Ephesians 6 (part 1)

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

3 views

0 comments

Wrong Views On The Sovereignty Of God (part 2)

00:01
Every Christian thinks that obedience is important. You can be a fundamentalist, you can be a charismatic, you can be
00:09
Presbyterian, a Baptist, and you understand that obedience is important. Faithfulness, being faithful, living a holy life.
00:18
We all agree on that. But the real question that we have this morning is, why do we obey?
00:24
In what context do we obey? What's your motivation to obey God as a
00:29
Christian? In other words, how do we walk in a manner worthy of our calling? What motivates a
00:36
Christian life? Does grace motivate? Does grace sustain? What animates obedience?
00:42
Why should a Christian obey? Why should you, dear Christian, obey? Well, if you'll take your Bibles and turn to the last chapter of Ephesians, we're going to not only ask that question, but answer it.
00:54
And I want to especially draw your attention to verse 22 before we get to the first part of the chapter.
01:01
Ephesians chapter six, verse 22. If we want to read the book in a kind of a backward fashion, it's very fascinating to me that Paul says, sometimes we think it's almost a throwaway line.
01:12
It's his kind of final greetings to the church. He says in Ephesians 6 .22, I've sent him, that is
01:18
Tychicus, to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, an update on Paul and his comrades, and that he,
01:27
Tychicus, may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the
01:34
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
01:43
You see what Paul's doing there? He said, one of the reasons why I'm writing this letter is so that you would be encouraged. And if you read the book of Ephesians in light of that, how are
01:51
Christians to obey? How are we to respond to God's grace? And the answer is through thankfulness, because God is encouraging us.
01:59
You've heard me tell the story in the past about Lutheran, his famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God.
02:05
Do you remember the line? We tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, speaking of Satan, for lo, his doom is sure.
02:13
What's the next line? One little word shall fell him. And so I'd ask you the question, what's the little word?
02:20
What's the word that would get rid of Satan's accusations? People in the very, very back are raising their hands.
02:27
They know what that word would be. Listen to what Luther says, while commenting on Galatians 4.
02:33
This is but a little word, and yet notwithstanding, it comprehends all things. Although I'm oppressed with anguish and terror on every side and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from your presence, yet I am your child and you are my father for Christ's sake.
02:50
I am beloved because of the beloved. Wherefore, this little word, father, conceived affectionately in the heart, passes all the eloquence of Cicero.
03:04
And that's exactly right from Galatians chapter four. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying what?
03:11
Abba, father. I mean, Luther was onto something. He knew that it's sometimes difficult for us knowing our sins to rightly understand
03:22
God the Father. He said, to doubt the goodwill of God is an inborn suspicion of God with us all.
03:28
Besides the devil, our adversary goes about roaring God's angry with you. He's going to destroy you forever.
03:35
In all these difficulties, Luther said, we have only but one support, the gospel of Christ. To hold onto it, that is the trick.
03:44
Christ cannot be perceived with the senses. We cannot see him. The heart does not feel his helpful presence.
03:50
And especially in times of trials, a Christian feels the power of sin, the goading darts of the devil.
03:56
The law scold us, sin screams at us, death thunders at us, the devil roars at us. And in the midst of the clamor, the spirit of God cries in our heart,
04:04
Abba. And if you wanted to sum up all of Ephesians, it would be simply this.
04:13
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
04:23
That's what's supposed to motivate us. We come to the section in chapter six, there's law there, there are commands, there are imperatives.
04:29
There are imperatives for children, there are imperatives for fathers, there are imperatives for slaves and for masters.
04:35
How do we obey? Because if we don't, God will be mad at us. How do we obey, dear Christian?
04:40
Because out of fear and terror, God might condemn us. Why do we obey? Because of a healthy, cringing fear of God?
04:48
No, no, no. It's all because of the grace of God and who He is and how He loves us. That will spur on not a grudging obedience, but a thankful obedience.
04:57
It's not going to be like the prodigal son, lo, I've slaved for you many years. And if I summarize chapter one of Ephesians, Richard Sibbes said,
05:07
Christ does not choose you because you're good, but to make you good. How would you respond to that? Chapter two, there's more mercy in Christ than sin is in us.
