WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.679 you turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians with me, Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:11.820 This is our second to last sermon in this series, and I'm a little bit sorry to see it 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:19.000 close. I've thoroughly enjoyed diving into this book. It is one of my favorite to read 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:25.679 in the New Testament, and I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with you and what God has 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:34.939 given me along with you. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. We'll read 00:00:34.939 --> 00:00:44.079 down through the first nine verses today, and then next Sunday, anybody want to guess what the 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:51.280 topic is going to be? Armor of God. There you go. That's good. If you have kind of cheated and read 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:58.240 ahead in Ephesians, that's all right. Ephesians 6, the second half there, talks about the armor, 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:06.019 so to speak, that a Christian can wear to protect him against the attacks of the evil one, and so 00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:11.680 we're looking forward to diving into that. But today, we're going to be talking about serving God by 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.859 serving others. The book of Ephesians has been divided up into two sections. First section is 00:01:17.859 --> 00:01:25.159 who we are, and the second section is how we live. That's right. Much of my study for this series 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:30.319 has come from these two books, Christ-centered exposition and the Bible exposition commentary. 00:01:30.539 --> 00:01:35.819 Those are good resources. The background of the book, written by the Apostle Paul, who wrote much of 00:01:35.819 --> 00:01:44.140 the New Testament around the year A.D. 62, and he wrote it from prison in Rome, likely under house arrest, 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:50.120 after he had been the pastor of this church that he's writing this letter to back in Ephesus for 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:57.079 about three years. And you can read his exploits during that time back in Acts chapter 19. So the 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:02.740 breakdown, boy, they just divided it nice in half there. The first three chapters are our identity 00:02:02.740 --> 00:02:08.680 in Christ, who we are in Christ. The second three chapters talk about the practical side, what we're 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:13.920 supposed to do, how we're supposed to live. And so that's what we've been talking about in this second 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:19.659 half. Today, we're talking about, I'm sorry, last week, last week we talked about mutual submission. 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:26.120 And we covered kind of the second half of Ephesians 5. And that was understanding the lesson 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:33.400 that we submit to God's Spirit within us when we voluntarily, willingly submit to each other. 00:02:33.640 --> 00:02:38.319 Whether that looks like husbands and wives or fellow believers. And today we're going to get into 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:46.039 more of these relationships. So this mutual submission theme carries on through our reading 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:52.239 today in Ephesians 6. So let's keep that in the back of our mind as we get into it. Today I'll be 00:02:52.239 --> 00:02:56.959 reading from the New Living Translation, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 1. If you're able to and willing, 00:02:56.959 --> 00:03:06.479 would you join me in standing and let's read Ephesians 6 verse 1. Children, any kids still in the room? 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.099 I know a lot of them are off in junior church, but I think we've got some of the older kids in here 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:15.859 with us. Ephesians 6 verse 1. Children, all right, children, anybody paying attention? They're talking 00:03:15.859 --> 00:03:24.759 to you. Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:32.099 Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment. Remember those 10 commandments 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:37.620 that God gave Moses back in the Old Testament? This is the first commandment that has a promise 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:45.479 attached to it. If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you and you will have a long 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:53.719 life on the earth. Okay, now we're moving on to fathers. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger 00:03:53.719 --> 00:04:02.879 by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:12.039 Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:22.040 serve Christ. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:32.600 do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm as though you were working for the Lord 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:40.560 rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:48.340 whether we are slaves or free. And finally, masters, treat your slaves in the same way. 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:56.119 Don't threaten them. Remember, you both have the same master in heaven and he has no favorites. 00:04:56.799 --> 00:05:01.500 Let's pray together. God, I ask that you would open our minds and give us clear understanding of 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:07.120 the words that we read from Ephesians 6 today. Help it to impact us, change the way we think, 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:12.959 change the way we live. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Thank you for standing. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:20.199 We saw a lot of different categories of relationships here, didn't we? 00:05:21.479 --> 00:05:26.959 So the topic we're going to talk about today that kind of carries through all these relationships and 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:33.740 even started back in the second half of the previous chapter is this, serving the Lord by serving others. 00:05:34.939 --> 00:05:41.679 Mutual submission, not regarding one of us as higher or more important or greater than another, 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:49.600 mutually submitting to one another, and serving God by serving each other. 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:55.540 So that's the theme that we're going to be talking about today. And the first category we read here in 00:05:55.540 --> 00:06:03.639 Ephesians 6 is kids, children. Kids obey God by obeying their parents. Let's look back at verse 1 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:10.699 down through verse 3. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. That's what my Bible read growing up. 00:06:10.699 --> 00:06:15.519 Obey your parents in the Lord. And I love how the New Living Translation kind of expands on that. 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:21.519 It says, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord. Kind of clarifies. What are we saying? 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:25.759 What are we saying when we say you're in the Lord? We're saying you belong to the Lord. 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:31.500 So because you belong to God, you should obey your parents. Why? 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:39.120 Because verse 2 goes back to the commandment that God gave so many centuries earlier, 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:45.040 honor your father and mother. And there's a promise attached to that command. 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:51.860 If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you. You'll have a long life 00:06:51.860 --> 00:06:58.819 on this earth. And we don't know and how long exactly we're given to live. And God even tells us, 00:06:58.819 --> 00:07:04.439 don't number your days. Don't begin to predict how long of a life you'll have on this earth. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:10.779 There's no, tomorrow is not guaranteed. There's no promise or guarantee that you'll have the next 10, 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:19.019 15, 20, 50 years. But God does say you will have a long life. And I believe the connotation is a full 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:27.480 life. The meaning there is a full life that will be as long as God planned for you to have on this earth. 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:34.700 If you do that simple thing of honoring your father and mother and children, that means obey. 00:07:35.340 --> 00:07:40.939 When you become an adult, sometimes honoring your mom and dad can take on different perspectives, 00:07:41.140 --> 00:07:47.379 different angles, different ways of honoring your mom and dad as the relationship takes on a new stage. 00:07:47.700 --> 00:07:53.480 But we are continually for our entire life to honor our mom and dad and children. 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:59.700 That means obedience to your mom and dad. Kids, that means you've got to obey them, even if you're mad at 00:07:59.700 --> 00:08:06.840 them. Even if you're justified, even if you're right and you know they're wrong, you've still got to obey 00:08:06.840 --> 00:08:14.120 your parents. God says it. He commands it. And there's a reason for it. Those are the people that he has placed 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:22.340 in your life to give an account to him for the job they did in raising you. They will stand before God 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:31.180 and answer for how they raised you, how they trained you. And so your responsibility as a child is to 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:38.340 honor them and honor God because you belong to God. He has assigned you to those parents. 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:46.780 And so you honor God and you serve God by serving them. Let's look at a couple other verses that kind 00:08:46.780 --> 00:08:53.899 of say a similar command. Children, Colossians 3, always obey your parents for this pleases the Lord. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:59.639 Now let me just tell you a little sneak peek ahead. We're going to be going back and forth from Ephesians 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:05.300 6 back to Colossians 3 throughout this entire day. And we could have even done it last Sunday, 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:11.019 but I was kind of saving it for this week. Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5 and 6 are what we 00:09:11.019 --> 00:09:16.500 call parallel passages. They're going to have very, very similar commands. Why? Because those were 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:21.819 written to two different churches, one in Colossae and one in Ephesus. But God gave the same commands 00:09:21.819 --> 00:09:29.019 in many ways to both churches. So Paul wrote about both of them in his letters to these churches. So we get 00:09:29.019 --> 00:09:34.299 to read back and forth and see the similarities in these two passages. And the first one is to children. 00:09:34.299 --> 00:09:41.419 Children, always obey your parents. I love how he put that word in there. Always. Sorry kids, 00:09:41.479 --> 00:09:47.639 you've always got to obey. Even if your parents aren't asking you the thing to do that you want 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:54.799 to do or the thing that you think will actually work, your responsibility is just to honor God by 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:01.179 honoring them and obeying them in this season of your life. Because this pleases God. It won't please 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:06.519 God if you can turn back around and say, that's why I didn't do that because you were wrong and I was 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:12.159 right. That's not is what's going to please God. You being right. What's going to please him is you 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:17.699 humbling yourself before God by humbling yourself before your parents and saying, okay, I understand 00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:26.680 that God wants me to obey you and so I'm going to honor God by obeying you. Exodus 20, 12. Here's the 00:10:26.680 --> 00:10:31.259 commandment. Here's the commandment they were talking about. Honor your father and mother. Then you will 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:40.640 live a long full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. God holds the keys to life and death. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:49.100 We want to honor God by honoring our father, heavenly father. And then he promises he will give you that 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:58.379 long full life. Proverbs 23 verse 22. Listen to your father who gave you life. By the way, just a general 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:04.319 reminder, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your mom and dad. Okay, you wouldn't be here. Listen to your 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:12.820 father who gave you life and don't despise your mother when she is old. God knows that as we get 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:19.000 older, sometimes our minds can get weaker. Sometimes our bodies definitely get weaker. Sometimes we're not 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.360 what we used to be, right? That's not that's not your concern. You don't have to worry about that. 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:30.280 God says don't despise your mom and dad because of that. They love you. They gave you life. It poured so 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:38.720 much into you that you'll never even know or remember. And you can honor them. You honor God 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:46.019 by honoring them. So children, obey your parents. You obey God by obeying your parents. Parents, 00:11:46.179 --> 00:11:54.259 on the other hand, obey God by loving their kids well. Parents, we obey our God by loving our kids 00:11:54.259 --> 00:12:03.039 well. Let's look back at Ephesians 6 verse 4. Fathers. And look, mothers, you don't get left 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:08.679 out here as well. But God instituted, like we talked about last week, the father as the leader of the 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:13.439 home. We're supposed to mutually submit to each other, mutually serve each other. But God did put 00:12:13.439 --> 00:12:21.379 that leadership role on the father's shoulders, that responsibility. And so he addresses the fathers 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:30.080 to set the tone in the home by not provoking your children to anger or wrath by the way you treat 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:39.480 them. Don't intentionally push your kids buttons as good as it feels sometimes because they've been 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:47.440 driving you up the wall pushing yours all day. We can't respond in anger, right? Our children are 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:55.760 developing. Their brains are developing. Supposedly, our brains are fully developed, right? We don't 00:12:55.760 --> 00:13:04.080 always act that way. But do not provoke your children to wrath by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:11.260 up with the discipline and instruction, your Bible might say nurture and admonition, that comes from the 00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:20.240 Lord. That should be the tone of our home. Loving our kids well, giving them an accurate view of who God 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:30.120 is and how God treats us. That should be how we're treating our children. Now, if any of you have been 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:36.120 perfect in that role, I would love to meet you and you should write a book afterwards. But I don't think 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:43.779 any of us have any of us have none of us are going to be perfect parents. Kids are thinking right now, I knew my 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:53.799 parents weren't perfect. Problem is, none of you are perfect kids either. All of us are imperfect, right? And so our 00:13:53.799 --> 00:14:03.060 relationships bear the fruits of our imperfect treating of each other. So, Colossians, back again in chapter 3. 00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:09.699 Fathers, do not aggravate your children or they will become discouraged. Have you ever seen your kids get 00:14:09.699 --> 00:14:18.039 discouraged? I know I have. And mine are young. They're about to be nine and seven. I've seen them get 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:26.219 discouraged. I've seen them get discouraged as after, as a direct result of the way I treated them. 00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:33.420 I have seen my treatment of them cause discouragement in their faces, in their countenance, in their 00:14:33.420 --> 00:14:42.639 heart. I've seen it. So, I have to instantly learn in that moment, I went astray. I provoked them to wrath 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:49.840 or I crushed their spirit. Don't aggravate your children. You'll either cause anger or discouragement 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:55.220 frequently in your children. And often that'll lead to resentment. And resentment can lead to rebellion. 00:14:55.220 --> 00:15:02.240 Rebellion is a dangerous, dangerous path to walk. Because then you're not walking according to the 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:08.779 Holy Spirit of God. You're walking to what seems right in your eyes in getting back at someone else 00:15:08.779 --> 00:15:13.920 and rebelling against what you were taught. And then the baby goes out with the bathwater. You understand? 