back to indexEphesians Bible Study Lesson 22
00:00:06.840 |
This is lesson 22 through our inductive study through the Book of Ephesians. 00:00:11.920 |
That's a lot of weeks and we're still excited to go through our last chapter, 00:00:18.760 |
We are essentially then on the tail end of the study. 00:00:21.440 |
There are so many practical applications and important truths for us to apply. 00:00:26.080 |
We're praying for a lot of fruitfulness, especially as it relates to our home 00:00:33.000 |
Before we jump in, let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing on our time. 00:00:40.680 |
Father, we pray that all the truths that we learn, we will take the step, 00:00:46.520 |
the necessary step to examine our private lives through it. 00:00:50.840 |
Especially, Lord, and even the comforts of our own home in the daily experiences and 00:00:58.360 |
In those contexts, Lord, help us to live out your truth. 00:01:02.920 |
Particularly, Father God, with the empowerment and strength of your spirit, 00:01:08.360 |
help us to know what it means to serve the needs of others, 00:01:12.000 |
to submit ourselves to the good of those around us. 00:01:15.040 |
Ultimately, seeking, Father God, that people all around us will come to a 00:01:23.000 |
And we pray, Father God, that by us living in faith, you would magnify yourself. 00:01:28.040 |
Lord, we thank you so much for your truth tonight, and pray, God, 00:01:31.280 |
that again, you would use it in our lives in a mighty way. 00:01:38.320 |
Well, let's take a look at chapter 6, verses 1 through 9. 00:01:41.880 |
And I'm reading out of the NASB, and it says here, "Children, obey your parents 00:01:51.960 |
Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment, 00:01:54.640 |
with a promise, so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long 00:02:00.760 |
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline 00:02:07.800 |
Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, 00:02:12.360 |
with fear and trembling, and the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, 00:02:17.560 |
not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, 00:02:24.320 |
With goodwill, render service as to the Lord and not to men, 00:02:28.280 |
knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back 00:02:35.080 |
And masters, do the same things to them and give up threatening, 00:02:38.800 |
knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no 00:02:46.160 |
So, as we take a look at this passage, it does this categorical, you know, 00:02:51.520 |
places in people's lives, and there's a theme, obviously, 00:02:55.600 |
within the various commandments that he gives. 00:02:58.240 |
So, if we recall back in chapter 5, verses 20 and through 21, 00:03:02.640 |
Apostle Paul said, "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord, 00:03:06.400 |
Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father, and to be subject to one another in the 00:03:11.720 |
The reason why I included verse 20 is because there is a sentiment that 00:03:16.920 |
everything you are doing, you're supposed to be doing it with 00:03:20.160 |
thankfulness in your heart and in the name of the Lord, right? 00:03:24.360 |
In Christ is the realm in which you are supposed to be living your life. 00:03:29.440 |
And that, he connects it to being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 00:03:33.960 |
So, in you living your life in the context of Christ, there should be an 00:03:39.520 |
empowerment that now you're able to be subject to one another through your own 00:03:46.800 |
And so, as an application of that, we learn, starting from verse 22 of chapter 5, 00:03:52.760 |
that wives ought to give submission to your husbands, just as you would give 00:03:59.520 |
And then the husbands, I phrased it this way, you're supposed to be submitting 00:04:04.240 |
essentially to the example of Christ, just as he gave us that example, okay? 00:04:09.640 |
He gave us this example to love for the benefit in a sacrificial manner for his 00:04:16.120 |
And likewise, then, for the husband is called to submit to that role. 00:04:19.960 |
As a head of the home, as a head of the wife, he is to be seeking her good, 00:04:28.080 |
And then here now, we have then categorical exhortations that that 00:04:32.640 |
application of the submit to one another should also happen within the relationship 00:04:37.320 |
between child and father, and then slave and master, okay? 00:04:42.960 |
And so, the first portion of it, starting from verse 1 through 3, we have here the 00:04:47.760 |
scripture saying, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. 00:04:52.960 |
Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, 00:04:57.400 |
so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth." 00:05:03.120 |
So, as we take a look at that, the commandments I've highlighted for you 00:05:06.200 |
there in purple, and it is this idea that we ought to obey the parents and honor the 00:05:14.320 |
So, essentially, when we think about children, I mean, it's no like news and 00:05:20.640 |