05:17
How do we respond to that? I mean, really, the key point before we just dive down into Ephesians 6 is this, it's the love of Christ that compels us.
05:28
Lloyd -Jones says, the secret the early Christians knew is that they were taught about the love of Christ. Once a man has the love of Christ in his heart, you need not train him to witness, he will do it.
05:38
The man who knows the love of Christ in his heart can do more in one hour than the busy type of man could do in a century.
05:44
Let us realize that the motive must come first and that the motive must ever be the love of Christ.
05:50
And so dear Christian, today I'm giving you these laws and commands to fathers, to children, to workers, to business people in the context of who
05:59
God is and what he's done. So let's look at chapter six, verses one through nine.
06:05
And there are four simple sections, children, fathers, workers, bosses. And this is going to be how do we respond to the grace of God, a
06:13
God who loves us and gave his son for us. What do we do? What's best for us? What's best for other people?
06:18
What glorifies God the most? And how can we obey because he loves us and we want to respond with gratitude.
06:25
Section number one, children, verses one, two, and three. We have any children here in the congregation?
06:32
Well, yeah, there's a lot. Every one of you is a child, I know. But smaller children, I'm gonna be talking to you right now.
06:38
So let's listen to what God says to you children. Children, obey your parents in the
06:43
Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with the promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
06:54
And before we look at the passage closer, isn't it fascinating that Paul addresses children? He's expecting children to be in the congregation.
07:02
Parents, train your children so as soon as they can, they can sit with you to listen to the word of God, be proclaimed that they might be saved, that they might learn.
07:11
And if they are Christians, that they might understand the Bible better. I mean, you can just see what has happened in time past.
07:17
You put them in kind of a junior high church because they can't sit through the sermon, right? It's 45 minutes of some guy preaching away.
07:25
So they give rock music and dumbed down messages. Then when they get into high school, don't go to the sanctuary. We're gonna even have louder rock music and even more dumbed down messages.
07:33
And then you go to the college group and it keeps going. And by the way, then when they're adults, what do you think they want from the pulpit then?
07:41
No, for Paul, he knew they were there, right there. By the way, children in those days had zero worth.
07:48
They weren't second -class citizens. They weren't citizens at all. And Paul addresses them because the gospel has done something for us and we wanna respond to what
07:56
God has done. He elevates the children. I mean, this is a lot different than you have a baby, you put it at the dad's feet, and if he picks it up, you keep it.
08:06
And if he doesn't, you leave it to die. No, no, Paul addresses the children. Of course, even our Lord Jesus, when the disciples rebuked him, remember when they were rebuking
08:15
Jesus because of the children, he might come up and talk to the children, they might come and talk to him. Jesus said, let the children alone.
08:23
Do not hinder them from coming to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. So children, there's an action and there's an attitude.
08:32
The action is obey. Do you see the passage? Children, obey your parents.
08:38
You're responsible to obey your parents, children. And it means to hear under.
08:44
We have the word acoustic and it means to hear, it's derived from hear. This means to hear under. It doesn't mean to let it go in one ear and out the other.
08:52
It means to listen and hear so that you might understand and obey. Paul is quoting the fifth commandment.
09:00
And he says, I want you to make sure you obey your parents. And it wouldn't take you very long, dear children, to realize that Jesus, he obeyed his mother, did he not?
09:10
He obeyed his stepfather. Children shouldn't do less than the
09:15
Lord Jesus did when he was a child. When I was a little younger man,
09:22
I would take my children up to a school up in Lunenburg. And I thought, you know what?
09:28
We're gonna have a little test here. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. And so I would drive past a little church and it was called,
09:34
I think Our Lady of the Lake. And you know, all lakes need protection. And so Our Lady of the Lake was there.
09:40
So I thought, all right, we pulled up. I was in my windbag, I mean, my windstar. And we pulled up and I said, and we had other people's children from the church here in the van too.
09:50
Those people don't attend anymore and you'll find out why in just a second. And I said, okay, everybody out of the car.
09:57
Okay, dad, get out of the car. It's like, it's not school, but out of the car. And so there's little statues, you know,
10:03
Jesus and Joseph. Then there's a big statue over here of Mary. And I said, kids, super simple. So we should run over to Mary, get down on one knee.
