WWUTT 085 Friday Review

In Colossians 3 verses 18 -25, Paul gives instructions for Christian households, and we've been looking at that over the course of this week, which we're going to come back to today and summarize into five concise points so that we might become better worshipers of God when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Find videos and more at our website, www .utt .com. Now here's our host,

Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. There are two things that you cannot do alone.

You cannot be married alone, and you cannot be a Christian alone.

As I have heard Tim Challey say, sanctification is a community project.

Sanctification is that process in which we grow in holiness, being made after the image of our

Creator Christ. You weren't made that way when you got saved. It is over the process of walking in that saving faith that you are shaped more and more into the image of Christ.

We read that in Romans 8, 29, and we have also seen that here in Colossians 3.

Now, this chapter of Colossians is what Paul writes to this church in encouraging them in that process of sanctification.

And as we've arrived in verses 18 through 25, which we've looked at over the course of the week, we see how sanctification plays out in our interpersonal relationships.

Wives and husbands, children and parents, and bondservants and masters are the way that we've related more to the

American culture, employees and employers, that we do all things to the glory of God and not to the glory of men, not by way of eye -pleasers to other people, but working heartily as for the

Lord. Today, we are going to go back through Colossians 3, 18 through 25, and draw out five concise points to kind of summarize everything that we've talked about over the course of the week.

So before coming to the scriptures here, let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Our wonderful God, we thank you so much for creating us as interpersonal beings, desiring fellowship with one another.

And it is in the ways that we see how we've been made for fellowship, how we've been made to teach and admonish one another, training one another in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord that we can see your desire to be with us. We worship an interpersonal

God, and you have made a way for us to be with you through Jesus Christ, our

Lord, who reconciled us from sin and death into life that is given to us by God.

You created us for life, and you have made us born again in Jesus Christ.

And it is in his name that we pray as we come to the scriptures today. Amen. Colossians 3, starting in verse 18.

Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged.

Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people -pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the

Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the

Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ, for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

And yesterday, I was sure to add in chapter 4, verse 1, which is in the context of this. Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

I always wanted to look in finding out why chapter 4, verse 1 is not actually

Colossians 3, verse 26. It makes more sense to leave that verse in the previous chapter and then start chapter 4, where we actually see

Colossians 4, 2. I don't know. Never did much of a study to see why chapters and verses are broken up the way they are.

Anyway, so going back through Colossians 3, verses 18 through 25, and coming up with five concise points in our five -point

Friday review, here is point number one. Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the

Lord. Now, there is probably not a single point that I'm going to come up with today that is more controversial than that one.

That seems to be the one that receives the most argument, not just in the secular culture, but also in churches themselves.

What does this mean? Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. No, no, no. Women can do everything just as good as men can do.

Understand, and I know that you don't need a biology lesson to know this, but men and women are not the same.

They feel different. They act different. They look different. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to look at a guy and look at a gal and go, ah, there's something different about those two.

We desire different things. We feel different ways. And we have been created for different things also.

There are things that a woman can do that a man cannot do. There are things that a man can do that a woman can't do.

And instead of men trying to do what women do or women trying to do what men do, we should rejoice in the ways that we have been made, knowing that God has designed us this way for a reason and compliment one another in our strengths and our weaknesses to show ourselves as one functioning body.

That is something that Paul has talked about as we have gone through Colossians chapter three, that we are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.

That's Colossians 315. So we need to be thankful for what we've been made to be, what

God has called us to. Likewise, in the entire body of Christ, there are different people who have been gifted with different things.

We also have a wide range of ages in a church body, at least you should.

And what we see in the instructions that are given to us in Titus chapter two is that the older should mentor the younger.

Older men should mentor younger men and older women should mentor younger women. And this is one of those ways where a woman has an appointed task for her to do that a man should not be infringing upon.

An older woman can teach a younger woman things that a man cannot teach a woman.

And I don't think that I need to get specific to explain what I mean by that. In fact, it would be inappropriate for a man to teach a woman certain things about her body, certain things about nursing infants.

These are things that an older woman can do for a younger woman. And so we have that dynamic that exists in the church.

There are parts of the body that are gifted in different ways. One person may have a spiritual gifting in this way, and another person has a different spiritual gift.

And it would be infringing upon another person's calling to try to do what God has called them to do.

So in this way, we are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, which is what Paul says in Ephesians 5, 21.

And then after that, continuing on in Ephesians 5, he tells women to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

The woman becomes the picture of that perfect submission. The ways that we are supposed to submit to one another in our

God -given tasks and the ways that we're all supposed to submit to Christ Jesus in what he has called us individually to do as members of his church, his body.

So a woman shows a level of humility that a man simply can't, nor has he been called to do.

So a woman has a gift and a calling in that way. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the

Lord. And in doing so shows the picture of submission that we are all supposed to follow.

Now, this verse is not saying that all women need to submit to all men. Guys, if you work for a boss who is a woman, you have to submit to her authority.

If you get pulled over on the side of the road by a cop who is a woman, you have to submit to her authority as she's writing you that ticket and saying, sir, you were speeding.

If we have an elected official that is a woman, a governor or a mayor, you have to submit to her authority.

So this is not all men submit to all women. This is wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the

Lord. And when we're talking about these interpersonal relationships, the wife is the champion example of submission.

So that's point number one. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the

Lord. And wives rejoice in that calling to submit in the calling to elevate your husband and encourage him and build him up and motivate him in the calling that he has, which is then point number two.

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. And the way that we see that instruction given in Ephesians chapter five is this way.

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.

Husbands, it is your responsibility to lead your wife in spiritual things.

You are the head of the household. And what does the head do for the body? It is the control center of the body.

