Father, we confess before you that we have standards that we think your word should meet,
and we, Father, have demands that your word should say things the way we want it to say these things.
And we confess that sometimes we're afraid of what you say in your word.
And we confess in all of this, Father, that we often aren't very conscious that these things go on in our lives,
that we stand in judgment, that we refuse to marvel, that we are troubled and think you've made mistakes,
that we think we can edit your word or improve upon it.
Father, we acknowledge that we do not often know that we do these things.
Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would come with might and power and deep conviction,
that you would make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel.
And as we are gripped by the gospel, will you grip us, Father, with your word
and bring your word deep into the very center of who we are,
that we will live free, generous, and whole lives for the good of this city,
for the furtherance of your kingdom, and for your great glory.
And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, here's the problem with the text.
The text doesn't always begin with a problem, but sometimes it does.
And today, clearly, is one of those Sundays where the text is problematic.
For many of you, if you are listening to what Anna read about parents and children,
there's many, many people in our culture that say that teaching like that
is directly responsible for child abuse.
To tell children they have to obey their parents without any type of qualification
is to open the door to massive child abuse.
And so, the expectation would be that I would start to try to show how,
well, it doesn't mean this and doesn't mean this and doesn't mean this.
But the fact of the matter is, child abuse is a problem in our society.
It's a problem in every society.
And so, if, in fact, the Bible does do something which encourages child abuse,
that's a problem that we have to think about, we have to grapple with.
But more telling, a more common thing that comes to me in coffee shops
is that people will say to me,
George, I can't be a Christian or I can't believe the Bible.
Why would you trust the Bible when the Bible was so clearly complicit
in the institution of slavery?
The Bible was used to oppress slaves.
And that Christians had to learn from other places
that they should not support slavery.
That the Bible either encourages slavery or it's silent in the face of slavery.
And to be silent in the face of slavery is to be complicit in slavery.
And so, how on earth are you going to try to deal with that?
So, there's two big types of issues in the text before us.
So, as I said, we're going to walk towards it, not away from it.
So, if you have your Bibles, it's Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 to 9.
One, interestingly enough, that people don't often realize
when they make some of these complaints about the Bible
is people often don't realize that the person they're complaining about,
because Paul wrote this in about the year 60,
he wrote it while he was in jail.
He wrote it while he was in jail for following Jesus
and proclaiming that Jesus was Savior and Lord.
And there's other surprising things that follow from that
as we look through the rest of the text.
But let's just, well, just what I'm going to do,
we'll read the first couple of verses.
But I'm going to really begin with the slavery issue,
and then I'll come back and, excuse me,
talk about the children and parents issue.
So, let's just begin with that.
We won't spend a long time on these first four verses
to get right into the slavery bit.
But look, actually, there's something really important about slavery
that's right there in the very first verse,
but it doesn't jump out at us.
Look at what it begins.
Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.
Now, just pause there.
This is right is something which is actually quite significant for slavery.
I'll draw it out in a moment.
But if you come to the 8 o'clock service sometime,
where we do the old 1662 Book of Common Prayer service,
which is really from the 1500s, 1552,
I think they added the word amen or something between 1552 and 1662,
very little changes.
But one of the things that we say in the service is we talk about it being
our meet, right, and bounden duty that we would worship Jesus and serve him.
And what this idea of meet, right, and bounden is trying to get at
is it's trying to get at the idea that if, in fact, God has created all things,
and so he is our creator and we live in a created order,
there's certain things that just fit.
They're just right.
That's what the word meet means, M-E-E-T.
It's an old-fashioned word,
but it's trying to get this idea that it just fits.
It's proper.
Not proper in terms of some hoity-toity upper-class sense,
but it just is the way the world works.
It's just like it's right that we eat food that's not spoiled.
It's not right that we eat food that's rancid.
It's right to drink clean water.
It's not right to drink polluted water.
There's just something right, whole.
It fits with how things are.
And that's what the word right means right there.
