Introduction:
A. The relationship between bosses and employees can be fodder for many jokes and most of them are not too funny! (Especially if you are the boss)
1. I heard about a boss who put a sign on the company bulletin board that announced: “To err is human, to forgive is not a company policy.”
2. I heard about another boss who put up a sign that said: “Rule #1: The boss is always right. Rule #2: If you think the boss is wrong, refer to Rule #1.”
B. A man called the “World’s Worst Boss” and the “World’s Grumpiest Boss” died back in 2016.
1. Mike Davis, aka Tiger Mike started as a chauffeur and rose in the 1970s to become a Houston oil and gas magnate.
2. Throughout his career he routinely issued grumpy memos to his employees.
3. For example, he sent the following terse memo to all his employees: “Idle conversation and gossip in this office among employees will result in immediate termination. DO YOUR JOBS AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!”
4. A month later, he banned office birthday parties with the following memo: “There will be no more birthday celebrations, birthday cakes, levity, or celebrations of any kind within the office. This is a business office. If you have to celebrate, do it after office hours on your own time.”
C. The vast majority of people work for a boss and far too often the boss is a difficult person to work for, so how do we as Christians serve such a boss?
1. As you know from our sermon series on 1 Timothy, Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to deal with problems facing the church in Ephesus.
2. Paul instructed Timothy on how to deal with false teachers and their teaching.
3. Timothy was also instructed about how to properly treat widows and elders.
4. But in the section we will study today, Paul turned his attention to a third kind of social relationship - the relationship of servants toward their masters.
5. Had you or I lived in the Roman-dominated world of the first century, there’s a good chance we would have been one of 60 million slaves - half the population of the empire – and therefore we would have needed to understand how a Christian slave should treat their master.
D. Let me briefly define terms.
1. Let’s start with the word for “slave.”
a. The Greek word for “bondservant” (doulos) can be translated as “bondservant, slave, or servant” and it means “a person who is legally owned by someone else and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by his or her master.”
2. As you know, the slavery that existed in the United States of America until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 was sinful and horrific; filled with all kinds of abuse.
3. Slavery in Paul’s day was different from the slavery that existed in our country in the past.
a. Slaves in Paul’s day were accorded the same social status as their owners.
b. From outward appearances, it was usually difficult to distinguish slaves from free persons.
c. In many cases, slavery was often preferred to freedom because it offered security.
d. As one commentator noted, “A slave could be a custodian, a merchant, a C.E.O., and even a government official. Many slaves lived separate from their owners. And selling oneself into slavery was commonly used as a means of gaining Roman citizenship and gaining entrance into society…Roman slavery in the first century was far more humane and civilized than American/African slavery practiced in this country during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Whereas nineteenth-century slavery was tragically racist, theirs was rarely racist but rather reflected the economic and political realities of ancient culture.” (commentary quote taken from sermon by Freddy Fritz)
4. The Greek word for “masters” (despotes) is where our English word “despot” comes from.
a. But unlike the English word, the Greek term does not carry the connotation of someone who is harsh, cruel, and abusive.
b. It merely refers to “a person who has general authority over others (slaves or subjects); often as an owner as well as an authority figure.”
c. This word was even used of Jesus because he is our master (2 Tim. 2:21; 2 Pt. 2:1; Jude 4).
5. In Greek culture and terminology, doulos and despotes, bondservants and masters, went together.
E. Although we are not living in a master/slave type system, we all have to deal with authority and live under the authorities in our lives.
1. There are the authority relationships of government officials and citizens, teachers and students, employers and employees, husbands and wives, parents and children, and elders and church members.
2. Each of us, regardless of our occupation or our place in life, are under someone’s authority, and ultimately, we live under God’s authority.
3. Therefore, living under the spiritual authority of God means that we learn to live under the earthly authority that God has put over us.
I. A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF AUTHORITY
A. Before we look at Paul’s instructions to Timothy about living under authority, let’s consider four challenges we face as we try to live under authority.
B. First, Submitting to authority is not a natural trait.
1. As sinful people, we prefer rebellion over submission.
2. Rebellion is more fun, more adventurous, and more self-gratifying.
3. Being our own boss, we think, is much better than having someone else as our boss.
4. Therefore, submission is much harder than rebellion and our first choice is usually rebellion.
C. Second, Struggles with authority are sometimes complex.
1. Some of us resist authority simply because we want to be in control, but there are others who resist authority for far different reasons.
