"18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. 22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven."
Good Morning my beloved,
Welcome to worship this Lord's Day!
We're so glad to have you here with us.
The curse in this present age is Sunday-morning religion. Now, there’s nothing wrong with
Sunday-morning religion, but the problem is that so many people have
only a Sunday morning religion. Many Christians go to church on Sunday, we had not ought simply come to worship; we had ought to bring our worship to
church. And, when we leave, we ought to take our worship
with us, because, you see, the Bible teaches that when we’re right with
God, every day is a holy day, every act is to be a sacred deed, and everything we do we’re to do to the glory of God.
You see, I believe that the real proof of our worship, is not found on Sunday morning, but on a Monday afternoon. Someone once said "They’re praising God on Sunday; they’ll be all right on Monday—it’s just a little habit they’ve acquired." You see, people don't expect you to be changed by what I preach, they don't expect our "Christianity" to leave church on Sunday and follow you on the way to work on Monday, when that truck cuts you off in traffic, when someone causes you to miss that green light, making you late for work, that's when your true worship really shows up! ...or doesn't.
Now, just in case some of you may have forgotten what worship is, listen as I read to you
Colossians 3:17. "
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." In other words, worship is doing everything in the name of Jesus, and giving God thanks for it. Let me make something clear here, that does
not mean that you can curse at the person who cut you off in Jesus' name and thank God he didn't cause an accident. That's something entirely different!
I once heard a story of a little girl who had just returned from seeing the movie, "Cinderella." She was telling her elderly neighbor lady about the movie.
At one point she said, "And do you know how the movie ends?" To which
the elderly neighbor replied, "They lived happily ever after, right?" "No,"
the girl exclaimed, "they got married!"
Let us bow our heads.
Heavenly Father,
Father we give thank to You for the practical instruction of this portion of Your Word. The You for the wisdom and discernment necessary in understanding and making application to our lives. Lord, we thank You for those whom you have gathered together with, both near and far, we pray that they would be richly blessed by the truth You are about to reveal to us. Help us live our these truth, in our homes and in the world.
We pray this in Christ's name
Amen
Today's Message: A Brand New You
I believe if we were to analyze our current situation of our society, we would find that the major problem is people. Mans inability to get along with his fellow man seems to be the number
one problem in not only our society but in any society in our world. People just cannot seem to get along with one another, people fail to demonstrate respect for each other. People, seem to be the problem.
James 4:1 says, "What is the source
of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
The world today seems to be living without norms, without absolutes, without standards, without rules. Basically, man governs good by his own pleasure. To say it another way, man is lost, empty, immoral and isolated.
Open with me your Bibles to the book of
Colossians chapter 3. Today, we come to the end of this wonderful chapter, verses 18 through 25. Now, remember in verses 1 through 17, Paul has been discussing the character of the individual
Christian, now he talks about the Christian as he lives in his
world, how he approaches society as a new man.
"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven."
In our text, Paul gives instruction on two relationships within the family: that between husband and wife; and between parent and child. Paul’s describing how husbands and wives, parents and children are to
relate to one another, as believers who desire to do everything in the
name of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, one spouse asking something of the
other that’s contrary to the Word of God; or parents asking something of
children that is against Scriptural teaching, is not what Paul’s addressing here.
I have heard some impose such imperfect scenarios on passages like this and insist the
Bible teaches that wives or children should live with
abuse. That is not what Scripture teaches. Paul is describing an elevated view of the family.
The picture of the ideal Christian family given here by Paul is radically different from what was considered "normal" in ancient society. Yet,
some, out of ignorance of the facts, do not realize how radical a departure
Paul’s instructions for the family here were, and have wrongly called
Paul a chauvinist and anti-woman. Nothing could be more untrue.
In ancient times, under Jewish law, a woman was a thing; she was the possession of her
husband, just as his house or his flocks or his material goods
were. She had no legal rights. And under Jewish law, a
husband could divorce his wife for any reason, while a wife had no
rights in the initiation of divorce.
