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Ephesians 6:5-9 | Slavery, Work and Leadership · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Baside Davis Podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to our current teaching series, Ephesians.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: This passage that I just read often raises challenging questions.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And any reference to slaves and masters can feel jarring in our modern context.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And to set the stage for exploring exactly what God is trying to say and what he's teaching in first century Roman Empire, city of Ephesus, let's consider a few key questions that I want to answer this morning as we unpack the historical and cultural backdrop of this passage.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: First, was slavery in the New Testament era Roman world comparable to the forms of slavery we've seen in more recent history?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Second, does the New Testament endorse or legitimize the Roman system of slavery?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Third, in what ways, if any, does the New Testament challenge or subvert that system?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, is the New Testament primary, is the New Testament's primary aim to transform individuals within a society, to reform societal structures, or to pursue both?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, fifth, could the instructions given to slaves and masters in the New Testament lay the groundwork for eventually dismantling institutions like Roman slavery?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Those are some pretty big questions to unpack, wouldn't you say?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's really two sections here in verses five through nine.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, verses five through eight, you could just title this slaves.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then verse nine, you could title that masters.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he begins in verse five, he says, slaves.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we should just stop there.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: This word and slavery as a culture institution bring up so many questions about what slavery was like in the Roman Empire, and why Paul would mention it here.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why would this be in the text of Scripture?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why would Paul mention this here in this context?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: One answer is that every church in the Roman Empire, people were being saved, and there were both slaves and masters sitting in every church.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So why wouldn't he address this?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: As he's addressing all of the households that could be possibly attending every church in the city of Ephesus.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's addressed marriages, he's addressed parents and children, and now he addresses in this ancient context those who were leading and employing and those who were under their employers.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just briefly give you a few comments from scholars on slavery in the Roman world as we're trying to think about this historical backdrop.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, ancient slavery, unlike modern, was not based on race.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Scholars estimate that urban areas of the Roman society, slaves made up up to one-third of the population, 33% of the population.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then some other scholars of this era place the range between 16 to 20 percent of the population.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, a very large percentage of the population were slaves.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was their vocational role in the Roman Empire.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: In this empire, during this time, slaves were encouraged to be educated.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And educated slaves would have an enhanced value.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, as you read scholars of this time, some slaves were far more educated than their owners.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Slaves had roles in society, jobs like physicians, architects, lawyers, shopkeepers, cooks, barbers, artists, actors, prophets, teachers, professional poets, philosophers, accountants, managers, tutors, secretaries, sea captains.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: There were all types of jobs that would be under this umbrella of slavery.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And some slaves, in their specific position, let's say a doctor, they could accumulate considerable wealth from their own occupation.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: That wealth would not go to their masters, that wealth, a lot of that would go to them in their occupational position.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Many slaves functioned in highly responsible and sensitive positions in society.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And by no means were the enslaved regularly to be found at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't at the lowest, not all, many were in high positions of social power and influence in society.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Slaves could own property, and there were slaves that even owned their own slaves.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they accumulated funds, and those funds, if they earned enough funds, could purchase their own freedom eventually.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And in contrast to New World slavery, ancient owners did not regard their adult slaves paternalistically.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: They clearly distinguished the roles of parents and of owners and felt no need to justify the institution of slavery.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Persons that were struggling with debts or that wanted to escape poverty or wanted to climb social ladders or even obtain social or special government government positions, they would sell themselves into slavery so that they could pay their debts, escape poverty, climb socially, and obtain certain government positions in society.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: A large number of domestic and urban slaves, perhaps the majority, could anticipate being set free by the age of 30, becoming freed men and freed women.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is interesting because, as one scholar put it, modern readers must overcome their temptation to read into ancient Jewish, Greek, or Roman texts their knowledge of modern slavery.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: There was some major distinctions.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: This was the largest employment sphere or context in the ancient world.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is how most people got paid and earned income.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I wanted to also preface with this.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: When we talk about slavery in the Roman Empire, some of those who were earning income in all of these different and various positions were treated fairly and well by the person employing them, by their master.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And some of those in ancient Rome who were masters of slaves treated their slaves very poorly.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So not everybody got treated well, and not everyone was treated poorly.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some were in very good positions in this particular context, and some were in very harsh positions in this particular context.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now the question is when Paul writes slaves, verse 5, does the New Testament mention of slaves validate the institution of slavery in ancient Rome?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question to answer.