10:10
And instead of singing, he is exalted, the king is exalted on high and I will praise him. Just switch it to she.
10:17
She is exalted, the queen is exalted and I will praise her name. And they looked at me like, dad, you are totally a loon.
10:25
And I said, children, obey your parents. And the one of them said, in the
10:31
Lord for this is right. I said, good job, get in the car. Wives, chapter five, verse 22, as to the
10:43
Lord. Slaves, as to the Lord. There's a time to disobey your parents, but only when they're going to ask you to sin.
10:51
In all other times, you children are to obey your parents. Colossians three, children, be obedient to your parents in all things.
11:01
And children, you're gonna hear the TV or you're gonna go to school and they're gonna say, do you know what, your parents don't control you and freedom is not for you.
11:08
Freedom that you have, no one has authority over you. That's not what you're to do.
11:14
You're to obey, not to rebel. Did you know in the end times, you can know it's close to the end for the
11:21
Lord Jesus to come back when second Timothy three says, people will be disobedient to their parents.
11:28
Children, God has put this together in the context of love. He knows while though you might be smart children, you're not as smart as you think you are.
11:36
You're immature and you're not wise yet because you just can't be wise. Did you know children that God planted a special love in your parents for you?
11:47
There's just something about it. You have those babies and you think, I've never loved any person as much as I've loved this child.
11:53
That's how God has ordained it for you children to kick against the authority of your parents is disobedience to the creator.
12:03
And we as Westerners could learn a thing or two from our Eastern friends in the Middle East and in Asia, where the culture of obedience and honor and reverence that people have for their parents is great.
12:18
That's what God is after here. And if they're not godly, you still obey them.
12:23
When you disagree, you still obey them. Only when they ask you to sin, do you disobey.
12:30
John Bunyan said, for the pains they have taken with you, until you have children of your own, you will not be aware of the pains, fears, sorrows, hardships that they have undergone to raise you.
12:42
And when you do discover it, you will realize that you have not even come close to repay them for their love and support to you.
12:50
Children here at Bethlehem Bible Church, how often have they fed you when you were hungry and clothed your nakedness?
12:56
What care have they taken that you might have resources to live well when they are even dead and gone?
13:02
They possibly have given up their own food and clothes for you. All these things ought to be carefully considered by you children and ought to take special care of your parents to repay them.
13:16
Well, you wanna be grateful. You don't wanna be a pagan, but Paul gives you the real reason to obey. Do you see it?
13:22
Because this is what? It's not wrong. It's not old. It's not antiquated. It's not out of date.
13:29
It is right. Not because your parents are super godly, not because they always do the right thing.
13:35
No, the way God intends you to live, children, is because you're to do this because it's right.
13:40
This is God's standard. The other way I could put it is, it's not wrong to obey your parents. Did you know, children, that cannibals expect their children to obey?
13:51
That's pretty interesting to me. It's just across every list. And sometimes you say to yourself, children, my parents often tell me no.
13:59
Did you know love often says no? I can look at the 10 commandments. You shall not steal.
14:04
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder for your own good. Haven't they proven that they love you?
14:10
They prayed for you and weep over you. I read that in 2004, it takes $325 ,000 to raise a kid to age 18.
14:20
The food bill alone was $50 ,000. So we as Christians think, if anybody could ever love me like that, like the
14:30
Father does, like the Son does, like the Holy Spirit, I will just respond out of gratitude. I'm not gonna respond because I need to keep my place as God's son or daughter or to earn my place or to secure, that's all been done.
14:42
And I just like to respond out of gratitude. If you would do that for me, I would willingly obey you. And here too, we have a mini picture of that.
14:49
Your parents have done so much for you, children, you're to obey them. You say, well, they tell me when
14:56
I can date, how often I can date, when I can drive a car, when I can go to school, what school I can go to. They tell me to pick up my room.
15:02
They tell me this, that and the other. Yeah, that's true. So obey them. Not only your actions, but look at verse two, your attitude.
15:12
It's one thing to obey with a good attitude. It's another to obey with just a bad attitude. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise.
15:23
This is right from Exodus. Things haven't changed from the Old Testament to the new. You are to honor your parents.