That's the idea that that word right means,
that there's something in the very nature of creation,
the very nature of how the world is designed and maintained by God
that makes it somehow right that children obey their parents.
It's going to be very important in terms of what we say about parenting in a moment,
but it's also very important in terms of slavery.
But let's just get through the rest of the text.
Look at verses the next.
Oh, sorry.
I jumped too quickly.
Continue reading.
Actually, I'll start with verse 1 again.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
And now Paul is going to quote the Ten Commandments,
one of the Ten Commandments.
Honor your father and mother.
And then he has a little bit of an editorial comment.
This is the first commandment with a promise.
End of editorial comment.
Back to the Ten Commandments.
The commandment that's part of the Ten Commandments.
That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
This is all part of children obeying your parents.
And then he goes, he has something to say to parents.
Just by the way, he says,
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Talk about this more in a moment.
Just the main thing to get out of this,
this doesn't give moms a pass.
The mom can provoke the kids because it just says
the dads aren't allowed to provoke the kids,
but the moms are.
That would be the wrong way to take the text.
But children, it would be both the mom and dad equally,
but there's a direct, specific thing said to fathers.
We'll talk about that in a moment.
Let's get to slavery.
And here's how it begins.
And some of you are reading the ESV.
You'll notice that my translation up here,
my version up here, just slightly different.
And I've changed just one word
to bring out the literal term in the Greek.
And here's how it goes.
Bond servants.
Some of your versions say slaves.
Some of your versions say servants.
Obey not your earthly masters.
That's a good translation,
but it's actually more literal to say
your masters according to the flesh
with fear and trembling,
with a sincere heart,
as you would Christ.
Now, just sort of pause here.
The reason I've brought out the original translation
is that the word flesh
usually is used in two different ways
in the New Testament.
And here it's being used in one of the two ways
to emphasize frailty
and finiteness.
In the ancient world,
the time that this was written,
for children that actually managed to be born,
okay,
that's not talking about all the children
who die through miscarriages
and all the children who die in childbirth,
often with the mom dying at the same time,
but for children that are actually able to be born,
only one out of two
will actually have their sixth birthday.
And in the time that Paul was writing this,
in the city of Ephesus,
most women will die before the age of 30.
And most men won't live much longer than that.
They might live till their 40s
or something like that.
But people don't live long lives
as a general rule.
And so one of the things in the ancient world
is they were very, very, very conscious
of how frail human beings are.
And there was a word for it,
this flesh, sarx.
And so what Paul is saying here,
it's actually,
if you look at it then,
you'll notice right away
there's a bit of an irony here.
There's a bit of a cutting down
of pretensions for slave masters.
And there's a bit of an irony
even with the fear and trembling.
But your fear and trembling
around an earthly master,
a master according to the flesh,
a master who is finite,
a master who is frail,
a master who is weak.
And that's how it describes masters.
Not that masters are like gods,
but that masters are of the earth.
They are temporary.
They are frail.
They are finite.
And then the Bible text continues.
Not by way,
verse 6,
not by way of eye service,
as people pleasers.
In other words,
so it said to slaves
to obey your earthly masters, right?
And then it goes on
to describe how the slave
is to do this.
It's the Christian slave
is not by way of,
verse 6,
of eye service,
as people pleasers,
but as bondservants
or slaves of Christ,
doing the will of God
from the heart,
rendering service
with a good will
as to the Lord
and not to a human being,
knowing that whatever good
anyone does,
this he will receive
back from the Lord,
whether he is a slave
or is free.
And then Paul addresses
the masters,
the Christians who own slaves,
and he says,
masters,
do the same to them,
to the slaves.
Not that the slaves,
the masters,
have to obey the slaves,
but that the masters
are to also
not be people pleasers,
that they are to do
the will of God
from the heart,
that they are to render
service with a good will
as to the Lord,
and they are to act
knowing that whatever good
they do,
they receive it back
from the Lord.
Those are the different
commands to slaves,
and here Paul tells
the masters,
do the same to the slaves.
