In the sermon 'Masters and Their Master' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Ephesians 6:1-9, discussing the relationships within a household, specifically the master-bond servant dynamic. Dohm explains that, similar to the husband-wife and parent-child relationships, the master-bond servant relationship is a household relationship where earthly masters are not the ultimate authority; God is the ultimate master. Bond servants are encouraged to serve their earthly masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, and as if serving Christ. This obedience is not for pleasing men but is an act of worship towards God. The sermon emphasizes that obedience should not be for eye service or to please men but should come from the heart as a service to Christ. Dohm also addresses the nature of Roman slavery, highlighting its differences from American slavery and noting that it was not racially based. The sermon concludes with a focus on the rewards from God for faithful service, regardless of whether it is recognized by earthly masters. Masters, on the other hand, are instructed to treat their bond servants justly and fairly, with sincerity and an eye towards God, acknowledging that they too have a Master in heaven.

Our sermon text for this week is in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 1 through 9. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord bond servants be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, and sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, Do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him. You may be seated.

The title of the sermon this morning is masters and their master. We're in the third relationship that the Apostle Paul has brought us face to face with. The first was the husband-wife relationship, The second was the parent-child relationship now this week. We come to a text on the master-bond-servant relationship. As we'll learn as we dig into the text, this is also a household relationship.

So don't think that marriage and parent-child are household relationships and then master-bond servant is somewhere outside the home. This would actually be functioning inside the home. These are sometimes referred to as the household codes, because even the master-bond servant relationship normally would function within a household. This relationship is like the other two in this sense. The husband is not the ultimate husband.

Jesus Christ is the ultimate husband. Human husbands are to walk in his footsteps. Parents are not the ultimate parent. God the Father is the ultimate parent. Parent and Father and human parents are to walk in his footsteps in the care of their children.

And masters are not the ultimate master. God is the ultimate master. Thus the title, Masters, it really is about human masters and their servants and how they relate to one another. But it's all in the shadow of the master, the master of masters. So that brings us to our text.

Let's ask the Lord to help us. God we come to you asking for your help and acknowledging that it is more than good that you are the ultimate husband and father and master. Those of us who have been under your care for a period of decades, have been in the faith, walking with you for a long time, wouldn't have it any other way. We despise the times where we attempt to be the ultimate and we are so much happier in the times where we acknowledge you, trust you, rest in you. Pray that that would be growing among us, acknowledging you, trusting you, and resting in you happily.

May it be so in Jesus name, amen. Well we'll subdivide Paul's instructions to bond servants and then Paul's instructions to their masters. So we'll begin with verses 5 through 8. Hope you still have a finger in Ephesians chapter 6. Please follow along as I reread Ephesians 6, 5-8.

Paul writes, bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. So in these verses we have what God requires of his bond servants. This section is written to believing Ephesian bond servants.

And so they are his bond servants, God's bond servants, but believers. This is written to the church, the saints, the separated ones in Ephesus. These are the bond servants there. What is a bond servant? Well, here's an indication for you.

Some good translations also render it slaves. So you must think of more than just a servant for hire. They have some similarities to American slavery. You have ownership. A master would own the bond servant.

The bond servant would be the property of the master. A master would essentially have the power of life or death over the servant. You could beat the servant if you wanted to beat the bond servant. And even if you killed the bond servant, It would be very unlikely that you would be brought to any sort of justice, it would be any sort of investigation. So, masters didn't often do that, but that was largely for self-serving reasons.

Bond servants were property and had value, and they didn't want to lose the value. It was also different in some fundamental ways from American slavery. It was not racial in any way. Even Romans could be bond servants. Many Romans were bond servants.

So it wasn't ethnic based at all, skin color based at all. And it could be household servants, people who would cook and do household chores around the house, work in the fields, unskilled slavery. But there were bond servants who would be doing work that we would consider professional occupations, teachers, or doctors, or accountants could be bond servants. So it was very different from American slavery in that way. You really had some high skilled bond servants, even though they would be property.