2. Some of us struggle with authority because we were misused or abused by someone in authority; it could have been a parent or a teacher, or someone else.
3. The hurt and confusion may be deep-seated and understanding our reaction to authority is going to be important in helping us learn to respond appropriately to authority.
4. Because in the end, obedience to God is still the final word on the matter.
D. Third, Some in authority have not earned our respect.
1. It’s hard to work for and submit to someone you don’t respect, but sometimes we find ourselves in a situation that demands we do just that.
2. For instance, a private in the army may serve under a captain who has no integrity, but a wise and submissive person will still salute the uniform when it walks by.
3. A teacher at school may not like you or may play favorites, but a wise and submissive student will do their best anyway and give the teacher no ammunition to use against them.
4. God’s command to obey the authorities is not tied to how deserving they are of our respect.
E. Fourth, Resisting authority is not always wrong.
1. Submitting to authority doesn’t mean checking our minds and our wills at the door.
2. Christians should be wary of anyone who demands a “follow me no matter what” kind of commitment, unless it is God who is making that demand.
3. If denying God’s moral standards or breaking one of God’s commands is required by some person in authority, then their authority should be resisted.
4. In those cases, we need to say with the apostle Peter, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
F. So, in this brief, realistic assessment of authority, we see that submission is not easy or natural, and that there are those who may make submitting even more difficult than it already is by their lack of integrity in leadership, but nevertheless, we must learn to submit to authority anyhow because God says so.
II. A RELIGIOUS COMMANDMENT CONCERNING AUTHORITY
A. In our verses in 1 Timothy for today, we notice that Paul presents God’s commands about our response to three types of authority we find ourselves under.
B. First, Let’s notice how Christians should act when non-Christians are in authority over us.
1. Paul wrote: All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed. (1 Tim. 6:1)
2. It is interesting that Paul would allude to slavery as a yoke, for in many ways slaves were like yoked animals.
3. Slaves conducted most of the functions of society, from the most menial tasks to work as tutors for children - they were used as we use tools and technology.
4. Slavery for the most part was economically motivated rather than racially motivated, and in spite of how different life might be for the master or the slave, Paul instructed Christian slaves to honor (respect) their masters.
a. They “owed” their masters something, just as Paul suggested that something was “owed” to widows and elders back in chapter five.
5. Paul didn’t mean that Christian slaves had to buy into everything their non-Christian masters believed and practiced, rather what Paul meant was that they were to treat their masters with respect, and to work hard for them.
6. Why didn’t Paul suggest that Christian slaves should rebel and break free from the master/slave relationship?
a. Paul believed that the best way for Christianity to change the world was to do so by the demonstration of a superior life.
b. It was going to be the Christian’s life influence, not insubordination that would change the empire.
c. Paul emphasized that the most important thing was for God’s name and God’s teachings are to be held high and not be brought low.
7. Now, let’s apply this to today’s business environment.
a. Christians are scattered throughout the marketplace and many Christians work for non-Christian employers and managers.
b. Some of those in authority are people of integrity; others are bad-tempered or partial to their favorite employees.
c. Some may even go out of their way to give Christians a hard time.
d. Regardless of their attitude Paul would tell us to honor them by doing our best on the job.
8. Let’s keep in mind that the workplace should not be the venue for aggressive or non-stop evangelism.
a. Yes, we Christians can talk about our faith at appropriate times and places, but we were hired to do a job and the Christian must be sure to do the job they were hired for.
b. Our attitudes and work habits speak volumes about our faith, either for good or for bad.
c. I believe that being at our best and doing our best in the workplace is going to open up more evangelistic opportunities than being otherwise.
C. Second, Let’s notice how Christians should act when Christians are in authority over us.
1. How should a Christian act if their boss is a Christian?
2. Paul wrote: Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things. (1 Tim. 6:2)
3. So, if the boss is a Christian, then we don’t have to worry about the quality of our work, right?
a. We can sort of slack off, saying, “Hey, I’m a brother in the Lord; give me a break. After all, we are equal before God. Don’t get carried away with that boss thing!” Right?
4. That’s not what Paul said, rather he said that since our superiors are fellow believers, we should “serve them even better.”
