Paul used the same word for obey here that he used in 6:1. Slaves were to obey the commands and desires of their masters; this was their duty because of the authority of the master. Paul addressed the slaves who had become Christians and needed to understand how their new faith affected their service to human masters. Paul advised the slaves to treat their earthly masters with deep respect and fear (referring to an attitude of reverence and honor, a desire to do right). These slaves had been set free from slavery to sin, but they were not freed from serving their masters. They should serve their masters in the same way they would serve Christ.
Slaves were to work hard for their masters, not only when they were being watched and hoping for a reward, but at all times. They should work not only for human approval but also to do the will of God with all their hearts. Why? Because they were slaves of Christ as well as of human masters. They should work hard to do their job well in this world, while at the same time working hard for Christ as they look forward to the next world, where all believers will serve Christ in his Kingdom. All believers, as slaves of Christ (whether slaves or free in this world), should do the will of God with all their hearts, wholeheartedly, not halfheartedly, doing their work well enough to pass God’s inspection.
Slaves had a variety of tasks—running errands, caring for or teaching children, cleaning, preparing meals, or doing menial work. Paul gave their jobs a new dignity, telling these slaves to work as though they were working for the Lord rather than for people. Our true Master, the Lord Jesus, knows the state of our hearts and knows if we are shirking the job that we, as his slaves, have been given to do. We should also faithfully serve our earthly masters in this way. The Christian slave should obey as an expression of his or her commitment to the Lord. In the end, all people, slaves and free, will be rewarded by the Lord.
Paul also had words for the masters, for those who had become Christians needed guidance in relationships with their Christian slaves. Paul advised them to treat their slaves in the same way. In other words, the masters should have the same concern for God’s will and for the slaves’ well-being as the slaves were expected to show toward God and their masters.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
It's pretty early in the morning, yet as I read this passage today, one verse in particular comes to mind - Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV).
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
Every time I think of that verse, I am prompted to think - what's my motivation for ministry? What's my Motivation for serving? What's my motivation for loving and putting the needs of others ahead of my own?
The only lasting motivation for ministry and serving and loving and putting the needs of others ahead of our own is because we want to please Jesus Christ. Out of a deep heart of gratitude, I don’t deserve to be saved much less in the ministry.
All that God does in us and for us and through us is by grace through faith. So out of a deep abiding heartfelt gratitude for the fact that I’m saved, I want to give my life to Jesus Christ and I want to serve Him in any way possible. I know that your heart is like my heart and my life goal is to one day stand before Jesus Christ and have Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” At that point, when God says that, it will all be worth it. Every bit of suffering. Every sacrifice. Every bit of self-denial. You won’t be in heaven five seconds and you’ll say, “Why didn’t I serve more? Why didn’t I give more? Why didn’t I love more? Why didn’t I obey more?”
To stand before Jesus and have Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” it really doesn’t matter what other people think of your ministry. Because you only have one master to please and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. So my motivation (and I know your motivation) is I want to please Jesus with my life. But the catch is not all ministry and not all service is pleasing to God. Just because we are serving the Lord does not automatically mean that what we’re doing is pleasing to God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Does that apply to ministry and service and loving others? Yes. It doesn’t matter if I’m in ministry or not, if I’m not ministering in faith, I’m not pleasing God. If I’m not serving in faith, I’m not pleasing God. if I’m not loving in faith, I’m not pleasing God.
If that’s true, and obviously it is because it’s in God’s word, then the very most important question I can ask myself as a pastor, and that you can ask yourself is what does it mean to minister and serve and love in faith?
I want us to look at four foundational truths of how to minister and serve and love in faith - all because you want to please the Christ.
#1. BELIEVE WHEN YOU DON’T SEE.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, being certain of what we do not see.” Faith is visualizing the future in advance. It is seeing the future in the present. Every great achievement began when somebody saw it in advance. Nothing happens in life till somebody believes it’s possible. We didn’t put a man on the moon until one day JFK stood up and said, “Let’s put a man on the moon.” When he said that, the technology had not even been invented.
Faith is believing when I don’t see it. Some things have to be believed before they can be seen. The world says, “Seeing is believing.” God says, “Believing is seeing.” You have to see it in advance. Faith is believing when I don’t see it.
This pleases God.
#2. OBEY WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Has God ever told you to witness to somebody when you didn’t have the time? Has God ever told you to leave a comfortable situation and go to an unknown quantity? Has God ever told you to give when there was nothing left to give? Or serve when you had no more time or energy? Folks, when those times come and you obey that is called faith.
