We have been looking over the past few weeks at how were are called as Christians to treat different types of people. The call that each of us have as Christians is one that impacts every aspect of our lives, especially how we act. One of the major messages of this book is our faith in Christ changes not only who we are as people, but how we relate to one another. The way that we order our lives, our homes and our churches reflects to the world around us the nature of God.
So, before we begin, let me ask you a question that I don’t want you to respond to right away. Here it is: Is there anything in your life more important than your personal freedom? If there is, what is it? If there isn’t, where in the Bible do you find that?

I think you may be suspecting already that I don’t believe that the Bible teaches that our personal freedom is the most important aspect of our lives. In fact, what what I want to argue for is the fact that the type of freedom that is most valuable to the Lord is the freedom to lay down our lives. And that one thing more important than our personal freedom is the Glory of God.
Let’s read the text and them get into this a bit.

Bondservants: First off, I want to give a couple of words about this word “slave”… there are a lot of people right now who try to discredit the Bible by saying that the Bible condoned slavery so we should throw it out. And the truth is that people did use scripture to justify the incredibly awful things that were done to African slaves in America. I want you to know that what they did was wrong, and not in line in any way with the teachings of scripture. Those people used the Bible as a weapon of oppression, when it is meant to be a tool of change.

“All Honor”: If you are paying attention and think the way I do, you have seen that there is a progression from “honor” to “double honor” to “All Honor”

So that the name of God would not be reviled.

What does this mean for us?

It means working hard at whatever job you have to bless your employer.
-dying to an attitude that is self focussed…
-Seeing the role you have as ministry…