Slaves to Christ
By mwilhite | September 19, 2008
Normally I have not been posting my sermon texts on my blog. I now have them online for audio download, but I have felt this one needs to be out there for reading and comment purposes. This topic has been a major burden on my heart lately and I wanted to share it with you. Feel free to comment as you see fit. I’m curious to see what others have to say about this issue.
You can also listen to the mp3 audio of this message here:
http://www.michaelwilhite.net/media/08242008am.mp3
Enjoy!!
SLAVES TO CHRIST
Series: Biblical Stewardship
Limestone Baptist Church, Bedford, IN
Rev. Michael Wilhite
August 24, 2008 at 10:30am
Selected Scriptures w/ emphasis on Colossians 3:24
OPENING THOUGHTS
· OPEN IN PRAYER.
· For the past two weeks we have been looking at the topic of stewardship. We’ve been specifically looking at what the Bible says about how we are to handle our finances and how we are to give. I had planned on going further into this subject, but this week I have felt like I don’t want to beat a dead horse. So today I want to conclude our series by going deeper into what it means to be a steward. It is my prayer that this will tie some loose ends up in your mind.
· We know that 1 Corinthians 4:2 says this:
2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
· We’ve been talking about money and giving these past two weeks. But Biblical stewardship is about far more than just money. It is all about how you live your life. We’ discussed finances because it is such a need in our society today, but there is much more that could be discussed.
· For example, we could talk about your use of time. Are you redeeming the time like you should be? We could talk about your spiritual gifts and whether or not you are active in using them. We could talk about how and when you evangelize people. Are you being found trustworthy to share your faith as Christ commands?
· Being a steward is far more than just how we handle our money. Being a good steward means that we recognize that our lives do not belong to us anymore. As a Christian, we are living for something and someone far greater than us.
· No rather than talking about money again, I want to wrap up this mini-series this morning by focusing on the most important foundational principle that must underlie our stewardship. If you don’t get this down, you will have problems in every area of your Christian life – finances and everything else included.
· Now if I were to ask you what the most basic and most important of all creeds we have as a Christian, what would you answer me? If I told you to sum it up in just three words, what would it be? What three words would accurately and most importantly describe who we are as Christians and why we exist as Limestone Baptist Church? What three simple words would you choose out of everything in the Bible to sum up the entire message of the Bible?
· Well if you haven’t figured out yet just what the most important three words in Christianity are, then let me tell you. It is really simple, yet very profound. And you’ve no doubt said them before: JESUS IS LORD! In those three words, we have the summation of God’s plan for His church.
· Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Colossians 3:24
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
· This to me is one of the richest verses in all of the New Testament. In it, we have a good definition of how we relate to Jesus. We have defined for us in this one verse Jesus’ part of our relationship to Him and our part of our relationship to Him. And that brings me to the two points that I want to make for you this morning.
JESUS IS LORD
· First point: Jesus is Lord. We’ve all heard this and we all know this, but what does it really mean to us? Let’s explore that in a fairly good degree of depth before we move on to our second and main point this morning.
· Most people who think about relating to Christ think of Him as their Savior. And I think they do so for good reason. We know that Christ is the Savior of the world. There is no salvation outside of Him. And the modern evangelical church has gone to great lengths to ensure that we know that as our Savior, we have a personal relationship with Him.
· Now you’ve probably noticed that I don’t talk about that much. It’s not that I’m against the concept by any means, but I think the wording is too vague. I mean, what does it really mean that someone can have a personal relationship with Christ anyway?
· After all, the devil himself has a very personal relationship with Christ and it is not a good one! In fact, every single person on this earth already has a personal relationship with Christ. We will all stand before His judgment seat to account for what we have done. We all relate to Him personally – some of us for the good and some for the bad.
· Certainly Jesus is our Savior, but He is so much more than just that. In fact, the only way that Jesus becomes your personal Savior is whenever you bow down to Him and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life. Apart from your submitting to His Lordship, you cannot be saved.
