Tonight I would ask you to open your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter 3. We're continuing a passage of Scripture that began in the first verse where the Apostle Paul said, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things, be seeking those things which are above. And in verse 11, he really gives us a companion verse to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 28. If you want to keep your finger here and just go back a few pages to the book of Galatians in chapter 3 and verse 28, the Apostle Paul says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And verse 11 of chapter 3 says, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. And it was left to Christianity really to elevate to the position of womanhood in the world to a place that is a biblical position. And in verse 18 of our text, after Paul has gone through some very careful teaching about putting off some things, putting off the old man and putting on the new, and he gets very definitive for us. He says, as the elect of God and beloved, we are to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, long-suffering. We are to be forbearing one another and forgiving one another. And if any man have a quarrel against any, Paul says, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And then he says in verse 14, he puts the capstone on it all. He says above all things, above all of this, put on agape love, the love that gives, translated by our English word charity, and that is described as the bond of perfectness. Now in verse 18 he says the following, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the I mentioned a German word that was new to me and is an old German word, Haustafeln, spelled H-A-U-S-T-A-F-E-L-N. Martin Luther used this word. He may have coined the word for all I know. But in any case, it refers to the Bible's instruction on family life. And this is critical because if there were ever a need today for God-ordained, God-administered homes, today is the day. With the assault that is being leveled against this most basic of biblical foundational truths, the home, with that assault being leveled at it today, From so many sides, it is just desperately important that we get a handle on what the Bible says about family life, family relationships, haustafeln, literally household tables, household codes, household rules, rules that guide behavior in the home. And with this verse, he begins a whole section that deals with wives and husbands, and then children and parents, and then slaves and masters. Or in today's language, we would say employees and employers. How's the film? They're actually Five different passages in the New Testament that would qualify for this, and I'm just going to give you a quick notation of them. The first one, of course, is in Ephesians chapter 5. If you'll turn back a few pages to Ephesians chapter 5, drop down to verse 22. The text says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Pretty much the same as what Colossians chapter 3 and verse 18 says about being fit in the Lord. Well, this beginning of hauskafeln, household rules, in verse 22 goes all the way down through chapter 6 and verse 9. And it has to do with wives in verse 22, husbands in verse 25, children in chapter 6 and verse 1, Fathers in verse 4 of chapter 6, servants in verse 5, and masters in verse 9. So the same three sets, wives and husbands, children and parents, servants and masters, are covered in Ephesians chapter 5 as well as Colossians chapter 3. Now skip past this please and go to 1 Timothy chapter 2. This is the third section in your Bible of house rules. 1 Timothy chapter 2, beginning with verse 8. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works." And then it goes on to give further instruction, and if you'll turn over to chapter 6, we have servants and masters. Let as many servants as are under the rule count their own masters worthy of all honor. that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. House the film. House rules. Now turn over to Titus chapter 2, please. Verses 1 through 10. Speak now the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, found in faith and charity and patience. the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, and so on. Teachers of good things, teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. This is Titus. in doctrine showing uncorruptedness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, and so on. Verse 9 exhorts servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again. Haustafeln, household rules. 1 Peter chapter 2 is the last section, the fifth of the five, and if you'll turn there please. In 1 Peter 2, beginning with verse 18, down through chapter 3 and verse 7. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And then verse 3 and verse 1. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Likewise ye husbands, verse 7, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered." So these are the five passages of scripture in your Bible that Luther called Haustafelm, house rules. Excellent advice for any home, would you not agree? If homes were run according to the Bible, homes would not be fractured, there would not be division, there would not be hostility. A home would be a place of harbor and repair, a place where a person can go at the end of a long day and find peace and quiet and satisfaction and rest for his soul. A biblical home is to be desired. And it is something, if you grew up in a home like that, then you ought to thank God for it and for the heritage that you have. If you did not, then you ought to determine by the grace of God that that's the kind of home you're going to have. And it's not