something, I guess, novel and brand new to us to say that children should learn how 00:05:28.200 |
But sometimes, I think that a lot of people expect people to learn that or 00:05:33.720 |
children to learn that when they play sports, when they get involved in organized 00:05:41.280 |
But the idea here is they should be learning that initially through their 00:05:47.880 |
So, as we think about this, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time, 00:05:52.480 |
but we do want to make mention of this fact that there should be in the 00:05:55.280 |
relationship between child and parent a respect for authority and obedience, okay? 00:06:01.480 |
Now, one of the things that will be of good question, or at least something of an 00:06:06.160 |
applicational question, for a lot of people will understand, okay, 00:06:09.240 |
if you're an underage, right, under 18 years old, then of course, 00:06:14.440 |
But I think for a lot of people, the question comes down to what about when 00:06:18.920 |
Adult child, are you supposed to be obeying your parents in everything? 00:06:23.000 |
What if you're married and you actually are now the man of your own household? 00:06:29.200 |
Doesn't the scripture say that husband and wife should leave and cleave? 00:06:33.280 |
Essentially, for this reason, a man should leave his mother and father. 00:06:36.200 |
And essentially, the line of authority has changed. 00:06:42.000 |
What I'd like to say about that is, notice how it's not just simply that you 00:06:47.880 |
should obey no matter what, without qualification, in everything, 00:06:54.160 |
through the rest of your life, to your parents. 00:06:56.800 |
But actually, the commandment has to do a lot with also the honor and the respect due 00:07:04.560 |
So, one of the things that I would like to highlight is that within the context of 00:07:11.240 |
child and parent, there should nevertheless be what I like to call the open ear, okay? 00:07:19.920 |
Because let's take a moment to acknowledge the fact that since we were children, 00:07:27.320 |
And when we are children, a lot of times, what we give them is the closed ear. 00:07:31.640 |
What I mean is, when we're little kids, we have to almost be forced to open our ears, right? 00:07:37.600 |
When our parents call our name, we push the envelope and we try to test the waters 00:07:42.080 |
on how many times we can ignore them before they get upset. 00:07:46.200 |
When we're teenagers, how many times were we just simply upset, 00:07:49.960 |
not because they told us to do something horrendous. 00:07:55.440 |
They didn't try to harm us, but we just didn't like them telling us what to do. 00:08:04.000 |
We just don't like people telling us what to do. 00:08:07.080 |
And what's really interesting about all this is there's a passage I would like to read for you 00:08:17.760 |
I don't have this on the PowerPoint, but you can take a moment to look at that. 00:08:22.880 |
And it says, "Understand this, that in the last day, there will come times of difficulty. 00:08:28.800 |
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, 00:08:34.000 |
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, 00:08:39.320 |
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, 00:08:45.120 |
swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 00:08:49.000 |
having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 00:08:55.240 |
When you think about this, the general sentiment and tide of the day is going to be an absolute 00:09:04.760 |
They'll be so set in their own way, in their own arrogance, and so stubborn, 00:09:11.760 |
And so, in that kind of discussion, I want to say, for us, the contrary, 00:09:18.080 |
or at least in Christ, how we would look different is that, yes, 00:09:22.520 |
even if, let's say, you grew up with pretty horrible parents. 00:09:25.720 |
Let's say your parents aren't godly, like their character isn't respectable. 00:09:30.560 |
But nevertheless, would you still give them an open ear to hear them out, 00:09:37.160 |
Let's say they give you nothing but earthly wisdom. 00:09:39.960 |
Would you still learn that earthly wisdom from them? 00:09:42.800 |
Or would you just say, "I'm the man now, I'm older, and you need to listen to me." 00:09:48.640 |
Because I don't think we necessarily need to win that battle. 00:09:55.000 |
Clearly, there are exceptions to when you wouldn't be listening to your parents, 00:09:58.920 |
because that earthly wisdom is completely in contrast, 00:10:04.680 |
But nevertheless, are you showing them honor and respect, even as an adult? 00:10:11.280 |
Here's another important just inductive study kind of question, 00:10:15.480 |
is notice how it says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord." 00:10:19.520 |
And I want to pose to you several questions here. 00:10:24.240 |
You know, what's really interesting is I was reading kind of commentaries. 00:10:28.200 |
And one commentary tried to just give all the options, 00:10:30.800 |
like possible options, the way that you can interpret it. 00:10:38.480 |
Like so long as the instruction is biblical, then you can obey. 00:10:42.720 |
