Today were going to talk about the story of William Wilberforce who lived in England, late 1700s, early 1800s and was a one-man wrecking crew against slavery; and before he died-three days before he died-the Parliament passed a law that slavery was now illegal in England. Well be talking a little bit more about him in the service as we go. Were going through the Book of Ephesians together as a church, and were going through every chapter, every verse; and were in Chapter 6 right now, and were coming to some Scripture that is controversial. Its controversial not because of the fact that its the subject of slavery. Its not controversial in the sense that were in an ethical dilemma as to how we feel about slavery. If we were to take a survey, all of us would go, Yeah, slavery is bad. Slavery is wrong. Theres no question about that. However, where the controversy is is in how the Bible deals with slavery. Why does the Bible not take a stronger stand against slavery? Why is Paul not condemning slavery or Jesus condemning slavery? Why is He not demanding masters to release their slaves or slaves to run away from the masters? This becomes a stumbling block for people. Some people will use those Scriptures as a means to point fingers and say, Well, look the Bible doesnt condemn slavery like it should. Why is that? If youre reading your devotion, sometimes you just kinda dance around those passages because theyre all over the New Testament. Theyre all over. Were going to mention several Books this morning that talk about the subject. Theres one entire Book of the New Testament thats devoted to the subject of slavery. Yet, when was the last time you heard a sermon on this subject in a church? Let me see your hand if you could remember sitting in church on a Sunday morning and listening to a sermon about slavery. Let me see your hands. If you have, let us know. Dont you find it peculiar that something thats talked about so much in the Bible-in the Old Testament; in the Gospels Jesus uses slaves in parables; in the New Testament in so many of Pauls Books, and yet you and I, for the most part, have never sat through a sermon that talks about that and how to deal with this dilemma…until today. Today were going to deal with it. Were going to try to look at the whole picture and gain a whole understanding. Sometimes our understanding is limited because we only have gathered so many facts. You might go home tonight after being out and about, and you come home and drive by your neighbors house. Somebodys trying to break in their house. You call 911 and say, Somebodys trying to break in my neighbors house. The police arrive and it turns out its your neighbor, and they didnt have their keys, so theyre breaking in. Well, you did what you thought was the right thing, but you really didnt have all the facts. So what we want to have this morning is a good old fashion Bible study. This is not a one, two, three point sermon kind of a thing. This is a Bible study. This is [here to] help us to understand why the Bible says what it says and why it doesnt say what it doesnt say. Lets turn to Ephesians 6 (page 1160 of pew Bibles). Remember this morning the nursery is closed because its not getting hot air. Of course youre getting hot air from more than one source right now. That was just too easy. There might be some infants in here. If they fuss today, just focus. Were not going to ask the parents to go into the conference room and watch it on TV. They can just stay right here, so well just have extra grace today, and well get the problem fixed. Ephesians 6:5, Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve whole-heartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know the Lord will reward anyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. You know, one of the things we have to decide in Scripture, when we see a command like that, is is that command cultural or is that command trans-cultural. By that I mean is it a part for that culture, for that time, and for that people only, or is it good for all people, all cultures, all times? For instance if I say the commandment of the Bible is Thou shall not kill, is that just for one region, one time, one people, or is that for everybody of all times, of all nations? Thats for everybody. If I say, Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, was that just for the Israelites? Was that just for the time of Deuteronomy, or is that for everybody, all times? Its trans-cultural. That's for everybody. If I quote from 1 Thessalonians when Paul says, Greet one another with a holy kiss. Men, greet one another with a holy kiss. Is that cultural or trans-cultural? Thats cultural. Any of you dudes try to greet me with a holy kiss, Im gonna drop you. Or if youre bigger than me, Im gonna run (congregation laughing). Were going to look at a side note here. I remember going to a seminar, and there were like thousands of people there. There must have been some church where they kind of believe like every Scripture we read, ever command we have to do today is [still existent]. They were going around greeting each other with holy kisses. It was just weird. Its like, Thats not our culture. We shake your hand, give you a hug, How you doing? But were not going around, you know, kissing. I can see that would be a problem. Oh, good morning, smooch. I dont think