Hebrews 11:8 (Good News) “It was faith that made Abraham obey God when God called him to go out to a country that God had promised him. He left his own country not knowing where he was going.” Abraham is a classic example of obeying when I don’t understand it. He was 75 years old and God asked him to give up all his security – when he’s ready for social security, God says You’re going for social insecurity – and He says at 85 years of age I want you to leave, pick up everything and get ready for the greatest adventure of your life. The scary part of it is God gave him no details. Abraham says, Where are we going? God says, You’ve never heard of it. How long is it going to take? You’ll find out. How will I know when I get there? I’ll let you know.
Would you go? Would you go at age 75? I want to challenge you to make the rest of your life the best of your life. Folks, you cannot minister or serve or love in faith without taking risks. If you're taking are no risks in your life then you’re not living by faith. And if you’re not living by faith you’re not pleasing God.
Constantly I have to ask myself, “Lord, what can I do that will force me to live by faith? That will force me to minister outside of my comfort zone in ways that I don’t feel comfortable doing?” Faith is doing what God says even when it seems absurd. How many stories in the Bible are an example like Gideon: Three hundred men against 135,000 men. The odds are 450 to one. God says, "Here are the weapons you’re going to use, Gideon. Everybody take a torch, a trumpet and a clay pot.” Not exactly your typical warfare weapons. It didn’t make sense.
Right! That’s God’s plan. Because faith is obeying when you don’t understand it. Sometimes God will tell you to do something in your church and in your ministry and you’ll think, “There’s no way this is going to work!” God says, Do it. And guess what? It works!
Proverbs 3:5 says “Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding.” One of the tests of ministering and serving and loving by faith is how quickly do I obey God? Sharon and have taught our kids that delayed obedience is disobedience. If I tell them to do something and they don’t do it immediately, that’s not obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. “Lord, one of these days I’m going to get around to doing this.” God says, That’s not obedience. That’s disobedience.
#3. GIVE WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE IT.
Hebrews 11:4b says, “In faith Abel was commended as a righteous man and God spoke well of his offering.” Isn’t that interesting? Giving and faith go together. God uses finances to test us. I think probably one of the verses we overlook most often is Luke 16:11 “If you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you true spiritual riches.”
God uses money to test our faithfulness. God watches the giving of a pastor and the giving of His people. The Bible says if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you true spiritual riches. There is a direct relationship between how I use my money and the power of God in my life. We don’t talk about that much. The Bible says real quickly there is a direct relationship between how I use my money, how I manage the unrighteous mammon, and god’s blessing upon my life and ministry. It influences how much God can bless my life.
#4. PERSIST WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.
Do you ever feel like giving up? I heard about the mother who went into her son’s room on Sunday morning and she said, “Son, you must get up. You must get dressed. You must get ready and go to church.” The son said, “I don’t feel like it.” She said, “You must! It doesn’t matter if you feel like it, you’ve got to go.” He said, “Why?” She said, “Two reasons: One, you’re 36 years old and two, you’re the pastor.”
The truth is, I don’t always feel like studying for another sermon. I don’t always feel like counseling one more problem. That’s the last thing on my agenda sometimes. Yet the Scripture says, “Be persistent in season and out of season.”
Persisting when you don’t feel like it. Let me tell you how to be a success. Successful people simply do the things other people don’t feel like doing. Do you want to be a success? Do the things that nobody else feels like doing. Most of what is being accomplished in the world today is being done by people who don’t feel like doing what they’re doing. If you want to be an Olympic athlete, you put in hours of exercise. If you want to be a master musician, you put in hours of practice. If you want to be a super salesman, you make the extra calls. If you want to be a godly man or godly woman, you pay the price. You develop the spiritual disciplines and habits that pay the price for godliness. If you want to be a master communicator, you put the hours in to study and you sharpen your skills, you listen to tapes, you go to conferences, you never think that you’ve learned it all. You keep on sharpening that ax.
How do you develop that kind of persistence? How do you develop the kind of persistence that keeps you in a position when God has put you there, when every bone in your body says, “Move or quit the ministry!” Where do you get that kind of persistence?
Hebrews 11:27. The example of Moses. “It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the king’s anger. He held onto his purpose like a man who could see the invisible.” Notice the key to persistence is that last phrase – he could see the invisible. Only as we see the invisible can we accomplish the impossible. The key to persistence is keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Corrie Ten Boom says, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.” It all depends on what you’ve got your eyes on.
This is the type of life that pleases God.
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