First Timothy lesson 31 cont
1 Timothy · Mike Doyle · Oct 26, 2025
1 Timothy, No. 89
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261941191570

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so I'm looking over my notes. Yeah, Donna, you weren't here, but I noticed with my notes that I have page one, page three. What happened to two? Oh, it's over here. So last week, We were going through verses, or going through questions that probably I had scheduled for this week, but you know what? I think I can recover. And here's how we're gonna do it. We're gonna work on verse two, but before we do that, One of the questions that we were talking about last week at the end, how difficult would it be for a slave, after becoming a believer, to rethink his role as a slave? And then question nine was, why are they to do this?

Remember the answer for that question? And the answer I had comes, Did I, and I read, I read last week, 1 Peter 2, 18 through 25. Did I read that? What's that? So I'm going to read it because it helps us understand. 1 Peter 2, 18 through 25. And it's pretty long, but it helps understand this passage.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor if, for the sake of conscience towards God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience, question mark. But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow him in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin. That's what we're gonna talk about the next hour. and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed, and you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls."

So I think that that really does answer the question of why would you do that? You know? What I've discovered in studying these last couple of weeks for the Roman six study that we're doing, there's a lot of times my brain says, well, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Why did Paul say this? Why, why, why?

And it all centers in who the Lord Jesus is. It centers in Him. Why did He do what He did? Why did He die for me? Why did He? He loved me. Why did He, what was the next reason that He died for me? Because the Father wanted Him to. And like we were studying on Tuesday, The Lord Jesus tells the disciples, or tells the woman at the well and his disciples, it is my food to do the will of my Father. While they're all worried about whether he's had a hamburger or not, he says, I have food that you don't know anything about, and that food is to do the will of my Father. So here we are as believers, Saved by his grace and what he did, he indwelt with the Spirit of God and the life of the resurrected Christ.

Why can't I have the same attitude? You do. Yeah, I do. I should have. I won't have it if nobody tells me about it or I don't read about it. which that's the thing about Romans 6 that's so important. Nobody knows about Romans. Well, very few Christians know what Romans 6 is really saying. And so when you see it, you think, oh, that's, you did all that? You did a lot more than just save me. And so Paul is writing to Timothy and giving him behavior patterns based on the resurrected life of Christ.

See that? It's nothing unusual. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if I have, if I've been saved and I've been given the life I don't get the mystery that I can't live like that. I've been involved by the Holy Spirit. Can I willingly do that? Sure I can. Sure I can. Now I'm not saying by Thursday you'll have it figured out. You won't. But the point is, is that I believe that I can.

I think people study Romans six and don't believe what they're studying. They can mouth it and talk about it and have buzzwords about it, but they don't own it. And so. Well, you know, some people try to crucify themselves. Yes, they do. Because they don't understand the verses. Yeah. Some of you have to do it. It's already been done. Yeah. So let's.

So would you say attitude is everything? No, faith is everything. What? Faith is everything. God said it. It's good enough for me. I don't know. Yeah. That's it. That attitude. Yeah. That's okay. Yeah. So with that in place, let's start with question nine.

Why would they do this? Why would they do it? Now, if you look at verse two, of 1 Timothy. Verse two says, those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more. Here's the reason. The reason, because those who partake of the benefits are believers and beloved. teach and preach these principles. So, First Timothy chapter six, verse two.

Sure. Well, and it isn't so much that somebody gave a list of do's and don'ts to the slave and then gave another list of do's and don'ts to the master. It all has, one of the things we'll talk about this morning is the verse that says that I've been risen with Christ so I might walk in newness of life. It isn't the walk that's being talked about there. It's the life. A life, I'll give you an example.

Our neighbor is having their They're moving out of their house for two months. They're going to rip out the kitchen, the living room, and redo it all. And they're living in a VRBO. And they brought us two houseplants to take care of while they're gone. So what do we do? Well, so I said, what do we do? And they said, water it once a week.

That's the life of the plant. Give it sun or don't give it sun. That's the life of the plant. It's the same way with Christian life. What do you do? What don't you do as a person who has the resurrected life of Christ? There's a certain principles in play that are commensurate and lined up with that life.

