As Bondservants of Christ - Part 2

Ephesians 6:9
November 17, 2019
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

A huge part of life for most people is work and all the drama that comes from the relationship between workers and their bosses. And perhaps the greatest and most heartfelt depiction of this fact can be found in the beloved American sitcom television series The Office, a story about the employees of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and their boss, regional manager Michael Scott.

Michael is not a perfect boss. In fact, in many ways, he is a terrible boss. He can be described as an imbecile, a racist, a chauvinist, and just a tactless and foolish and inept human being. And there are many more things that can be said about him.

But a funny thing happened by the end of the show. Pretty much every audience member in America and every fictional character in the show loved Michael Scott. And the reason why was because he was so relatable and because he loved the office. He was and is and probably always will be the world’s best boss.

The reading of God’s Word this morning about masters and bondservants is very relevant for us. There is a good chance that many of you in this room will be a boss at some point in your life. You may not be THE boss of your workplace. But you might have both peopla above you and also below you that you have to work with. And the principle of Jesus’ command for us this morning can translate easily to parts of our lives outside of work. You can apply this text to parenting. You can apply this text to spearheading a school project. You can apply this to leading a small group at a retreat. You can apply this to governing and serving a church. So let us listen carefully today, even if we do not consider ourselves to be masters of anything or anyone.

Last Sunday, we considered how bondservants back then and workers today are, at the end of the day, bondservants of Christ. And we considered how our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ saved us as a servant.

It is truly amazing to see the humiliation and servanthood and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus emptied himself of his glory. Jesus humbled himself. And he took the form of a servant. Jesus did this so that you would be saved. It is truly amazing to see how the Lion of Judah became the Lamb who was slain.

But the Lamb is still the Lion. And while Jesus indeed took the form of a servant for our salvation, Jesus is not a servant. Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Jesus is God. Jesus is master over all.

Therefore, he is exalted. Jesus rose again from the dead by his own power and he vanquished death as the Son of God. Jesus ascended into the highest heavens and now sits at the right hand of the Father with all fullness of joy, glory and power over all things in heaven and earth as he gathers and defends his church. Jesus makes intercession for us as our Great High Priest and he answers all accusations against us. And one day, Jesus will come back in great power and glory to judge the world and usher in his everlasting kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth. Jesus is exalted. Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Jesus is master over all.

This means that every earthly master who believes in Jesus bows down to him. Because just as bondservants are ultimately bondservants of Christ, earthly masters are also ultimately bondservants of Christ. This remarkable and magnificent principle shines brightly in verse 9 of today’s Scripture reading. Paul writes, “Masters, do the same to [bondservants], and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.” He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven. Do the same. Earthly masters are bondservants of Christ.

And this remarkable and magnificent principle is magnified by the fact that there is no partiality with Jesus. Earthly masters might be above their bondservants in many ways. But in Jesus’ eyes, both masters and bondservants are equally saved and equally loved. Our heavenly master has no favoritism or bias. He does not compare his people against one another. It is in this sense that Paul writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Earthly masters and their bondservants live together in the same household, the same family, and the same body of Christ.

This changed the way that earthly masters were to treat their bondservants. Earthly masters were also supposed to fear the Lord in their relationships with their bondservants. With fear and trembling, they needed to do the will of God from the heart and be just and fair toward their bondservants. Earthly masters were also supposed to be sincere in their hearts. They needed to care for their bondservants and treat them as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And for all earthly masters who believed in Christ Jesus for their salvation, they were to walk in a manner worthy of Jesus’ gospel. They would have thought to themselves, “I have been set free from the bondage of sin and now I am a bondservant of God and a servant of obedience and righteousness” (Romans 6:22; 17-19). They would have thought to themselves, “Whoever would be great… must be a servant, and whoever would be first… must be a slave, even as my Lord Jesus came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). That would be a life worthy of Jesus’ gospel.

And for all earthly masters who believed in Christ Jesus for their salvation, they would have been humble. They would have been humble, knowing that just as their bondservants were bought with a price, so were they. Just as their bondservants were not their own, so were they not their own. They would have looked upon their bondservants and seen themselves. That would be a life of gospel humility.