And then as well,
stop your threatening,
because in the ancient world,
masters literally had
the power of life
and death
over their slaves,
knowing that he
who is both their master
and yours is in heaven,
and that there is
no partiality with him.
So let's just think
about this a little bit.
The first thing
to understand is this.
When I was in university,
it was,
when I was in university,
I'd become a Christian
in grade 12,
and I had lots of challenges
to the Christian faith
in grade 12,
but I had a whole new
type of challenges
when I was in university,
because it was in university
that I met people
who challenged me.
Some of them
were anthroposophists,
some of them
were from the Baha'i,
some of them
were liberal Christians,
and they challenged me
and said that in the Bible,
the Bible doesn't teach
that Jesus is God,
and the Bible doesn't teach
the Trinity,
and they told me
that the word Trinity
isn't in the Bible.
Now maybe if I go back in time
and I replayed
all the sermons
that I'd heard
going through church
and youth group,
maybe somebody in church
told me that the word Trinity
was in the Bible,
but I couldn't remember
ever hearing it.
The first time I was told
that the word Trinity
doesn't appear in the Bible,
I was told it by a Baha'i,
and I thought they were wrong
because the Baha'is aren't right,
and so I went looking,
and to my shock,
the word Trinity
isn't in the Bible,
and to my shock,
I was expecting
that I could come up
with two or three or four
very, very simple,
easy verses
to show that Jesus is God
and that the Trinity is true,
and I couldn't find them,
and I realized afterwards,
and by the way,
I love saying this
to my Baptist friends,
the reason I didn't surrender
right away
is because of tradition,
that I knew
that Christians
had a tradition,
that the Trinity
is the right way
to describe God
and that Jesus
claimed to be God,
and so because I believed that,
I kept looking in the Bible,
and as I looked
and looked and looked,
and I'd look at Bible verses
that said that this taught
these different truths,
but when I looked at it,
it didn't seem to be saying that,
and I realized
what my problem was
after it took a bit of time.
What I was looking for
was this.
I was actually looking
for something like
the Creed in the Bible.
I was looking for
a passage in the Bible
that said,
you have to use the word
Trinity to talk of God.
Jesus is God,
the Father.
I was expecting
a Creed in the Bible,
and I didn't see
the Creed in the Bible,
and so at first
it caught me by surprise,
but then as I hunted
and hunted and hunted,
I started to understand
how the Bible
was communicating
both of these truths,
and in fact,
I could literally,
every sermon
in the book of Ephesians,
I could show
how this text
shows that Jesus is God.
I could do it
every sermon
in the book of Ephesians
and throughout
the New Testament
because it's actually
part of the deep
teaching of it,
and the same thing
happens when people
look at slavery
and the whole issue
of how the Bible
relates to slavery.
What they're looking for
is slavery
is terribly,
terribly,
terribly wrong,
and what you should
be practicing
is a type of
socialist,
democratic capitalism.
Now,
as soon as I add
that last bit,
you realize
there's a bit
of a problem
with that
because that wouldn't
have made any sense
to anybody
in the first century,
nor the fifth,
nor the eighth,
nor the twelfth,
and it doesn't make
a lot of sense
to a lot of people
in the world right now.
But what you expect
is you expect
one thing,
but actually,
if you realize,
okay,
maybe the Bible
is communicating
this in a bit
of a different way,
just as I realize
that it communicates
the truth of the Trinity
and the divinity
of Jesus
in a different way
than I was expecting,
and once you understand
how it communicates it,
you can see that it's there
all the way through
the New Testament.
It's part of the deep
structure of the New Testament
and the entire Old Testament
to understand
the truth of Trinity,
the triune God,
and the divinity of Jesus.
And so maybe the problem
is that we're expecting
it to say it in one way,
but it's actually
saying it in another one.
And the other thing,
and this I love to say
to my non-Christian friends
when they challenge me,
because we all agree
that slavery is wrong.
But I like to challenge them.
