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Being a Christian on your front line

Reading: Ephesians 5:21 – 6:9

The big idea of the passage we’re looking at today is there in verse 21

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”

Now that all sounds very noble and worthy of a sermon in church.

HOWEVER I’m going to do exactly what Paul does and apply this principle, not in church but in the home – behind your front door, in the family (whatever the shape of your family, and in the workplace.

Recently I urged you to “imitate God” (5:1)

and to do this by being regularly, consistently and completely filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we abandon ourselves to the Lord, things can look and feel different.

There’s a sense of God being with you
you may have seen some of the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace) emerging without you having to plead with God for them –
you may have noticed that the spiritual battle being more real – but there’s a joy in being there because God’s at work.

The bible says that there are consequences of living life in the Spirit – especially joy and gratitude

look back at

Eph 5:18-20

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

they are expressions of joy!

20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s gratitude!

My friends being filled with the Holy Spirit releases in us the joy of God and deep gratitude to God – whatever life happens to throw at us.

And if you’d like to be prayed for at the end of the service go to prayer zone >>>

The big idea from today’s reading is the first verse, it’s the title for the rest of this section

submit to one another out of reverence for Christ <ppt>

Submission in the right places in the right way is God’s recipe for thriving in life. It is the gateway to His joy!

The Christian submits himself or herself to others because that’s what Jesus did!

Just before Jesus’ death – when he was carrying all the tension of knowing what was about to happen, what did he do?

He washed his disciples feet – an act of submission

and said this:

John 13:13-15

13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and rightly so, for that is what I am.

14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Submission – in the right way at the right time to the right people. That’s what this passage is about – and it is utterly liberating!

When Jesus died, he had the right, the authority and the power to call down angels to get him off the hook when faced with the cross,

but he submitted to the authorities

In some way, as he dies he could see the bigger picture! – your salvation and mine.

“for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross”

So we submit to one another because there is bigger picture – God is redeeming his world and using an unlikely bunch of people like us to do it!

So in what areas does this attitude of mutual submission work itself out?

This Bible passage says it works out in five key relationships <ppt>

wives to husbands
husbands to wives
children to parents
workers to employers.
employers to workers

Because of the way Paul’s original text is constructed, this would have been clear to his first readers.

Wives to husbands

I want to show you something that blew me away when I discovered it while studying for this talk.

I don’t normally like turning a sermon into a language lesson, but there’s something you need to see.

Here is the Greek text of verse 22 (don’t worry about the hieroglyphics – they’re not important)

… now I’m going to put our English translation, word for word, over the top

Do you notice something that’s present in the English but absent the Greek? – the word ‘submit’

it’s just not there!
Paul didn’t write it!

So you may say to me “Ah, but Ian, in v24 we read

24 … so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Sorry – it ain’t there either!

The idea of submission is carried over into this sentence by the translators from elsewhere in the text

This is vital if we’re going to get the right balance and understand this as his first hearers would have got it!

<ppt> Paul is using a general principle

(submit to one another)
and then working it out with specific examples (wives & husbands, husbands & wives, children & parents etc.)

That’s the structure of this paragraph.

Why tell you about this?

Because I have heard and seen too many of us men use this passage as an scriptural excuse to get our own way.

I have heard too many men say to me “Well I’m the head of the household so she ought to submit to me”

(it may not always be that blatant, but that’s the gist of it!)

What bothers me is the heart attitude!

“I want to get my way!”

I’ve dealt with far too many situations of women who have been bullied by their husbands and those husbands who see this text as an excuse for their own balshiness.

However submission here does mean respecting a husband’s leadership and headship

If there is one person who, under God, is tasked with creating the right atmosphere in the home,

creating the right spirit and seeing the home is a safe, joy-filled and Christ-centred place for the family – it’s the man – and the wife should go along with his spiritual lead.

… ideally

What does Godly submission look like for a wife?

it is voluntary self-giving to a lover who is charged by God to provide constructive care

It is love’s response to love.

The second relationship where we are liberated by submission is

husbands to wives

Somewhere in the millions of word he wrote Leo Tolstoy said this

“The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people”

sounds wonderful!

But before we take his word for it, perhaps we should listen to his wife, Sophia.

“There was so little genuine warmth about him … His biographers will tell how he helped the labourers carry buckets of water, but no one will ever know that he never gave his wife a moment’s rest and never – in all these 32 years – gave his child a drink of water or spent five minute by his bedside to give me a chance to rest a little from all my labours”

How can I show submitted love to my wife in such a way that will enable her to love the Lord and love life – particularly life with me?

I believe there are certain things she needs

[see headlines from McDonald “When men think private thoughts” p132ff]

for example

she needs my devotion

To be married to someone means you discover a myriad of imperfections – most of them never go away!