In Greek society, a
respectable woman lived a life of entire seclusion. She never appeared
on the streets alone, not even to go marketing. She lived in the women’s
apartments and did not join her menfolk even for meals. From her there
was demanded a complete servitude and chastity; but her husband could come and go
out as he pleased, and could enter into as many relationships
outside marriage as he liked and incur no stigma. Both under Jewish and
under Greek laws and customs, all the privileges belonged to the husband,
and all the duties to the wife.
Just as radical was Christianity’s elevation of the status of women,
even more radical was it’s elevation of the status of children. In the ancient society, it was organized in concentric circles, with the center circle
containing the highest value people, and the people in the outside
circles having little-to-no value. At the center was the freeborn, adult
male, and others were valued depending on how similar they were to the
freeborn, adult male. Such was the lot of foreigners, slaves, women and
children. Pagan authors describe children as being more like plants than
human beings. And this had concrete consequences. Children were rudely
brought up, and very strong beatings were a normal part of education. In
Rome, a child’s father had the right to kill him for whatever reason
until he came of age.
One of the most notorious practices that Christianity rebelled against was abandoning
unwanted infants. Another was the sexual exploitation of children. This
is the world Christianity came into, condemning abortion and infanticide
as loudly and as early as it could. Christianity’s invention of
children, that children are treasured human beings, was really an
outgrowth of its most revolutionary idea: the radical equality, and the
infinite value, of every single human being. If the God, Who made heaven
and Earth chose to reveal Himself, not as an emperor, but as a slave
punished on the cross, then no one could claim higher dignity than
anyone else on the basis of earthly status.
Now we have laid the foundation of the history, let’s look to our passage to see what Paul says about the Christian husband and wife and their children.
In verse 18, Paul says "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord."
Wives, submit to your husband in the power of the name of Jesus Christ. Nothing could be seen as more offensive in our modern, assertive,
rights-affirming, power-seeking culture than this instruction from the Apostle Paul.
But notice that Paul isn’t saying wives are to be servants or slaves to
their husbands, he says they’re to submit. In other words, unlike the
way wives were treated in the ancient world of Paul’s day, Christian
women had a choice, and the choice they should make, Paul says, is to
submit to a husband who is loving toward them.
Now, I want you to understand this is not slavery; this is not subjugation; this is not
demeaning. Do you know what submission is? It is one equal voluntarily
placing himself or herself under the authority of another equal, that God may
therefore be glorified. Now, husbands, listen carefully here: men and women are equal in the
sight of God. So, just put your elevated ego back in check.
The Bible tells us, in Galatians chapter 3,
verse 28: "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither is there
bond nor free, neither male nor female: for you’re all one in Jesus
Christ." Go ahead, look it up fellas, that's Galatians 3:28. Men and women are equal, but how, in this day of
militant feminism, is a godly wife going to submit to her husband? Do you
want me to tell you how? In the name of Jesus—in the name of Jesus; in
the power of the name of JESUS. That's how!
Paul's instruction given to wives is also instructive to the husband. In the
ancient world, the wife was the possession of the husband and he could
do with her what he pleased. But not so in Christian marriage. The wife
is there as a willing partner. Therefore, the husband cannot afford to
take her for granted, but must treat her with love and consideration. I want you to keep in mind, this is speaking about the husband is wanting to live as a man of God.
Now ladies, you can sit back in your seats now, it's the fellas turn. Let’s look at verse 19. Husbands are to love in the name
of Jesus. "Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them."
If the love of the wife is to be submissive love, the love of the
husband is to be sacrificial love and serving love. It is the Greek word "agapaó".
The word means "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection" in means "sacrifice."
Ephesians 5, verse 25 teaches us that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and He gave Himself for it. So, this verse says you’re not to be the bitter half; you’re to be a loving person, serving your wife, sacrificing for her, as Christ did for the church that He loved. Sit up straight fellas!
I can hear some of you "How can do that when she's yelling at me?" The same way you can do anything that in God's will, in the power of His name! That's how any of us can accomplish anything that is not indicative to our sinful nature. We rely on Jesus.
Paul is saying that men are to relate to their wives lovingly; not harshly, as did
husbands in the ancient non-Christian culture. So husbands are told to
love their wives in a gentle and considerate way. In case some you haven’t noticed, men and women are different. And we each respond differently and have different roles in marriage.