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I read so much this week, by the way, more than I could possibly teach, unless you wanted to sit here for an hour this morning.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Brian taught for 50 minutes last week, so maybe we can go that long.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read to you four explanations of this important question from New Testament scholars.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: First, first New Testament scholar, he wrote, at this time and in this letter, Paul does not challenge the social order with respect to the institution of slavery, but gives perspective on how Christian slaves can live out their faith within this Roman social structure.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Another scholar wrote, There is no explicit criticism of slavery here, but the level of mutuality and reciprocity that is assumed to exist between master and slave creates an atmosphere in which it would have been difficult for slavery to survive if the advice of this passage had been rigorously followed.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Another scholar wrote, The biblical case against slavery is strong even in Ephesians.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here, Paul undermined the basis of slavery as well as sought immediate protection for slaves within the church.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then one more scholar wrote, Slavery in the New Testament is often assumed, although the institution is never endorsed.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: The freedmen's synagogue in Acts 6 9 likely originated with the Jews who had been enslaved by Roman Caesar in 63 BC and having attained their freedom returned to Jerusalem.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is significant that Paul urges slaves to obtain their freedom if possible in 1 Corinthians 7.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, by urging Philemon to receive his slave Onisimus as a brother in Christ and a partner equal to Paul himself, Paul undermines core assumptions of slavery in the Roman world.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: With that historical and cultural background in mind, I want us now to look at this particular passage, and I want to make my own conclusion of what I see here at the end of this passage.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you got to stick with me.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Put on your seatbelt, grab your pen, open up your heart to what God is saying here, and I think there's gonna be some things that are really valuable and helpful.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say that I believe, as he's going through this passage, that there's two things happening concurrently here in parallel form.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: One is I do think he is challenging the institution of slavery in the Roman Empire.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And two, I do think that he is setting up a paradigm for work and leadership in the first century and in any century.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: How do we work as employees and how do we lead employees as employers in the workplace?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So look with me at verses five through eight.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: There are six work principles, or five, pardon me, in verses five through eight.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says, slaves.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, this was the major sphere of employment in this social context of the first century.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: He says, O slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, write this down if you're a note-taker.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not, you might as well write it down anyways.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, work with respect and fear.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, what does that mean?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean what you initially think it means, that those who were under these masters were to be fearful of them because they were going to be punished or abused or somehow Paul was validating such behavior.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: This phrase does not mean to fear physical punishment.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: This phrase means to honor the person employing you.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: They have a position of subordination, so to speak, to honor their employer.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all Paul is saying.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: He is not saying that it's okay to be physically punished or you're to fear such a sphere of work relationship.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: It simply means to honor the person who is paying you.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing he says.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's something really good and practical for us.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, some of us get a job and like somebody's paying us a salary and hourly wage.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that it is of great integrity to honor the person that is paying us or the organization that is paying us.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Unless they're doing something unethical and you need to push the eject button and say, I'm out.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think in many cases that we just honor those who are employing us.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, notice what he says next, and with sincerity of heart.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, work with sincerity of heart.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: This means that you and I have an inner sincerity in our workplace.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, we have a sincere attitude.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is internal integrity in our work.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We should have integrity in the things we do.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: We should not just aim for a quality of work, we should also aim for a quality of attitude in the workplace.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: A leader and employer can develop a person's skills, but a leader and employer cannot change a person's attitude.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, that's a very important filter for hiring.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can train somebody and skills, most, most skills, but you cannot train attitude.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: A person has to bring that in their internal core to wherever they're working.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you cannot change somebody's attitude.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible, I've tried, it doesn't work.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: If a person doesn't have a quality of attitude likely before you hire them, they're not going to have a quality of attitude after you hire them.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And a sincere attitude can change the temperature of any room, good or bad.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And all of you know that.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have to give grace for failure with performance, but you cannot give grace with a poor attitude.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can give opportunity to fail, but if somebody is constantly having a poor attitude, you have to confront the poor attitude immediately.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's infectious and cancerous in any organizational or team setting.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not that you can't forgive by saying no, you can't have grace toward a poor attitude.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you can't forgive.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you can't have room for that person to change or to be aware of what they're doing.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: What I am saying is you can't allow it to continue without confronting it.