I like to mess with them a bit.
And I like to say,
you do realize
that the most recent examples
of,
these are especially
my atheist friends,
you do realize
that half of all
of the slavery
that goes on in the world
right now
is from atheists.
Now that gets
an interesting reaction.
And they deny it.
And I said,
no, Soviet Union,
Communist China,
they all practice slavery.
They're all atheist states.
And they did it
very recently.
China might still
be doing it.
And I said,
what about Islam?
And if you look at it historically,
Hinduism,
Buddhism,
all practice slavery.
It's a human problem.
So the question is,
not just whether this is somehow
just a Christian problem,
and somehow if you're a Muslim
or a Buddhist
or a Hindu
or an atheist,
you get a pass.
No, no,
this is a far deeper
human problem.
And so the question is,
does the Bible,
is it the matter,
the fact of the matter,
and I don't deny
that Christians
throughout time have,
if you go up
and you look up the name,
I can't remember his first name,
his last name is Dabney.
His books are still in print.
He was considered
a very, very, very
deeply Orthodox Christian
in the mid part
of the 1800s
in the United States.
And the horrific thing
is he wrote books
defending slavery
as biblical
and it's abhorrent,
and he was wrong.
The question is,
does Christianity
need to bring in
other ideas
from outside
for Christians
to understand
that slavery is wrong
or is it actually
something which is taught
in the Bible
that slavery is wrong?
I mean,
there's a bit of a question
as to whether atheists
need to bring in ideas
from somewhere else
to understand
that slavery is wrong.
Does Islam have to bring in
ideas from somewhere else
that slavery is wrong?
Does Hinduism have to bring in
ideas from somewhere else
to understand
that slavery is wrong?
Does Christianity have to
or is in fact
a Christian teaching
that slavery is wrong?
That's an interesting question
even with a text like this.
So,
what does the Bible
actually teach?
Here's my summary
of what the Bible teaches.
And I use the gospel
but it could also be
the whole counsel of God
because I think you can see
the same thing
in the Old Testament
but you can see it
in this text
which I'll try to show you.
The gospel ennobles
the slave,
humbles the master,
and dissolves slavery.
The gospel ennobles
the slave,
humbles the master,
and dissolves slavery.
You see,
slavery wasn't just
sort of a bit of an addition.
It wasn't like an accessory
to the ancient world.
And usually when slavery exists
it becomes
not just an accessory
but it becomes
an integral part
of a set of beliefs
and a worldview.
A bit more,
maybe not as much
the case nowadays
but definitely
in the ancient world
there's a whole worldview,
a set of core beliefs
that allow slavery
to be seen
as either reasonable
or good.
People will say
that in fact
slaves deserve it.
In the ancient world
you would become a slave
because your parents
had abandoned you
when you were born.
They would put you out
and expose you
to the elements
so that you would die
and a slave trader
would go looking
at the regular places
where babies
would be abandoned
to die
and they would
take those babies
they'd raise them
and sell them as slaves
and they would say
well obviously
the child deserves
to be a slave
the parents didn't
even want him.
You became a slave
by getting into debt
and selling yourself
into slavery
to pay off the debt.
Surely the slave
deserves to be a slave
because they got into debt.
Slaves,
people would become slaves
because they
lost in battle.
So they lost in battle
surely they deserve
to be my slave.
I won,
they lost,
surely they deserve.
I have other types
of private property
why isn't it right
that I should be able
to own a human being?
If I can own a dog
if I can own a cat
if I can own a horse
if I can own a house
why shouldn't I be able
to own another human being?
There's nothing in nature.
In fact,
they would say
that nature itself
shows that some people
are superior
and other people
are inferior.
That some people
are meant to have
more property rights
or more power
than other types of people
and that nature itself
shows that there's nothing
in particular human beings
which mean
that you shouldn't be able
to own them as a slave.
That there are in fact
that we call them human
and they look human
but they are in fact lower.