Does it actually more so mean the source of your power? 00:10:45.120 |
Like obey your parents, because I know it's hard, 00:10:48.440 |
but do it in the Lord, because He's going to empower you. 00:10:52.040 |
Or does it simply mean the character of the parents? 00:10:58.680 |
Or does this generally mean the context of your life? 00:11:01.600 |
That in the power of Christ, in your living for His glory in the Lord, 00:11:07.040 |
And that's the way that I would like to think of it. 00:11:09.520 |
Because the idea is as you live your life in the Lord, 00:11:14.680 |
a practical ramification of you living your life in the Lord 00:11:18.480 |
is going to be an ability, a motivation to give respect, honor, 00:11:23.560 |
and obedience because of the way God has made things. 00:11:27.440 |
Because of your ability to submit and obey Christ, 00:11:34.680 |
and you're living in the power of Christ and for His glory, 00:11:41.080 |
Now, what's really interesting as we keep looking at this portion of the text 00:11:45.520 |
is that this "in the Lord," obeying your parents in the Lord 00:11:49.440 |
and honoring your father and mother has a rationale to it. 00:11:53.720 |
For example, I put some brackets for you there. 00:11:58.200 |
And what's more, this commandment is the first with a promise. 00:12:02.360 |
Verse three, "So that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth." 00:12:12.000 |
then the rationales can be summarized into two statements, 00:12:14.440 |
which is essentially number one, the standard of God says this is right. 00:12:19.200 |
It's a standard and expectation of the way God has created things. 00:12:22.720 |
God has created a relationship with Father and Son. 00:12:27.480 |
And I believe everything in this life, the physical world that God has created, 00:12:35.560 |
This world, those shadows, the examples are either tainted, lacking, and sometimes perverted. 00:12:43.840 |
But nevertheless, in its original intent, God has desired that to show His glory 00:12:49.240 |
and the realities of the spiritual life, which is our relationship with the Father. 00:12:53.480 |
What's more, He talks about how this is for your good. 00:12:56.560 |
So right here, Apostle Paul applies the good inductive study methods, 00:13:00.600 |
which is to observe, "Hey, did you observe that this is one of the first commandments 00:13:04.280 |
with a promise to you among the 10 commandments in the list of 10?" 00:13:07.720 |
Remember how the first section goes up to the Lord and your dealings with God 00:13:11.040 |
and the second has your dealings horizontally. 00:13:13.280 |
And of the first, it says, "You need to obey your parents 00:13:18.160 |
So essentially, this is not only the standard of God, but this is for your own blessing. 00:13:26.280 |
And this to me, again, points to the gracious, provisional nature of God. 00:13:32.000 |
Like God is ultimate Father who has laid down provisions for His people 00:13:38.680 |
that as children are raised up, they're under the protection of the parents in their realm. 00:13:46.560 |
And as they abide in that, that is to them their blessing. 00:13:51.080 |
And so again, in the original intent of God and how He has structured things, 00:13:57.880 |
And the people who want to say, "You know what, Freak? 00:14:05.680 |
I mean, in the end, again, we read 2 Timothy 3 when it started talking about this day and age, 00:14:13.000 |
that kind of radical independence, that kind of arrogant thinking is contrary to the creative order of God. 00:14:23.400 |
So there's a lot for you guys to think through there. 00:14:25.920 |
I didn't answer necessarily everything, but at least we started looking through the command. 00:14:30.840 |
And then we started looking through the parameters or at least in Christ. 00:14:36.080 |
And what we're going to see is that that pattern repeats itself multiple times throughout this section. 00:14:46.640 |
It says here, to the fathers, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, 00:14:54.000 |
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." 00:14:59.280 |
So here, it particularly speaks to fathers, but obviously, it's not saying like, "You know, moms, 00:15:06.960 |
Anger them and then provoke them as much as you want." 00:15:11.680 |
And one of the things I just want to mention is I really like the author, Paul Tripp, 00:15:19.440 |
And he has a lot of great books, like multiple books when it comes to that. 00:15:23.040 |
Now, here, in our observation of this text, what's really interesting to me is he kind of highlights, 00:15:29.160 |
Apostle Paul highlights, you know, the scriptures highlight here one perhaps tendency that has 00:15:36.320 |
And so there's a negative command that says, "Do not provoke your children to anger." 00:15:42.080 |
And so when we look at that, we realize, "Hey, there is a pattern where parents, 00:15:47.680 |
perhaps in their use of the authority that God has vested into them above their children, 00:15:53.520 |
this can also go sour to the irritation, frustration, and anger of the children." 00:15:59.840 |