I need to be committed to her despite her imperfections.

She needs my affection

She needs to know that she is cherished, she is precious

and there is no-one in the world who can do what she has done in my life.

She needs my protection

She needs to know that when the pressure is on us I will shoulder the burden against the rough and tumble of life

She needs my openness

She needs to know what I feel as well as what I think

… and without trying to stereotype men and women most of these qualities don’t come naturally to the average red-bloodied male!

That’s probably why Paul is so definite about the priority of husbands loving their wives.

When he says “husbands love your wives”, the word is the special word coined by the NT writers to describe the love God has for us – agape – It’s deep, costly, permanent, sacrificial love!

Love that isn’t given with the hidden motive of getting something in return
It might mean going without a gadget you’ve set your heart on so she can decorate a room in a particular way,
it might mean going to see her film (and going happily) without being sarcastic!
(I too have sat right through Mama Mia!!)

Children to parents (6:1-3)

Children, Paul says, obey your parents.

It’s significant that Paul says this at this point because he clearly expected children to be present when the letter was being read.

In the first century children were often marginalised in the adult world (alongside women)

so the fact that Paul gives them an equal place with the adult men and employers shows how he valued them

So what does he say?

Eph 6:1-3

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

What does ‘in the Lord’ mean?

Does it mean that if they’re not Christians you don’t need to obey them?
No way!

Obedience is part of God’s plan so when they ask you to obey then, do it as if Jesus was talking to you

It also indicates that if a parent expects a child to something that is clearly outside God’s will there may be a case for obeying God as the higher authority
but this is only in exceptional circumstances.

because the Bible says we’re to

2 “Honour your father and mother”–

and this commandment comes with a promise–

3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

And there’s a converse to this

When children obey their parents, the fathers need to avoid winding them up!

4 … and father’s don’t wind up your children to make them angry, but nurture them using the Lord’s framework and guidance!

Workers to employers (6:5)

Paul talks here to ‘slaves’ – the lowest of the low!

The fact that he talks to them at all is significant because it shows they were there in the church.

How amazing the church is!

In God’s plan of salvation, the church is the great leveller –
men and women, parents and children, Bosses and slaves
all following Christ together!
All equally able to receive the Holy Spirit!

So Paul throws in this revolutionary principle for the slaves

“you’re not just serving you boss – you’re serving God!”

It’s not that your boss equals God (heaven forbid!)

it’s simply that if you want to know God’s blessing, work as if you’re working for Him.
When we do this, it liberates us from doing it ‘just because it’s a job’

Look at v5

Eph 6:5 … obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

… serve wholeheartedly!

So when you get into work tomorrow morning what could you do? –

thank God for your desk “Lord, this is sanctified space!”

and don’t work like this just when your boss is looking, do it all the time, because the Lord is with you!

Employers to workers (6:9)

A man was showing a friend round his huge office. The friend said “

I can just imagine the bosses in the audience when this is read out in the church in Ephesus thinking “Yeah, Paul, you tell ’em! If they behaved like that we might get some work done!”

And just as they were feeling a bit smug Paul says –

9 and (by the way) you masters, treat your slaves in the same way.

Don’t be lazy because you’re the boss! And in particular

9 … Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

He specifically urges bosses to avoid threats and bullying.

How easy it is to slip into aggression in the workplace, particularly when your reputation, or your bonus, or your pride is at stake!
But it’s a sign of a weak character!

Can you see that in the same way that parents are not to provoke their children, so masters are avoid threatening their workers.

A relationship based on threats is not a relationship at all!

Why does Paul make these particular expectations of Christian, wives husbands, kids, workers and bosses?

As I look through them I see

These five instructions each guard us against one of the major temptations we can fall into.

When a wife shows submission to the head of her household she guards herself against manipulation

One of the great temptations within a marriage is to try to manipulate your partner

I think it’s more of a temptation for women than it is for men.

But when a wife settles into a pattern of Godly submission (not subservience or let alone slavery) there is a security and a freedom that it brings which is of God!

When a husband intentionally loves his wife,

not just for what he can extract from her (in the way of getting her to do stuff or sexual favours) but making real sacrifices for her something wonderful happens

selfishness goes out of the window!
When a man shows his love by the sacrifices he makes, the grab gene gradually dies.

What happens when children obey their parents?

There is stability in the family!

What plunged this world into sin, according to Genesis? It was rebellion!

It was being given God’s framework for life and kicking against it!

But when children obey the potential of their lives can be realised!

What happens when workers work wholeheartedly for the boss?

Work gets done -everyone in the company is a winner!

What happens when bosses show respect for their workers?

Threatening behaviours disappear and so does bullying.

These are all consequences of being filled with the Spirit! >>.

Pray

about being filled with the Spirit –

For marriages
for families
for workplaces

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