5. Whether we get our paycheck from a Christian organization or a secular one, we should not take advantage of Christian superiors just because we are members of the same family.
6. Hopefully, if our superiors are Christian then they will treat us with the love and grace of God, but whether they do or not, the fact that they are Christians should compel us to work harder and better, not lighter or less productively.
D. Third, Let’s notice how Christians should act because God’s Word is in authority over us.
1. When Paul exhorted Timothy at the end of verse 2 that these are the things to teach and urge on them, he reminds us that we’re all under the authority of God’s Word.
2. Anyone who would teach otherwise is standing against God.
3. Paul continued: 3 If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain. (1 Tim. 6:3-5)
4. For Paul, the test of whether a preacher or teacher or disciple is right before God was: do they stay with the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ.
a. Similarly, Isaiah the prophet said, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” (Is 8:20)
5. If a teacher does not stay with what Jesus taught, then they are indeed a false teacher.
6. Paul further characterized such teachers as conceited – they think they know better than Christ Jesus, but they actually understand nothing.
a. Such people have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels.
b. Rather than focusing on and obeying the simple truths of Christianity, these false teachers spend their wasted efforts on speculations that result only in envy, strife and division.
c. The false teacher’s motive is often some kind of personal gain, perhaps cash or control or selfishness.
d. The pastoral letters of Paul are quite clear that the laborer is worthy of his hire; but the motive of his work must be public service and not private gain.
III. A RIGHTEOUS COMMITMENT TO LIVING UNDER AUTHORITY
A. Let’s conclude this sermon by clarifying how to apply these truths to our lives.
B. First, If we have a non-Christian superior, then let’s leave that person no room to question our faith.
1. This doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything our superiors do, because surely there will be some disagreement.
2. But let’s live and work in a way that honors Christ, whether at the workplace, school, home, church, or in the community.
3. Let’s work hard and do our assignments well.
4. Let’s respect everyone with whom we work and live.
5. Let’s not give them any opportunity to say, “See, I knew all Christians are hypocrites.”
6. The best way to have spiritual impact on a non-Christian boss, spouse, or parent is through holy living, being respectful, responsible and trustworthy.
a. Our greatest impact doesn’t come through quoting Scripture but by living according to Scripture.
7. Trying to set an example among non-Christians can be hard, so we need to keep our spiritual fires stoked through worship and fellowship and private devotions, so that our spiritual fire will continue to burn even in the coldest, non-spiritual environments.
C. Second, If we have a Christian superior, then let’s refuse to take unfair advantage.
1. Christians should work hard and be sure to serve the Christian superior as well as we can.
2. And we should not expect special treatment simply because we are both Christians.
3. Nevertheless, whether our boss is a Christian or a non-Christian, we know that our ultimate Boss is God, and we should always be working in a way that pleases God.
D. Third, Living under the authority of Scripture means going beyond mere discussion to application.
1. This isn’t a call to avoid hard study, thoughtful reflection, and discussion of Scripture, even on the most difficult topics.
2. But let’s realize that we can spend years analyzing 1 Corinthians 13, for example, and still not love one another.
3. We can spend years in endless speculation on all kinds of subjects and fail to live and share the simple basics of Christianity that are most important – love, holiness, service, and humility.
4. What, after all, does God demand from us? To explain the mysteries of the Bible? No, to love God and obey Him with all our heart and to love our neighbor.
5. And another Christian, simple basic is submission to authority – Christians must bring our sinful, rebellious nature under control as we submit ourselves to God and to the earthly authorities over us.
E. The truth of the matter is that there is no sphere of life that is without authority.
1. The office, the school, the church, the home, and the community all have authority structures in place, and we must learn to live under them.
2. But learning to live under the earthly authorities begins with bringing our lives under the authority of God and God’s Word, and then everything else revolves around that.
3. God’s Word is the last word and carries the ultimate authority.
4. Let’s each of us ask ourselves this question: Have I put myself under the authority of Jesus who is the Lord and Savior?
5. Let’s humble ourselves and be obedient servants of Christ.
Resources:
• 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, Commentary by David Roper, Truth For Today Commentary
• Living Under Authority?, Sermon by David Owens
• Charles Swindoll’s “Insights For Living” Radio Program Study Guide on 1 Timothy
• Bondservants and Masters, Sermon by Freddy Fritz