· Do you realize that Jesus is called Savior only 24 times in the New Testament? That’s all. It’s enough mind you, but that’s it. Now compare that with the number of times Lord is used. In the original Greek, there are two words for Lord: kurios and despotes. Combined, these two words are used 758 times in the New Testament alone.
· Do you see the point that God places far more emphasis on Christ as Lord than He does Christ as Savior? So if that is really the case, we should then examine just what it means that Christ is Lord. Just what is a Lord anyway?
Well let’s just take the Greek word kurios. Despotes is only used 10 times and is a synonym. So then what does kurios mean? Thayer defines it like so:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which slaves greet their master
1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah
· To sum that up in a nutshell, kurios was originally a slavery term and it meant to have absolute power and control over slaves. Now the New Testament goes to great length to show us that Jesus is Lord. You see it here in Colossians 3. In Philippians 2:11, we see that one day everyone will bow down and worship Christ and say that “Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
· Now that is to say, one day everyone who has ever lived will bow down and will be forced to acknowledge Christ’s absolute sovereignty over the entire universe and all that is in it.
· To put it another way, Christ asks His disciples in Luke 6:46
46 And why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?
· Right there you have the clearest picture of Christ as Lord in the New Testament. How can we call Christ our Lord if we are not willing to follow His commands to us?
· Now let me just state the obvious here. You can’t be a Lord unless you have slaves. Otherwise you are no Lord at all. Or to state it another way, Christ cannot be Lord of no one. Christ cannot be Lord if He does not have followers that are singly devoted to Him.
WE ARE HIS SLAVES
· And that brings me to my second point that I want to make this morning. Not only is Jesus Lord, but we are His slaves. If you are still in Colossians 3, look with me once again at verse 24.
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
· Now if you are wondering where in this verse it talks about our being a slave of Christ, I would not be surprised. The modern church has done everything it possibly can to eradicate this precious truth. Slavery is not a shining moment in US history by any means. It has left a mark on our culture and it’s not something we really want to think about.
· Nonetheless, the Bible uses it as an analogy for the Christian life. What your Bible reads in English here is not what God actually says in His precious Word. In Greek, there are at least six distinct words for ‘servant’ and the wording used here is not one of them.
· The word used here is doulos and it means slave. Here is how Thayer defines doulos for us:
1a) a slave
1b) metaphorically, one who gives himself up to another’s will and those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men
1c) devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
· Notice that there is nothing about servant in there. There is a very key difference. You see, a servant could come and goes as he pleased. When you go to work, you are a servant to your boss. It is totally voluntary. No one is making you stay there. If you don’t like your boss, you can get another job.
· A slave had no choice. If a slave didn’t like his owner, it was just tough luck for him. Let me give you four characteristics of a slave and I think that will help you see the difference.
1. Exclusive Ownership. Slaves were viewed as property. They were owned by their Master. They couldn’t rebel and leave. If they did, they faced death. As such, they had no rights. They could not sue. They had no legal rights whatsoever. They were totally at the mercy of their owner.
2. Complete & Constant Availability & Obedience. They were always ready to do what their Master asked of them. That was their life. They were ready and willing because they had to be.
3. Subject to an Alien Will. That is to say, they did not decide what to do on their own. What the Master said to them was the final word. If they chose not to do it, they faced death. They had no will of their own and they could do nothing except that which their Master would allow.
4. Complete Dependence for Everything. They had no job of their own. They were provided for and taken care of exclusively by their Master. All food and clothing was provided for by that Master. They depended on him for everything they ever needed to survive.
· Now compare that to a mere servant. You can serve and go home at the end of the day and not be a slave at all. But a slave was always a slave. A slave did service for his master, but it was forced service.
· Now let’s take that principle back and apply it our text from Colossians. Though almost all English Bibles say ‘serve’ here, let me read to you what God’s Word actually says in the original.
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ to whom you are enslaved.
