Day 14 - Change Your Life!

Day 14 - Change Your Life!

Two weeks into our new life in Christ...Pray, Read the book of Ephesians and Thank the Lord for His Gifts

STUDY VERSES:

Slaves and Masters

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
9 Masters, do the same to them,and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.How do you relate to these scriptures? Do you relate to being a slave or a master? If so, how?

2. If you are in service to someone, do you do your service without grumbling and complaining? Do you commit your service to the Lord?

3. If you are in a position of authority, do you treat your workers with love and kindness? Do you respect and appreciate their service?

4. How do you think Christ feels about slavery that still goes on around the world? Do you pray for those who are enslaved for their beliefs? Do you pray for the souls in our prisons and jails, regardless of their crimes?

5. Can you relate to the slavery of sin and bondage and how Christ set you free? How He prayed for you (Read John 17) to the Father for your protection and freedom?

6. Will you offer freedom to someone today? You can, through the power of your testimony and how God freed you from bondage to sin and gave you the promise of eternal life through Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary from the ESV:

Eph. 6:5 Slaves. See note on 1 Cor. 7:21. It is estimated that slaves composed about one-third of the population of a city like Ephesus. They were considered an integral part of a family, so Paul's instructions for slaves were a natural part of his dealing with family relationships. In both Greek and Roman culture, slaves had limited rights and were subject to exploitation and abuse. Paul does not condone the system of slavery but instead provides instructions to believing masters and slaves regarding their relationship to each other in the Lord, and how this should be lived out within the bounds of their social and legal culture. The result, as is often observed, is that slavery slowly died out in antiquity through the influence of Christianity (see Introduction to Philemon: Purpose, Occasion, and Background). The principles in this passage apply today in terms of submission to any lawfully constituted authority, the only exception being if such a lawfully constituted authority were to require a believer to disobey God's Word or to fundamentally compromise one's commitment to Christ (as in the case of Acts 4:19, 20). Christ. It would be natural for Christian slaves to despise their earthly masters in the name of their heavenly one; however, fulfilling one's earthly obligations is, in fact, service to the Lord (cf. Eph. 6:6–7).
Eph. 6:8 whatever good anyone does . . . he will receive back from the Lord. Selfless service is not ignored or forgotten by God. There is no discrimination with the Lord, for he will reward every faithful servant equally, whether he is a slave or free.
Eph. 6:9 Masters in antiquity had the power of life and death over their slaves. Beatings, imprisonment, or sale into harsher servitude were other punishments masters meted out. The duty of masters and all in authority is to do good to those in submission and not to take advantage of their authority by threatening them. There is no partiality with the Lord (see 1 Sam. 16:7; 2 Chron. 19:7; Rom. 2:11): he will judge fairly both masters and servants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How easy it is to say this to ourselves and others; how difficult to put into practice when you are under the authority of a tough master or boss. Our natural, fleshly man wants retribution and to lash out in revenge. But 'vengeance is mine' saith the Lord. We must hold fast to that, for whatever measure we judge others is the same measure that the Father will judge us.

I think of these verses as an application in any hierarchy in which I operate--whether the church, work, home or other groups. I respect and honor those persons as long as it is not contrary to the Word of God. I was recently involved in a prayer group where I served under other people. I enjoyed this group and the meditation and study we did until the group leader became preoccupied and frustrated with other people's giving, mistakes, small oversights and let that take precedence over the message. He continued on and then began making inappropriate comments about people. I prayed, asked for guidance from trusted people and decided to leave the group.

This wasn't an easy decision as I take my obligations seriously and tend to be loyal. However, my spirit was bothered and disrupted and I came to dread going to the group. I had to trust the Holy Spirit's leading. I did confront the group leader privately with my decision and let him know why I was leaving the group. I accepted that it was my decision and my inability to feel secure in that environment and wished him well. He hugged me and said thanks for my honesty and said I was welcome back anytime. God is so faithful, it doesn't always end this amicably but be honest, hold fast to God's Word and do it all with love and gentleness and God will guide your word and steps.

Have an awesome and mighty day, Beloved. In peace and joy, Sister Lisa