They might be doing things like teaching your children or providing medical care or keeping the books, doing accounting work. It's estimated that probably a third of the population of Ephesus was made up of bond servants. In prominent Roman cities that was what was to be expected. A third of the population would be the property of someone else and would be bound to serve them. Paul's central instruction and commandment to bond servants, be obedient, obey.

Obey who? Masters according to the flesh, the ESV and the NIV translated, earthly masters. That also was a good translation. Now Paul is setting up something in the Greek that we miss in the English. He chose the Greek word kurios, which is overwhelmingly in the New Testament the word applied to Jesus every time you see the disciples calling him Lord.

It's that same Greek word. It's overwhelmingly translated Lord and applied to Jesus, But master is also a good translation of it. But just understand that is the word here. And he's setting up Jesus as the Lord of Lords, the Kurios of Kurios. In verse 9, he's going to say, to masters, you have a master in heaven.

So there is the master in heaven, the ultimate master, and earthly masters are just under the master in heaven. Jesus is the Lord of Lords, he is the Master of Masters. In word choice, by the way, he could have picked another word for an earthly Master. There were some good to select from in Greek, but he chose this one because he's setting up Jesus being Lord of Lords or Master of Masters. So these Masters that he is speaking of here in our text are Masters.

They do have authority but they are only Masters according to the flesh. They are earthly masters. They are not masters of the Spirit or of the conscience. So we render to Caesar what is Caesar's but to God and only to God the things that are God's. The spirit belongs to God, the conscience belongs to God, and never to an earthly master, never to a master according to the flesh.

Of course, this is just extending what Jesus said in Matthew 22, verse 21, render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but to God what is God's. They are really masters, they have real authority, it doesn't extend to the soul and it doesn't extend to the conscience. They are masters according to the flesh. They are earthly masters. Now this obedience is to be rendered in a certain way, which Paul describes positively and he describes negatively.

Positively, Paul insists on three qualities in verse five and then he explains them in subsequent verses. So let's look one by one at these three qualities that he insists on in the service of bond servants. Number one, with fear and trembling. Wait a minute. We're not supposed to fear man.

Is this a separate instruction to bond servants where generally we don't fear man, but they are to fear their masters? Well, Colossians 3 throws light on that. You don't have to turn far to get to Colossians 3, so please do that. This is, we're finding again, Colossians follows Ephesians very closely, or Ephesians follows Colossians whichever. And Paul is addressing the same subjects, but he says things in little different ways between them that really helps us understand what the other chapter is saying.

So I'm going to read Colossians 3, 22-25, just so you have the whole section on bond servants and masters from Colossians 3, but then I'm going to come back and zero in on verse 22. So Colossians chapter 3 22 through 25, Paul writes, Bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart fearing God. Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. He who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done and there is no partiality." So you can see almost exactly the same phrases to address the same topic. Look again at verse 22.

Bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. So the scope of their authority is broad, obey in all things, and the fear and trembling is spelled out here in Colossians 3. So in our text in Ephesians 6 it's not spelled out specifically but in Colossians 3 he actually says fearing God. So it's not the master who is to be feared, it's to be obedience rendered to the master in the fear of God, in fear and trembling of the ultimate master, the Lord of Lords and the master of masters. Of course this does fit with what Paul has been teaching even in Ephesians.

Remember chapter 5 verse 21, which is really the introduction to the whole section of these three relationships. Submitting to one another in the fear of God. The fear of God serves as the foundation for submission in all of these relationships. Believing bond servants are to fear God and therefore obey their masters. The obedience doesn't terminate on the master according to the flesh, the earthly master.

The obedience extends beyond the earthly master to the Lord of Lords, the master of masters. So there's always an eye towards the Lord in the obedience towards the earthly master. So that is the first quality that the Apostle Paul insists on with fear and trembling. Number two, insincerity of heart. Serving with a heart that is sincere.

As I said last week when we're talking about the parent-child relationship, lip honor, an outward appearance but only an outward appearance of honor and grit-your-teeth obedience. Outwardly complying while gritting your teeth are real things, but God is requiring more than that. Lip honor of children towards their parents or bond servants towards their master doesn't count. It's not the real thing. Grit your teeth obedience of children toward their parents or bond servants towards their master doesn't count.

It isn't the real thing. God is requiring more of that. Look at the end of verse 6. Doing the will of God from the heart. In sincerity of heart.