· Many people don’t like to think about that because it evokes negative thoughts. We don’t want to be thought of as a slave of the Lord. After all, we’d much prefer to be called children of God and leave it at that, right? But let us not confuse our analogies. One is as important as is the other.
· It is true that we are adopted sons and daughters of Christ if we have come to follow Him. We are His children. We have been made friends with God, right? But nonetheless, we are still slaves. In John 15, Jesus has this to say in verse 14.
14 You are My friends, if you do what I command you.
· So you want to think of yourself as Jesus’ friend? Well you are, if you willing to submit to His Lordship and be His slave. For He goes on to say in verse 15:
15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
· The implication here is that we are no longer merely slaves. It doesn’t mean that we aren’t slaves, for remember that we are His friends if we obey Him. But now we are more than slaves, we are friends at the same time as being a slave to Him.
· In the ancient world, there were different types of slaves a master would have. Some slaves were the lowest of the low and never knew their master other than what he said to do. Some, however, became close friends with their masters and were appointed heads of the estate while the master was away.
· In a sense, that is what we are to Christ. We are still slaves to Him, but we are so much more. We are friends. He has chosen to let us in on His divine plan of reconciliation.
· We are slaves of Christ. This theme literally permeates all of the New Testament. For example, I bet you have heard Jesus say before that no one can serve two masters, right? The problem is, however, that’s not what Jesus actually said.
· Matthew 6:24 actually reads:
24 No one can be enslaved to two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot be enslaved to both God and money.
· The wording that you can’t serve two master is just silly. Actually, yes you can. If you have more than one job, you do serve more than one master. This only makes sense when you understand the word here is slave. A slave can’t have two sovereigns in charge of him. He cannot submit to two absolute rules at the same time.
· In that sense, God says something about us. We cannot be a slave to God and to something else. When Jesus said to follow Him, that means we have to pick up our cross and go after Him, leaving all the world behind. We can’t go totally after God and still hold on to sinful passions.
· This teaching so permeates the New Testament. In Romans 1:1, Paul introduces himself as a slave of Christ. Then in Galatians 1:10 and Philippians 1:1, he calls himself a slave of Christ. He does the same in Titus 1:1. And Paul is not the only one who does this.
· James says the same about himself in James 1:1, as does Jude in Jude 1. Peter does the same in 2 Peter 1:1. The point I want you to see is that all of the apostles considered themselves as slaves to Christ.
· Now think about that for a moment. Here in America, some don’t want to be called a slave of Christ because of a stigma of slavery from four or five generations ago. What do you think about the apostles? They had it going on in front of their very eyes! It is estimated that there were some 10 million slaves in the Roman world alone. And we balk at a stigma from a couple hundred years ago?
· Now if we are honest, it is pretty easy to understand why some people don’t want anything to do with this slave talk. People really don’t want to give up everything to come to Christ and if you eliminate the idea of being a slave, that sure makes the Gospel a lot easier to believe.
· But think for a minute how hard it was for the apostles to preach the Gospel. They were living in a world filled with slavery and were calling people to become slaves to Christ. They were telling the Jews that they killed their Messiah, which is to them a stumbling block. They were telling the Gentiles they needed to submit to a God who was calling them to be His slave. That was foolishness to them.
· Does that sound like something easy to believe? And yet the church flourished those first years. People came to Christ by the thousands on some days. That’s what happens when the church preaches the real Gospel unashamedly instead of watering it down!
· But is that what you hear in evangelical Christianity today? You don’t hear many preachers telling people that if they want to be saved that they must be willing to give up everything they have, deny every selfish and sinful desire they have, take up their cross and be willing to die for their faith and become a slave to Christ.
· When we invite people to come to Christ, do we say things like: I would like to invite you to become a slave of Jesus Christ. I would like to invite you to give up your independence, give up your freedom, submit yourself to an alien will, abandon all your rights, be owned by, controlled by the Lord.
· People really don’t want to hear that. But all throughout the Gospels, that’s what Jesus told them they had to do. To Nicodemus, Jesus told him he had to give up his Pharisaical religion and be born from above. That’s not something he could do on his own! It is totally the work of the Holy Spirit.