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:20.279 Then it's not just, I'm mad at my dad. Now it's, I'm mad at God. I'm mad at the church. I'm mad at my 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:25.220 parents. I'm mad at anybody who taught me this way because I reject that now. And now I walk a 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:29.419 different path. You don't want to see your kids walk down that path. You don't want to see what 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:37.259 becomes of your children or even your grandchildren because you provoked your children to anger, which 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:45.240 caused resentment, which caused rebellion. So, it might start with discouragement and then it might go to 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:53.220 anger. There is a way to correct, to discipline, to instruct our children without causing discouragement 00:15:53.220 --> 00:16:00.759 and anger. And we've got to learn it. If we don't, then we have failed not only God, not only ourselves 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:07.919 and our family. We've failed our children. We've failed future generations. Because we couldn't control 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:14.399 our own spirit. We couldn't manage our own spirit by the power of God. You see how all this works together? 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:20.899 See how it all builds on top of each other? You and I have to maintain our personal relationship 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:27.399 with Jesus. We have to say no to the flesh and yes to God's spirit because our children need us in that 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:35.679 space. Our children need that version of us. Our spouses need that version of us. When we continually 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:43.620 live in that flesh and say yes to ourselves, our homes are not filled with harmony. Our homes are harmful. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:51.799 Proverbs 22. Direct your children onto the right path. And when they're older, they won't leave it. 00:16:52.899 --> 00:17:00.519 If you, in a godly, loving, compassionate way, direct your children onto the right path, 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:06.900 then when they're older, they won't leave it. There might be a time when they walk away from that path, 00:17:06.900 --> 00:17:15.940 but they'll find their way back because you showed them who God really is. And once they go off and 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:20.519 taste something else like the story of the prodigal son, and all of a sudden, everything that looked 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:27.620 so attractive turns out to not be so attractive, and all the allure of chasing your own desires and your 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:35.399 own sinful flesh doesn't work out as well as they thought it would, then they'll remember how good God really 00:17:35.399 --> 00:17:43.619 was. How right the instruction about God that their parents gave them really was. So we've got to direct 00:17:43.619 --> 00:17:49.299 our children on the right path and do it in a loving way, in a tender way, in a compassionate way, in a consistent 00:17:49.299 --> 00:18:00.200 way, managing our own flesh and emotions. So when they're older, they'll remember, boy, God is good, isn't he? 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:07.200 I've got to run back to God. There's a concept here. I mentioned it a moment ago, the harmonious home 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:15.379 versus a harmful home. What do we mean by harmonious? It means we're living in harmony. Y'all heard how good 00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:21.480 the choir sounded up here, didn't you? I thought they sounded good. I don't know. 00:18:24.260 --> 00:18:29.120 You know why they sound so good? Because they're singing in harmony with each other. You've got your 00:18:29.120 --> 00:18:33.900 altos, and you've got your sopranos, and your tenors, and your basses, and how many of you looked at, 00:18:34.260 --> 00:18:37.900 you know, I don't know if we still have the the hymnals in there. You can look, you can see the 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:43.080 different parts in music written, and when all those parts are mixed together, it's this beautiful 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:50.079 harmony that sounds so much better than if we were all just singing one same part. 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:57.399 So that is how a home is supposed to live. We're supposed to live in harmony with each other. 00:18:57.399 --> 00:19:04.259 We're not all filling the same role. We're not all exactly the same. We don't all think about things 00:19:04.259 --> 00:19:12.460 the same way. We don't all want the same things. But when we are all pursuing God and trying to serve 00:19:12.460 --> 00:19:20.420 God, then we serve one another, and we're not living in discord, we're not producing this sound that's 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:25.660 hard to listen to, which is probably more characteristic of our home sometimes, unfortunately. 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:33.600 But instead, we would be producing this beautiful music, so to speak, okay? And that would be the way 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:42.939 our home moves forward. Sometimes we hit a wrong note. Sometimes we hit a wrong key. And in that moment, 00:19:42.939 --> 00:19:50.299 we have to apologize. We have to humble ourselves before God and before each other and go back so as 00:19:50.299 --> 00:20:00.219 not to produce a harmful home. Instead, a home full of harmony. So parents, here's the question. Are you in it 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:09.140 for the long haul with your kids? There's two ways of approaching this. One is giving your kids whatever 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:18.000 they want? Because that satisfies the initial controversy. It satisfies the initial bumping of 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:25.799 heads. I want this. You won't give it to me. I don't like you. Fine. Here, you can have it. Are you happy now? 