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is that making better sense?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there is grace there, but it's grace with clear communication and hopefully kind communication as well.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to be sincere in how we work in any organizational setting.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, notice what he says next.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Number three.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: The third thing around work is work as you would obey Christ.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is really interesting to me because what Paul is essentially doing is he's deleting the master from the equation.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's taking the master out of the equation, and he's saying, just work in a way that honors Jesus.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: We are to do what we do as Colossians 3 verse 17 teaches.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this verse.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever you do, if you're a physician, if you're a student, if you're on a sports team, if you're a business owner, whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever your vocation is, whatever your calling, wherever God has placed you, take every human out of the equation.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the bar set.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do what you do unto Jesus.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is a great bar for how we are to work.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: We work in a way that honors our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, he continues.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves or servants of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, write this down.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Work not only when their eye is on you.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good principle.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Work not only when your employer's eye is on you.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: This means that we do not just put effort into our work when the boss, when the manager, when the CEO is watching, and then slack off when they're not around.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: God is saying, I want followers of Jesus to work with consistency and integrity.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: That you carry your own value, that you set your own bar, that you, that nobody has to self- to motivate you, that you're self-motivated in and of yourself because you're a follower of Jesus.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Work hard when no one is watching.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's the test of integrity, right?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: The test of our integrity is not I'm working hard because the CEO of the company or the physician over all these physicians is watching me, or mom and dad are around.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, I work hard because I have my own standard of excellence, whether someone is watching or when someone is not watching.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is always watching.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: We do not work hard to please people, rather, we work consistently with integrity as followers of Jesus when people are present and when people are not present.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I would call honest effort.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Honest effort.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know when what we do?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: We can have dishonest or honest effort.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Every time we pick it up and have a higher bar because people are around, and then we lower our standard when they're not around, that's called dishonest effort.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But when we have the same bar and consistency when people are around or when people are not around, that's what I would call honest effort.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: God's will is to make us more like Jesus in every aspect of life, including how we work to reflect Christ's likeness.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then number five, he says, verse 7, serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, work wholeheartedly.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great one because this means that we work with a positive attitude.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's what that term wholeheartedly means.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: That you have a positive attitude.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: One negative attitude can change the entire culture of a team, as I said previously.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our internal attitude here can be translated good attitude or positive attitude.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when people when people show up at the workplace at 9 a.m., sometimes they come in on Monday and they're like, oh yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's just no positivity.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, I have to go to work today.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they come in and they, you know, clock in and they do their work, and by the time 5 o'clock hits, all of a sudden 5 p.m.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: hits and they're like, this is an amazing day.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I get to go home.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Set free.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, wait, wait, where was that at 9 a.m.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: when you came in for work to start the day?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we should have the same enthusiasm at 9 a.m.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: as we have at 5 p.m.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is not about clocking in and clocking out.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is about how we represent Jesus from 9 to 5 in our workplace.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So tomorrow, don't mosey on into your workplace.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And be, oh, I gotta go to work.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's Monday, and you just got a downer attitude, and you're kind of negative and cynical.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, come in and be like, this is gonna be a great Monday.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And have the same enthusiasm at 9 a.m.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: as you have at 5 p.m.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: when you get to go home.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is the way of Jesus.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this good attitude, as an internal attitude, it reveals itself in all of life, including our work.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's an opportunity to serve the Lord and represent him wherever God has placed us in our vocation.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says next.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: How long have I been going?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I got some time.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says next, verse 8.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because, here's the reason.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why should I do that?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why should I work wholeheartedly?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because you and I know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are a slave or a free, or free, part of me.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: That ultimately God is seeing all of this.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: He sees the adversity we're facing in the workplace, he sees our attitude, he sees our work ethic, he sees us doing good, he sees us encouraging people and praying and loving everybody around us.