Pauls's Epistle to the Ephesians
Chapter Twenty-Three
THE RELATION OF SERVICE - DUTY OF SERVANTS.
"Servants, be obedient."*—EPH. vi. 5.

WHETHER the parties here addressed as "servants" were bond-slaves, or free and hired domestics, I do not think it worth while to inquire. I simply protest against the rendering of the word being "slaves;" implying, as it does, the same rendering in the case of Christ. It is monstrous to speak of him as the Father's slave, or of his service or obedience being slavish. Nor is there any need or warrant for such an interpretation. The term should be understood universally, as embracing all relations that imply service to an acknowledged master. Some indeed think that the close of the eighth verse describes two sorts of servants, serving together in the ordinary household economy of the family - some being bond, under the coercion of ownership; others being free, under a contract of wages. There is no warrant for such a view of that verse. It is a forced and unnatural exposition. Unquestionably, however, there were in these ancient homes hired servants as well as slaves. And therefore we may consider what Paul writes as applicable to all who serve, in any character and capacity.
* "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye service, as men-pleasers; but as the 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 whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."- Eph. vi. 5-8.

Still the existence of slavery, and its being throughout the Roman Empire to a large extent the normal condition of those who served, must be taken into account as moulding the apostle's affectionate address and appeal to servants. We are safe, at any rate, in considering it as, in the first instance, bearing on the very worst form in which this peculiar relationship of service or servitude can subsist. In that view, there is peculiar emphasis and point in the qualifying clause "according to the flesh." It has a ring in it that must have gone home to the heart of many a poor Christian bond-slave. Be your bondage ever so bitter and severe; let your heathen owner, who has taken you captive by his arms or bought you with his money, be ever so tyrannical and cruel; harassing and persecuting you for your very Christianity; he is your master only "according to the flesh." He may command your outward bodily services. He may enforce his commands by outward bodily torture. But he cannot reach or touch the free spirit within. As to that, you are the Lord's freeman. Bought by him with a price, you will not, you cannot, be the servant of any man. So Paul teaches elsewhere. "For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price: be not ye the servants of men." Not at least otherwise than "according to the flesh." For in that sense, and to that effect, you may be forced to be slaves. You maybe manacled,stripped, and beaten by the man who claims to hold you as his property. But his property in you can only embrace your mortal body. He has no property in your immortal soul. There, one is your master, even Christ. And you in him are free, as he is himself.

But while thus on the one hand recognising by this phrase your spiritual disenthralment and emancipation; that freedom in the spirit which may well reconcile you to any service or servitude according to the flesh; Paul makes this thought the express ground and starting-point of his practical appeal; his exhortation to the discharge of duty. All the more because you are the Lord's freeman in the spirit, you are bound, and are to feel yourself bound, to obey him who is your master according to the flesh. The Lord himself, whose purchased possession you are, puts you upon your honour to himself, and under him, to your master. You are called unto liberty. But use not your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness or insubordination. Eather let your obedience to your earthly master be such as becomes your high calling of him who is your heavenly Lord. In your earthly master, see always your heavenly Lord. Look through the one to the other. Let the obedience be apprehended and felt by you to be rendered, not as to your master according to the flesh, but to him who is the one and only master of your Spirit. Then will it be obedience such as he will acknowledge. It will be obedience like his own, of the same character with his own, and having respect to the same recompense of reward.

I. Let the obedience be considered; of what sort it will be, if it be obedience to your master as unto Christ.
1. It will have in it the element of "fear and trembling" of scrupulous, sensitive conscientiousness. It is a gracious, not a servile, fear and trembling that is meant, having reference not to man, but to the Lord.* In obeying one who is your master according to the flesh, you will have respect to him who is the Lord of your spirit. You will be as anxious, as nervous, about your obedience to your master being all that he is entitled to expect it to be, as you would be if it were the Lord himself personally that you were directly serving. There will be no presumption; no confident boldness; no self-assertion or assertion of right; "no answering again" no "purloining " or depriving your master of what is his due, be it money or time - his money, or your time, which is his; no slackness or sloth; no impatience of the yoke, or evasion of its obligations; but always and throughout all, a deep tremulous feeling of responsibility; such as may make your master see how solicitous you are to "please him well in all things, and show all good fidelity;" fulfilling all his will and doing all your duty.
* The phrase is elsewhere used in that sense ; as in 1 Cor. ii. 3, "I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling;" in 2 Cor. rii. 15, "He " (Titus) " remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him;" and in Phil. ii. 12, " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who wqrketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