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:32.240 How many times have we treated our children that way, whether they were a baby or a toddler 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:39.859 or an elementary age kid, junior high, high school? How many times has that been the relationship and 00:20:39.859 --> 00:20:51.960 the response with our children? Or on the other side, it's the overly harsh side. You better do what I say 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:57.940 or you're going to regret it. You better listen to me. You better do this just because I told you to 00:20:57.940 --> 00:21:10.840 and shut up and sit down. That might get obedience. But is that provoking them to anger, to wrath? 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:15.440 That's going to build up bitterness, resentment? They just can't wait to get out of your house so they 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:18.759 can do what they can do. They can do what they want instead of what you make them do. 00:21:22.600 --> 00:21:31.320 Both can produce immediate results. They're happy they got what they wanted or they're scared for 00:21:31.320 --> 00:21:38.100 what's going to happen. Now, y'all, we've got to discipline our kids and there is a healthy fear 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:48.439 fear of God and of parents, but it's got to be a healthy fear. We owe it to our children to not live 00:21:48.439 --> 00:21:57.359 in either extreme. God doesn't deal with us that way. God deals with us patiently. He works through 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:04.199 our hang-ups. He works through our frustrations, our fears. He works through them with us patiently 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:11.980 year after year after year after year, getting us to understand who he is, how much he loves us, 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:19.039 what's important. Think about the journey that you've been on with God and how long that's taken. 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:24.759 So the question is, do we treat our children the same way? Are we in it for the long haul with our 00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:32.160 children, not just for immediate moments of peace or immediate moments of order? 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:41.720 Are we consistently showing our children this is who God is? And I'm not always going to be perfect, 00:22:42.220 --> 00:22:46.380 but that's a big part of who God is, how he treats us when we're not perfect. 00:22:47.340 --> 00:22:52.180 So are you in it for the long haul with your kids? Number three, employees. Employees. 00:22:53.640 --> 00:23:00.860 Now, we read the word slaves in our Bible, and that was the world they were living in. Remember how 00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:05.679 a couple weeks ago, I think it might have been last week, we talked about how patriarchy was not the 00:23:05.679 --> 00:23:11.419 message of the Bible, it was the cultural backdrop of the Bible. Same thing for slavery. Slavery was 00:23:11.419 --> 00:23:16.439 certainly not the message of the Bible, it was the cultural backdrop of the Bible. So that's how 00:23:16.439 --> 00:23:22.119 the world was when Paul was writing to them back then. There were slaves and masters, and we read about 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:28.859 a specific slave in the New Testament named Onesimus. So instead of slavery, which, thank God, 00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:34.939 God is a God of freedom and liberty, and in our world today, slavery is illegal just about everywhere, 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:41.719 though it still is in existence, oftentimes in the case of human trafficking. And so nowadays, 00:23:41.939 --> 00:23:48.599 we can institute that word employees into slaves. So employees, obey your earthly masters or your 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:56.719 earthly leaders, authorities, supervisors, bosses. With deep respect and fear, serve them sincerely 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:04.380 as you would serve Christ. Try to please them all the time, not just when they're watching. 00:24:05.860 --> 00:24:12.860 As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Let's look back at Ephesians 3 again. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:19.539 Remember our parallel passage? Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them 00:24:19.539 --> 00:24:24.039 all the time, not just when they're watching you. You see how closely this runs together? 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:33.339 Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:40.599 as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Boy, God must really want us to get this 00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:45.539 if he puts it into two different letters to two different churches. It's the same commands, 00:24:45.539 --> 00:24:51.159 the same instructions. And he included both of them in our holy scriptures, which he has preserved 00:24:51.159 --> 00:24:57.420 all the way to 2024 and beyond. Okay? So God must think this is really important. Let's pay attention 00:24:57.420 --> 00:25:06.079 to it. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the master you are 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:12.399 serving is Christ. But if you do what is wrong, you'll be paid back for the wrong you've done. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:20.840 God doesn't have any favorites. Okay? So think about that concept that the master we are serving 00:25:20.840 --> 00:25:32.259 is Christ. If you work for Sonic, the master you're serving is not Sonic, it's Christ. And God has placed 00:25:32.259 --> 00:25:39.780 an earthly master over you, and he is telling you, you must then treat that master as you would treat 00:25:39.779 --> 00:25:45.500 your heavenly father, your heavenly master. Okay? Christ is a good master. 00:25:47.399 --> 00:25:55.379 So it's easy to show him love. It's easy to be grateful for him. But sometimes it's hard 00:25:55.379 --> 00:26:00.660 to show love and be pleasing to our earthly masters who are not always good masters. 00:26:00.660 --> 00:26:09.340 But that is how we show them who Jesus is. That's how we show them how Christians really 00:26:09.340 --> 00:26:16.620 should be. That even when we're poorly treated, even when we're mistreated, we still show the 00:26:16.620 --> 00:26:22.779 same kind of obedience, respect, love that we would show to our heavenly master. 