15:30
Remember Jesus said in John 8, 49, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me.
15:40
Regularly, Jesus would say to the Pharisees, for God said, honor your father and mother. And here's what honor means.
15:47
To hold them in high regard, to esteem them, not to make light of them, but to revere them, to think there's worth to these parents.
15:56
They mean something. I respect them. I regard them highly. I treat them as precious. By the way, for us as adults, there's never a time when we don't have to honor our parents.
16:10
To think of them highly and to hold them in the highest regard. What does
16:16
God require in the fifth commandment? Not just obedience, but honor. And it says in verse two, which is the first commandment with a promise so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on earth.
16:29
You know what I think is so great there, children? God's even given you a motivation to obey. He could be saying, obey, honor, obey.
16:38
He could say that. And of course, it's in the context of grace here in Ephesians, but he's giving enticements.
16:43
He's trying to make it easy to obey. Oh, why should I obey? Because there's a promise attached to it.
16:51
A twofold promise. Number one, that it may be well with you. Did you know sin impoverishes?
16:57
Sin is cloaked with kind of wonderful things by the slick market or Satan.
17:05
But no, God wants it to be well with you so that you could be happy and holy and wise.
17:12
And that you may live long on the earth. Now that comes right from Deuteronomy where there's a promise for the
17:20
Jew to live in the earth that's been promised to them, the land of Israel. But now he takes off the
17:26
Israel part. Prolonged in the land of the Lord God gives you is just simply now to live long on the earth.
17:33
If you were back in the day and you think, oh, where could I be? Where could I live? Where could I move? Oh, I'm in Babylon.
17:40
I can't wait to get back to Israel. Every Jew loved that blessing to think, oh, I couldn't be more happier to live in Israel.
17:48
And now he omits the Israel part and just says that you may live long on earth. It's just this general principle now.
17:55
Paraphrased, movement from the old covenant to the new covenant. Focus less on land and just here, just general living.
18:07
Wiersbe said, long life does not mean that everyone who died young dishonored his parents, but it's a principle. So you'd like to have a good life?
18:14
Obey your parents, as simple as that. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.
18:23
So children, if you're here and you are listening, when your parents say to clean up your room, what do you do?
18:30
You call the pastor. No, you clean up your room. When your parents say, no, you can't drive, you can't do this, you can't do that.
18:36
That's what you do. Your parents are older, you're 25 years old, and you say, well, I disagree with them and I have my own house now and I've cleaved to my wife, but I still need to honor them.
18:47
I even get convicted sometimes because of my background and what my father did or didn't do. And even the way
18:53
I talk about my father now, I want to honor him. It's important for children to think rightly about their parents.
19:03
Well, not only that, but we come to the second section here and that's fathers. So we're in chapter six, we've seen, we've been elected, we've been redeemed, we've been sealed, we have
19:14
Prince of Peace, we have Jews and Gentiles together, we have spiritual gifts, all these things that have happened.
19:19
And he's leading up to how do we respond to the grace of God? Again, not to merit anything, not because we deserve anything, not because we're gonna get kicked out of the family if we disobey.
19:28
No, but this is just how God has ordered things to norm our lives. And he says to fathers, with kind of a put on, put off thing that he did a lot in chapter four and five, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the
19:45
Lord. I could summarize it, men, fathers, dads, simply.
19:52
How does God treat you? How does God father you? You're to father the exact same way.
19:58
When you know how much he cares for you and loves you and the expense that he's gone to provide for you, his son, his only son, he did not spare.
20:06
That if you can figure out how I am fathered by the heavenly Father, you'll know how to parent your children.
20:14
And he gives the negative and then he gives the positive. He gives the warning and then he gives a directive.
20:24
Sinclair Ferguson said, some fathers try to subordinate their children to their own authority and the necessity of obeying it in such a way that they obscure the gracious authority of God.
20:37
How do we parent? Eclipsing the grace of God by our exasperating behavior?
20:49
Or do we act like God does kindly toward us, gently towards us, lovingly towards us?
20:59
Now the passage says again in verse four, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the
21:07
Lord. Don't exasperate them. Don't stir them up. Don't provoke them.
21:13
You can do that a lot of different ways. I'm probably a master at this. You can show favoritism to your children.