And so we'd have to start kind of thinking, "What are some of the things, 00:16:04.480 |
what are some of our habits that anger children? 00:16:07.960 |
What are some of those things that we're doing? 00:16:09.680 |
What are ways that parents really set people off?" 00:16:12.280 |
And you could even just kind of imagine your own upbringing, you know? 00:16:15.480 |
Again, not to like dig up old wounds, but you can just start thinking about your own past, 00:16:19.800 |
like, "Huh, what were things that caused anger?" 00:16:22.880 |
And the reason why, even if you're single, even if you don't have kids yet, 00:16:25.840 |
all that kind of stuff, you should be thinking about this is because you realize that when you 00:16:30.800 |
are placed in a scenario where you now have vested authority and you have a lot of authority, 00:16:37.800 |
I mean, think about how much authority is vested and entrusted to the parent by God. 00:16:45.960 |
The whole realm of care, instruction, raising up and discipling, 00:16:51.600 |
it's in the authority and responsibility of the parent. 00:16:55.040 |
And so as you think about that, we as sinners, when we are given that amount of authority, 00:17:04.920 |
So when I think about it, some of the top things that come to mind typically is that the mom is 00:17:11.040 |
absolutely over-controlling and that the dad is absent. 00:17:15.160 |
This has been kind of like the tendency throughout history, right? 00:17:20.280 |
The father is at work, a bit absent and out of the lives of the children. 00:17:25.200 |
The mother, in her desire to nurture and care, now all of a sudden becomes smothering, 00:17:30.920 |
over-controlling, has incredible unrealistic expectations for the children. 00:17:36.520 |
And so as a challenge to every single one of us, I mean, to which tendency do you let? 00:17:41.560 |
When you're given a certain authority, do you smother? 00:17:48.080 |
I mean, you think about sometimes, you know, these terminologies like tiger moms and 00:17:54.800 |
These stereotypes exist because these are common experiences that a lot of people can 00:18:01.440 |
But the fact of the matter is we all can do this. 00:18:04.000 |
I mean, the other day I was just laughing at myself because I was like telling my sons 00:18:10.120 |
like eat this, eat that, like something fell off their plate, just eat it. 00:18:13.240 |
And then, I mean, I just kind of stopped myself because am I going to be that guy, that parent 00:18:19.360 |
that has to point to what you specifically eat on your plate in that moment? 00:18:26.480 |
And sometimes, yeah, that could be necessary, but I have to at least kind of like check 00:18:32.000 |
But on the other flip side, do I have a temptation to be non-involved because I'm tired, because 00:18:38.480 |
I have enough to care for on my own, because we're busy? 00:18:42.880 |
Because sometimes trying to engage another person and try to like pull conversation out 00:18:48.920 |
of them is even harder mental work than just going and mowing the lawn or something like 00:18:54.160 |
Do we have the temptation to neglect important people in our lives? 00:19:01.960 |
And again, I'm not going to spend a crazy amount of time, but there are a lot of things 00:19:07.480 |
Through the Bible, there are things that are shown to us. 00:19:13.360 |
People have always used manipulation strategies to get what they want. 00:19:24.120 |
Sometimes we say, "You know what you always do? 00:19:29.160 |
You can do immature things to our children sometimes. 00:19:32.360 |
Sometimes we use strange consequences and reward systems. 00:19:35.640 |
Parents, please do not bargain with your children, right? 00:19:41.040 |
You need to set a kind of like, "This is what the Lord expects from you. 00:19:50.120 |
Those are things that you need to communicate. 00:19:52.480 |
Scripture has shown us that playing favorites is the worst, whether it be Jacob and Esau, 00:19:57.440 |
whether it be this person and that person with King David. 00:20:03.520 |
Sometimes what frustrates children the most is that kind of comparing of one child to 00:20:09.360 |
Parents who play this favoritism generally lead the children to fight, compete, and it 00:20:20.320 |
Do we abuse the authority that we've been given? 00:20:23.240 |
Again, I don't want to necessarily spend too much time on that, but you guys don't know 00:20:27.480 |
what I'm talking about is when we sometimes have that responsibility, we can end up doing 00:20:34.200 |
all sorts of things to try to exercise authority. 00:20:39.560 |
Sometimes rather than actually exercising the authority that God has given us, we turn 00:20:43.600 |
to human wisdom and the challenge for us to make sure that we don't do the opposite of 00:20:48.880 |
what we're trying to do, which is essentially just enrage somebody rather than following 00:20:54.160 |
The positive portion of this, Scripture says, is that we need to be bringing them up in 00:21:07.200 |
Now just by way of context, remember 2 Timothy 3:1 started off by saying, "In the latter's 00:21:14.720 |