Yes, it is external obedience, it is compliance, but it is a compliance that begins in the heart and works its way out. That is what God is calling for. So that is the second quality that the Apostle Paul is insisting on in this service, insincerity of heart. Number three, as to Christ. The obedience is to be rendered as if to Jesus, as to Christ, because it is to Christ, because the obedience isn't terminating on the master according to the flesh it is extending beyond to the Lord Jesus Christ who has commanded the obedience.

So as a bond servant obeys his master according to the flesh, he's actually obeying Christ. It is to Christ. It is to be rendered as to Christ because it is to Christ. Then Paul explains the implications in verse 7. With good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men.

We know instinctively that we are to serve the Lord out of goodwill, not simply because it's obligation, but because he has loved us with a great love and come and shed his blood for us. So it is not bare obligation that has us serving Christ. So when Christ commands us to serve our earthly masters, we do it out of good will, because it is actually Christ that we're obeying. We're actually bond servants of Christ. That's what he says here at the end of 6.

As bond servants of Christ. So yes, you are a bond servant. Yes, you are a slave. Yes, you are the property of another. But in the ultimate sense, you are the property of Jesus Christ.

He has bought you of the price. The price was his own blood and so bare obligation won't do. When Jesus leaves heaven, to buy us with his blood, it won't do to just obey out of bear obligation. There has to be love there. And so we obey him out of good will.

There's affection in our heart for him. And this is to flavor the service that a bond servant renders to his master. Good will is the flavor, so to speak, of the obedience. It is the desire to do good to and for the master. So, okay, you give me orders, I do the orders, and so I have obeyed.

No, God is calling for something to be behind that, and that's the desire to actually profit, benefit, bless the Master, to do good to and for the Master. Listen to what Paul says in what we just looked at in Colossians 3.23. I'm re-reading what I read there, but this is Colossians 3.23. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. Again, when we serve the Lord, we know instinctively that it ought to be done heartily, not half-heartedly, but heartily.

And so since in serving the master, we're actually serving the Lord, that should be done heartily. Negatively, Paul forbids two qualities. So he's just insisted on three qualities. With fear and trembling, insincerity of heart, as to Christ. Now he negatively forbids two qualities in verse 6.

And these are the exact opposites of those three qualities that he just insisted upon. Number one, not with eye service. While the master's eye is upon you, you work hardily. When the master's eye is not upon you, you hardly work. He looks, you busy yourself, he looks away, you stop.

Not with eye service. Not needing the Master's eye to be upon you in order to do your work well. Here's the question for me and you. Do I do a lot of good work when I'm not being watched? It's a really good diagnostic question, I think.

Do I do a lot quantity of good work, quality, when I'm not being watched. For clarification, when you do hard things, sometimes you can be working hard at it and only get a little bit done. That's a lot of work for that type of work. Do I do the right quantity of work and high quality at the same time when I'm not being watched? This has everything to do with eye service.

Do you have to be under someone's eye to do the right volume of work and the right kind of work. Number two, the second quality that Paul forbids, not as men pleasers, this really goes hand in hand with not with eye service. It's actually connected in the text, not with eye service as men pleasers, So I'm not even confident I should have separated them out, but here we go. As a man-pleaser, I am not rendering faithful service out of goodwill. I am manipulating the system for my own reputation and advantage.

So when you see man pleaser, don't think, well, he's saying that it doesn't matter if the master is pleased. That's not what he's saying. That you don't need to try to please the master, lest you be a man pleaser. That's not what he's communicating at all. He's talking about working only when you're under the eye of the master and thereby manipulating the system for your own reputation and advantage.

My concern isn't doing good, it's seeming to do good, While the Master's eye is on me so that I get the advantages of being perceived to be a good and faithful servant. There are advantages that come from being perceived to be a good and faithful servant. It's good for your reputation, for us it's good for our wallet. Be perceived to be a good and faithful service. And you can manipulate the system by working hard when you're being watched, you can manipulate the system, not actually doing good out of goodwill, but for your own advantage.