It provides for the body. It takes care of the body. All of the nourishment to the body comes from the head.

Now, when I call the head the control center, that doesn't mean that a husband lords himself over his wife.

No, no, no. It is that he lovingly lays down his life for her as Christ did for the church.

So husbands, there are things that you're going to want to do that you have to give up to fulfill the calling that is upon you to love your wife as Christ loved the church.

Let me go back to Genesis chapter 3 here. This is the fall of man, of course, is what we see in Genesis 3.

And look at the curse that is given to the woman and to the man.

Genesis 3, 16 to the woman, God said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain.

You shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.

Verse 17 to Adam. He said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which

I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you in pain. You shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles.

It shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it.

For you are dust and to the dust, you shall return. So basically, as we read this, here is what we can discern.

One of the things that has been placed upon the woman is this. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.

To the man, it is said, cursed is the ground because of you in pain. You shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles.

It shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground.

So the woman's desire is for her husband, but the man's desire is for his work.

And that's part of the curse. And so, ladies, there are some times that you're going to have to give up your desire to have your husband at home, knowing that he needs to work.

He needs to do that to provide for his family and know that he wants to work as well.

But husbands, there are times when you are going to have to give up your desire for work to go home and be with your wife and with your children and provide for them as Christ provides for the church, taking care of your wife and children and making sure that they are spiritually cared for and provided for.

Now, husbands, that that doesn't mean that you go sit on the couch and then pull up your iPad and then go,

OK, wife and kids here. I'm sitting here. Do something right. You actually have to interact with your family.

You have to make an effort to be a part of and lead your family. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

That's point number two. Here's point number three. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

That's what Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 6 1. He says, Honor your father and mother.

This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

And as we talked about, this is playing into the second table of the law. The first table of the law is represented by the first four commandments, which are all vertical, addressing our relationship with God.

The first command is I am God. You don't get another one. Second command, don't make anything that looks like me.

Third command, don't disrespect my name. Fourth command, don't disrespect my day.

And then the fifth commandment, which is the first of the horizontal commands addressing our relationship with one another, which is called the second table of the law.

The first of those commands is this. Children, honor your mother and your father.

And it is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

So we have this instruction. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

That includes even when you are an adult, continuing to show respect for your parents and caring for your parents.

If we don't do that for our parents now, then neither will our children do that for us when we get older.

So that's point number three. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Point number four is this. Parents, raise your children in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord. We find this in Ephesians 6 -4. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord. And as we read in Colossians 3 -21,

Fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. So basically, by provoking your children to anger, it would be disciplining them in a wrong manner.

It would also be not showing them love and affection. That would also provoke them to anger.

So if you think of yourself as just a disciplinarian, if your only interaction with your children is telling them what is wrong, instead of encouraging them and complimenting them also in what is right and showing them love and affection and playing with your kids and interacting with your kids, then they're just going to become angry and discouraged.

They're going to have this ho -hum relationship with their parents. My parents only ever do anything for me when I do something wrong.

But instead, we need to show love and affection for their kids. Tell your daughters that they're beautiful.

Tell your sons that you are proud of them. Encourage your kids so they do not become provoked to anger.

As we read in Deuteronomy 6, we are to train up our children in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord. The words that God has commanded us shall be on our hearts. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way.

When you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So in everything that you do, use every single opportunity to point your kids to Christ.

Where did the sun come from? Where did the grass come from? How do we have this house that we live in?

Who gave us the things that we have? Tell them that it comes from the blessing and the provision of the

Lord. Teach them to see Christ in all things. Point number five.

Work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. And that's the instruction as we see it in Colossians chapter three.

But of course, we see it in the context of bond servants and masters. Bond servants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters.

Masters treat your bond servants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Now we use this to talk about how we need to rejoice in our work situation and continue to treat our employers with respect.

Employers, likewise, you need to treat your employees with respect. But in the context that we see it in Ephesians six and in Colossians three, we're talking about bond servants and masters.

And instead of going through an explanation of that again, here's a what video on that topic. Let's just put this out there.

The Bible does not permit slavery. In first Timothy, the apostle Paul says that those who enslave others are lawless, disobedient, ungodly sinners who practice what is contrary to scripture.

So there you go. But wait, didn't he also tell slaves to submit to their earthly masters and masters to treat their slaves with fairness?

Yes, but that's not permitting slavery. Paul wanted to systematically dismantle such an unjust institution.

Slaves in Roman colonies made up as much as a third of the population. And in some cases, slaves, better described as bond servants, were actually considered family.

This is why Paul's instructions to bond servants and masters in, say, Ephesians six were written in the context of family.

Still, bond servants had few rights and were vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Abolishing slavery meant changing the social attitude about slavery.

He told Christian slaves and their Christian masters to consider each other brothers and sisters in Christ rather than owners and property.

When society viewed servants and slaves as being of least importance, Jesus turned that structure on its head by teaching that the greatest in God's kingdom are servants of all.

As for Old Testament laws regarding slavery, that's a lengthy explanation. Just know that some laws existed to ensure that all members of the theocracy were provided for.

As with us, they were to consider themselves set free from slavery, never to return. With a word on modern slavery, talking about human trafficking and the sex trade, if we even want to make a dent in abolishing it, two things need to be made scarce or completely eradicated.

Abortion and porn. Practices as godless as slavery, when we understand the text. So our five points once again.

Number one, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Number two, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

Point number three, children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Point four, parents raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the

Lord. And point number five, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

God teach us and guide us as we go by the way. When we sit and when we rise, help us to write these things on our hands.

Keep them as frontlets between our eyes, on the doorposts of our gates so that we are constantly remembering you and rejoicing in all that you have given to us.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again next week as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.