2. " Singleness of heart" will characterise your obedience " if it is rendered," as unto Christ; singleness of heart; implying the entire absence of all bye-ends; of all duplicity or double-mindedness; all reserve, or secret disaffection; all keeping of your heart out of the service you perform, the obedience you render. On the contrary, your heart will be in the business, frankly and honestly. "Whatever you do, you will do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." You will do it heartily, cordially, cheerfully. This may often be felt to be a hard thing; a difficult attainment; if your master is not a Christian, or does not act a kind Christian part towards you; if his service is grievous, his demands unreasonable, rudely made and recklessly enforced. It may not be easy for you to keep your temper; to meet the sour or angry look, the passionate speech, the hasty buffet, not only with unruffled calmness, but with a real sense or feeling of continued cordiality, in what you do at your master's
bidding. But do it as not to him but to the Lord. So may you still do it heartily, " with singleness of heart."

3. In obedience thus rendered there can, at all events, be no "eye-service" but, on the contrary, since you obey your master as servants of Christ rather than of him, there will be a doing of the will of God, "from the soul, with good will." For, with the best interpreters, as I think, I connect the phrase "with good will" in the seventh verse, not with what follows but with what goes before. And I put "soul" instead of "heart," at the end of the sixth. It is so in the original; not heart, as in the fifth verse, but soul; from the soul, the inner man; the whole inner man. And I take the clause, thus arranged, to be descriptive not only of your obedience as the servants of Christ, but first rather, in a sense, of Christ's own obedience as servant of the Father, and then of your obedience as servants of him. For, as his servants, he would have you to be one with him in his manner of serving.

What, then, in this view, will be your obedience as his servants ?
(1.) "Eye-service" is excluded. For eye-service is possible only when it is "man that is to be pleased." You serve him when his eye is upon you; or the eye of some one who may report to him your service. When the eye of such vigilance is turned away, you cease to serve him; you serve yourselves. But there can be no eye-service in your obedience when you obey as being heartily and honourably the servants of Christ. For then, not only is his eye ever upon you, precluding the possibility of relaxed watchfulness on his part, and on your part the fearful joy of an unwatched liberty stealthily snatched. But more than that, you are the servants of one who became himself a servant; the servant pre-eminently; the chosen servant of God. Can he own you as his servants, if your manner of serving him is different from his? And what was his manner of serving? Was it eye-service? Far, very far, be the very thought! Was it not "doing the will of God from the soul, with good will"? (2.) It was "doing the will of God;" simply and solely doing the will of God; nothing else; nothing more. Not only was there no eye-service in Christ's obedience; there was in it no will-worship either; no volunteered humility; no offering of any service of his own; of his own choosing or devising. It was simply and merely doing the will of God.

When it is man that is to be pleased, when it is a human master that is to be satisfied, the slave or servant may seek to propitiate him and win his favour by fulsome flattery or humiliating self-abasement; by a great show or pretence of even more deference and attention and submision than is required; by works of supererogation, as it were; by going beyond what is asked; offering proofs and evidences of loyalty, so to speak, at his own hand, so as to make his lord his debtor. All that is quite compatible with eye-service; the two things commonly go together. The servant who in his lord's absence neglects his duty, may try to make up for that neglect by paying extra court and giving extra worship to him when he is present. But it is not compatible with simply doing the will of God. Christ, as a servant, did the will of God. His meat was to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work. As the Father gave him commandment, even so he did. I delight to do thy will, 0 God. Thy law is within my heart. I do nothing of myself. I offer no ultroneous gift or sacrifice. I am thy servant. In service and in sacrifice I do thy will, 0 God.

(3.) He did the will of God from the soul. The motive of his obedience was within, in .himself, in his own inner man, in his own breast, his own bosom. It was the free, spontaneous consent and choice of his own mind and will to do the will of God. His doing the will of God was not extorted by appliances or influences from without; by the force of circumstances; or, as the poet puts the case of Africa's wronged children, "by stripes, which mercy, with a bleeding heart, weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast." He did the will of God voluntarily; out of the great love with which he loved the Father, and his intense inmost desire that, even at the cost of his obedience unto death, his agony, his cross,- his death as bearing human guilt and the hiding of his Father's face,- the will of God should be done.

(4.) Hence he did the will of God "with good will" with a will, as we say. The source and spring of his obedience being in himself, in his soul, it had its outflow in an unbroken stream of complacency, benignity, satisfaction, and joy. It was not reluctantly or with a grudge that he submitted his own will to the will of God. All throughout his hard service, and harder sacrifice, there was equanimity and contentment. He did indeed shrink from suffering and pain. His soul was troubled. It was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He made supplication with strong crying and tears. But he did the will of God; he did it from his whole soul; and never was there anything but good will in his doing it.