We're going to find all kinds of rebellion, disobedience, thanklessness, hard hearts, arrogance, 00:21:24.760 |
You know sometimes when I talk to other parents, it's like, "Oh my goodness, I feel sorry for 00:21:30.560 |
I am so worried and so concerned for the next generation. 00:21:34.360 |
What kind of world are our children going to grow up in?" 00:21:38.240 |
In one sense, that is a legitimate concern because Scripture says things will go from 00:21:46.760 |
Well here essentially is part answer to that. 00:21:51.000 |
What's interesting is starting from verse 10, Paul says to Timothy, "Now you followed 00:21:54.760 |
my teaching, conduct, as example, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, 00:22:01.280 |
and sufferings such as happened to me at Antioch, and Iconium, and at Lystra. 00:22:06.520 |
What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me. 00:22:12.120 |
Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 00:22:17.200 |
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 00:22:21.760 |
You however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from 00:22:26.360 |
whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings 00:22:30.480 |
which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is 00:22:36.600 |
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching. 00:22:42.920 |
For reproof, parents, your job is to reprove. 00:22:46.560 |
For correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, sorry, 00:22:59.040 |
The Word of God is sufficient for every generation. 00:23:03.920 |
God's been for 2,000 years and more, many thousand years, will be for years to come. 00:23:10.720 |
For our children, I try to make sure that I'm trying to connect them. 00:23:15.800 |
When I want them to correct their behavior, I try to always instill with them, this is 00:23:26.800 |
Even if it's they're just fighting for some toy, I don't sit there and say, "What are 00:23:43.760 |
You think God's just saying, 'Wow, good job.'" 00:23:45.600 |
No, no, God expects of you to take care of your brother to a degree and to feel what 00:23:52.520 |
it feels like to know that to give is better than to receive. 00:23:58.040 |
You care for your brother so much, you're willing to say, "You know what? 00:24:03.880 |
This is a small little example, but we need to be regularly impressing upon the children 00:24:08.720 |
the expectations of God and what is pleasing to Him and not pleasing to Him. 00:24:13.640 |
Because we have to bear upon the children the wisdom of God. 00:24:19.680 |
This passage, when it tells us that we have to be disciplining and instructing the children, 00:24:26.320 |
the idea for instruction is a word, "nuthesia," where essentially it's the idea of putting 00:24:36.240 |
And one of the things that I've heard, which was so helpful to me, is whenever you're trying 00:24:41.360 |
to show someone how to make a decision, you have to show them the wisdom behind that. 00:24:48.120 |
You have to show them how they got to that decision. 00:24:51.880 |
And that to me has been really, really valuable in terms of how I'm trying to instruct and 00:25:06.280 |
It says here, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, 00:25:11.920 |
with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of 00:25:17.920 |
eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the 00:25:26.000 |
With good will, render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good 00:25:31.320 |
things each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free." 00:25:41.120 |
Given the current day sentiment, any talk of slavery might be just like, "That was the 00:25:50.240 |
And this passage perhaps for a lot of people, they might feel like, "Let's pass on this 00:25:56.640 |
Because essentially it is calling slaves to be more obedient than they are. 00:26:05.640 |
It doesn't say, "Put your foot down and rebel." 00:26:12.560 |
It says, "Be even more obedient from the heart." 00:26:18.720 |
And I believe that this is important for us to think through. 00:26:29.120 |
The fact of the matter is, it comes with the authority of God. 00:26:33.400 |
As we think about this, we ask the question, I just highlighted slaves there. 00:26:37.160 |
And yes, when we ask the question, "Who are these slaves?" 00:26:40.080 |
And is there any kind of corollary today and application to us? 00:26:44.200 |
First and foremost, slaves are in fact what we're thinking in terms of people who are 00:26:52.160 |
Throughout mankind's history, I mean, think about this. 00:26:56.080 |
Early on, even in the book of Genesis, famous characters like Joseph, what was he sold as? 00:27:03.200 |
Slavery existed for so long because there was absolute perversion in the heart of man. 00:27:11.400 |
And the crazy part of it is, throughout mankind's history, human beings were sold, traded, and 00:27:20.520 |
Does this passage condone what we're thinking then of slavery? 00:27:30.040 |
See, scripture in the Old Testament has many, many laws related to how to deal with those 00:27:38.320 |
who are outsiders, prisoners of war, slaves and servants. 00:27:44.120 |