So, and with the topic of slaves and masters, the worldly position that you occupy does not change what Peter, or what Paul is telling Timothy, this is how you live. It doesn't matter what you do on the earth. I mean, you can be, all of you have had some sort of occupation in your life or you've had a role as a mom or a wife or a husband, you know, whatever it is. All of that doesn't change the life you have. You don't modify the life of Christ to fit your lifestyle.

It's the other way around. So that's why, that's really why I asked the question, because why are they to do this? Because it honors God. Simple, okay? Now, how does the word, question 10, how does the word benefit play out here? Believers or masters must be, and not be disrespected to them because they are brethren and must serve them all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. What does the word benefit have to do with here? Maybe a better question is, is there a benefit?

Is there one? This Greek word is, E-U-E-R-G-E-S-I-A. And here it's in a non-religious significance. Okay. I think it's showing a principle of order. Well, let's see if I can make it simple. I'll pick on Kathy. Kathy's gonna go have an MRI and a colonoscopy.

Is there a benefit in that? Yeah, the benefit is the surgeon can figure out exactly. So she's gonna have the surgery. Is there a benefit in that? Yeah, so she can get well. You all came to this class. Is there a benefit in coming to this class? Yes. Good, I'm glad you said yes.

And when you think about it, lots of what we do The motivation is because there's a benefit. So what Paul is telling Timothy, hey, there's a benefit. What's the benefit? I think the benefit is just one, glorifying God, both of you, and then a peaceful relationship.

Yeah, it's a pretty, yeah. There's no contention, there's no louting over, there's no nothing, it would be a love relationship. Yeah. Because they have the center is Christ between the two, the master and the slave. Yeah. Which gives a peaceful relationship. Yeah. As versus a contentious one.

Is that a benefit? You better believe it's a benefit. And it's a witness too. Yeah, it's a total, I mean, the benefit's amazing. Does that make sense? I mean, when you look around at all the stuff that goes on in your life and the reason you do things, you're always looking for a benefit. Why am I going to do this? Because it's beneficial to me.

Not selfishly, not egocentrically, but whenever it comes to human relations, here's a good example. He's already talked about this. in a church environment, you have elders and you have people. Is there benefits in that for the people? What's the benefit to the people? They learn from the elders. They what? They learn from the elders. They learn from, is there a benefit to the elders? Absolutely there is. Because what you find out is, is that really an elder's job is to serve. That's really what his job is.

And so when he says in this verse, teach and preach these principles, what's he talking about? I'm teaching you how to serve, whether you're a sheep or a shepherd, whether you're a slave master or a slave, whether you're a boss or an employee. I'm teaching you how to serve because really we serve the Lord Jesus Christ eternally. And I know sometimes you think, oh boy, but trust me, there's coming a day, I shouldn't say it that way, there's coming eternity in which your attitude will be, you can't wait to serve. You always will be focused on serving. because of the benefits that are there. What's the benefits? The Son of God loves you, that God loves you. So it's the revelation of Christ.

Yeah, it is. And the glory that is going to be true of us, you figure out, I didn't learn any of this yet. I just think one of the things, too, is God is a God of order, and all of this is about setting up order within the church with elders, and how we're to function here. So it's orderly. So it's honoring to God. People grow. That's what he's laying out there.

I think that's part of who he is, a God of order. And if this relationship is set up that way, it's orderly, it's proper, it's honoring to God, it's all of the things he desires. What I love about God's order is the fact that he says, I've instituted this new principle, it's called grace.

I'm the doer, you're the receiver. Lots of order in that. Your job is just to receive it. And believe me, just trust me. That's your order. His order is to do it all, which he does. To growing grace. That's right. You got to learn grace. You don't come with any understanding of what grace really is, I think, as a believer. Okay, so question 11. I made a typo, do you see it? Yeah, what did it solve? I meant slave, a little dyslexia going on there.

Describe the difference between a slave master in the Old Testament and a slave master in the New Testament. 6.1 told us, let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against. Is that different than what it would have been under the Old? On the Old Testament, the slave masters were more of Owners.