00:26:22.779 --> 00:26:30.000 So that's the concept here. Look over Matthew chapter 5, verse 16. This is from the New International 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:35.500 Version. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds 00:26:35.500 --> 00:26:42.299 and glorify your Father in heaven. That's what it's talking about. When you have an opportunity 00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:52.899 in the middle of the darkness of your workplace to let your light shine, then people are drawn to that light. 00:26:54.980 --> 00:27:01.599 And the goal is not for them to glorify you, it's to glorify God who shines that light through you. 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:08.379 That's evangelistic. That's evangelistic. Employee ship. Is that a word? 00:27:11.379 --> 00:27:17.980 Evangelistic working. All right? That's showing Jesus to other people through our work. 00:27:19.459 --> 00:27:26.219 Say, man, I work on a ranch. How am I supposed to show? Well, whoever you work with, show them 00:27:26.220 --> 00:27:32.779 what Jesus would look like working on a ranch. Show them what Jesus would look like working in an 00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:38.839 office. Show them what Jesus would look like teaching in the school. Show them what Jesus 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:44.640 would look like wherever God leads you in this world. Show them what Jesus would look like there. 00:27:44.900 --> 00:27:51.180 How am I supposed to do that? With God's help. He wants to help you do that. That's his goal for you. 00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:58.420 So if you open up your heart and lay aside your own fears and anxieties and let God take over, 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:03.380 he can do things through you that you never thought possible. Believe me, I have lived that. 00:28:04.259 --> 00:28:09.980 I've seen that happen. So we must let our light shine before others that they see 00:28:09.980 --> 00:28:16.400 our good deeds and don't glorify us, but glorify our Father in heaven. Y'all remember this song? 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:24.960 This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. It's a good song, isn't it? Shine all over 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:31.340 Henrietta. Shine all over Clay County. Shine all over your home. Shine all over your job site. 00:28:31.580 --> 00:28:36.560 Shine all over wherever you are. God has given you that light and you can let it shine. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:44.819 So how do we serve our leaders well? Specifically, number one, give the same respect, 00:28:45.639 --> 00:28:55.240 enthusiasm, and effort we would give God himself. How do we serve our leaders well? We give the same 00:28:55.240 --> 00:29:03.500 amount of respect that we would give to God himself. That's not blasphemous. That's what we are instructed 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:12.200 to do. As though our master was Christ himself. We give the same amount of respect. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:23.079 We don't talk to them or talk, ready for this, about them like we would someone that we don't respect. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:32.660 Humanly speaking, you might not respect your master, but you're not serving him. You're not serving her. 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:40.560 You're serving God. He's your master. So because you love God and you want to let your light shine 00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:49.660 and not be just another contributor to the darkness, not just another employee who's talking bad about 00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:56.200 their supervisor behind their back, who's griping and complaining with legitimate reason and cause, 00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:01.539 instead, you're going to let your light shine and go against the grain and give that same respect 00:30:01.539 --> 00:30:09.340 that you would to God. You're going to give the same enthusiasm that you would if God was your boss. 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:16.259 You're going to give the same level of enthusiasm. There might be nothing that really appeals to you 00:30:16.259 --> 00:30:21.779 about the work you do on a given day in your job. There might be nothing exciting about that, 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:28.440 but you're going to get excited about it because you're serving God. You woke up that day and God 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:34.379 not only kept you alive and kept you fed with a roof over your head and maybe a family to wake up to 00:30:34.379 --> 00:30:39.240 who loves you and loves the Lord and maybe a church family who loves you and loves the Lord. He also 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:44.460 provided a healthy enough body for you to go to work. He provided a job for you to pay your bills. 00:30:44.460 --> 00:30:50.680 He provided all of this for you. So whatever work that God has put on your plate, you're going to tackle 00:30:50.680 --> 00:31:01.860 it with enthusiasm. Whatever you do, do it heartily. Do it with all your mind, all your soul, all your 00:31:01.860 --> 00:31:09.560 strength as unto the Lord and not unto people. So give the same respect, enthusiasm, and give the same 00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:16.320 effort that we would give for God himself. How many of y'all have ever had a day when you just wanted to 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:24.740 mail it in? It's like, look, I showed up, okay? I'm here. What more do you want from me? I get it, y'all. 00:31:24.819 --> 00:31:32.019 There are days like that, but that cannot be how we're known. That cannot be the norm for us. And in 00:31:32.019 --> 00:31:38.460 those moments, we've got to find five minutes, whether it's a bathroom break or whatever you got to do, 00:31:38.460 --> 00:31:44.460 and get alone and say, God, I can't today. So you're going to have to, you're going to have to help me. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:52.039 Because I don't want to work for them. I want to work for you. And this is the work that you've 00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:59.019 given me to do. Help me to do it as though you had given it to me, because he has. That is the work 00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:06.679 he's given to you. For that day, for that moment, that is the task that he set before you. So that's 00:32:06.679 --> 00:32:12.579 how we serve our leaders well. And then secondly, we work for a heavenly reward. Why? The earthly 00:32:12.579 --> 00:32:18.339 reward may never come. You may not get the promotion. Your business may not take off how 00:32:18.339 --> 00:32:26.740 you thought it would or should. COVID might happen. Sickness might happen. Financial problems 00:32:26.740 --> 00:32:32.859 may crop up. There might be all kinds of problems that keep you from getting the earthly reward 00:32:32.859 --> 00:32:40.359 that you feel like you need or deserve or want. And the truth is, even if you get that heavenly 00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:46.979 reward, even if your ship comes in, so to speak, and it all works out better than you could have 00:32:46.979 --> 00:32:51.679 thought it would, because sometimes God does grant us those blessings and those seasons of plenty. 00:32:52.719 --> 00:32:59.959 Even if that comes in, it does not compare with the heavenly reward that is waiting for those who 00:32:59.959 --> 00:33:05.000 faithfully serve God. So how do we serve our leaders well? We show them respect. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:11.460 We show them the enthusiasm and effort that we would show to God. And secondly, we work for our heavenly 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:19.420 reward. He's promised it. He's promised us an inheritance if we faithfully serve in the here and 00:33:19.420 --> 00:33:26.599 now. Then someday, he's got the someday taken care of. And then finally, leaders. He doesn't leave the 00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:33.259 leaders and bosses out, all right? So leaders, obey God by loving their employees well. Let's look back 00:33:33.259 --> 00:33:43.059 at Ephesians 6 and we'll be done. Verse 9. Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Now, hopefully 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:49.460 nobody in here has slaves, all right? But you might have employees. You might have people working for you. 00:33:49.819 --> 00:33:54.299 You might be in the church in a leadership position in our church, whether you're in charge of a 00:33:54.299 --> 00:34:02.740 ministry team or a Sunday school class or in charge of a committee or serve on staff. Whatever leadership 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:10.119 position that God has placed you in, in the job site, in a charity, in a non-profit, on a board, whatever 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:17.900 God has placed you in a leadership capacity, you obey God by loving those under you well. Treat your 00:34:17.900 --> 00:34:25.480 slaves in the same way that he instructed slaves to treat their masters. Don't threaten them. Don't 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:33.740 have that culture of fear. So back in Colossians, we've finished chapter 3, moved into chapter 4 now 00:34:33.740 --> 00:34:40.820 in that same passage over in Colossians. Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also 00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:46.579 have a master in heaven. You're not better than them. You're not greater than they are. God is your 00:34:46.579 --> 00:34:52.659 master, even if he has made you their master. And then Philippians 2, do nothing out of selfish 00:34:52.659 --> 00:35:00.759 ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves. How many bosses do you know 00:35:00.759 --> 00:35:07.239 that that characterizes? That describes them accurately. They value others above themselves. 00:35:08.519 --> 00:35:15.119 Anybody ever had a boss like that? Boy, not many, huh? Not many. That's pretty rare, isn't it? Pretty uncommon. 00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:21.400 And if you did have a boss like that, you probably never forgot them. And you wish they were still your 00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:37.539 boss today. That is a rare leadership trait, but it is highly effective. Leaders, it's not your job to have 00:35:37.539 --> 00:35:43.559 all the praise and honor coming to you. It's your job to serve those under you well. It's your job to help 00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:51.159 them succeed. That's why you've been placed in that leadership role. It's not selfish ambition. It's not 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:57.000 a career maker for you. It's not you trying to climb the ladder and get more for yourself. It's not trying 00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:03.900 to build that ego that's probably already too big. Instead, it's serving others well. So how do we do that? 00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:09.980 How do we love well from a position of leadership? Number one, build a culture of mutual success and 00:36:09.980 --> 00:36:17.139 equality. Build a culture of mutual success and equality. If I succeed, we all succeed. If you 00:36:17.139 --> 00:36:24.180 succeed, we all succeed. We all want to succeed at the same time, not me above you. You're not working 00:36:24.180 --> 00:36:31.380 to contribute to my success, a leader would say. We're all working to be successful together. 00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:38.340 We're all equals in this. And then number two, resist a culture of fear and favoritism. These are 00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:46.820 the two warnings given to us in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 4. Fear and favoritism. Okay, God doesn't 00:36:46.820 --> 00:36:53.140 play favorites and neither should a leader. God doesn't come at us from a perspective of fear. 00:36:53.780 --> 00:37:00.940 You better watch out or I'll get you. That's not how God treats us. So we must not treat others that way. 00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:07.420 People are coming to work every day in fear for their jobs. That's not a healthy culture. That's 00:37:07.420 --> 00:37:13.559 not going to produce what you want it to produce. Same way as parenting. Might work in the here and now, 00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:17.760 but that's not going to work long term. Are you in it for the long term with your employees? 