thats what a holy kiss is, but I can just see theres going to be some problems with that doctrine. Were not going to go there. Thats a cultural thing. When He says, Slaves, obey your masters, that is a cultural command. That was for that point in time. Were not preaching that today because culture has changed. Now heres the problem. You say, Well why doesnt Paul just say slavery is evil? Masters, free your slaves. Slaves run away from your masters. Come to the church. Well give you refuge. Why? Lets talk about that. Do you have any idea how many slaves lived in the Roman Empire when Paul wrote this? Any idea? Was it 6,000 slaves? No. Was it 60,000 slaves? No. Was it 600,000 slaves? No, its higher. Was it 6 million slaves? No, no, no. Way higher-60 million slaves! That is a staggering figure. Slavery was interwoven into every fabric of society, every city, every region, every country. Under the hands of the Roman Empire, there were slaves; and there had been for generations and generations. Its the only life that they knew. That was normal-60 million slaves! There was also the reality of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire ruled with an iron fist. If you were to rebel against them and cause social unrest, civil disobedience, they would crack down on you. You would be beaten, imprisoned, or executed as an example. So anything that was done to disturb the peace of Rome, Pax Romana, was met with force, and it was met right away. If Paul would have caused this civil disobedience, this social unrest, and millions of slaves are now leaving their masters, do you have any idea the massacre that would have taken place? People by the hundreds of thousands would lose their lives. Whats more? Christianity was brand new. It was just in its infancy. It was very fragile, very new. It was only a couple decades old. Paul was very careful of the image of Christianity, how we were being portrayed to the world. In fact, if you look in 1 Timothy 6:1, if youd turn there (page 1177 of pew Bibles), Paul says these words, All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that Gods name and our teaching may not be slandered. Slaves, rather than staging an insurrection and rebelling against the government, you are going to be model slaves. Slaves who are Christians are going to be exemplary in society. God in His wisdom goes the exact opposite direction. He is going to work not with dynamite, but God is going to use leaven. God is going to use a yeast of His Word and His Spirit to work in the hearts of men, to lift up equality, to lift up freedom, to lift up justice and fairness; and as those values are lifted up, then culture is going to rise. Culture is going to change from the inside out, not through dynamite, but through leaven-not through a massacre. Not only the Roman government-but if you were a slave and you ran away from your master and you were found, best case scenario is you would be severely beaten and then have and F seared into your forehead for fugitive, which meant runaway in the Greek. Fugitive for the rest of your life. More than likely youd be executed. You would be made an example because you were simply property. You were a living tool. You were a talking animal. You had no rights. You had no worth beyond what you could produce for your master. If you ran away, they would send a strong message, and more than likely, you were dead. If Paul were to preach that, and by the way-if you study the Scripture, if you read Romans 13, if you read 1 Peter 2, if you read the teachings of Jesus-Jesus never taught revolt against the government. God is going to work in and through the culture and change the hearts of men, and in doing so, liberty will be gained-not just in Biblical times. Were going to see all the way through today, the Spirit of God is at work in the world bringing about His purposes. So Paul doesnt do that. Paul in the wisdom of God is going to seek to change the hearts of men. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the Book of Galatians. Would you turn there please? Galatians 3:28 (page 1153), this is one of the key verses in all the Bible. Now, Judaism-in Israel, slavery was not banned. Slavery was a part of life in all cultures, but in Israel, I mean if you were going to be a slave, that was probably the best place to be a slave. You practiced the Sabbath in which you were able to rest. You could participate in worship. You were set free on the seventh year. There were limitations as to what a master could do, and if they exceeded those limitations and cruelty, theyd be punished. Israel could be a city of refuge if you were a runaway slave-where you could come for safety; so if you had to be a slave, that was a good place to be one. But Paul is going to take it, and hes going to lift it to a new height. He is going to talk about something radically different than the societal norm. If youre treated like property, pretty soon you start to see yourself as property. If youre treated as sub-human, pretty soon you start to see yourself as sub-human. So when this letter is read to the church in Galatia, slaves and free masters would be listening to these words because slaves worshipped right alongside [their masters]. They were so much a part of society-they were part of the family-they would be worshipped right with their masters, so its very