That's what it means to be an eye servant and man pleaser. Listen to what 1 Timothy 6 verse 1 says. In 1 Timothy 6 verse 1, I think this comes out of the fact that it's impossible to keep that up forever. Eventually the Master can look at the output and know that things don't match up. That the work rate and the work quality that he sees when his eye upon you can't be extended out because of your work.

Here's what Paul says in 1st Timothy 6 verse 1, let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of honor so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed." Meaning that When Christians render service with eye service as men pleasers manipulating the system And then it surfaces what is really going on. The name of God and His doctrine are spoken against. They're blasphemed. Christians are supposed to bring honor to God in the world, not dishonor to God in the world. It brings dishonor to God in the world when the Master finally catches on that what he sees when his eye upon you is not what he gets when his eye isn't upon you.

So the name of God comes into reproach. Shame on us when we bring the name of God under reproach by rendering service as I service as men pleasers. Finally, believers are entitled to look to the reward. Look at verse 8. It's been a while since we read verse 8.

Look at verse 8. "...knowing whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Now what if a bond servant serves this way? He accepts all of Paul's instructions and commands and serves accordingly. He does the three things that Paul insists on, obeying with an eye toward God, in sincerity of heart, and as to Christ.

So he's serving out of goodwill to do good and for the Master. He keeps clear of the two things that Paul forbids. He works well and hard even when he's not being watched. He looks to be a blessing and not just to manipulate the system for personal advantage, but the master is hard-hearted and harsh and unappreciative. Has that ever happened in human history?

Good service according to the book, this book, just along the lines of what Paul is calling for. That's the service that's rendered and yet the master is hard-hearted and harsh and unappreciative. That has happened in world history. That happens every day somewhere. What then?

Paul says not to worry. Even if the master according to the flesh doesn't see or care, God himself sees and cares and will reward every bit of the good service. God's counsel to bond servants who find themselves rendering service according to the book under a hard-hearted, harsh, unappreciative master is, don't sweat it. God knows you're master according to the flesh, doesn't see and or doesn't care, but God sees and God cares. And God will reward every bit of the good service.

Not a single bit of it has escaped his notice. If bond servants sow this good seed, they will reap a good reward. It is sowing and reaping. And God can guarantee it because He's in control of the harvest. In what category of life will you reap?

Does it matter? Does it matter if you reap it in the financial category or the spiritual abundance category or the relationship category or the health category or does it matter? It is enough to know that God sees and is pleased and we will reward at just the right time with just the right thing. Friends this is no trick. Oh, let's tell them I'll reward them later so that they'll work harder.

This is not a trick. God never over promises and then under delivers. Never, never, never. Whatever the reward is, in whatever category of life is, you will not feel tricked. You will never feel that he has over promised and under delivered.

This is one of the places in Scripture where we are invited to go for the reward. There's a reward for you to capture. Not a single bit of good service to a master according to the flesh. An earthly master will go unnoticed and unrewarded. You have the promise here in scripture.

God always keeps his promises. And the free man has no advantage over the slave. God undertakes the care and reward of all his people. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 22. I think this is such a helpful verse.

1 Corinthians 7, 22. Paul writes, For he who is called in the Lord while a slave, so called into the kingdom while a slave, is the Lord's freed man. So you're a bond servant, you're a slave, you're the property of an earthly master, but you're brought into the kingdom of God, you're now Jesus's freed man. Though you're someone else's property, you're freer than every unbeliever on planet earth and planet earth is filled with unbelievers and you're freer than all of them in the most fundamental sense. The believer in the deepest, darkest dungeon is freer than every unbeliever on planet earth because you are Jesus' freed man.

The second half of that verse, the second half of 1 Corinthians 7, 22, Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. So while that's true, the believer in the deepest, darkest dungeon is freer than every unbeliever. Every believer, by coming into the kingdom, has become Christ's slave. So every free man, according to the flesh in earthly terms, is a slave, and every slave in earthly terms is a freed man. You're both at the same time.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross. These distinctions are going to all disappear. It's not that they don't have practical implications in life, but they're temporary. They're all going to disappear. Before we move on, we should look at one other text, 1 Peter chapter 2.

So turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 18 through 21. 1 Peter 2 verses 18 through 21, Peter writes, Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, Not only the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently?