too late to get started. If there are issues between people, then those need to get resolved, and we go on from there, and we follow what the Bible says as far as these rules for living in the home. Now, in our passage of Scripture, beginning with chapter 3 and verse 18, if you want to go back there, Colossians chapter 3 and verse 18, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. There are six classes of people grouped in three pairs of two each. In each case, Paul addresses first the subordinate and then the one in authority. In Colossians they are wives and husbands, verses 18 and 19. children and fathers, verses 20 and 21, servants, verses 22 through 25, and masters, chapter 4 and verse 1. Now before we get to the text itself, let me just say a couple of things. There is an ethical sense of deference and mutual submission that is part and parcel of Christian living. Do you hear that? There is an ethical sense in scripture of deference to others and mutual submission that is part and parcel of Christian living. Romans chapter 12 teaches us that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Chapter 12 and verse 3, that we are members one of another, chapter 12 and verse 5. That love between Christians is to be without dissimulation, as the authorized text says. That is, love needs to be genuine between God's people. and that we are to be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10. He goes on to say in verse 16, we are to be of the same mind one toward another. Paul told the Philippian Christians that in lowliness of mind each should esteem the other better than themselves. The companion passage to our text, if you want to just turn back a few pages again to Ephesians chapter 5, the companion passage to our text, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now in the authorized version, the verb is in that sentence, wives submit. But in the Greek text, the verb is not there. The verb is supplied from verse 21. And look at what verse 21 says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So, I say at the outset that there is this ethical sense of deference and mutual submission that is part and parcel of Christian living. Now, our text says, lives, the lives, literally. There is an article in the text. Submit yourselves, present tense. It is in the sense of something that this is something done voluntarily. It is not something that is commanded. It is something that you volunteer to do. It is a present passive imperative. Submit shows up 38 times in the New Testament, and the passive tense is used with the idea of being subjected to something or somebody, to be placed under. It is a military term, if you will. There is a hierarchy of rank in the military. I probably hold the lowest military rank of anybody in this room. May I see all military personnel? May I see your hands, please? Okay, all right. Quite a few of you. Anybody here have a rank higher than just one stripe? Can I see your hands? You know, a lot of people, practically all of you. That's all I had, was one stripe. Somehow, someway, through oversight on the part of my superiors, I was given a good conduct medal. That's it. It's the only medal that I have. So, one stripe, Colonel Previous. You outrank me so far. Way up, you know, he goes out of E into the category of O. when my oldest son Casey was stationed at headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., among his duties was to go down Monday morning to the general's office and reboot his computer that he'd fouled up that week. And he had access to records that, you know, were pretty confidential, pretty classified. And I asked him one time, I said, well, can you go in and can you change your rank from an E6 to an O6? Click of a mouse. Suddenly he's no longer an E6. What's an O6, Casey? What rank is that? Colonel. O6, right here. Colonel Previous. Well, he could do that and get all of that pay for maybe a month or two before somebody figured it out. So, you know, I am outranked. And I know that. So it is a military term to be placed under authority. Privates usually don't have the privilege of saying to their sergeants, when given a lawful order, no thanks, I really am not interested in doing that today, I'm kind of on holiday, how about catching me tomorrow or the next day? Yeah, that'll go down real well. You get the point that I'm trying to make about this word? To be placed under. in a position of authority. Now, as high-ranked as Colonel Previous is, there was a general somewhere, and a general above him, and above him, and above him, all the way up to the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States. So, the verb speaks of subordination. It speaks of obedience. It has absolutely nothing to do with the notion of inferiority or superiority. Nothing. Those of you who have been in the military know that you have had people above you who held more rank than you did who weren't worth shooting. That bad, huh, Ben? So, it doesn't have anything to do with whether a person is a superior being or an inferior being. It just has to do with his rank, with his authority. Subordination to someone in authority over you. Now, there are moral limits to this kind of subordination in Scripture. The text says it is only as fitting in the Lord. Just as obedience to government is commanded in scripture, but only insofar as government takes its place under God. Do you understand that? You know, we had a revolution in this country once because of government that was not a biblical government. A wife's submission to her husband is in the Lord. It is as fit in the Lord. A wife is not obligated to follow her husband's leadership if it conflicts with specific scriptural