possible that in the church, youve got a slave and a master sitting in the same pew. It happened. Paul says these words in Verse 28 [of Galatians 3], There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. You are one in Christ. There is equality in Christ. There is not discrimination in God. You are equal in the sight of God. You are all heirs of salvation. How would that make you feel if you were a slave? How would that make you feel if youd been treated as less than human? Remember the video that showed our team when we were working in ministry in the D.R.? There was this beautiful little Haitian girl, and they were talking to her. They told her she was beautiful. Do you remember that? You showed the media, Youre beautiful. She says, No, Im not beautiful. Im black. It just broke our hearts! Then we began to explain to her how God had made her, how God loved her. We began to share Scripture truth into her spirit, and she was like, Me? Me? She started to laugh. [She realized] she had that value and worth. Powerful! I mean you couldnt watch without crying. I watched it four times that weekend and cried every time. I stood up to preach in the Haitian church in the D.R. Here are these people that remind me so much of what it would have been like to be a slave because though theyre not beaten and theyre not property, they cant own property. They cant send their children to school. They have to fight for any kind of medical treatment. They get the worst jobs, the most deplorable living conditions, and theyre not wanted there. They get the scummiest jobs for the lowest pay, and theyre not welcome. They cant own homes, cant get an education. We worship with them in that dark room lit only by lanterns and candlelight. Theyre just loving the Lord, and I preach and I let them know, You are rich in Christ. You matter to God as much as I do. They say, Oh, youre America. Youre from America. Youre rich. Youre important. God must love you more than He loves us. No, no, no, no. Even Pastor Jean struggles sometimes with his self-image and his self-worth. He will make me cry. Hell email me and say, I feel so badly for myself because Im Haitian sometimes, but you call me my brother, and it makes me feel like I matter. To just get up there and preach the Gospel and lift their spirits and get them to see themselves as God sees them. Thats what Paul is going to do. Hes going to say, You are one. You are one. So hes going to raise the bar. Hes going to talk in this passage to the slave masters as well. Verse 9 of Ephesians 6, And, masters, treat your slaves in the same way. 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 Him. That was radical teaching. Slaves were property; slaves were animals; slaves were not human. He said, Treat your slaves in the same way, the same way youd want to be treated-with respect. Treat them with respect. That was radical. In the Book of Colossians 4:1, if you want to turn there or watch on the screen, Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in Heaven. God is watching you. Do what is right and fair. God through His Word and through His Spirit, like leaven, is going to begin to lift up the values of rightness, fairness, and equality, and what were going to see next-freedom. I want you to turn in your Bibles to a Book [that is] read very little. Its called Philemon, page 1183. The entire subject matter of this Book is on slavery. Its just a little Book. We dont talk about it a lot, but whats going on here is that Paul has a friendship and relationship with a slave owner whose name is Philemon. He has a slave by the name of Onesimus. Onesimus steals his masters money, and he runs away-risking not only prison, but risking his life; but he thinks its worth it for freedom. He steals the money and he leaves Philemon and goes to Rome. While he is in Rome, he encounters the Apostle Paul in prison. Maybe either Onesimus recognizes Paul from his visits to Philemons house, or maybe Philemon recognizes Paul. However that happens, they hook up and have a conversation. Eventually, Paul leads Philemon to Christ. He becomes a Christian. He (Onesimus) becomes a tremendous help to Paul in his ministry, and Paul says, You know what? You need to go back. You need to go back to your master. You need to go back to Philemon, and were going to ask for your freedom. Were not going to demand your freedom, but were going to ask for your freedom. So Paul writes this letter, and he puts it in the hand of the slave, Onesimus. He asks him to risk his very life, his very freedom that he has now gained-illegally-and go back and throw yourself on the grace and mercy of his master. So hes going to give this letter, and hes going to hope that Philemon reads it and agrees with it because if he doesnt, hes in big trouble. Thats the drama, and thats whats going on as we look at this Book. So lets break it down-lets look at Verse 8. At first he kind of butters up Philemon and calls him a dear friend and a fellow soldier. He tells him how great of a guy he is, how much he loves him. He tells him that he prays for him. Have you ever had somebody butter you up? Somebody gives you a call who hasnt talked to you in a while. Theyre like, Hey, man. Im telling you, boy, you are just fantastic. Youre the greatest friend! I love you! I miss you! And youre like, Okay, what do you want? What do you want? Whats