· To the woman at the well, Jesus exposed her wicked lifestyle and when she was thoroughly broken in spirit, she came to Christ. To the rich young ruler, Jesus said that because of his arrogance in thinking he was blameless before the Law of God he would have to sell all of his possessions and give the money away to the poor and then follow Him.
· Now we could go on and on in how Jesus told people the hard truth they needed to hear, but you get the idea. Just read through the Gospels and you’ll see that Christ’s message was not an easy one to swallow. If anyone wanted to come follow Him, they had to count the cost.
· Despite how people may not want to think of themselves as slaves to Christ, that’s what any true Christian is. This is not an optional thing to consider. This is not something that is up for debate.
· Consider some more verses with me. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
· Sound familiar to what we have been saying? That is slave language. You are not your own. You don’t have the right to control your life. You are only a steward of the time and resources that God has given to you. You were bought at a price – bought with the precious blood of Christ.
· Or how about the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6? When we pray “not my will, but Your will be done”, that is slave talk. We are saying that a will other than my own is the deciding factor in my life. That’s a Lord/slave relationship.
· Or how about “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”? Does that sound like complete and constant availability to you? That’s slave language.
· I really am convinced that the best analogy for the Christian life is that of a slave. After all, we have the most beneficent, loving and kind Master that anyone could have. He calls us His friend. He even adopts us as His sons. Why would we not want to willingly submit our lives to Him as His slaves to do His bidding?
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
· So what do we do with all of this knowledge? Just exactly what does this imply for how we live our lives? Allow me just a few more moments to give you some practical application for your life.
· I think there is a great temptation among some people to think that this is all well and good, but it’s just not for them. This is for the super-Christians. You know, those who are real spiritual and who have the time it takes to do this, but not for them.
· If that is what you are thinking this morning, I want to correct that thinking for you. Turn with me one last time to Luke 17. I want you to hear what Jesus has to say about this very issue. Luke 17:10 says:
10 So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’
· Did you catch that? Being a slave to Christ is not something for the super-spiritual. It’s not something to boast about as a source of great pride that separates you from the weaker believers. No, that’s not it at all. In fact, when you submit to Christ as your Lord and you obey Him as an obedient slave, you are only doing that which you ought to be doing.
· In other words, you are only doing the bare minimum that Christ asks of you. There is nothing super-spiritual about this at all. It is something that is expected of any and every true believer. There is no such thing as a true Christian that wants Him to be Savior, but refuses Him as Lord.
· Jesus Himself said that anyone who would come after Him for salvation must deny themselves. It is the end of the road for your old way of living when you come to Christ. There will be a true heart change in anyone who is a true believer and if you don’t have a true heart change, you aren’t saved!
· So what should our attitude as a slave of Christ be then, you ask? Peter gives us some great insight into that. 1 Peter 2:16 tells us this:
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as slaves of God.
· Don’t flaunt around your liberty and say that you are going to live your life how you want to live it. Don’t use your freedom in Christ from sin as a license for sin! Instead, use that freedom to be a slave of God.
· In other words, instead of begrudgingly submitting to the will of Christ, you should be more than happy to do that which pleases God. And indeed any true Christian should have more than enough reason to submit to Christ their everything if for no other reason than the redemption He has provided them!
· The Bible is abundantly clear. The Gospel is clear. Come to Christ. Come follow after Him. The very idea of following after Christ means that you are submitting your life to Him as Lord.
· And by the way, you are going to be a slave to someone. If you refuse to be a slave of Christ, then you will be a slave of the devil. You only have two options. And being that Christ allows us to be His slave and gives us an inheritance that lavishes riches on us forever and ever for our unmitigated joy, who wouldn’t want to be a slave of Christ?
· Jesus’ words in John 3:21 are so powerful and so true.