And what's very incredible is the scriptures, when we think about sometimes the Old Testament, 00:27:48.400 |
some people think like, "Yeah, the word of God is in the Old Testament is like wrath." 00:27:52.360 |
Actually, the word of God and the laws of God were merciful. 00:28:01.760 |
It included things like when you harvest, consider the lowly. 00:28:06.080 |
And it's particularly for slaves, did you know that in the Old Testament law, Israelites 00:28:15.880 |
There were laws that talked about how an individual who is willing to subject themselves to another, 00:28:21.200 |
let's say someone who's more powerful, there is an essentially kind of like an indentured 00:28:27.080 |
There are rules for periodic times when you allow slaves to be freed. 00:28:31.920 |
There are rules concerning the marriages of slaves. 00:28:34.880 |
There are rules concerning protection and asylum for slaves who ran away. 00:28:39.120 |
There are rules related to slaves who loved their master and voluntarily committed himself. 00:28:52.760 |
Essentially even here you can see, yes, the word of God tells a slave to be obedient, 00:28:57.320 |
but what comes next is telling masters, masters to regard the slaves with honor. 00:29:04.760 |
So what's very interesting is that in the spectrum of God, there is this incredible 00:29:14.400 |
power in the gospel, incredible power in the realities of the relationship that God can 00:29:19.840 |
produce where a slave can be obedient and render service even to a greater degree. 00:29:28.560 |
Now I want to ask you this really interesting question, which is this, can a godly master 00:29:39.840 |
And what's incredible about that is the obvious answer is yes, it can. 00:29:44.040 |
You see, what man perverts, what man continues to cause to become sour through his greed 00:29:50.600 |
in the heart and turn into oppression, turn into abuse, turn into taking advantage of, 00:29:59.920 |
God is able to redeem even that relationship. 00:30:06.600 |
Scripture here commands a slave to be obedient to those who are your earthly masters according 00:30:13.040 |
And verse seven it says, "With good will, render service as to the Lord." 00:30:20.320 |
So what's really incredible here is Apostle Paul commands that the attitude behind the 00:30:27.400 |
individual who is subservient would be obedient and with an intentional heart attitude desiring 00:30:36.000 |
And so one of the things that we want to notice here is that the whole passage here related 00:30:40.080 |
to slaves has so much to do with attitude of the heart. 00:30:44.720 |
What I did was all I did was just list out from those two commands, the various portions 00:30:49.600 |
that describe the condition of the heart behind obedience and service. 00:30:56.000 |
And what he says is, let's take a moment just to filter through some of these things. 00:30:59.960 |
He says that the slave should be obedient with fear and trembling. 00:31:06.760 |
Now by way of corollary to us, still to this day we have employer-employee relationships. 00:31:14.280 |
We have relationships where somebody is dictating to you what you need to do with your time 00:31:18.960 |
and your resources, your intellect and your skill at this moment and you're going to get 00:31:25.720 |
Basically they are giving you their agenda for you to accomplish. 00:31:32.520 |
And within this he says, show fear and trembling. 00:31:37.000 |
So my question is even for us, again, drawing that line and relating to this, are you showing 00:31:43.280 |
respect and honor to your employers in your office? 00:31:46.760 |
So many times we are tempted to see the deficiencies of our bosses and call them like, "Oh, that 00:31:53.240 |
incompetent, that naive, that idiot, I should be in that position," whatever it may be. 00:32:00.320 |
And one of the toughest things that's going to happen is with humility and respect to 00:32:05.360 |
somebody who doesn't necessarily deserve that kind of honor, we give it. 00:32:12.720 |
Because Christ in his mastery over us, he deserves our respectful character. 00:32:19.920 |
What's more he says, in the sincerity of your heart. 00:32:22.700 |
So one, if we can summarize, the attitude of the heart that Christ desires from us is 00:32:30.240 |
a respect, but also the attitude of the heart that Christ desires is sincerity, meaning 00:32:37.880 |
When we're talking about sincerity, how are you to be sincere? 00:32:45.080 |
Or is it more so talking about you sincerely desire the good? 00:32:51.440 |
You sincerely want what's best for the company. 00:32:54.480 |
And that is something that Christians can shine in. 00:32:57.160 |
When you care for your boss and you want your boss to do well, that kind of sincere intentionality 00:33:07.920 |
Because the wisdom of the world says, "I'm number one. 00:33:10.580 |
I care whether I'm going to succeed, or I'm going to get credit for the work I put in, 00:33:16.000 |
where I'm going to be respected, where I'm not going to be taken advantage of." 00:33:20.000 |
But no, our heart and care for them says, "I'm going to make sure I think about that 00:33:25.240 |