It is in this light that earthly masters were to stop their threatening. This is a very important command. Because it is a profound thing to threaten someone.

Threatening is defined as a stating of intention to take hostile action… in the form of pain, injury or damage… against someone… in retribution for something done or not done. For example, you can threaten someone by saying that you will give them punishment or humiliation if they do not do a certain thing according to your liking. Or you can threaten someone by saying that you will take something away from them: their money, their position, their freedom, their life. Threatening can take many forms, such as intimidation or abusive control. And the list goes on and on: verbal abuse, bullying, harassment and so and so forth.

There may be several reasons as to why masters threatened their bondservants. But generally speaking, threatening happened because masters wanted to motivate their bondservants to do well, because masters wanted to get what they wanted, because masters sought to control others, and because masters wanted to be like God.

But none of those reasons mattered. Because our heavenly Master does not allow threatening to happen. The royal command of Jesus Christ is this: stop your threatening.

And the reason why we must not threaten others is because Jesus does not threaten us.

Think very carefully here, brothers and sisters. We are mostly Asian. Many of us come from legalistic church backgrounds. And we all struggle with sin. You may think that threatening is okay. And you may not even realize that you think that threatening is okay. But I’m here to tell you that threatening is not okay. And the reason is simple. Jesus, who is our heavenly Master, does not threaten us.

When you threaten someone, you are ultimately doing this. And this might be the most important point of my sermon. You undermine the relationship between you and the person that you are threatening. When you threaten someone, you challenge the assurance of the relationship. When you threaten someone, you put the person to the test.

Now this sounds like a great plan for dictators, cult leaders, toxic workplaces, and legalistic churches with pastors and leaders who are unhappy and dissatisfied with their members and knows which buttons to push to make their members feel guilty about themselves. But at the end of the day, threatening goes completely against the gospel life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus does not threaten us. He never states his intention to take hostile action… in the form of pain, injury or damage… against us… in retribution for something done or not done. Jesus does not punish us or humiliate us so that we do what he wants. He does not minister to us through intimidation or abusive control. Jesus does not verbally attack us or bully us.

Jesus never undermines the relationship between you and him. He never challenges the assurance of your union with him. He never puts you - your status or your salvation - to the test. That is not how he speaks to us as our Prophet. That is not how he ministers to us as our Priest. That is not how he governs us as our King. And that is not how earthly masters are to be toward their bondservants. Jesus does not threaten us.

Dear brothers and sisters, may there be no threatenings in your workplaces, if you are a boss with subordinates underneath you, or in your homes, if you are a parent with children, or in your marriages, if you are a husband. And may there be no threatenings in our church, from any of us pastors, from our session, and from any member of Highland. Because that is not how Jesus does relationships.

Michael Scott was not a perfect boss. But he is the world’s best boss. And that is because of how he did relationships.

Michael showed up at the showing of Pam’s art gallery. Other people were critical of her drawings, but Michael genuinely liked her work. He asked to buy one of her drawings for the office. And he told her that he was very proud of her.

Before Michael left the office, he gave Dwight a recommendation letter. “This is going to be good. ‘To whom it may concern.’ Good, real personal. Thanks Michael. ‘The dictionary defines superlative as: of the highest kind, quality, or order, surpassing all else, or others. Supreme.’ That’s great. If I wanted the dictionary definition, I’d buy a dictionary. ‘I define it as Dwight Schrute. As a sales executive, as a leader, as a man, and as a friend, he is of the highest kind, quality, and order. Supreme.’ Lots more like that, really repetitive.”

And so when Michael struggled to say goodbye to Jim, Jim said, “You know what I think we should do? I think we should just save the goodbyes for tomorrow at lunch. And then tomorrow, I can tell you what a great boss you turned out to be. Best boss I ever had.”

Brothers and sisters, when you are at work, please remember that the people above you and the people below you are… people. May you relate to people as the Lord relates to you.

Soli Deo Gloria