21 He who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.
· What do your deeds say of you, beloved? Do they say that you love the light? Do they show that you run towards the truth of God’s Word? Do they show that you are a slave of Christ? Or do they show that you are a slave to the devil and are his child?
· Heed Jesus’ words this morning: come to Christ, come follow Him, deny yourself, take up your cross, give up your independence, submit to His will, abandon all your rights and become His slave.
· LET’S PRAY.
Topics: Sermons | 3 Comments »
Burn Your Plastic Jesus
By mwilhite | August 26, 2008
Just discovered a great new song coming out soon by Steve Camp. Check out his blog and the lyrics here and post your comments below if you like. The words are a really powerful example of the state of the modern church. The lyrics go like this:
music by Steve Camp; words by Steve Camp/Aaron Porter
V1
Burn your plastic Jesus
The one you keep hid in your drawer
The one you take to church on Sundays
Then conveniently ignore
He’s not big enough to worship
He’s Gandhi with a grin
He never judges sinners
‘Cause he tolerates their sin
V2
Burn your plastic Jesus
Your social worker for the poor
Political crusader, won’t question your behavior
Don’t demand to be your Lord
He’s your presidential slogan
Your bumper sticker God
Who wants to make you happy
With your BEST LIFE NOW
Oh burn your plastic Jesus
Burn your plastic Jesus
CHO
He’s got no power, got no real love
He’s got no cross that he bled and died on
He’s got no tomb that he broke through
Burn this plastic Jesus … he’s just as plastic as you
V3
Burn your plastic Jesus
You’ve got hold up in The Shack
Who shows up as female Papa, Spirit Sarayu
To get the real you back
He’ll help you find your purpose
And pray like Jabez too
Be relevant; emergent
French kiss postmodern truth
Burn your plastic Jesus
Oh burn your plastic Jesus
CHO
He’s got no power, got no real love
He’s got no cross that he bled and died on
He’s got no tomb that he broke through
Burn this plastic Jesus … he’s just as plastic as you
BRG
It ain’t no plastic Jesus who was Virgin Born
It ain’t no plastic Jesus who was beaten and scorned
It ain’t no plastic Jesus who conquered sin and death
And it ain’t no plastic Jesus who drank the cup of wrath
And it ain’t no plastic Jesus who reigns from heaven’s tower
Who’s King of kings and Lord of lords, the Sovereign with all power
It ain’t no plastic Jesus who we worship and we praise
And it ain’t no plastic Jesus who is the Life, the Truth, the Way
CHO
He’s got all power, got true real love
He bore a cross that He bled and died on
There’s an empty tomb that He broke through
He ain’t no plastic Jesus … He came to save the plastic you
Check out his blog for more info. He is going to release the mp3 soon. http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2008/08/burn-your-plastic-jesus-honoring-real.html
If you have never heard Steve Camp before, I encourage you to check it his music. You can find many of his videos on youtube. Here is an example called “Consider the Cost” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77dZmfmA-nk
Topics: Doctrine, Repentance, Seeker Friendly Garbage | No Comments »
Theological Position Quiz
By mwilhite | August 25, 2008
I just took a pretty good quiz on quizfarm.com called “What’s your theological worldview?” It is pretty accurate over all.
You can find it here: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870
Here are my results as a screen capture. The top two or so were deadly accurate for me. And being that it placed “emergent” at the bottom for me (whose doctrine I loathe with increased passion day by day), I was pleased!
Topics: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Conventional Wisdom Endores Chuck Baldwin for President
By mwilhite | August 20, 2008
In a situation where neither the Democrat or Republican candidates are fit for office, it is important to look for the right person to lead this country instead of voting for the lesser of two evils. I wholeheartedly ask you to consider voting for Chuck Baldwin for President in November 2008.
To learn more, visit www.baldwin08.com
OR
www.constitutionparty.com
Topics: Announcements | 2 Comments »
Does Titus 1:5 REALLY Prove Plural Eldership?