And therefore, you show the sincerity of your heart. 00:33:28.720 |
So within this, he says, "So not by way of eye service and as pleasers of men." 00:33:34.340 |
So asking you, do you fake like you're being really productive at work? 00:33:39.320 |
Like 50% of the time you're on Facebook and watching YouTube, and then whenever the boss 00:33:46.240 |
Are those the kind of things that we're doing? 00:33:48.280 |
Or are we actually desiring to be intentionally serving well? 00:33:53.080 |
The passage tells us that as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, that 00:34:01.360 |
There is this internal desire and intent to do good and render service. 00:34:07.120 |
So that's what I mean, those two categories of respect and pure intentions for you. 00:34:15.400 |
The next part of it, he gives us this rationale. 00:34:18.440 |
It says, "Knowing that whatever good things each one does, this he will receive back from 00:34:26.760 |
When we read verse eight, we ask the question in meditate, what is the rationale? 00:34:32.440 |
When it says that you're supposed to keep this in mind when you go to work, what are 00:34:39.640 |
You're supposed to know, and you should have inside your head that, "Yes, I am getting 00:34:44.360 |
paid a wage, a salary, or maybe whatever it may be, the benefits I receive." 00:34:50.720 |
But you should have in mind, "Ultimately, I get my reward from my master." 00:34:56.720 |
That every good thing I do in this workplace and every good thing I do within my day, none 00:35:02.200 |
of that is in vain, even if I don't get a single applause or a single credit for it. 00:35:12.360 |
Because by faith I can look up and say, "I'm serving you." 00:35:18.040 |
And so when that happens, I believe Christians should be some of the most motivated workers. 00:35:27.000 |
I mean, every job description says, "We want to look for a self-starter." 00:35:33.440 |
Because you have internally a master and a Lord and already a reward set for you. 00:35:42.840 |
You should have this productiveness built into your system. 00:35:48.600 |
And when you think about the, you know, just, again, sometimes we drag our, again, we're 00:35:59.120 |
But when we show up, we should have this mentality of like, "I want to serve my Lord. 00:36:07.720 |
Because He's both watching, but this is for His glory. 00:36:12.000 |
And so when it comes to this mentality, we have to really make sure that we are shining 00:36:19.840 |
Now, one of the things I want to highlight for you is in relation to all of this, I think 00:36:26.600 |
this passage to me was kind of like a, "Wow, like I still want to meditate on it," is a 00:36:31.120 |
passage in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 21 through 23. 00:36:37.240 |
So take a moment to turn there, 1 Corinthians 7, 21 through 23. 00:36:41.160 |
And the passage says, "Were you called while a slave? 00:36:47.220 |
But if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 00:36:51.400 |
For he who was called in the Lord while slave is the Lord's freed man. 00:36:57.160 |
Likewise, he who was called while free is Christ's slave. 00:37:10.320 |
You know, like we're right now talking about sincerity of heart, motivation, the drive. 00:37:15.160 |
And I'm kind of thinking like, "Yeah, but at the same time," like immediately my head 00:37:19.080 |
goes to, "Yeah, but at the same time, you don't want to be a fool. 00:37:22.160 |
You don't want to be just run over and taken advantage of at work." 00:37:26.120 |
You have to be really wise in the way that you carry yourself because some things are 00:37:39.400 |
But at the same time, you think about this passage where it's like to the slave, he says, 00:37:56.120 |
The slave is not getting anything except you get to live in this house. 00:38:01.400 |
You may not even be living in the main house. 00:38:04.880 |
So when you think about that, it's like the contrast. 00:38:07.600 |
God gave the slave a command that you need to still be godly in your circumstance. 00:38:14.960 |
Because in the gospel of Christ, you have been free to the degree that in Christ, though 00:38:28.160 |
Why are you putting yourself underneath that man? 00:38:34.000 |
I mean, if you take a moment just to meditate on that, like the gospel frees us from any 00:38:41.120 |
contractual, like any dependency that I have, any desire for myself to want to be in this 00:38:48.880 |
like contractual, I need the benefit from the people that I'm interacting with. 00:38:57.640 |
Because the gospel frees us not just from oppression, not just from injustices. 00:39:04.720 |
The gospel frees us from this entire world, this fallen, broken, decaying world. 00:39:13.280 |
So in the next part of it, the last portion, here it says to the masters, "Do the same 00:39:21.640 |
things to them and give up threatening, knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven 00:39:30.520 |
Notice how the passage says, "Do the same thing." 00:39:33.920 |
And you should be asking like, "Whoa, that's crazy." 00:39:37.040 |
Because he just told the slave to obey and then to render service. 00:39:49.320 |