They own the people. They're going to do as they want to. In the New Testament, it's more of they're a servant. They're not a slave. I think the difference is the foundation in what Christ has revealed to us, the work of the cross and the resurrection, that there's a difference. Let's look at a couple of verses.

First verse is Exodus 21.2. And this obviously is not just a world, this is under the Jewish economy.

Exodus 21.2. If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, but under seven, He shall leave as a free man without a payment to you. That's different. Now, go over to Exodus 21, 26. And if someone strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free on account of the eye. Isn't that interesting?

You wouldn't have thought that that's the way under the Mosaic system, that that's the way it functioned. So if your slave master took your eye out, you had to let him go. If he was your slave for six years, after six years, you let him go. Now it doesn't mean you couldn't turn around and hire him back for another six years, but he was a slave. In other words, The choice went from the slave master to the slave. See that? Now, what's the difference between that and New Testament slavery? Because the six-year thing is out, the I thing is out, what's the difference?

All right, 6.1, Timothy, 1 Timothy, but all who are under the yoke of slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the doctrine may not be spoken against. So this has anything to do with, like you were saying, Mike, it has everything to do with attitude.

How am I to treat the master? How is the master to treat me? As if assuming we're both believers. I'm not to be slack. I'm not to cut corners as a slave. I'm supposed to do my job heartily and worthily as the slave master would have me. But there's a different relationship now between the slave master and the slave.

The more you know your relationship with Christ, the more He is revealed to you. You can share that with others. Well, let me make it a little bit more difficult. Let's say that the Lord has you in a position where you're working for somebody who's really not pleasant to work for.

I've been there. Well, you're the only one in the room, I'm sure. Probably. What do you do about that as a believer? I just keep my mouth shut and follow orders. So if you get a chance to find another job, do you do that? Not necessarily, because right where I'm at, I may be a witness of Christ to my slave master. Sure, or your employer. How do you treat the person personally? your boss. Well, this says I'm supposed to, even if he isn't a believer, I'm supposed to treat him with that worthy of all honor. No matter what.

There are guys I've known, one of the big home builders in town, there was a guy that was one of the owners of it, and he was known as probably the worst boss in Denver. And anybody that worked for him, they would complain because he was awful. He was a new home builder. He would come around to the sales offices on the weekend, and he would deride the salesmen if they haven't written enough contracts, or they didn't look nice or something. He's always making them feel like they were second-class citizens.

So if you're a believer, how do you deal with that? You show him honor. I told the guy one time, I saw him, and he said, why don't you come to work for me? I said, I know your reputation. There's no way I'm coming to work for you. You know? Yeah, don't put yourself under pressure. Well, maybe. I mean, maybe the Lord puts you there. Can I read you a slip note? Please.

It says, slaves are to work wholeheartedly unto the Lord, whether their masters are checking on them or not. Detestable as slavery was, the New Testament does not promote or sanction revolted slaves. And then so many would perhaps have thought could it anti-slavery cause and not the Christ. Sure, sure. I think one of the greatest, and I don't know, I can't remember where it is, but Paul talks about don't give your boss eye service.

Means that when he's around you're, you know, you're huffing and puffing and acting. But when he's gone, you're not doing anything. And I mean, everybody has seen that in their work environment. I was talking to Calvin a week ago about basketball, high school basketball coaches. I said, you know, he doesn't wanna get back into it because it takes too much of his time and energy. I said, are all coaches like that? He said, no, no, there's only a few. He said, most of them take the coaching job because it gives them a little bit more money and they don't, train the guys, they have practice, and they run around, shoot the ball, and he said, their dreams are terrible.

He said, I can't live like that. If I get the job, I'm going to do the job. I think that's one of the biggest problems in our society today. If you're not a believer, why are you working? To feed yourself, feed your family, And lots and lots of, or a lot more people than when I was younger, don't have what we call a work ethic. They don't have it, you know? So, okay. So the difference, I'll read some of my notes. The responsibility of slaves with underbelieving. So I read that. Slave master's relationship, we read that.

So if a master maimed a servant and set free, So our modern frame of reference for slavery is also inadequate. There is nothing in American history or culture that approximates slavery in the Greek Roman world. The whole thing about the slaves in the United States is nothing like what was in the Greek Roman world. Slaves couldn't get free, they were abused, you know, so.