Good will! Ah, how pure, how perfect, and how loving! Good will to him whose will, amid groans and agonies and tears, he was doing! Good will to us, whom, by so doing the will of God, he was redeeming and saving! With right good will he did the will of God, even to the last, to the bitter end. With holy, blessed, calm serenity,- speaking peace to the poor penitent beside him,- commending his spirit into his Father's hands,- in yielding up the ghost upon that accursed tree, from his inmost soul, in right good will, he was doing the will of God.

Such was the obedience of Christ as a servant; the servant of God the Father; obedience thus rendered in a position, upon terms, amid surroundings, infinitely more terrible than you can ever have to face. Is it too much to ask of you, when it is as his servants that you are to obey, be the master who he may - himself - his Father in heaven, or those whom he has set over you on earth,- is it too much to ask of you that your obedience should in all cases be such as his?

You have himself and his Father to obey. And the obedience you have to render in that line. Oh! How sweet! Made sweet by his own going before you, and going with you, in it all; the obedience of faith and love. Well may it be, through the Holy Ghost working in you and making you willing in the day of his power, an obedience in spirit like his. No eye-service in it; but a simple doing of the will of God from the soul, with good will, with right good will.

And if on earth you are called to obedience, not so gracious, not so blessed, as that which you owe to Christ and his Father in heaven; his and yours; if you are placed under masters less congenial, less venerable, less amiable; still you may well be expected and required to carry into your earthly service the temper and frame of mind which you now see to be appropriate to that which is heavenly and divine.

For in fact the conditions of all obedience are here laid down; obedience of whatever sort; whether the Son's obedience as a servant to the Father; or your obedience to the Son and in him to the Father; or your obedience to those who are your masters according to the flesh. All acceptable obedience; all obedience worthy of the name; all obedience that is really obedience at all - whoever may be its object- must have in it these principles of, first, antagonism to eye-service; secondly, doing the will of God; thirdly, doing it ex animo, from the soul; and fourthly, doing it with entire and cordial good will.

And if this is felt to be no easy duty, when the characters and caprices of earthly masters are considered, may not the difficulty be met by the closing word, reduplicating upon the opening of the exhortation - "doing service as to the Lord, and not to men" ?

Yes; you are doing it to him, to the Lord Jesus; who presents himself to you as if in front of your master. It is with me that you have to deal, and not with him - for it is with me that he is dealing, and not with you. His reproaches of you fall on me, not on you. His strokes under which you groan touch me and not you. I am between him and you; verily between him and you. No tyranny, no oppression of his, can reach you otherwise than through me. I arrest his uplifted arm. I receive in my bosom his envenomed dart. Only through me, stripping it of all its venom, can it come near to you. May I not ask, in return, that you shall deal with him through me; that you shall allow no thought or feeling or affection to go forth towards him except through me! It is against me that the dart of your impatience or indignation must be held to be turned; for however hard and severe the service may be, it is to me and not to him that you are to regard yourselves as rendering it.

Brethren, how is service ennobled,- how is the position of a servant in its very worst form, the most painful and degrading, raised, elevated, sanctified, glorified, when it is lifted up out of the region of earthly and carnal relationships, and finds its place among relationships that are spiritual and heavenly! Christ put honour upon it, and freedom into it, when he "learned obedience by the things which he suffered." And that honour, that freedom, it retains, when you obey whatever master you are under, as Christ's servants; doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.
II. Look now at the recompense of the reward, as corresponding to the obedience required, and as largely affecting or determining its character. "Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."

It is assumed, as it would seem, that a servant serves for hire; under the condition, expressly stipulated or virtually implied, of his receiving an adequate and suitable return for his service. That is the fair rule or law of the relationship in question, when rightly understood and equitably constituted. It is indeed of its very essence. I am not a servant unless I consent to serve for hire. "He that reapeth receiveth wages." I am not really a servant if I affect to reap or serve gratuitously. For not only is the receiving of wages, or my looking for a recompense of reward an animating, stimulating and encouraging motive. It is humbling also. It keeps me in my right place. It wakes the right sense of accountability to him who dispenses the prize.

But what if I am a bond-slave? I have no wages for my service, no recompense, no reward. I belong absolutely and unconditionally to my master; and all that I have, all my powers and faculties, and all the work of them - all is his. He does not need to buy them or pay for them.

Ah, then, if I am to be a true servant, I must look for my paymaster elsewhere. I must look to him in whom there is neither bond nor free, but all are one. I may not take credit for serving my earthly owner without fee or bounty, unless stripes may be so viewed. I may not be puffed up with pride, or make a merit of it, as if I were supremely generous and magnanimous in serving my master for nought but "these bonds." But I cannot escape the position of a hired servant. Only it is the Lord who hires me. I serve the Lord Christ, I serve him for such wages, for such recompense, as he has in store for all alike, whether bond or free. I cannot decline his pay, although my master pays me not. I cannot ask extra pay, because my master pays me not. I must consent to work for the Lord's pay, on the same footing with all other servants of the Lord.