up with you? So he starts off by just telling Philemon what a great guy he is. Philemon has to be thinking, Whats this letter about? Ive not heard from old Paul in a while. Then hes going to eventually get to the news. He says, Therefore, although in Christ, I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do… In other words, Paul is an Apostle. People understand-listen, church-people understand when Paul writes a letter, its Scripture. They understand that. Peter talked about Paul when he wrote and how certain men distorted his words even as they do the rest of the Scriptures. They understood that Paul wrote with authority as an Apostle of Christ. He says, I could force you to do this, but Im not going to do that. Im going to allow you to make the right decision by a choice. Verse 9, …yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul-an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus… By the way, I resent that because I know from church history when this Book was written, and I know about how old Paul was here. And if my calculations are correct, Paul is about 52 years old. I turn 50 this year. I dont like that (congregation laughing), An old man? Were going to set him straight one day. Okay, I then, as Paul-a fairly young middle-aged man and now a prisoner of Christ Jesus-I appeal to you for my son, Onesimus. Thats interesting here. Remember last week we talked about children, Obey your parents in the Lord and we said, That might not be little children because he uses the word offspring and not the word for a child? No matter how old you were, if your father was living, you were under his authority in that society? So we said thats the word he uses. This is the word he uses here, the same word where he says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord. He uses the male form of that word right here in talking about an adult-Onesimus. So it establishes that that could very well be the case of Ephesians 6:1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Hes talking to us as well. …who became my son while I was in chains… So he says, He became my offspring, meaning that Paul led him to Christ while he was in prison, so thats what that means. Hes saying he converted to Christianity while he went to see Paul in Rome. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. Some scholars believe thats a play on words because the name Onesimus means useful. So hes saying, Well, he didnt used to live up to his name, but now he does. Now useful really is useful, so they think its kind of a pun. I dont know-it could be. I am sending him with my very heart back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the Gospel. I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good… And I want you to hone in on Verse 16. …no longer as a slave. No longer as a slave, …but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me and even dearer to you both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. Paul begins to extol the virtue of freedom and equality. He is your brother in Christ. Hes not property. Hes not subhuman. Let him be no longer considered a slave, but your brother, and Paul shows his heart. Paul upholds slavery but he recognized he had to work in and through the culture-the Spirit of God-had to work in and through the hearts of men to this very day. Notice when we leave Paul in the Bible, we leave him in the Book of Acts as an older man in prison kind of walking around teaching the Gospel, and that's how it ends. The Book of Acts ends with kind of a question, kind of an undone feeling. Have you ever been watching a movie and the movie ends, and youre surprised it ended. Youre like, Huh? What else happens? Whats next? Whats next? Of course we read the Book of Acts, and were like, Well, what happened to Paul? Whered he go? What happened to Paul in prison? What happened? It doesnt tell us. You know why? Because the Book of Acts of the Apostles is really the Acts of the Spirit. It really is. Its the Acts of the Spirit, and the acts of the Spirit continue to this day. The story of the church is still being written, so it doesnt come to this closure. It doesnt come to this finality. It is left open-ended because the acts of the Spirit continue to this day. God is still working and moving in the hearts of His people. As the Word of God lifted up freedom, as the Word of God lifted up equality and fairness, like leaven, culture would begin to rise to it. In the 1800s, a man lived by the name of William Wilberforce who dedicated himself tirelessly to ending slavery. We heard about his story and how he worked with America and how he worked in his own country. Three days before he died, freedom was gained for the slaves in England. We know the story of Abraham Lincoln and how he fought for freedom. We know he based his beliefs on the Judeo-Christian ethic of equality in the sight of God. I read one quote from Mr. Lincoln that Id never read before, I found it very insightful and humorous. He says-comparing himself to the shepherd, the slave owners as wolves, and the slaves as sheep, he says, The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep, which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the wolf and the sheep are not agreed on the definition of liberty. There are still wolves out there today. Theres still injustice out there