Here's the other thing. Slavery was universally practiced and approved in ancient nations by both philosophy and law. The slave we've spoken of here in 1 Timothy 6 was very oppressive as shown by the expression under a yoke, meaning a slave was hardly distinguished from an ox.

Yeah. So, last question. We're gonna probably do it. Discuss the phrase, teach and preach these principles. So first of all, we've got two groups of people. We've got slave owners, bosses, CEOs, whatever, on one hand. The other hand, you've got slaves, employees, Privates, corporals, sergeants, staff sergeants, lieutenants, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captains.

You got that whole chain of command. So what's the phrase, teach and preach these principles? That mean you go around with a syllabus in your pocket and you let everybody know where you stand, or do you perform what you believe in without having to preach to anybody? Preach here doesn't mean get in somebody's face about it. No, no, it means getting in there and doing the work that's required.

One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time is everybody here, most everybody here knows Matt Malloy. General Matt Malloy. His first job where he was a commander of a base was the base in Japan, a joint forces base there. He had, I don't know, 25,000 people under his command.

And every week, you know, there are guys leaving and new people showing up. So he would have a video conference once a week. and he would get in front of all the new people and he would outline his principles. This is what I think. And about the middle of it, he would say, and I live and function based on Christian principles. He would tell them that. So, you know, I expect you to live that same way.

Pretty cool, huh? I'm surprised they didn't throw him out of the Air Force for doing that. Yeah, you don't mix Christianity with military. Well, he did. He did. What are they going to do to him? He does his job. Yeah, I mean, wherever that guy went, he did a great job. He's required to set the example any which way. That's exactly right. The greatest story will end with this.

The greatest story that I've heard about him, you guys all know Lindy. Lindy's his mom. So Lindy went to Japan and spent like three weeks over there with Matt and Katie and the kids and stuff. And so when she was gonna fly back to the United States, Matt dropped her off at the airport And so she goes in there, and she's looking at the billboards.

And this young boy comes up to her, a young man comes up to her and says, can I help you? She said, well, I'm trying to figure out what flight I'm on. I'm going to Los Angeles or San Francisco. And he said, well, how about this flight right here? And she said, yeah, I think that's it. He said, well, that's the flight I'm on.

I'll walk into your gate. So they walk out of the gate and they're chatting back and forth. And the guy says to her, what are you in Japan for? And she said, well, I was visiting my son. And this guy said, well, what does he do? Oh, he's in the Air Force and the Air Force Base. He said, well, I'm in the Air Force and the Air Force Base. And I'm furloughing or getting transferred back to the States. What's his name? Maybe I know him. He said, Matt Malloy? This kid went, General Malloy? He said, yeah, that's him.

I mean, that's a great story about how someone is treated with respect. Lindy treated this young man with respect. And of course, if you know Lindy, You can be president of the world and you're just another person to her. Okay, I'll have a new class out for next week. Go ahead. I think this is a summary. Teach and preach these principles. It isn't just this. I think it's everything that he's done in the last chapter. It's widows, all of these things, and elders. I agree. This is not just about slaves. This is about elders, about widows, about all the things he's talked about.

Teach and preach these principles. You're right. And what's the best teaching method there is? example. The old saying, we all got to serve something. Well, there's a song, it's Bruce Carroll's song, I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. That's right.

And you know, whether you like it or not, no matter where you are, somebody's watching you. The neighbor in the apartment next to you, the apartment across the hall, the neighbor across the street, where you work, they're watching you. We all watch each other. Why would you be paranoid if you're walking with the Lord? You wouldn't be. You're just living your life. You're just living.

We've got to talk later. I was hoping the people watching me while I was running around screaming this morning. I hope they were watching me. Yeah, when I'm sneaking out the back door with my pellet rifle shooting. I'm hoping nobody's watching. Are you doing that? No, no, I'm not. I'm just looking for him. All right, let's close.

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. And we thank you for the life that you have put into us, which is your son, the Lord Jesus, and that we might, through your energy and your spirit, we might walk in that life continually. Thank you, we pray in your son's name. Amen.