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he is saying, listen, everything you do for Christ, whether you're in adverse circumstances or good circumstances, wherever you are, as you represent Jesus, God will reward you.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that he rewards us both in the present and in the future.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: We often think that this is only future based.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's both and it's present and future.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: He rewards us with a peaceful heart, even in difficult circumstances.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of the people that are being written to were in difficult circumstances.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: They were suffering, they were facing adversity, and God's like, I see you, and I'm with you, and I'm for you, and I'm gonna help you.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of this is like, I'm doing this and nobody's validating me, and I'm not getting any reward or what have you, and there's not a pay raise, or what, you know, I'm not climbing the ladder.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, don't worry about that.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord will reward you eternally for every good thing you do on this earth.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just live for today, live for eternity.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just live for the present, live for the future, God would say.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us we're so zoned in on the present that we're forgetting that literally everything we're doing in the present can accumulate for the future in eternity.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: In ways spiritually, that we will be so blessed and satisfied in the presence of God Himself.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of you in here, you've been living your entire life for the present, and you have never thought about eternity.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus Christ, God's Son, died on a cross and rose again.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: They call it the work of the cross, in fact.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: He suffered, he faced adversity so that he could forgive you and redeem you and change your eternal destiny and give you eternal life and eternal hope in him.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And all you have to do is believe.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to work, you don't have to work religion with religiosity to have a relationship with God and be forgiven and have eternal life.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is believe because he did the work for you.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that you simply could receive his gift of grace and have eternal life in Jesus Christ.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little quiet around here.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 9.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do we have time for verse 9?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 9.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And masters, treat your slaves in the same way.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is undermining the entire institution.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Treat your slaves in the same way.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: This was a call to practice mutual submission, to honor their workers, to lead with sincerity of attitude, to lead to honor Jesus, to lead to please Jesus, to lead with a good attitude, and to lead in a way that does good to every person in their employment.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: This not only was a change of mindset in the sphere of employment in the Roman Empire for every follower of Jesus who was listening to this, but this undermined the entire system in and of itself, verse 9 did.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And masters, treat your slaves in the same way.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let me break down some leadership principles one by one that are embedded in verse 9, the first part that I just read.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is how, if you were sitting in a household in ancient Rome in the city of Ephesus, and Paul was preaching this sermon, and you just learned here's how you're to work unto the Lord.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is now saying, if you are an employer, if you are a master, here's how you are to lead your employees.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna see something incredible happening here.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, leadership should practice mutual submission.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's chapter 5, verse 21.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is the key verse for this entire section that ends in verse 9.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: As Christian leaders, we should practice submitting to one another.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: That means that sometimes we're wrong.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody says, amen, Wesley, you are wrong.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're not always right.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: We don't always have the best ideas or the best version of the idea.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Collaboration makes all leaders better.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'll come in on a Monday and I'll have these visions on, you know, just thoughts of new things we can do, fresh things, and I'll sit down with some of our team.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: And Kelly will be sitting right there, and we've worked together for four years, so she's really comfortable with me, and I'll say, I had a great idea.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll share my idea and I'll say, What do you guys think?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I can already tell on her face she's like a bad idea, and she'll just say it, but I don't think that's a great idea, and I'll be like, Okay.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: We don't always have the best ideas.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: You need collaboration, and even if you have a good idea, a team will make it even better.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: When we're young, when I was like 25 and 26 as a lead pastor of a church, I was insecure, so I thought, oh, my idea has to be the best idea, or else then everybody's gonna think I'm a bad leader.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was really dumb.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: My idea does not have to be the best idea.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it might be, and sometimes it's not, and sometimes it's a good idea that needs to be developed and cultivated by the team with different thoughts and perspective and eyes and hearts, and all of a sudden what started as a seed sprouts into an incredible work or ministry or what have you because of the collaboration of a team.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, this is also embedded in verse nine.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership should honor the employee.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: That means we value them.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: That means we honor the image of God in every single employee under us.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a coach, you honor the image of God in every single one of those players.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a boss, you honor the image of God in every human being that is under your leadership and care.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because every person has value and every person has worth.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Every person has gifts and every person has talents to contribute.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And every person can assist in carrying out the vision of an organization, and we should treat every employee with honor because they've been created in the image of God.