They don't have
the full dignity of rights
as a human being
and nature itself shows that
and the gods teach this.
Religion teaches this.
Reason teaches this.
And it's just obvious
to anybody
that in fact
it's right for one person
to have a control
over the other person
because the other person
is not a full person
and does not have
full rights
and the gods
and nature shows
that it favors the strong
and it favors the powerful
and that's just right.
Now by the way
it's the same way
they talk about abortion.
It's the same way
they talk about abortion.
Abortion is the ugly
slavery secret
of the secular mind.
And I don't say
I don't mean to wound you
if you are here
and you've had an abortion.
Jesus loves you.
Come and speak to me.
But the fact of the matter is
you could take
what I just said
and you could look
at abortion arguments
and secular people
the Supreme Court of Canada
and all of the political parties
accept the logic of slavery.
There's a very interesting video online.
Many of you have probably seen it.
It's by a former atheist
by the name of David Wood.
He now runs something
called Acts 17 Ministries.
I encourage you
to Google his conversion.
If you can't remember it
come and speak to me afterwards.
And there's a very,
very interesting part
in that video.
That's about 25 minutes in.
20 minutes in
as he's described his atheism
and everything like that.
And he describes
how he's lying
in a hospital bed
in a prison.
And he describes
that as he's lying there
sort of beat up
physically and mentally
and all of a sudden
he starts to look at things
in a bit of a different way.
And he describes
three core beliefs
of atheism.
And as he describes
these three core beliefs
of atheism,
he starts to describe
how he's lying there
and one day
he begins to doubt
these three,
each of these three
core beliefs
of atheism.
And he comes to the time
when to his horror
he realizes
that he no longer believes
or accepts as reasonable
each of these
core beliefs
of atheism.
And he has this very powerful
way of describing it.
He said that when you
have to understand
that these are core beliefs
and it means the entire
superstructure of my thought,
the whole superstructure
of my thought
and all my arguments
lies upon this
super,
upon this foundation.
And when all of a sudden
the foundation is gone
the whole thing collapses.
Mindful
of the core beliefs
of slavery.
If you go back
and you read,
I'm not going to talk
about it now
but if you want to hear
how I talked about
husbands and wives
you can listen to
last week's sermon.
If you go back
and look at how Paul
talks about husbands
and wives,
what does he do?
He connects marriage
to the doctrine
of creation.
That there's something
about the marriage
of one man
to one woman
which is part
of the very way
that God created
the entire world
to be.
And he connects
the institution
of marriage
to what Jesus
does on the cross.
And he connects
the institution
of marriage
to what the new heaven
and the new earth
is going to look like.
That there's something
about the marriage
of one man
to one woman
that just fits
this level
of creation,
redemption
and the future.
And then if you look
at how he talks
about children
and parents
he uses this word
right.
That there's something
just right.
It just fits
that it's natural
that parents
have the first
and primary
overarching
responsibility
for their own
children.
It's more important
than the state's
claim to the children
that the parents
have a direct
God-given
right connection
to their children
and that the children
to obey their parents
there's something
right about that.
It just fits
with the created order
and now you come
to slavery
and if you're
in the ancient world
you want to say
that there's now
just something right
and fitting
about slavery
and it is
not there.
a huge
foundation
of the slavery
mindset
and it's
not there.
It's nowhere
in the Bible.
Nowhere
in the Bible.
In fact
what does Paul
do?
He talks
about masters
not as if
they're somehow
standing in the
place of God
he calls them
masters according
to the flesh
that they're weak
that they're finite
that they're temporary
the complete
opposite of an idea
of something being natural
masters are temporary
they're fragile
and it talks
about the fact
that the slave
is obviously
a Christian.
What does this mean?