I think what he's talking about is when we become saved in Christ, our desire now becomes 00:40:02.920 |
And so in the book of James, it says, "Don't you dare use your words to curse, to curse 00:40:11.080 |
The individual being made by God vests value in that person. 00:40:17.760 |
And that person's identity then is held by God's creation. 00:40:25.320 |
And so even masters who have the authority, even masters who have greater power and strength 00:40:34.000 |
And what's more, there should be a sincerity of heart. 00:40:40.760 |
And so just as a challenge for those of you guys who are employers, those of you guys 00:40:44.920 |
who are in management positions, are you showing respect to your subordinates? 00:40:54.040 |
What's more, the passage says, "Give up threatening." 00:41:04.040 |
When people don't listen, do you get angry with force? 00:41:13.200 |
Or rather, are we doing what this passage is essentially challenging the masters and 00:41:17.120 |
do the same, is to show that kind of same respect mutually. 00:41:22.000 |
And what's interesting here is that the rationale for all this is that the great equalizer is 00:41:31.800 |
You see, for any one of us who has been given authority, whether parent, manager, employer, 00:41:37.640 |
boss, whatever you may be, our authority is so temporary. 00:41:44.000 |
We have been given a very temporary stewardship of responsibility. 00:41:53.480 |
And God has given us sufficient authority, not all-inclusive authority, but sufficient 00:41:59.160 |
authority that we would hold those responsibilities well to care for the people underneath our 00:42:08.520 |
And to me, this is kind of wild because when we think about the future, what's going to 00:42:12.640 |
happen is whether we are slave or master, whether we're employer or employee, we are 00:42:19.440 |
all going to kneel before Christ in the same way, giving account for our lives in the same 00:42:26.240 |
But we don't even have to think about the future. 00:42:32.280 |
When slavery existed, when people come to church and worship God, they sit in the pews 00:42:40.720 |
And underneath God's perspective, the front row was not reserved for the mighty. 00:42:46.400 |
The front row were not reserved for those who were educated. 00:42:50.040 |
The front row were not reserved for the elite. 00:42:56.400 |
And he rebuked those individuals who wanted any kind of jockeying for position within 00:43:02.000 |
But think about that scenery, where individuals who owned slaves, perhaps they were trading 00:43:09.440 |
people, now be redeemed by Christ, they're convicted of their sins. 00:43:14.840 |
And they realize they need to now look at the slave that they used to own, and in the 00:43:23.320 |
Sit next to the other person, raise their hands in worship, kneel in prayer, because 00:43:36.640 |
Before God, we're God the Father, we're his children, brothers and sisters. 00:43:41.920 |
Before Christ, we're his servants and bond slaves all together. 00:43:47.200 |
There is nothing that is going to have that kind of power to unify those kinds of people, 00:43:58.400 |
I mean, imagine from the slave's perspective, to be asked to sit next to a former slave 00:44:04.280 |
owner and to pray and worship together in the flesh, impossible. 00:44:11.240 |
Thanks be to God that in the gospel and the power of Christ, what is impossible with man 00:44:26.360 |
Lord, we think about what you have accomplished in our lives, and you have changed us from 00:44:37.560 |
foolish, arrogant people who falsely thought that we could make our own way, who falsely 00:44:46.320 |
thought that we could make our world better to preserve it, and then we ourselves become 00:44:55.360 |
Thank you, Lord, for saving us from that kind of folly, for showing us, Lord God, that this 00:45:02.400 |
world is under condemnation, and we need to be saved from this perverse generation of 00:45:11.240 |
Thank you, God, that you are showing us that to us, what is our great glory is to be found 00:45:19.520 |
And Lord, what's more, thank you, God, that you have called us in to your household, to 00:45:28.240 |
I pray, Lord, that you would continue to teach us what it means to humble our hearts and 00:45:35.880 |
God, we recognize that in so many different facets of our lives, we still try so hard 00:45:42.040 |
to grip and maintain our own control, but I pray, God, that you'd grant to us humility. 00:45:48.360 |
Lord, you'd grant to us submission of heart in trust, in trust of your goodness, and in 00:45:57.000 |
Lord, within this generation and this time now, there is so much conflict. 00:46:02.600 |
There is so much angst and indignation, but I pray, Father God, that we would have so 00:46:07.400 |
much more confidence to turn to the gospel, to reconcile any of the woes, any of the sins 00:46:15.440 |
that we see in our own hearts and in the world, to realize, Father God, that in the flesh, 00:46:24.400 |
And what's more, not only that, but even good laws and good intentions are not enough. 00:46:29.880 |
And therefore, what the law cannot accomplish, only Christ can do.