21:18
You can lord it over. You're messing with the wrong hombre. You just disobeyed me. You're overprotective.
21:24
You call them names. You're dumb, you're stupid. I've never heard of such a dumb thing to do. I mean, as I say those,
21:31
I just think who would ever say that? Why would we ever say something like that? Acting hypocritically, never praising your children.
21:41
I mean, one of the things we do at our house is we expect Ephesians 6, 1, 2, and 3 to happen.
21:48
When our children were little, you were going to obey. Not only because it was right, but because I weigh 200 pounds and you're 30 pounds.
21:55
You are going to obey. But how does
22:01
God motivate? Let's get back to my original question. What motivates obedience? How can you help your children obey?
22:08
They need help. They're little. They're immature. They're learning. They're growing. It takes time. Here's one thing that I don't kind of like about children.
22:15
I just want to teach them one lesson one time and they get it forever. I'm going to have to keep repeating over and over and over for 20 years before they get it.
22:24
And you think about the patience of God and the kindness of God toward us. That's exactly the way we are. What motivates obedience?
22:31
This gracious environment that says, I love you. I accept you. You're mine.
22:37
I, at my own cost, have purchased you, or sacrificed you. That's the way the
22:42
Father treats us. That's the way we're to treat our children. And as often as I want the children to obey,
22:49
I want it to lavish them with, I love you. You're the best.
22:55
I prayed for somebody just like you. And to this day, when I fly in a plane or think that I could be close to death, not all planes cause that, but those are two separate categories, like in the hospital, dying.
23:07
If Steve Prue's a pilot, we're going to make it. I think to myself, if my dad would have said,
23:15
I'm proud of you, does that motivate you to obey? If your dad would say, I'm proud of you.
23:21
I love you. Yeah, I know all your faults, but I love you. You're the best. I mean,
23:26
I could cry thinking about it. What motivates a Christian? What motivates a child? What motivates a father?
23:36
I don't want to exasperate children. One of the ways you could do it is probably treating boys like girls.
23:42
Treating girls like boys. I mean, I had to figure that out. Three girls and one boy I have.
23:48
And so, things just like with Luke, I'd say, you know, there's a time to hit, son. There's a time to punch somebody's lights out.
23:55
This whole no hitting thing doesn't work. If you're going to hit your sisters or your mom, that's one thing, but if somebody's going to try to attack your sister or your mom, you go ballistic.
24:03
You go Mike Tyson on them. Teddy Roosevelt was teaching a Sunday school and a boy came with a black eye.
24:10
And he got it on Sunday fighting. Teddy Roosevelt said, why did you fight?
24:18
He said, a big boy was hurting my sister. Teddy Roosevelt said, that was right to do and here's a dollar.
24:30
He was let go, they said. And there's so many ways to exasperate a kid.
24:37
When they're older, kids should be able to say, well, you know what, I told you that I'm supposed to obey, but can
24:42
I appeal? Can we talk? Can we work it out? We exasperate kids by inconsistent discipline, legalism, rules without love, rules without gospel grace, nagging, attacking instead of you're so good at that.
25:02
You're the best. You're my little number one. He says, don't provoke, now here's the positive, but bring them up.
25:09
Oh, that's wonderful. That's exactly what the Lord does in chapter five, nourishes, cherishes.
25:17
This is for fathers. Fathers, you struggle with what I do and that is the tendency because of the fall is to be lazy and the children just kind of grow up.
25:26
They grow up themselves. Mom does it. Of course, moms are right there. They're helping.
25:31
The child that's, the baby that's, what's the rock the world thing?
25:37
The cradle that's rocked by the mother rules the world. No, that's not it. You know what I'm saying. Of course, moms are there, but fathers are the leaders and they're to make sure these things happen.
25:49
I love what one commentator said. He said it in ways I could never do. Pampering their pet urchins like pet monkeys whose escapades furnish a fund of amusement as irresponsible freaks of no serious import.
26:02
Such unbridled young scamps for lack of correction develop too often into headstrong, peevish, self -seeking menaces.
26:11
That's basically, I don't care. I let the kids just parent themselves. No, no, what's better? I'll let the oldest child parent the little ones.
