1 / 37

This Week

Imagine that you are a servant who has voluntarily subordinated yourself to your Master. He is good, gentle, kind, just, and righteous at all times toward you.

orde
Télécharger la présentation

This Week

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Imagine that you are a servant who has voluntarily subordinated yourself to your Master. He is good, gentle, kind, just, and righteous at all times toward you. One day you find yourself wanting to liberate yourself from this Master. What might cause one to want to be free from a Master such as this?

  2. Lesson Plan This Week • We’ll examine our role as servant’s of Christ • Consider the significance of the “bond-slave” relationship

  3. Lesson Plan This Week • Drill down into the implications of the Bond-slave relationship. • Discuss the causal ingredients which contribute to runaway slaves

  4. Lesson Plan This Week • Examine ourselves with regard to inharmonious relationships in our daily lives.

  5. Colossians 3:18-4:1 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

  6. Colossians 3:18-4:1 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. 4:1 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. KJV

  7. Colossians 3:18-4:1 • In this passage, Paul now exhorts his readers to their responsibilities in various relationships, focusing on the central theme that we, as Believers, are the servants of Christ.

  8. I. Servants of Christ • The over riding consideration for the Believer is that he serves the Lord Christ in every relationship, in every employment, and in every activity. V23 • 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

  9. I. Servants of Christ • We need to conduct ourselves in such a way in every relationship that it becomes apparent that we are the bond-slaves of Christ. V22 • 22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:

  10. I. Servants of Christ • This conduct springs from the spiritual reality of our relationship to Christ. When we are submitted to Christ the resultant emotional climate of the relationship should be one of harmony and peace. • Col 3:17; Ps 119:165

  11. I. Servants of Christ • Col 3:17; And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. KJV • Ps 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. KJV

  12. I. Servants of Christ • If we experience disharmony and turmoil in any given relationship, the first place to examine for cause is in a breakdown of our living in submission to Christ. • Luke 12:45-47

  13. I. Servants of Christ • Luke 12:45-47 But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. • 47 "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. NIV

  14. I. Servants of Christ • Our relational problems do not start externally (outside of ourselves). They always begin in our relationship with Christ our Master. Luke 16:13 • 13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and …….“NIV

  15. II. The Bond-slave • The Greek word Douleuo, literally, "to be a slave," in bondage or service. • Gal 4:8; Eph 6:7; 1 Tim 6:2.

  16. II. The Bond-slave • A servant becomes a bond-slave when he wishes to remain in his master's house rather than accept freedom due to his love for a master, or wife and children. • Ex 21:6

  17. II. The Bond-slave • He was brought before the elders and had his ear bored against a door or post with an awl in token of lifelong servitude.

  18. II. The Bond-slave • It was allowed because love and the allegiance of love were prized more highly by the slave than personal freedom.

  19. II. The Bond-slave • Paul understood his relationship with Christ as His "servant" . • Rom 1:1; Titus 1:1.

  20. III. The Servant Relationship • Christians, are not hired servants but slaves committed to service to Jesus. As slaves we do not manage our own lives, but voluntarily yield them in service to our master. • 1 Cor 6:20

  21. III. The Servant Relationship 1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. KJV

  22. III. The Servant Relationship • Believers are bond-slaves on the basis of love for their master. This service is an eternal free will offering of self • Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV

  23. III. The Servant Relationship • Accordingly, our chief desire is the fulfillment of every desire of our Master; how we may please Him and not ourselves. John 8:29; 2 Tim 2:4

  24. III. The Servant Relationship • John 8:28-29 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." NIV • 2 Tim 2:4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs — he wants to please his commanding officer. NIV

  25. III. The Servant Relationship • His desire for us is that we learn godly character. Godly character is learned primarily through experience…the experience of difficulty, turmoil, self denial, pain and suffering. • These experiences are primarily handed to us within the context of relationships with others. John 13:34; 1 John 4:12

  26. III. The Servant Relationship • John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.“ NIV • 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. NIV

  27. III. The Servant Relationship • Another word for this is “sanctification”. Therefore, sanctification is a goal to be achieved in relationship. That is one of the chief outcomes of our experience with others. • 1 Thes 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, KJV

  28. III. The Servant Relationship • When we experience disharmony in our relationships with others it is an indication of our having stepped out of our role as bond-servant of Christ. • 1 Peter 5:5-6 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: KJV

  29. III. The Servant Relationship • Instead of humbling ourselves and clothing ourselves in Christ-like character in that relationship, we have lapsed into the old man with its deceitful lusts. Col 3:12-13 • Col 3:12-13 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. KJV

  30. III. The Servant Relationship • In such cases, some deep seated issue imbedded in our soul has been hooked or re-activated and we are responding as if we were our own master. We have run away!

  31. IV. The Problem of The Runaway • To identify and deal with these issues, it is fruitful to examine a few of the major sources of difficulty with which we all struggle.

  32. IV. The Problem of The Runaway • When resolving these kinds of relational issues we must bear in mind that the problem we are experiencing is rooted inside the self; not in the other. • Here are five:

  33. IV. The Problem of The Runaway • Past issues= family background, unresolved abuse, etc. • Personal differences= male and female, likes and dislikes, etc. • Present struggles= with sin, self-centeredness, submission, etc.

  34. IV. The Problem of The Runaway • Persistent pressures with culture, (success, wealth creation, retirement goals) work, family, etc. • Problematic patterns = abuse, addiction, adultery, abandonment,etc.

  35. V. Application V. Application Examine your disharmonious relationship and ask these questions: • What areas have been hooked by this person or by the situation in which I encounter disharmony within myself?

  36. V. Application V. Application • If I were looking at this person/situation from God’s point of view, what would He point out as the root of my problem? • If the solution was entirely up to me to resolve this disharmony, what would I need to change within myself?

  37. V. Application V. Application • What keeps me from doing it? • Confess that as sin and get this relationship restored.

More Related