A little husband-wife 101: A husband’s brain is created to respond when the wife respects and trusts him to lead their family. Not only does he need to hear his wife tell him these things, but he responds
dramatically when he hears her telling others these things about him. What a great provider he is. How he lovingly protects his family. What a wonderful job he does keeping things working and running. Yes, we know its all about the ego!
On the other hand, A wife’s brain is designed to respond to her husband’s love. His job is
to be his wife’s mirror, to reflect to her how lovely she is to him and
to her Creator. Now get this, she needs to hear him tell others the same about her! How beautiful she is, how well she takes care of the family, what a great housekeeper and cook she is. How wonderfully she loves and cares for her family!
Don't believe me? Try it!
The bottomline is the secret of success when it comes to marital
happiness and satisfaction is to accept the plan and assistance of our
Creator who designed us in the first place!
Next, in verses 20 and 21, Paul gives instruction for parents and children.
"Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart."
Children are to obey, and can obey their parents assuming, just as Paul is
here, that the parents are guiding them out of love. Paul counters the
method of child-raising in the world of his day by calling on parents, with the Father leading the way, to not embitter their children. What
can bring discouragement to a child? Using punishment rather than loving discipline. So, what’s the difference?
Punishment’s
purpose is to inflict penalty for an offense; its focus. Past misdeeds;
its attitude. Hostility and frustration on the part of the parent; the
resulting emotion in the child. Fear and guilt.
Discipline’s purpose, however, is to train for correction and maturity; its
focus. Future correct acts; its attitude. Love and concern on the part
of the parent; its resulting emotion in the child. Security.
Inappropriate expectations are either not expecting anything or expecting
too much. Instead, encourage them to always be their best.
Parents not acting as one. Dad and mom not being in agreement. Arguing when it
comes to parenting, can teach kids to become manipulative and sends a dangerously confusing message to children. When you deal with your children with loving understanding and tenderness,
you encourage them, rather than discourage them, and you’ll be
worshiping the Lord. I believe that if that we had more parents who raised their kids in the name of Jesus, in the authority of Jesus, the power that Jesus gives, we would see a huge transformation in the lives of our children in society today. So many children today are abused and broken, lost and confused.
In verses 22 through 24, Paul writes, "Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."
In other words, employees, when you go to your job tomorrow, and you work for your boss
as if he were Jesus Christ. That means do not be a clock watcher. Counting the time down until you "get out of this place," instead, complete the tasks you've been as though you are doing them for Christ Himself. Yes, I am speaking about that "two legged devil," as someone said.Show up to work on time. Don’t complain. Work hard. Go the extra mile. Act differently than those around you. Be trustworthy and honest. When you work in this way, you will be
worshiping the Lord, and give God thanks for your having a job. You are serving the Lord, on your job, if you do it in the name of
Jesus. And, God puts you right there, and that job that you have is to
be your temple of devotion, your lampstand of witness, and all that
you do, you are to do as to the Lord.
I have heard a number of people say to me "Well, I’m not getting paid enough for that." Let me tell you something, you’re getting paid far more than you realize!
Let look at verse 24 and 25, "knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality."
Don’t look at that weekly paycheck; look at that future pay day!
Verse 4:1 "Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven."
Paul now instructs masters, employers, in 4:1 to deal with their slaves, employees, in a manner that
is both just and fair. The grounds for this statement is that we know
that we have a Master in heaven. The previous statement in 3:24 that
the Lord will pay back wrongdoers is both a comfort to slaves unjustly
treated and a warning to masters who might treat their slaves unjustly.
Paul is saying that because human masters, employers, have a heavenly Master, they
should treat their slaves, employees, as they want to be treated by the Lord.
You are "set apart"
from the world, so why act as the world does Monday through Saturday,
and then pretend to be a follower of Christ on Sunday?
In Closing...
When you do everything in the name of Jesus, it must be for His honor,
for His praise, for His glory. That’s what it means to do it in the name
of Jesus. Everything you say, everything you do had ought to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me!
If Christianity is to affect our world, it must do so from the vantage point that it affects the home.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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