26:19
Ooh, we heard some groans on that one, didn't we? Oh, fathers. And of course, mothers are there and there's delegated authority and I understand all that, but this is fathers.
26:31
Of course, in the context of grace, but it's a nourish. To bring up means to nourish. The care that you have over your own body, the devotion of Christ to the church, not breaking bruised reeds and quenching smoked flax.
26:50
Providing for physical needs, yes, but spiritual needs as well to bring them up. You want them to be healthy and understanding scripture.
26:59
And it's two ways you bring them up. Do you notice? Bring them up in first, the discipline of the Lord. This means training.
27:08
Talking comes up next, admonition. This is training. This is the effort where you say,
27:14
I'd like to teach my children proper lessons, literally child training.
27:20
This includes the rod certainly, but it includes more than the rod, other forms of correction, regulations and rewards.
27:28
When necessary, of course, chastisement. Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he's old, he will not depart from it.
27:37
Bring them up. It's not my job to teach your children. On Sundays, it's my job to preach to your children, but it's not my job, fathers, to train your children.
27:47
It's not the school's job. It's not the homeschool curriculum's job. It's your job.
27:55
And since God has so fathered us, we want to do the same thing. Oh, if you would give me children, I would be glad to do it.
28:01
And now Paul gives us these reminders and not just with kind of an organized system, but also with words, bring them up in the instruction of the
28:09
Lord. The admonition, the exhortation. What do you say to a child? How do you say it to a child?
28:15
This means to put in their mind, put in the mind of a child, to place in their mind over and over and over again and help them with reasoning and logic and Scripture and warning and counsel.
28:28
This is just like Paul's ministry in Colossians 1. Verbal education. It includes praise.
28:33
It includes warning. It includes explanations. The gospel affects every area of life, including home life.
28:45
And now also what about slaves and masters? This is number three, children, fathers, and now bond servants, as the
28:55
ESV says. Bond servants, verses five, six, seven, and eight.
29:02
Now, before we go any further, most of you know that back in the day, one third of the population were slaves.
29:10
Now, when we think of slaves, we think about the brutal, awful, sinful civil war type of slavery.
29:16
And this is a little bit different than that. Oh, there was some horrible things, but did you know there were millions of people who were slaves?
29:23
Some of them were treated brutally and awfully, shamefully, and others were teachers that you would have a slave to teach your children.
29:31
They would essentially be part of the family. The Bible teaches in both
29:37
Exodus and in 1 Timothy that if you kidnap somebody, kidnap someone, it's sin.
29:43
Slavery is wrong. But what Paul does here is he's not against the, he's not right now saying,
29:49
I want you free from the institution of slavery. Matter of fact, think about where Paul is. He's in jail.
29:58
He's not saying, you know what, let's have some kind of jail, prison, incarceration reform. No, no,
30:04
Christianity, Christians, where grace is, the grace of God incarnate via the Holy Spirit, wherever that is, there's a way to live.
30:13
You can be a slave, you can be free, you can be a husband, you can be a wife, you can be children, you can be in jail.
30:19
The issue for Paul was not primarily anything except fellowship with Christ, fellowship with the
30:26
Lord Jesus, transformation. You can be a slave, you can be free, and that can happen. Of course, in Christ Jesus, there's no slave or free.
30:35
The Bible is not indifferent to slavery. First Timothy, as I said, verse one, chapter one, verses nine and 10, kidnappers.
30:43
They're just the same as murderers and liars and unholy and profane. But what Paul is doing here is he's saying, okay, this is the way a
30:52
Christian who's been graced by God responds. And most people, and I agree, say that while we're not slaves at work, when you go to work tomorrow, or these days, a lot of people wake up at work and work at home, there's some principles that if slaves had to do something, we can learn the way we treat our bosses.
31:13
I think there's some parallels here. Now, of course, what Christianity does, it makes you see things rightly, and then you see people like William Wilberforce who dedicate his entire life to say, let's get rid of slavery.
31:26
But if you're in a situation that you can't get out of, how do you live? Can you live the Christian life?
31:32
And so Paul says, yes. So he says in verse five, slaves are bond servants.
31:39
Be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. And he says the same thing that children are told, be obedient.