today. Theres still people that are prejudice today, people [who are treated] like property today who are abused by other people today. Theres still illegal slavery in the world today. Theres still every cause to stand up for righteousness, justice and equality and stand up against oppression-whatever form it takes. What I want us to do right now is watch a clip from this movie-again from Amazing Grace, and were going to talk about our response. In this movie, William Wilberforce is talking to an old man. You know something about this old man, this friend of his. This old man that were going to encounter was a slave trader. He made his living off the sweat, blood and death of slaves. While hes at sea, he almost dies. He has a God encounter. He has to chain himself to something on the bow of the boat to prevent himself from being thrown into sea. There he encounters the living Christ. He changes his heart. He leaves the slave-trade business, and he becomes a pastor and a songwriter. He looks back on his life and the things he used to do, the way he used to treat people that had been made in the image of God. He is amazed at the grace of God that could save a wretch like him. His name is John Newton. I want you to listen as he confronts his past, and he encourages his friend William Wilberforce to press on in the cause of freedom. Lets watch. (You can find the clip here: http://www.wingclips.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16260&substring=amazing+grace). They ended that-he said, Weve got some work to do, you and I, and thats what I say to you today, We have some work to do, you and I. I mean we might feel a little bit helpless because we cant-were not in law enforcement. We cant stop human trafficking. Prostitution is a form of slavery. We feel limited in what we can do there. We know that sweat shops exist and child labor and these other things-we know these things exist in our world today. We feel helpless in that regard, but we also know there are some things we can do. Weve tried to take those steps as a church. This past year we talked about the children in our county whod been sexually abused and how they are receiving help at CARE House. The [trained staff] records the testimony of what their abuser had done to them. We mentioned that those little innocent ones that are abused need our help. The funding is gone from the GM plant. Theyre lost 40 percent of their support, and they need a new recording system. I threw that out to you. We took up an offering, and we paid cash for an $11,000 system from your generosity. I talked to you about the Haitian church that we partner with in the Dominican Republic. I talked to you about the refugees from the earthquake, and theyre coming now and here is Pastor Jean getting up to preach. There are a hundred new faces, and they only have the clothes on their back. They have no food. They have no shelter. What is he going to do? I mentioned that to you. Without even taking an offering, we were able to take in almost $4,500 and shot it right back out that week in cash. We just sent off 600 pounds of clothing to his church for his congregation. Were selling our recipes, our cookbooks, and every bit of that is going to buy food. Well be sending them another check at the end of this month because theres no time to just sit on it. We have to act. Any time you stand up for the oppressed, the downtrodden, those who are treated as less than human, any time you take a stand against prejudice, you are called to be the church of Jesus Christ, to lift up these values of equality, fairness and freedom; and thats our job. I dont know why Ive never preached on the subject of slavery before. I dont know why churches dont because its all over the pages of our Bible. Slavery was caused by mans sin. God did not institute slavery. Man did. Slavery has ended through the grace of God. Its God and His Spirit working in the hearts of man to overcome that greed and selfishness. Abraham Lincoln said, You know you wolves out there, you think Im bad. You think Im against you being rich and owning your plantations. Im not against you being rich, but I am against you owning people as if they were property. Theyre people, and they have a right to be free. Their right to be free is greater than your right to be rich. They hated him, but he stood up for what was right. As a church, we know there are still wolves out there, wolves in our world. There are wolves in our culture. There are wolves in our society that still try to exploit people, and as a church of Christ, we stand up against that, and we lift up these values, virtues and truths. As Gods Spirit works in us and through as leaven, we raise up the culture. We raise up the value. I hope that thats been helpful for you today to address that subject. Maybe youve read that in the Bible before and wondered, Why does Paul say that? Hopefully thats helped answer some of those questions that you have had. We are going to continue next week in our series, and were going to talk about the armor of God. Were going to spend a few weeks on that subject in Ephesians 6-the armor of God. What is it? Why is it important? Paul says to put it on. How do we do that? So that is what we will direct our attention to in the weeks that are ahead. We just keep plodding along trying to get done with this Book before Easter.