00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:25.860 At the end of the day, my leadership effectiveness is not measured by what I'm able to accomplish, 00:37:25.860 --> 00:37:30.320 but by what those whom I lead are able to accomplish. 00:37:33.019 --> 00:37:39.800 A leader's effectiveness is not measured by what you accomplished, but by what your team accomplished. 00:37:40.460 --> 00:37:43.300 How successful were the people that you were leading? 00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:52.100 This slide came from last week and I kept it in here. The whole theme of this mutual submission, 00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:58.440 mutual service, whether it's husbands and wives, children and parents, bosses and employees, 00:37:59.260 --> 00:38:07.060 it's less hierarchy and more humility. It's less who's in charge and more how can I serve? 00:38:07.059 --> 00:38:15.880 That is an accurate picture of Jesus and that should be an accurate description of us in our 00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:22.159 relationships. So I challenge you, release the pressure of the pecking order. Embrace the blessing 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:28.299 of mutual service. All right? I'm going to mention this verse again, but I keep mentioning it every 00:38:28.299 --> 00:38:34.759 Sunday. God can change the way we think. It's got to require that, okay? It's got to require God 00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:41.420 changing the way we think. This isn't naturally how we think and how we approach things. God's got to 00:38:41.420 --> 00:38:47.440 do the changing, the transforming within us to make us a new person. So here's a question for you. 00:38:47.880 --> 00:38:54.760 How does God want to change my thinking to see my relationships as he would see them? How does God 00:38:54.760 --> 00:39:01.840 want to change my thinking to see my parent-child relationships, my workplace relationships as God 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:09.079 would see them? How does he want to change me? We serve God when we willingly serve each other. 00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:15.320 We serve God when we willingly serve each other. Would you bow your heads with me? God, I ask that you 00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:24.140 would reveal this to us. I can't individually apply the truth that you're teaching us here to every life. 00:39:24.139 --> 00:39:30.519 I can't point to relationships that they have with children, with grandchildren, with friends, with 00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:38.559 employees, with supervisors, husbands, wives. I can't walk up to each person in here and say, here's the 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:44.359 steps you need to make. Here's the changes you need to make. Here's how you need to change your thinking. 00:39:44.839 --> 00:39:48.960 But God, you can do exactly that. So I ask that you would. 00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:56.360 That you would individually speak to every man, woman, and child in this room. 00:39:58.159 --> 00:40:02.420 Right now, in these quiet moments while the piano plays, I ask that you would speak to us, that you 00:40:02.420 --> 00:40:09.880 would open our hearts. Church, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, let me ask you, let me speak 00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:16.619 to you directly for a moment. Nobody's looking around, but would you be bold enough to slip your hand up if 00:40:16.619 --> 00:40:22.719 you need to put your faith in Jesus for the first time today? If you need to understand that 00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:31.099 you have sinned, you are not perfect, but Jesus came down to this earth, lived a perfect life, and died 00:40:31.099 --> 00:40:36.199 on the cross. Then rose from the dead and proved that he was God. 00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:46.639 And now he says, my death was a sacrifice for you. That blood that was shed on that cross that day 00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:54.359 can cleanse you of all your sin. It can offer you hope now. You can become my child. You can know that 00:40:54.359 --> 00:40:59.899 your future is secure if you'll put your faith in me for the first time. I'm not talking about coming to 00:40:59.899 --> 00:41:04.399 church or being a good person. I'm talking about placing your faith once and for all in Jesus Christ 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:10.300 for the forgiveness of your sins. If that's you and God's working on you right now, would you slip your 00:41:10.300 --> 00:41:11.519 hand up so I can pray for you? 00:41:15.380 --> 00:41:21.519 Thank you. Let me ask you this question. How many of you would say, God is speaking to me about something else? 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:27.320 Whether it's putting your membership in this church, whether it's changing how you approach a relationship 00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:32.300 in your life, would you slip your hand up if you just need prayer in this moment? Say, just pray for me 00:41:32.300 --> 00:41:39.200 and I'll pray for you. Would you slip your hand up? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You can put your 00:41:39.200 --> 00:41:43.260 hands down. God, you see these hands, but you know what's going on in each heart, in each mind. 00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:50.120 I pray that you would jump right into the middle of that. Don't let the devil get in and convince these 00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:56.420 dear people of deceit and lies. I pray that your Holy Spirit would reign the day. 00:41:56.420 --> 00:42:05.780 And I pray that we as a church would be a church that's known for how well we love. 00:42:07.340 --> 00:42:09.400 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.