It means that
Jesus loved the slave
so much
that Jesus died
for the slave
and when the slave
puts his or her
faith and trust
in Jesus
that slave
becomes
if you go back
and you read
the rest of Ephesians
and you talk about
how everybody
who gives their life
to Jesus
takes this new status
it's as if God
the heavenly father
adopts this person
and gives them
it's as if God
adopts them
as a son
with the full right
of inheritance
and that part
of Ephesians
we now discover
all those things
in Ephesians
all these glories
it talks about
for a redeemed person
it applies
to slaves
and the entire text
is talking about
how a slave
can serve Jesus
and the entire talk
is about how
slaves and masters
have a
common
lord
and the text
very clearly
says of masters
that God shows
no partiality
none
between the master
and the slave
all of the
intellectual
foundations
the foundations
of slavery
are removed
all of them
the slave
is ennobled
the master
is humbled
and the foundations
that support
slavery
are dissolved
but it has
something more
here's a question
I have to look
at my time
but here's the
question
if you had to
choose between
inner freedom
and outer freedom
which would you
choose
we'd all choose
inner freedom
wouldn't we
now obviously
we'd rather have
both
we'd rather have
freedom to be able
to assemble
and speak what we
want
and we'd like to
have that
and inner freedom
at the same time
but if you think
about it for a second
like you know
we're downtown
and you look at
look at the street
people
and you look at
so many of them
it's heartbreaking
you know
they have outer freedom
through the gazoo
the wazoo
you know
but the fact
of the matter is
there's a chemical
imbalance in the heads
of some of them
which means that
they have no
inner freedom
they're controlled
by their chemistry
and you look at others
it's not that
all street people
fall in these three
categories
I'm not saying that
but a large number
of them do
but there's another
significant amount
of them
they've lost
their inner freedom
because of a drug
addiction
or they've lost
their inner freedom
because of an
alcohol addiction
or that there's
some other type
of chemical imbalance
within the body
which means that
they have a problem
with controlling
impulses
and you look at
these people
and they can walk
wherever they want
and I'm not saying
these people
as if I'm
it's not deriding
them at all
I'm just looking at
it and we all know
we look at
we look at what
happens with
dementia
and Alzheimer's
that there can be
things that go on
within us
and inside of us
that take away
our inner freedom
and every single
one of us would say
if I had to choose
between outer freedom
and inner freedom
I want inner freedom
and you know
the other thing
is if you value
inner freedom
structures externally
which remove freedom
are problematic
they're problematic
you look at this text
and what does this text
do
what this text does
is it talks about
the inner freedom
of the slave
it talks about
the fact
that
the slave
can't control
the fact that
they're bound
can't control
the fact that
the master
will give them
certain orders
they can't control
the fact that
they belong
to somebody else
they can't control
that
and you know what
Paul writing something
wouldn't change that
but they can choose
their reaction
they can choose
to see that
they can live a life
that brings glory
to God
they can choose
a life
that pursues
that which is good
knowing that
they're ultimately
serving the Lord
and you see
what the Bible text
is all
the gospel
is all about this
the fact of the matter
is
is that we human beings
are enslaved
and are not as free
as we think we are
you know it's very interesting
in our culture
there's this double way
of looking at evil
on one hand
often being able to get drunk
is a sign of freedom
but it's very very funny
that in one part of a novel
or one part of a movie
we're being able to get drunk
or sleep with lots of different people
as a sign of freedom
at the same time
later on in the book
or in the next book
getting drunk
is a sign of the fact
that you're bound
or being able to
not being able to actually
keep your marriage vows
is a sign that you're bound
that there's something
problematic with you
and the Bible
doesn't describe freedom
as the ability to do evil
although obviously
you are free to do evil
but the fact of the matter is
is for you and I
if you cannot do what is good