And these other servants must work for the Lord's pay on the same footing with that poor slave. I, as one of them, may have a master who pays me well; giving me good wages, and amply requiting all my service. His partial fondness may make me almost feel as if I were altogether free; my own master, rather than his servant. Or, on the contrary, he may be one who, though I am not his slave, would fain treat me, and as far as he can. does treat me, as if I were his slave. The one rewards liberally all my service. With niggard hand the other pays, or with feigned lips promises to pay, the stipulated stipend. It is neither the bountiful man nor the churl whom I really serve for hire, but the Lord Christ. To the bountiful man and the churl alike I render equal obedience; as I would render the same equal obedience to one who owned me as his slave. Tor I do service to the Lord, and not to men; "knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth"- whatsoever good service he renders - to any master, in any sphere or relation, "the same shall he receive"- not from the master, who may judge partially and act capriciously, but from the Lord, with whom there is no respect of persons; of whom ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, whether ye be bond or free.

For ye serve the Lord Christ, who, at his coming, will judge righteously." If the master whom you are called to obey now, on the earth, does justice to you and deals with you indulgently, let not that be accepted as your recompense; far less let it be held to give you irresponsible liberty and license. You have still to abide the Lord's searching scrutiny, and await the Lord's impartial verdict and award. If, on the other hand, your master does you wrong, he "shall receive for the wrong which he has done." You need not resent the wrong, or make it a reason or apology for refusing him, or grudging him, the obedience which you owe. Leave him in the Lord's hands; and as yourselves serving not him but the Lord, with whom is no respect of persons, serve as "knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."

And now, in closing, let me first ask you again to consider the obedience of Christ as a servant; remembering always on whose account and for what purpose he became a servant that he might render it. Yes; look to Jesus serving for his hire! The hire for which he stipulated in the everlasting covenant; the redemption of the people given to him by the Father; of the countless multitude out of every kindred, and people, and nation, and tongue, in whom he is to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied ; who are to be with him where he is, to see his glory, and share with him in his inheritance of all things! For that joy set before him, he obeyed even to the enduring of the cross. In life and in death; actively and passively; ministering and giving himself a ransom for many; he did the will of God. "By the which will ye are sanctified," cleansed from guilt, and from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, that ye may "perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord." See to it then that you are making this obedience of Christ your own; taking it to be your own. Yours it is, if you will but have it to be yours; yours by the free gift of the Father; yours through the operation of the blessed Spirit, making you willing to embrace him whose obedience it is, as he is freely offered to you in the gospel. Oh! Let this obedient servant and Son of the Father take you to be his brethren, and make you partakers of all his own worthiness as the Lamb that was slain, causing you to enter now into all the perfection of his finished righteousness and atonement, and so into his joy at last.

But, secondly, see that you enter into the spirit of this model servant's obedience as well as into its meritorious efficacy, as available for you, and its gracious recompense of reward. It is your only ground of faith and warrant of hope. But "let the same mind be in you which was also in him, when he took upon him the form of a servant, and as a servant became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Humble yourselves in and with him. Learn of him the lesson of meekness and lowliness of heart, his own meekness, his own lowliness of heart. Learn to be as a servant like-minded with him ; serving the Lord, and in the Lord serving one another, and all men."

Then, thirdly, whomsoever you serve, in whatever capacity and on whatever occasion, to whomsoever you minister, be it to a weary disciple, giving him a cup of cold water, washing his feet; or to Lazarus at the rich man's gate; or, like the good Samaritan, to the stripped and wounded traveller, or, it may be, to one who is your master according to the flesh;- your service, your ministry, will be of the same sort, Christ-like always, equally Christ-like in every case. No eye-service, seeking to please, by a show of regard, him whom you are willing to benefit perhaps, but do not care to love; eye-service with a view to man's approval and applause. No assumption of merit; no air of self-consciousness, as if you were doing some great thing. No. You obey and serve and minister, simply as doing the will of God; thinking little, or not at all, of the good office you are performing, or the duty you are discharging; but merely doing the will of God ; doing it, however, from your whole soul, and with thorough earnestness and hearty good will; doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.

For this, fourthly and finally, is the great secret of right obedience and right service, in every sphere of life. "Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that it is of the Lord that ye are to receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." Serving him and seeking to please him, you may pay little regard to the favour or displeasure of men; their smiles or their frowns. It is a small matter to be judged by man's judgment. To your own Master you stand or fall. Yea, you shall be holden up, for God is able to make you stand.
Go To Chapter Twenty-Four
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