But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. Believers, when they are acting according to the mind of their Lord persevere when being wronged rather than doing wrong. In other words, when you're following Jesus, walking in his steps, acting in Christ likeness, you persevere when you're being wronged rather than doing wrong instead of you are a harsh master so I don't owe you service anymore. You still render service as to Christ with goodwill, heartily.

Let the world try to explain that. Let the world try to explain that one. The example is Jesus. No one was wronged more unjustly and comprehensively than Jesus. So his followers have nothing to complain about.

Their master endured wrong on a whole other level. Completely unjustly and comprehensively. And sometimes we're called to follow in that path. Friends, this takes the work of the Holy Spirit. This requires the help of the Holy Spirit.

You must be filled with the Spirit. That's why Paul starts this whole section on relationships, husband, wife, parent, child, master, bond servant, by saying be filled with the Spirit. These are not things that come naturally, but the Spirit of God can cause these to be fruit in our life. The fruit of the Spirit is what we need. The filling of the Spirit is what we need.

Back to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 9. Now instructions to masters. 9. Now instructions to masters. Ephesians 6 verse 9, and you masters do the same things to them, to your bond servants, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him.

In this verse we have what the master requires of his masters. Again, this is addressed to masters, believing masters in the Ephesian church. Paul here is teaching that God is the master of every master. He is the King of every King. He is the Lord of every Lord.

He is the master of every master. His instruction and command to them, do the same things to them. Now What does that mean? Masters, you also undertake the discharge of your obligations to your bond servants with fear and trembling, insincerity of heart, and as to Christ. That's what was required of bond servants.

You do the same things to them. You discharge your obligations to your bond servants with fear and trembling, with an eye towards God. You discharge your obligations towards your bond servants in sincerity of heart. You discharge your obligations to your bond servants as to Christ because you also are the bond servant of Christ. In Christ, for believers, the master bond servant relationship is anything but one way.

All the obligations on the bond servant, none on the master. That might be so in the world, but it's not so in the kingdom. Yes, bond servants have obligations towards their masters, but at the same time, masters have obligations to discharge to their bond servants. And The same things are required of them. They work themselves out in different ways, granted, but there are obligations in both directions.

The Believing Masters are to give up threatening. That's the words of the text. They are not to govern by fear in an attempt to squeeze more out of the workforce. Does that ever happen? Threatening to get more.

Governing by fear to get a little more productivity out of the workforce. Christian masters are to give up threatening, governing by fear to squeeze more out of the workforce. Please remember two things. In this Roman system, masters could threaten practically anything. They could do more than threaten practically anything.

And Christianity had just gained a foothold in Ephesus. Old habits die hard. You know there were people, there were real believing Christian masters who got this council who had been the old kind of master. They had lived a long time being unregenerate, unsaved masters, and the old habits die hard, and they really needed the command of Paul to change their behavior. So Paul reminds masters that there is one ultimate master that they themselves have been bought with a price and they're not their own anymore.

This goes right with the put-offs and the put-ons from the previous chapters. Put-off being the old kind of master, the unbelieving kind of master, The unregenerate kind of master with the stony heart and put on being a new kind of master. The Christ-like kind of master. How does Christ rule his people? Is it through threatening?

Well, he does warn us that much we know. He's not threatening us to get more out of the workforce. We also know that. Listen to Colossians 4 verse 1. Colossians 4 verse 1.

Masters, give your bond servants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So the second part of that is the identical argument. You have a master in heaven, and that is supposed to result in something giving bond servants what is just and fair. Now that would have been shocking. Don't just think as Americans about the boss employee.

There's more than that in view. That is in view here, but more than that in view here. This had to have been shocking. Give what is just and fair. That's my property.

Just and fair? Yes. You have a master in heaven. Give them what's just and fair. You have obligations towards them.

The instructions and commands to bond servants would not have been controversy at all. The instructions to masters would have been shocking in the Roman world. One final point and then a few applications. Question. Is this an endorsement of slavery?

Paul gives instructions to bond servants and masters in Ephesians 6. He gives instructions to bond servants and masters in Colossians 3. Peter gives instructions just to bond servants, to buckle under, to even harsh masters in 1 Peter 2. Is this an endorsement of scripture on slavery? No.

Here's what you should get out of this, and it's wonderful. Our faith can function. Our faith can flourish in every system in our sin-sick world. It doesn't need a hot house where the conditions are all just right. Just the right temperature, just the right amount of sunshine, and then you can get a little fruit.

Our faith can survive more than survive, function more than function, flourish in every single system in our sin-sick world. Thank God for that. It isn't an endorsement of slavery, especially not Roman style slavery. But Paul was giving pastoral counsel to bond servants in a Roman city where probably a third of the people who would encounter this letter need to know how to function in a way that honors the king in this sin-sick world and the circumstances of their life. And the Bible gives us that.

Applications. I'll give them to you in the form of two quotes. I'm going to quote John Calvin and then I'll quote Martin Lloyd Jones to give you the two points of application. Number one, John Calvin says, as the condition of servants is much more agreeable than that of slaves in ancient times, they ought to consider themselves far less excusable if they do not endeavor in every way to comply with Paul's injunctions." Okay, long sentence, what's he saying there? He's saying the people in his day and John Calvin's day who were servants had it so much better than any slaves in the ancient world that The servants in his day should undertake Paul's commands with no question and feeling as if they were bearing a light load because of how good they had it.

And they would be without excuse. If Paul would say this to people who were property, then slaves in John Calvin's day should carry these instructions out to the nth degree. Now we have an additional layer. It is 2021. And it's so much better to be a modern employee than it was to be a servant in the days of John Calvin, which was so much better than it was to be a slave in the time of the Apostle Paul.

So, employees, how are you going to wiggle out of this? How are you going to wiggle out of this? You can't wiggle out of this. You have an inf, it does apply to us and the boss employee relationship, but just understand how infinitely better you have it and how totally inexcusable it will be for you to not comply with this because our circumstances are so superior And with being filled with the spirit, they could do it under those circumstances. How can you say, this is too much for me?

Here's the challenge. More and better output this week. Everybody, you a student? Okay. Okay students, more and better output this week from you.

Moms, Keepers of the home, biggest job in the room probably, more and better output from you this week as the beginning of new and better habits. I'm not just calling for a good week. I'm saying all of us can identify things where we need to develop better habits to render our service in whatever calling we have as to Christ. Hardly as to the Lord. I know this week I can put into practice our text and have more and better output this coming week.

I know it. Number two, Martin Lloyd-Jones says this, and this is the right place for us to close I think. Lloyd-Jones says, this was the startling discovery that Martin Luther made. He had been brought up in the false system of Roman Catholicism with the idea that Christians were divided into two groups, the religious and The ordinary. If a man really wanted to be religious, he left the world and became a monk, and so Luther became a monk.

He could find no peace or satisfaction. Suddenly, he was awakened to the great doctrine of justification by faith alone, and that opened his eyes to the whole new position. He now realized that when a servant maid sweeps out a room, she can be working for God. You do not need to become a monk and spend your time in a cell counting your beads and sweating and praying in order to work for God. Not at all.

A servant girl sweeping a room can serve God equally well if not much better. That's what Martin Luther found out. We can serve God. We can honor our Savior in sweeping out the room or whatever God puts in front of us to do. My friends, so many people that we will never hear a word of are going to hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.

And it's because they were rendering service as to Christ and things that no one ever saw, but they worked heartily as to the Lord. And they will hear the voice of their master say, well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. This is simply about worth and worship. Worth and worship. What is he worth?

An infinite amount of honor. One way we can honor him is to work heartily. Work is worship. Martin Luther found out that work was worship. And servant girls had been doing it better than he had been doing it all his life.

That's the implication. Many servant girls had been worshipping God in their work, better than Martin Luther had been in all of his self-depriving Religion. God, I thank you for changing the way we think about everything. You are infinitely worthy of our honor. Thank you for giving us ways in life to honor you.

Pray that your name and your word wouldn't be blasphemed because of how we work, spoken against, ridiculed, mocked because of how your people work, but that we would work heartily in this world to the to the surprise of an onlooking world in Jesus name amen.