if you cannot do what is true
if you cannot do what is just
if you cannot do what is merciful
if you cannot do what is generous
if you cannot do what is right
if you cannot do what is whole
if you cannot forgive
you are not free
I am not free
I need freedom
it is for freedom
that Christ has set us free
his presence within us
the gift of the Holy Spirit
the fruit
the singular fruit
of the Holy Spirit
what is the singular fruit
of the Holy Spirit
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control
as the gospel grips us
it moves us
to be free
and we know we are free
when we can speak the truth
and know the truth
not speak lies
and know lies
we know we are free
we are generous
there is a thing in the paper
on Saturday
they are nameless
I always read this thing
in the paper
about these financial things
and all that
and retirement readiness
just so you know
I am on the Freedom 75 plan
but I like to plan
long in advance
and there is this couple
in the paper
their take home income
is $200,000 a year
$200,000 a year
and they can't live
within their means
and guess how much
and they travel
all over the world
guess how much money
they give in gifts
or charity
to other people
zero
who is more free
a person who can't live
on $200,000 a year
travels all over the world
but can't even live
within $200,000
or somebody making
a lot less money
who gives money away
who is more free
the generous person
right
generous person
and you know what else
in this text
which is so amazing
and it's not just
in this text
if you go back
and look throughout
the entire Bible
so here
how does Paul
present the gospel
time and time
and time
and time again
he presents the gospel
that God
the Son of God
sets aside
his glory
and divine prerogatives
and his divine splendor
and takes into himself
all the limits
of being born
in human flesh
and he ends up
bound
dying
a slave's
death
on the cross
and why
is he bound
dying a slave's
death
on a cross
so you and I
can be redeemed
and be free
and we don't get
what redeemed means
but every person
in the ancient world
knows what redeemed
means
redeemed
is when somebody
pays the price
so a slave
is no longer
a slave
that's what
redeemed
means
how does the gospel
dissolve slavery
God
the Son of God
is bound
and dies
a slave's death
so that you and I
who are not
truly free
because we are
enslaved to sin
can begin
to lose
the bonds
of sin
in our lives
because Jesus
has redeemed us
out of slavery
and called us
to be
his child
that is the gospel
I need to wind it up
let's look back
at children
and parents
and I'll just
give us a couple
of sort of
exhortations
children
obey your parents
verse 1
children obey your
parents and the
Lord for this is
right
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
basically
and then verse 4
fathers do not
provoke your children
to anger
but bring them up
in the discipline
and instruction
of the Lord
the gospel
ennobles children
and humbles parents
while giving parents
an important mission
remember in the
ancient world
it wasn't thought
of as wrong
to leave your
newborn out
to the elements
to die
how could anybody
reading
Ephesians
leave their child
out to die
the child
is given
this ennobling
task
of being able
to live in a way
that pleases God
the child
is part
of the covenant
community
under the Lord's
authority
and care
and as the gospel
forms a child
the child
will be formed
to obey
and because
the Lord
is the Lord
and we are not
parents
who abuse
their children
are in defiance
of the Lord
are in defiance
of the Lord
and parents
it humbles us
we are not
allowed to just
provoke our kids
for the sake
of provoking them
well how do you
provoke your kid
here is the thing
one of the things
I said to all
of my kids
when they were young
once they got
to a certain age
but very very
very young age
I said to them
you are not allowed
to hit your mom
or dad in anger
now you know what
an 18 month
knows what that means
see I didn't want
my I didn't want
to stop my son
Jacob my son Jacob
and other ones
of my kids
I'd come home
and he'd run at me
and start punching me
but it was how
he welcomed me
okay he was having fun
we get to wrestle
but Jacob knew
when he was
punching me in fun
and when he was
punching me in anger
you know that
at a very young age
moms and dads
you know when you
provoke your kids
right
I mean maybe not
when you say it
but afterwards
you go yeah
that was just
provoking them
