step back and think we're not in an agrarian culture, right? We're not used to talking about these things. But a yolk! I think we have a picture here of a couple of oxen linked with a yoke. So you have this wooden bar that goes across over top of their necks, and then you can't see it, but a little U-shaped piece that would come down and secure under their necks. So they are bound together, and they are bound to a trailer or might be bound to a plow or some instrument of labor. and they are in the position to respond to the instructions of their Master. And this is the imagery that Paul is using to describe these people. These are people who are under a yoke. They are harnessed. They are working for someone else. They're not setting their own schedule. I believe one of the reasons why some of the English texts try to soften this a bit is because we have such dramatic, vivid, graphic images attached to slavery. And we have to be able to make some distinctions between first century slavery in the Roman world and slavery as we know it in the modern era. In the modern era, slavery would generally revolve around ethnicity. Most familiar with Africans being enslaved, in large part simply because of the color of their skin. That was not the case in the ancient world. In the first century, slaves would have come in many different colors. the dynamics would have been more that of economics than ethnicity. If you had incurred debt, crushing debt, debt that you could not repay, then you and your family would oftentimes be sold into slavery. You would have to work it off. So you joke about going to a restaurant and you forgot your wallet and you think, oh, I'm going to have to go back and do dishes, right, in the back to pay for my meal. And in a sense, in the ancient world, there was no such thing as bankruptcy. There was no just, you know, go fill out the appropriate forms and they wipe the slate clean for you and you go on. No, that debt was there and it still had to be paid. So oftentimes it was an economic issue. At times it was also a political issue. If one country were to conquer another country, then those people would often become subservient. They would maybe be assigned to particular tasks by the victor. So there are some differences. from history and what we read from Josephus and others in church history, it appears that most slaves had a pretty good situation. They had a degree of security that was provided to them. In many cases, they came to be considered part of family. As a matter of fact, when the Scriptures use the word for house or household, That would include not only parents, children, grandparents, whoever was living, biological family, but it would also refer to slaves, to those who lived and were, in some sense, part of the family. Now, that's not to say there wasn't abuses. That's not to say slaves were not, at times, mistreated. But I would suggest to you, historically, that that was probably more the exception than the rule. In any regard, we need to at least understand the context here into which we are speaking. I believe that the greatest parallel for us today as we think about these issues would be that of an employer and an employee. So 50% of first century Roman world were slaves. This is just a very common part of the workplace, okay, or the marketplace. Generally speaking, you are either a master or a slave. Again, we might think in our context either an employer or an employee. And so it's this realm that Paul wants to sort of engage, and he wants to talk with believers about how they live and how their faith impacts Monday. It's brought out of the realm of just the church and the church's responsibility and what the church is called to do as they gather. But now we're pushing into an area of the work week. And a lot of people don't see connections there. There's a disconnect between our faith and what it is to follow Jesus and our worship and what we do for 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week. And Paul kind of steps into that realm to help address work week faith. And I think there's just some great principles here, some underlying principles that we would do well to heed here this morning, even though we are in a different cultural, social context. So I'm going to extend three exhortations from this text. The first is this, honor those who are over you in the workplace. Honor those who are over you in the workplace. And before we get there, let's go ahead and read these verses. 1 Timothy 6, beginning in verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord. Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers. Rather, they must serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved." God add His blessing to the reading of His Word. So number one, honor those who are over you in the workplace. Honor those who are over you in the workplace. What does this mean? By the way, I want you to note within the context here the word honor. I think this helps us make sense. It seems like Paul kind of takes a radical different direction here in chapter 6. How does this fit into what he's been talking about, right? I think the key is this word honor. Paul deals with three issues here. If you go back to the beginning of chapter 5, There in v. 3, we are told that we are to honor those who are truly widows. And then v. 17, change of topic. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. So, church leadership, when they're functioning the way they're supposed to be, when they're living lives of integrity and godly character, they ought to be extended honor. And so here then, into chapter 6, as you think about in the work world, and people who are in positions of authority, Those who are slaves, those who are employees should honor those who are over them in the workplace. So this idea of honor is a very important concept here. What would this mean? What would it involve? It certainly would involve putting in a good day's work, being a good worker. It would involve not stealing from your employer. It would involve doing what you are asked to do. Being on time. Not in any way fudging your hours. So all those things at a very basic level. I would suggest that it would even go beyond that to address more attitudinal issues. Here we have this terminology. They are to regard their own masters. Consider. This