1 Timothy 6

There is a way of peacefully and submissively living within the authority structures of this world for the sake of Christ, that honors the Word of the Lord. The teaching of the message of Jesus Christ is of paramount importance to the Lord's work in this present age. The Lord does not want us to live in a way that provokes others to revile the truth. Our desire is that all people everywhere would love the truth, and this is to be so characteristic of the church that we are even willing to suffer hardship in order to avoid bringing disgrace upon the name of Jesus by our insubordinate behavior.

There are limits to what we are allowed to do in the name of submission. We cannot violate the commandments of the Lord in order to submit to some lesser authority. Yet in the ancient world where the relationships of slave and master were as legally acceptable as that of employee and employee today, Christians were advised to be very good slaves for the cause of Christ. They were to honor God by the way they obeyed their masters. Even believers were allowed to have slaves, and those slaves were to live within the legal guidelines of that arrangement as a way of honoring the Lord. In fact, Christian slaves were to go beyond the law, living as exemplary servants, and not presuming to take advantage of Christian masters.

This passage is not God's endorsement of the buying and selling of slaves, the breakup of families that comes through treating people as property that could be transferred according to the will of owners, or any of the other horrors of the institution of slavery. Nor can we assume that God approves of all of the conduct of corporations, government agencies, or any of the other institutions that make up our societies today. As we live in the Babylon of this world waiting eagerly for the revealing of the heavenly Jerusalem, we do our best to live at peace here within the station where we find ourselves. Our own political rights are not insignificant, but they are not the source of our hope.

The concern for the primacy of the Lord's teaching and the progress of His kingdom that would allow a man to devote himself to being an exemplary slave, finds another expression when the church diligent to protect her members from false teachers. Those who see Christianity as a vehicle for social revolution may be bringing a very different message than that preached by the apostle Paul. This promotion of contention within social relations will not produce the kind of spiritual growth that the Lord requires.

Those who focus on the kingdom of God as the answer for the curing of every social ill in this world of trouble may be missing the mark. Much better to have a church filled with slaves who are committed to godliness with contentment, which is great gain, rather than to fill the church with people of great success who see their main task in life to be the political and social reformation of the world. Such a goal will not unite the church in Christ, but will lead to much worldliness, dissatisfaction, and unnecessary contention.

So often these kinds of take-back-the-world agendas devolve into something crass and ugly – the love of money, celebrity, or some other desire for amazing success. These are not consistent with the pursuit of godliness. We know that these kinds of unbridled desires can lead to resentment and insubordination. The love of money all by itself is the root of all kinds of evil. That kind of life is a trap. The craving for the approval of men that comes with celebrity and for financial success has led man people into paths that lead them away from Jesus, and bring so many people into horrible disgrace and ruin.

This way of life is not the story of the cross, and it cannot be the story of the church, despite the fact that it is often precisely what many people searching for a church of success in a world of celebrity are looking for. Our fight of faith must take us in a very different direction than this. If we are to follow Jesus, we must remember that his plan was not to win over Pontius Pilate and transform Judea as God did his work through the money and power of the world. Our Savior quietly confessed His reign as King before Pontius Pilate. This was real power. How impossible Jesus' claims must have seemed! Yet the power of Christ keeping the commandment of God is remembered to this day. No one is seeking any favors from Pontius Pilate at this late date.

It is Christ the King who will appear again with the greatest power and splendor. He is able to accomplish what the rich cannot do with their wealth. He alone has immortality in His hands. This Word that teaches of Christ and His heaven is the good deposit with which the church has been entrusted. Because Christians have come to believe this message, some have been willing even to live as slaves in this life, knowing that their freedom is safe in Christ for all eternity. To live for our great King and His heavenly kingdom is worth our generous sacrifice. It is the privilege of the Lord's church to stay true to the faith that we have been given, holding firmly to the grace that is ours in Jesus Christ, a grace that has come to us not through the power and riches of men, but through the weakness and poverty of Christ.