I shouldn't
that's just poking
the kid to get
them going
shouldn't have
done it
so it limits
parents
it reminds parents
that they have
to answer to the
Lord
but here's the
mission
by the way
these
these instructions
it works in
an agrarian society
and it works
in a rich society
in a capitalist society
it's a very very
different
a very very
simple mission
and the Bible
understands
God understands
that kids are
different
some kids
have like
Tourette's
syndrome
some kids
are on
spectrums
some kids
have
they're just
wired to move
constantly
some kids
like to sit
still
but the bottom
line is
the mission
isn't that
you give your
kids as many
piano lessons
and hockey
lessons
and every
other lesson
in the world
the mission
is that you
raise children
who will obey
and who will
love Jesus
that's your
first commission
that's your
first mission
what does it
profit a parent
whose kid
knows how to
play the piano
knows how to
play the viola
can speak 53
languages
gets an A plus
and plays hockey
and plays soccer
and plays basketball
and plays everything
else and doesn't
know Jesus
than a kid
who just has fun
but knows Jesus
the mission's clear
and just to
wind up the
whole thing
none of us
have slaves
but every
single one of
us is in
positions where
sometimes we
have to obey
and sometimes
we're in
positions of
authority
and there's a
very direct
call out to
you
for those of
you who
have authority
whether it's
over a kid
or whether it's
over an
employee
remember that
one day you
will give
account to
how you've
acted to
Jesus
and how
you treat
the weak
is a deep
reflection
of the
state of
your soul
how you
treat the
person in
your workplace
that nobody
likes
and if you
join in
with them
in calling
them names
or putting
down or
making fun
of them
shame on
you
it is
revealing
what you
would do
with power
and we
have to
sometimes
in our
organizations
and in
life take
orders
and then
you can
read this
text and
meditate upon
it
there might
be very
little you
can do
in the
short run
around a
cruel and
oppressive
boss
in the
long run
in Canada
you can
quit
get another
job
but in the
short run
there might
be very
little you
can do
but you
can control
how you
react
and you
can seek
to act
out of
a good
will
remembering
that you're
serving
Jesus
first and
foremost
and he
sees
everything
that goes
on
and he
ennobles
your labor
and your
sacrifice
please stand
just you know
once again
if you're here
today and
you've never
given your
life to
Jesus
the gospel
wants to
ennoble
you
the gospel
will make
you free
it might
not give
you instant
victory
in fact it
won't give
you instant
victory over
all of the
things that
bind you
but the
presence of
the gospel
the presence
of Jesus
in your
life will
move you
towards
freedom
and if
you are
saying no
to the
gospel
and no
to Jesus
it is those
sources of
slavery
within you
because they
know the
sources of
slavery within
you and
around you
know that
if you
come to
Jesus
he will
dethrone
them
and so
there is no
better time
now than to
shut your
ears
to that
which wants
to keep you
from Jesus
and call out
to him
and say
Jesus be my
redeemer
I give myself
to you
there's no
better time
than now to
call out
for that
and for
the rest
of us
we know
those things
in our
lives
where we
are not
free
and this
is a good
time to
do some
work with
Jesus
calling out
to him
to bring
his healing
authority
to bear
in those
parts of
our lives
where we
are not
free
that the
gospel will
be more
real to
our hearts
and that
as the
gospel is
more real
to our
hearts
the
outflow
of
obedience
will
come
let's
pray
father
ask that
the
holy
spirit
would
come
with
might
and
power
and
deep
conviction
amongst
us
we
thank
you
father
for
your
word
we
thank
you
that
Jesus
became
a
slave
and
was
bound
that
people
like
me
and
those
of
us
here
and
our
friends
and
our
neighbors
and
people
to
the
ends
of
the
earth
that
as
Jesus
was
bound
and
died
a
be
delivered
from
slavery
and
be
made
free
in
Jesus
to
be
free
in
deed
to
be
free
to
be
generous
to
be
free
to
forgive
to
be
free
to
be
kind
to
be
free
to
love
to
be
free
to
know
the
truth
to
be
free
to
be
merciful
to
be
free
to
be
just
to
be
free
to
seek
the
benefit
of
others
and
the
benefit
of
our
city
and
the
benefit
Jesus
has
come
to
make
us
free
and
we
ask
father
that
you
make
us
disciples
of
Jesus
who
are
so
gripped
by
the
gospel
that
we
can
die
to
ourselves
and
be
free
and
all
God's
people
said
Amen