31:48
Fathers were told not directly to be obedient, but they are to be obedient and not exasperating. Because of Christ, our lives are transformed radically.
32:02
And here we'll see some parallels since I know there are no slaves here. We're gonna talk about employer -employee relationships because if it works for slaves, it'll work for you.
32:13
Of course, it's much less than today, but it's still proper attitudes.
32:20
He says mainly though, obey, to hear under, just like with the children. Bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything,
32:27
Titus chapter two. And he kind of, he lessens it a little bit. Be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh.
32:35
There's a heavenly master, but right now this earthly master, you need to be obedient.
32:42
Colossians says, it's Christ whom you serve. So let me give you some attitudes hopefully that might transform your work into worship.
32:49
You say, well, I'm retired. Well, then maybe you can help the people that are working, but it's good for you to know right now, some attitudes that transform work into worship.
32:58
Number one, work, you're gonna not think I'm right in the mind when I tell you this first one, you're gonna think it's bad, but we'll just use the language.
33:06
You must work with fear and trembling, an attitude of fear and trembling. What? Okay, let's look at verse five.
33:15
To those who are your masters according to flesh with fear and trembling. Now, if you say fear, let's look at the word dissected, trembling, let's look at the word and dissect it, you're not going to get the right meaning.
33:28
But if you put the two together and you say, where does Paul use fear and trembling together in the Bible? How does he use it?
33:35
Is it just this kind of cringing, not even deference, but just this, the master's kicked me one too many times, the boss has done so many things to me that I'm just afraid?
33:47
No, no, it simply means this. You're of lower rank, and so there needs to be respect.
33:55
This is not this, this is kind of not for you. This is not bravado, strength, boldness. This is I'm a lower rank,
34:01
I'm a lower position. I'm responding to God's sovereign placement of me at this particular job, or in this case, slaves.
34:11
God's sovereign over all that. And so I just need to realize there's one in a higher rank than I am. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
34:26
She wasn't cringing, she'd just been healed, and she comes and realizes, He has authority over me, and so she bows with fear and trembling.
34:33
That's the idea. So then my beloved, just as you've always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now more in my absence, work out your salvation with what?
34:47
That's not gonna go well on the camera, I can tell. No, because He is a sovereign
34:53
God who's over me, an eternal God, an immutable God, a holy God, a gracious God, and I'm under Him, and so how do
35:00
I respond? How do I live a holy life? Like I have someone over me. God, dear
35:08
Christian, is sovereign over your boss. Did you know He could remove your boss?
35:15
Maybe some of you are praying that your boss might be removed. That reminds me of the old story.
35:20
If you don't like your pastor, pray, pray, pray that some other church would love to take him and hire him, and so you get rid of your pastor that way.
35:28
I'm glad you haven't prayed that prayer. No one would take me. It took me probably 20 years to tell you
35:37
New Englanders that I'm one of you, and now I'm in. Made it. Praise the
35:44
Lord. I remember the first time Bruce Bolivar sat down with me, and he's like, I don't know about you. Nebraska, California, plaid jackets, this is not working.
35:58
Now Bruce and I, till death do us part. God sovereignly placed a boss over you.
36:08
Could have been someone else, but you realized rank. Not that they're better, not that they're lovely, not that they always do the right thing, but I'm gonna obey my master because God has sovereignly put someone over me.
36:18
It's God's choice for your boss. Secondly, obey with single -mindedness or sincerity.
36:26
This is the attitude that instead of hi -ho, hi -ho, off to work I go kind of thing.
36:33
No, no, in sincerity of your heart. This is,
36:38
I'm just going to obey, but I'm not going to try to look good, earn favor in some way that's wrong.
36:45
I'm just gonna be undivided in my mind, and I'm gonna be motivated with a single purpose. I'm not going to be operating under pretense or hypocrisy.
36:53
I have a motive to just do well. Thirdly, not just with eye service.
37:02
Not just with eye service. How do you obey? You obey from the soul. Not by way of eye service as men pleases, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart or soul.
37:16
One man said, though your boss's eye may be turned away, the Lord God's eye is not turned away from your work.
37:22
Eye servants means eye slavery. Ophthalmology, we get the word eye there, and doulas, slavery, you're an eye slave, and the only time you work is when they watch you.