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is subverting, this is undermining the entire premise of any institution of slavery in history.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Third, leadership should be done with sincerity of attitude.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: That means you don't just ask your employees or your players to have a quality of attitudes.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have a quality of attitude because your attitude sets the tone for the entire culture as a leader.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Every player and every employee in this room says, every player and every employer in this room says, Yes, it's the coach, it's the leader, it's me that sets the tone of the entire organization.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: If the tone is bad, it's my fault.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: I need to do better.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: I need to get better, I need to do better, I need to change, I need to grow, I need to develop.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: And trust me, I've been doing this for a long time.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I started as a lead pastor at 25 years old.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Within two and a half years, we had like 20-something employees and thousands of people at my first church plan.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I was not always great at this.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: I failed and I had to learn and grow along the way.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna fail too, and you get to learn and grow along the way.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, leadership should honor and please Jesus.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: That means we are under someone important as well.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes leaders forget this.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: We think we're over everything, and we forget we're under Jesus.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's our ultimate leader.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the word Lord means.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: It means master, it means leader.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: He is our leader, and we're under the greatest leader, Jesus, every day that we lead.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: We follow his example to the best of our human ability because he was the greatest leader in human history.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: We seek to become more like Jesus every day.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And can I just say it's okay for you to fail as a leader?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay for you to be wrong, it's okay for you to make mistakes, but it's not okay for me and you to fail, to make mistakes, and to never have the self-awareness to say, I need to grow and become more like Jesus.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Failure is a catalyst for change.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Mistakes are an opportunity for growth.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're not an opportunity to let shame destroy you from the inside out.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're an opportunity to be motivated to become more like Jesus as a leader.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, leadership should be done with a good attitude, not just a sincere attitude, but a positive attitude.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing worse than a negative leader.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone says, Amen.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing worse than a negative leader.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I studied this about six months ago.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's all different studies around the number one leadership trait that people want in a leader, that people are motivated to work for, or to be under, or to be coached by.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: The number one leadership trait is not character.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's number two.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: The number one leadership trait is positivity and optimism.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: People will deal with all kinds of dysfunction and all kinds of stressors in their job if they have a positive and optimistic leader.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: A can-do leader, not a can't do leader.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: A believing the best in people leader, not believing the worst in people leader.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: A leader that speaks life into the people under them, not a leader who destroys the people under them.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is the number one leadership quality that people want to work under.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Optimism.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but I'm a realist and I'm a pessimist.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Says who.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can be optimistic, you can be positive, you can speak life into the people that are around you and be a realist at the same time.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, leadership should be about doing good that causes others to flourish.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: A Christian leader's goal in any industry should be to do good work that produces good in this world.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is what aligns with God's original design for work in Genesis 1 and 2.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're in an industry that it's unethical, that's not good work.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're in any industry where you can do good and create good in this world and cause human beings to flourish through your organization, you are doing great work.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've got like eight veterinary students in the vet school here.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's great work.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Great work someday.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our little dogs.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a dog person, not a cat, but some of you are cat people and not dog people.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you are both.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Your little kitty.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know how close you get to them?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know how good they are for our mental health and well-being.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: How amazing it is to have a pet.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: They love us all the time.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Once in a while they don't, but most of the time they do.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: And to take your little kitty or your little, my dog is four and a half pounds.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's a chiwinpin.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: I made that up, by the way.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: She's a she's a dachshin, she's a chihuahua, and she's a minpin.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I call her a chiwinpin.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that is such great work.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: You bring you're so sad, your dog's sick, they got a disease, or whatever.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: You bring them into the vet and they save their life, and you have them for another 10 years.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that is an amazing work.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are gonna be accountants or scientists.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Amaz you can do amazing things.