Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Eph. 6: 5-9 March 10, 2024

Message: “The New Social Order!”

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro.: 1. Today’s message is difficult to teach in light of our present culture. In context, Paul was writing the Ephesians about changing the way they lived to reflect the love of Christ in their hearts. 

2. In this context, he wrote in Eph. 5:21: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  

a. That included husbands and wives and children.

b. In the verses we are studying today, it included servants and slaves. 

3. God does not tell them to organize a rebellion and fight for their freedom. In fact, He never discusses the social order at all, not in the way our society would expect under the umbrella of social justice. In fact, when some Jews led a rebellion, they were simply crushed by Titus in 70 A.D. God had a better way.

A. Instead, consider what God teaches us in Eph. 6: 5-9.

1.  Paul writes: “Slaves, obey your masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ!”

2. This was God’s way of attacking the social order! In Matt. 20: 25 -28, Jesus said: “The Gentiles lord it over you… But whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.”

3. Loving those over them was more important than rebelling against them. By loving and obeying them, you automatically in God’s eyes demonstrated you were different and, in a spiritual sense, greater than them in the eyes of God, not by your position in the social order, but by your loving actions reflecting the love of Jesus.

B. Then what about issues of abuse?

1. In the Bible, abuse is always wrong. In Luke 12:42-46, Jesus tells a parable about a master who appointed a manager and “put him in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time…. But suppose the manager says to himself: ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the servants under him and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master will come when he least expects it” and he will punish the manager severely. 

2. In the Bible, God never approves of abuse. Christians certainly are not to act in that way. 

a. In our passage, God addresses those in positions of authority over others and says: “Masters, treat your servants in the same way” (as He commanded the servants to treat him). “Do not threaten them, since you know that He who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him” (Eph. 6: 9).

b. So in God’s eyes, the social order is of little consequence to God. What matters is how people treat each other. Christians are to treat others the way Christ has treated them.

3. Since Jesus loved us and died on the cross for us while we were still His enemies, then regardless of who that other person is, we are to pray for grace to treat them in a loving way and encourage them to also get right with the Lord while they can.

4. If we ask, then who is going to do justly and punish, if necessary, the offenders, the answer in Jesus’ parable was simply God Himself. We simply need to trust the Lord.

a. That is also what Paul writes in Rom. 12:17-19” “Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

b. Sometimes God does that through those in authority. Sometimes He does it in other ways, especially if those in authority are part of the problem. But the Christian is to simply trust in the Lord to take care of it.

C. So by treating even the lowliest and poorest in a loving way while asking the lowliest to treat those over them in the same loving way as Jesus did, Jesus knew this would do more good to change the social order than all the rebellions combined.

1. In this context, let us return to what God asked slaves to do. In vs. 5, He asked servants and slaves to show respect. and with sincere hearts, to obey those over them as if they were like Christ Himself.

a. Those are powerful words. That does not give us any excuses.  

b. God knew that even bad people often respond to kindness. 

2. When possible, when abuse is out of control, a person may have to find a way out of the situation. With God’s help, He will show us what to do when that time comes. But even then, we should be asking ourselves: “What would Jesus do?”

3. But considering the social order of Paul’s day, what God was asking was culture changing!

a. Consider what it says in Eph. 6: 6” “Obey (your master) not only to win their favor when their eyes are on you, but like slaves of Christ, do the will of God from your heart.”

b. Apply that to our work relationships in the present. The world does as little as they can get away with. But the Christian should be the best worker that they have, especially when those over them are not looking.

4. Finally consider what it says in vs. 7: “Serve whole-heartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is a slave or free.” 

5. That is the bottom line for a Christian. Our eyes should not be on the person over us, but on our heavenly Father. And our trust is not in men, but in the Lord Himself who will always reward us in His own way in His own time.

6. Jesus calls this “laying up treasures in heaven” where we will receive our ultimate reward. That should be the goal of the Christian.

In conclusion: 1. The “changed Christian life,” described for us in Eph. 4-6, lived out in the real world of Paul’s day, changed the world of his day. People who saw the differ-ence in how a Christian lived and how they treated those over them or under them were drawn to Jesus from all walks of life. 

2. The power of Jesus working in us and through us is still changing our world today.  Paul beautifully put it this way in Eph. 5: 1-2: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

3. May God give us all the grace to be imitators of Jesus and sacrificially serve our Father in heaven, just as Jesus did for us.  Amen.