By mwilhite | July 2, 2008
| This post is part one of a two part series on the Biblical model of church government. |
A disturbing trend has emerged in Southern Baptist circles in recent years – that being the trend to a Presbyterian, plural-elder model of church governance. Most base their theology in this area on Titus 1:5, which says to us: “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.”
To those who firmly adhere to the plural-elder system, this verse is like a mantra that they will almost always assert as the definitive verse on the issue. But is it really? I want to examine this verse closely and see what it really says today. The typical scenario proposed is this: elders is in the plural and city is in the singular. Therefore, it is a plural-elder system. Of course, the assumption that HAS to be made here is that each city only had one church. If it were more than one church, this logic wouldn’t work at all.
Would each city have only had ONE church? Remember that the early church met in houses in an underground fashion so to speak. And in numerous places, we see that the church gathered into a larger meeting place, with these house cells coming together. It seems there would have been a necessity for more than one pastor in a city due to the number of house churches meeting there. It seems most likely that each house church would have had its own pastor and that the larger group was comprised of these smaller houses meeting on a regular basis to hear someone preach.
So, does Titus 1:5 REALLY say that each house would have had more than one pastor? NO, it simply says in the most plain meaning of the text that Titus was to appoint pastors in every city where a church was meeting. It is unwise to read too much into this text, for reading a plural-elder system into this is merely eisegesis and not exegesis.
Furthermore, the letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are addressed to the angel of the church in the singular. The most plain meaning here is the pastor, as angel in Greek is “messenger.” It seems unlikely that an angel would have delivered these messages, but rather that the pastor would read them on a Sunday morning to the congregation. Some would argue that this seems to be addressed to the teaching elder, but this seems a far cry from the normal reading of the text. It seems better to understand it as what we would call today the Senior Pastor of the church.
In my next post, I will go through the reasons why a plural-elder system is not healthy for a local church to ascribe to and give Biblical reasons why the single-elder model is the model of the New Testament church.
Topics: Biblical Church Government | No Comments »
Are You Really Just a Christian?
By mwilhite | June 25, 2008
I’ve recently been contemplating some statements made in recent years by several acquaintances of mine. A typical scenario might go by saying, “what denomination do you belong to?” Or something like, “what faith are you?” I have heard many people tell me they are simply “just Christians”. When asked where they go, they would tell me “such and such church.” But they just want to be labeled only as Christians. Some of these have even been Southern Baptist acquaintances of mine that have said this.
I just wanted to throw in my own two cents for what it is worth and say that when someone asks me what religion I am, I don’t say Christian. I very gladly say, “I’m Southern Baptist.” I understand some people just want to be called Christian, but I’m not one of them. I’m not ashamed of the SBC, nor will I ever be unless it goes into heresy. These days, there aren’t many of us in the younger generation who care much about denominational loyalty anymore. That really saddens me. Frankly, doctrine matters. Doctrine may be a taboo word for many people, but it is utterly essential to the Christian faith to believe the truth.
So I just want to go on the record for what it’s worth and say that I am not “just a Christian!” I am a Southern Baptist and always will be. For those SBCers out there who just want to be called a Christian, if you don’t want to be labeled by the term SBC, then frankly why are you even in the SBC? I am not ashamed of the Gospel and I am also not ashamed of being Southern Baptist. Allow me to define what it means to me to be a Southern Baptist and you’ll see why I am so adamant about being called one.
A Southern Baptist to me is a Christian who just happens to have correct theology. Given that, why would I be ashamed to call myself SBC? Am I ashamed of the truth or something? I’m not saying other denominations don’t have the truth. I just think we are right and other denominations are lacking in some areas. If I didn’t earnestly believe that, I wouldn’t be in this beloved Convention. I’m not ashamed to be associated with it. So for all those who still want to be called just a Christian, that’s fine for you. But maybe now you won’t be totally dumbfounded when I look you square in the eye and gladly proclaim “I’m Southern Baptist!”
Topics: Doctrine | No Comments »
Lordship Salvation and Repentance
By mwilhite | June 12, 2008