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: All good work is God's work.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: All good work is ministry.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I feel called to ministry.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Where?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: In the doctor's office, as an engineer, in the church.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ministry is anything that God has gifted you with to do good work in any place in this world.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: A farmer, whatever it is that God has called you to do, as long as it's ethical, that is good work.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's God's work and it's ministry unto the Lord.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, number seven, notice what he says next.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: 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 God.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, leadership should be non-threatening.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: He unupends the threats.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: He upends slavery slavery with this verbiage.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are no longer opportunities to enslave a human being with any sort of threat.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is also a warning against dictatorial leadership, physical abuse, verbal abuse, devaluing of any human being.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me also add some nuance.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: This does not mean that a leader cannot have hard conversations with an employee who has a bad attitude or is not carrying out their work in a manner that is expected.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders sometimes have to let people go even for poor attitudes and for poor performance.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: This does not mean you can't do that.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do that.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's why a lot of people don't want to be leaders.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to be a leader until they're a leader, and then you have to deal with the tough stuff, and you're like, I don't want to be a leader anymore.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's true for so many people.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can have honest, hard conversations with people, but just do it with clarity and kindness.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you cannot be responsible for their reaction.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Ray just said in a staff meeting, Pastor Ray, who leads Bayside, 20 plus thousand people, 500 employees.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: He said, in all 30 years that I've been leading this church, he's one of the greatest leaders in America for Christianity.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I've had to let go.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: What do you call it when you just don't have enough money to pay everybody?
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: What do you call that thing?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Layoff.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've had a hundred layoffs.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a hundred out of a hundred for people that hate me after I had to lay them off.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: That are bitter and negative and did not respond positively.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: 100 for 100 until the last one, and he named the person, he said, they were amazing.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: They said to me, Pastor Ray, I think this is from the Lord.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: They said, I felt like God was trying to move me out because he wants me to do this particular thing that I think I'm called for in the future.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just a confirmation.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it blew his mind.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he's now one for 101.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: But when you have to have those tough conversations, leaders, do it with clarity and kindness.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you are not responsible for how they then react or respond to you.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: They might be super negative, they might be, you know, they might say all kinds of mean things about you.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot be in charge of their response.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can only be in charge of making sure that you do the right things along the way that lead to that path, and then do that with clarity and with kindness.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Frank Thielman, one of the great New Testament scholars, says, with this command, Paul has cut the thread that held the institution of slavery together.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's advice to believing slave masters suddenly undermines the entire system.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Slave-owning believers are, in a sense, to submit to their own slaves.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: Serve their slaves in the same way they desire their slaves to serve them.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: The threat of violence is impossible in such an arrangement, and without the threat of violence, the whole system will theoretically collapse.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I love what he says here.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Since you know that he, Jesus, who is both their master and yours in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: In God's eyes, there is no difference.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: In God's eyes, everyone is one.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Lord of the slave and the Lord of the master.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not play favorites, Jesus does not see hierarchy of value.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus loves every person equally.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that this entire section stands in opposition to slavery.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: This puts all human beings on equal footing as God's children.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: This puts the dignity of all human beings front and center.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is a call to treat each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let me end with this Colossians 3 verse 28.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: Mark this verse in your Bible, Colossians 3, verse 28.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is he saying there?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying that in the kingdom of God there are no hierarchies, that every person is one in Jesus and a child of God.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest preachers in history, I read quotes from him often, C.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: H.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Spurgeon in the 1800s in London, England, pastored a church of 10,000 people, and in one of his sermons he says this from this evil, good Lord, deliver us.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: If Manchester merchants and Liverpool traders have a share in this guilt, at least let the church be free of this hell-filling crime.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Men have tried hard to make the Bible support this sum of all villainies, but slavery, the thing which defiles the great republic, such slavery is quite unknown to the Word of God.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And by the laws of the of the Jews, it was impossible that it could ever exist.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have known men quote text as excuses for being damned, and I do not wonder that men can find scripture to justify them in buying and selling the souls of men.