is a thought word. to consider their own masters as worthy of all honor. So not just outwardly speaking in the things that I do, but in the ways that I think about my employer. Certainly that would delve into speech patterns, right? how I talk about my employer in the workroom, maybe when there's low morale, right, and it's very easy for people to kind of get going on their grievances or how they're underpaid or overworked or whatever it might be, that I am to not engage in those sorts of things as a godly employee. And again, I should come to value this individual. to regard them as someone who is deserving of honor. They might not always act honorably, but their position is worthy of my respect. And I need to think about them in that way. So I would suggest it involves both action and attitude. Now we, generally speaking, are not real good at sort of enduring hard situations. I talk to a lot of people who don't like what they do for work. And some people seem to be chronically sort of discontent. You know, always looking for the perfect job. Something that's just going to be a little more fitting. Some people have a real struggle seeing the connection between their job and the glory of God. Or how their job contributes in a real way to the good of others. seeing value in their work. Sometimes that's a struggle for people. So we often think in terms of, you know, how can I change my situation? I'm going to suggest to you that God is much more concerned in changing your attitude than He is in changing your circumstances. that God is more concerned in sustaining you and accomplishing His purposes in the midst of your situation rather than in extracting you from your situation. There's another great text in 1 Corinthians 7. Paul's talking about marriage and singleness and marriage and all these different sorts of issues. And he says this there in 1 Corinthians 7, "...only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him." Basically, it's a call to contentment. And notice the element of God's sovereignty, that you are not in the job, or the school, or the family that you are in by chance. But God has assigned you to that particular domain to serve Him, to be His representative. Now, he's talking again about marriage within the context here, but in this section, then he goes on to talk about slavery as another example. And he says if you can get your freedom, if you can gain your freedom, if there's an opportunity there, great. Take it. But don't get fixated on it. Don't be so consumed with changing your circumstance that you miss what God wants you to be doing in the midst of your circumstance. And so we have just this call to honor those who are over you in the workplace. Again, we might wish that Paul would speak out against slavery. Paul simply acknowledged slavery was a reality. And he was more concerned with helping people live godly in the midst of their circumstances than he was in trying to change their circumstances. A great reminder for us. We're not used to thinking this way, but I think it's something that definitely pushes us. Secondly, recognize that there is something more important than your personal rights and freedoms. Second exhortation, recognize that there is something more important than your personal rights and freedoms. We find this at the end of v. 1. "...Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled." So he says, I want you to be a good employee. Even if your situation is hard, even if your employer is a jerk and unfair, I want you to be a good employee, because what's at stake is the gospel. People are watching your conduct. And if you're not a good worker, then that brings shame on the name of God, and it brings shame on our teaching. It brings shame on the gospel. It becomes a hindrance, an obstacle. Paul would address this in Corinthians as well. You might remember the setting there, 1 Corinthians 6. There he's talking about lawsuits. And he's pretty overt that believers should not take one another to court. So in verse 1 there he says, when one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? In other words, do you take this to a secular court to resolve my grievance with another brother or sister in Christ? And then he goes on a little later in that section to say, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? In other words, you would be better to just chalk it up as a loss, whatever the dollar amount, than to drag the testimony of the gospel through the mud in a secular court. There's a greater value here than your own personal rights and freedoms. Again, Paul could have talked about the injustices of their situation. He talked about how slavery was not appropriate and how they should be free men and women. But there's something even more important for Paul than personal freedoms and rights. And that was the advancement of the Gospel. And Paul was committed to making whatever sacrifices were necessary in his own life. Remember, he says, I've become all things to all people. He's willing to lay aside his own preferences, his own ethnic and cultural values so that people might come to know Christ. He didn't want anything else to get in the way of that. Remember Paul talking in Philippians 1 as he's in a Roman prison. And his ministry is curtailed. But he says, because of this, the Gospel has gone forward. Even some from Caesar's household, even the guards in Caesar's household have become aware of the Gospel because of my imprisonment. There's something more important than Paul's freedom. And the fact that he'd been falsely accused, and he could have gotten all bitter about it. But instead, he recognized there's something more important. It's the Gospel. We're all familiar with role players, right? Athletic context. These are people who might not fill the stat sheet, might not get a lot of the publicity. The guy on the basketball team that just rebounds. He just collects all the shots that everyone else misses. The person that comes in and is willing to get some fouls so that the star player doesn't have to foul a lot of the game. These are all very important parts, and in some cases, that player might be able to get more playing time if he was on a bad team. He could be the best player on a bad team. But he recognizes that he has a role to play, and there's something bigger going on, the