37:34
Now, I'm afraid of all the cameras everywhere, right? No, no, before the face of God, Coram Deo. One writer said, every single piece of work the
37:43
Christian produces must be good enough to show God. That's right. We have new identity in Christ.
37:49
We have the ability to obey. We can be fruitful. We can be faithful. Workers, you should not have to have your boss drag work out of you.
38:04
Have to only motivate you with promotions and raises or anything else. It says in verse seven, with goodwill render as to the
38:11
Lord and not to men. It's like you're looking past your boss's shoulder and you see as it were the
38:17
Lord Jesus. Instead of goodwill, we have to kind of like, my MO is not
38:23
I serve because of goodwill. I serve because of will goad, right? You goad me, I'll work hard enough.
38:29
That's not right. Readiness to just serve and to work. It's my lot in life.
38:35
God has divinely orchestrated this. It must have a purpose. It must be wise. It must be right.
38:41
And so therefore I'm going to work. If you make shoes, you need to have, people need to have good shoes.
38:47
Whatever your hand finds to do, ecclesiastes, do it with all your what? All your might. See past your boss, past your foreman.
38:54
And also you're going to get paid for it. Not just with a paycheck. Verse eight, here's an attitude. You get more than that.
39:01
Knowing that whatever good each one does, that he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. You get your regular paycheck, unlike slaves did back in those days.
39:11
You dear Christian get a paycheck and you get something more. This is talking about rewards.
39:18
This is a consolation to obey. Hey children, you want to know why you should obey? Because it'll go well with you and you'll live in the land.
39:26
Hey, why do we obey? Because we're supposed to. Because God's sovereign over all this. This is how Christians act.
39:32
I mean, Jesus was a worker. Adam was a worker. There'll be work in heaven to do.
39:37
But there's going to be a reward. Colossians 3, the parallel epistle, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.
39:45
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Jesus said, did he not, behold,
39:50
I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he's done.
39:57
This is so helpful though to all of us because if you think, you know what, I'm not a pastor. I'm not in full -time ministry.
40:03
I'd like to spend some time working on eternal rewards out of the grace of God and what He's provided.
40:09
And it would be good for me to earn up some rewards on earth, but I work all day. Well, then you can do it at work.
40:17
That's the idea. You sow sparingly, you reap sparingly.
40:24
There's a future incentive. And then he gives the last command to the masters in verse nine, to the bosses, if you will, not a perfect parallel,
40:34
I know, but still. Verse nine, masters do the same thing to them. You think about how do you motivate and what context do you motivate and give up threatening.
40:47
If you're a boss here today, this is not how you're to act, to threaten people all the time, knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven and there's no partiality with him.
41:00
Masters do the same thing. The guideline for all this is love. How would you like to act?
41:06
How would you like to be treated? Aren't you under divine authority as well, just like they are? John Grisham calls this verse chains for the master.
41:17
We're not to serve our slaves. The masters aren't told that, but their attitudes, their actions are governed by the
41:26
Lord. I think of Boaz. Remember Boaz? Is anybody here named Boaz? What a manly name,
41:33
Boaz. Here's how he greeted his workers.
41:39
The Lord be with you. And how do they reply? The Lord bless thee.
41:46
He knew his workers. He was kind to them. They were still his workers, but this is the idea.
41:51
Stop threatening. Leviticus 25. You shall not rule over him with severity, but you are to revere your
41:57
God. Knowing the text says that their master and yours is in heaven and there's no partiality.
42:09
How does a Christian obey? Why should a Christian obey? What if I'm a father?
42:16
How do I keep the sustained obedience? What if I'm a child? I've got a lot of sustained obedience needed because I not only have to obey my parents in the household, but even after I'm out,
42:25
I'm gonna have to honor, honor, honor. How do I just go to work every single day and think, you know what?
42:30
This is actually worship. I can turn tomorrow eight to five into worship. How can I just do that week in and week out?
42:37
It just seems not sustainable. And the answer is found in a parable.
42:46
A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.
42:54
Jesus said, now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one,
43:00
I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. You have judged rightly. Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman?
43:09
I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
43:17
You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
43:22
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but who is forgiven little, loves little.
43:40
And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins?