You Belong to the Lord

February 26, 2018

You Belong to the Lord

Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Ephesians 6:9

Read: Ephesians 6:1-9

Paul returns again to practical advice for Christian living, and again he interlaces his advice with deep theological truth. As he encouraged children to obey their parents, he reminded them of the promises in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16: “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Into his advice, Paul slipped in a simple phrase that provides the underlying foundation for all of our life as the followers of Jesus: “obey your parents because you belong to the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1 Emphasis mine). Paul’s phrase is the inspiration for my most frequent prayer: “My Gracious and loving Father, I acknowledge you to be my Creator and my God. I render to you the reverence of my being and my life. I am not my own. I am yours. By creation and redemption I am yours. I will devote myself to your service this day and forever.”

Paul carries this theme into his advice for workers: “Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women” (Ephesians 6:7 NRSV). In Paul’s world, slavery was as much a part of the culture as electricity is in our world – you can’t imagine the world without it. Here again, consider how counter-cultural Paul is by not only inspiring the slaves in their work ethic, but also inspiring the slave masters to ethical treatment of their slaves. Such instruction was unheard of in Paul’s time. Remember, in the Christian communities the slaves and masters came together as one in their worship and Christian fellowship.

How much would change in our lives if we had a deep-seeded belief that we were serving Jesus through our daily work? I know that this is widely-accepted counsel for our work within the ministries of the church, but Paul was speaking to farm laborers. His point was that whether you are hoeing a field, working in a government office, working in a factory, self-employed or participating in the creative arts, do all that you do as unto the Lord.

My Takeaway: Paul’s vision here is not of Jesus as a task-master, checking to see if you completed your task properly. Rather, Jesus is your cheerleader. He is urging you on to your very best because what you are doing, and how you are doing it, can make a huge difference for good in the Kingdom of God.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2018 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.