goals of the team, the playoffs, whatever it might be, and he's willing to be a role player. He's willing to sacrifice for a greater cause. I can't help but think of Todd DeKryger in this regard. As I stand there before a stadium of Togolese to talk about Todd's life and be able to talk about how Todd was willing to sacrifice for them. He was willing to sacrifice to the extent that even his own health would be put in jeopardy because he loved them so much. There's a greater cause for which Todd was willing to sacrifice. And Paul is asking employees, asking for people to think about this in the context of their job, their day-to-day activities. Are you willing to make those sacrifices? Not just to give up your life, but are you willing to make small sacrifices along the way Be willing to be misunderstood. Be willing at times to be wronged, to be mistreated for the sake of the gospel because there's something bigger going on. There's something more important. So honor those who are over you in the workplace. Recognize that there's something more important than your personal rights and freedoms. And finally, don't rationalize a poor work ethic. Here in v. 2, Paul anticipates the pushback. He anticipates that someone's going to say, yeah, but what about... you don't know my situation. If you only knew my employer, you wouldn't be saying this. Paul anticipates this. And we have several passages on the topic of slavery Peter and Paul anticipate pushback on this topic. In Colossians 3, we could note that we should function under authority and work hard even if our superior isn't watching. We're not just to be men-pleasers who want to act in a certain way because we know that someone is standing over our shoulder. But we understand that our service for this employer is actually at its heart a service for God. And so we serve and work with integrity even if no one's around. We should work hard and function under authority even if our supervisor is unfair or unkind. 1 Peter 2. He talks about this very thing. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. Literally, the crooked. Those who are not fair with you. Those who are not consistent in their policies. Those who don't have your good in mind. Even then, you are called upon to function with all respect under that kind of authority. And here, in this particular text, Paul addresses another potential excuse. And he says, in essence, that you should work hard and function under authority even if your supervisor is a fellow believer. It seems that some believers who had believing masters felt that they should be given special privileges. After all, we are equals before God, right? Slave and master, employee and employer. And so you shouldn't be treating me like a subordinate. It seems that this was a sort of a growing sentiment that was developing among some Christian slaves. And Paul, in essence, wants to suggest that even though we have equal standing before God, we still have unique and distinct roles that we are called upon to fulfill. So I think we have a slide here on this too, Q, don't we? what I'm calling equal standing and diverse roles. All persons have equal access to God through Jesus Christ. And Paul addresses this in Galatians 3. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. As it pertains to our salvation, no one has an advantage. No one is given preferential treatment, whether male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile. But clearly that doesn't mean that there aren't still distinctions in role. A child who has come to faith in Jesus Christ is the equal of their parents. Are they not? They stand before God as redeemed. They stand as one of the children of God. They are equal. And yet, they are still called upon to function under the authority of their parents. We say husbands and wives are equal before God. Peter makes a big deal of this. They are co-recipients of grace. They've both shared in the grace of God. And yet, God has called husbands and wives to carry out particular roles within the context of the marriage relationship. And Paul seems to bring that same principle to bear here as it relates to slaves and masters. Yes, you're equal before God, but you still are called upon to fulfill your responsibilities within the particular role and the particular place that God has placed you. Paul will write about a slave, Onesimus. And this slave had run away from his master. As I knock over the centerpiece there. This slave had run away from his master. And Paul was sending Onesimus back to his master, Philemon. Because Onesimus needed to fulfill his duties. Even though he was a believer, even though he was free spiritually, he still was called upon to fulfill his duties to his Master. But then Paul writes to Philemon, the Master, and he says, I want you to receive him back, not just as a slave, but as a brother. Those concepts, in some sense, were going to go together and should go together. And so Paul extends that kind of an exhortation here. And he says, really, you ought to be even more excited. You ought to be able to serve even more enthusiastically. You ought to be able to work with a more cheerful spirit because your employer is a believer. Because he's somebody that you love. Because he's a brother in Christ. And because you know that you're contributing to his well-being. I couldn't help but think of the number of our folks that work at Amway for owners who are believers and who give very generously to our community. And that ought to put a little extra spring in your step if you're an employee at Amway. That, OK, one penny of every dollar I don't know what the percentages are, right? But a portion of what I do and the money that I help this company earn is being kicked back. And I work for generous people who love God. That ought to be an inspiration to work even harder. Paul lays this out for them in terms of how they ought to live out their faith on Monday. and that whatever they do ought to be done for the glory of God. So honor those who are over you in the workplace. Recognize that there's something more important than your personal rights and freedoms. And don't rationalize a poor work ethic. Don't think, oh, my situation's different. It's not. God still wants you to function under authority the good of the Gospel and the testimony of Jesus Christ.