commands. A husband cannot ask his wife to do something that is not biblical. that is against God's law. There are examples all through the Bible. Our Lord Jesus went back home to be with his parents in Luke chapter 2, verse 51, after he had confounded the doctors in the temple. He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. Very same word. There were 70 missionaries that were sent out by the Lord to go and reach people with the gospel. And when they came, they returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name. And then the text goes on to say, Notwithstanding, the Lord said in this, Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. citizens, as I mentioned earlier, are to be subject to legally constituted authority. Romans 13 and verse 1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. There's no power of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. There will be coming a time when even the earth itself will be subject to Almighty God and the the pre-fall conditions that our first parents enjoyed, even though for so brief a time, will be restored. The lion will lie down with the lamb and the lamb will not be inside the lion. Paul said that God has put all things under his feet. All things shall be subdued unto him. He is the head of the church and that day is coming. Now, as I mentioned earlier, in every age of the world's history, woman has been found in a state of subjection. In all pagan countries, she has been the slave of man. You just take a look at what's going on in the Middle East. Ladies, thank the Lord that you live in a country where you have a measure of freedom, not just guaranteed to you by the Constitution, but granted to you and given to you by Almighty God Himself. In the Middle East, at this present day, a woman is the property of her husband. When Christianity is factored in, a wife is raised to a position of greater dignity or honorable equality, in rank and in privilege. While the spirit of Christianity is adverse to lordly authority, the gospel rule still is, so long as sin remains in the hearts of believers, let the wife see that she reverence her husband. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Now, how did this get to be an issue? Where did this start? Well, I'm going to take just a little time. If you will go with me, please, back to Genesis chapter 3. That's where this passage of Scripture comes in, as I mentioned earlier, Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16. Unto the woman, he said, God speaking, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. So, thy desire shall be to thy husband. Well, this word, desire, only shows up three times in the Old Testament. Here, in chapter 3 and verse 16, turn over a page to chapter 4 and verse 7 and see what God says to Cain regarding his brother Abel. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Well, the only other place the word is found is in Song of Solomon, chapter 7, verse 10. I am my Beloved's, and his desire is toward me. So, but here in Genesis chapter 3 and 16, we kind of get an understanding of what the verse is saying with the next time it's used in chapter 4 and verse 7, it's so close together. Genesis chapter 4 and verse 7 is negative. Sin is described as an animal crouching and poised to strike Cain and to destroy him. It is a reference to conquering the desire to beat a foe. The question introduced by chapter 3 and verse 16 contains a positive or a negative notion. The question is this, is woman's desire toward her husband to be lauded as virtuous or lamented as manipulative? Now, some commentators think positive and some commentators think negative. Woman's desire would be for their husbands Lots of interpretations. I'm going to give you four real quickly. Number one, the phrase, a desire will be for your husband means that a woman's desire would be subject to her husband's desire. Her desire, whatever it may be, will not be her own. She cannot do what she wishes. Her husband rules over her like a despot. Whatever she wishes is subject to his will. That's the first interpretation. Number two, The wife, the woman, will have a great longing, yearning, and psychological dependence upon her husband. One writer said this yearning includes the attraction that woman experiences for man, which she cannot root from her nature. Independent feminists may seek to banish it, but it can persist in cropping out." End of quote. Third interpretation. The woman would continue to desire to have a physical relationship with her husband even though after the fall she experienced increased pain in childbearing. The woman's desire for the man is, and I'm quoting here a writer, the woman's desire for the man and his rule over her are not the punishment but the conditions in which a woman will suffer punishment. Now this view takes the statement here as a positive, as a blessing from God rather than as a curse. And then finally the one that I think that most fits the biblical teaching and I think is illustrative of human nature itself, the woman will desire to dominate the relationship with her husband. And that view rests on the parallel structure in chapter 4 and verse 7. Desire means contention for leadership in the home. Just as the woman and her seed will engage in a war with the serpent in verse 15, Satan and his seed, because of sin and the curse, the man and the woman will face struggles in their own relationship. Is that not true? I mean, there are times when there are conflicts in the home. Sin has turned the harmonious, God-ordained system of distinct roles for husbands and for wives into a distasteful struggle for self-will. Lifelong companions, people who have lived together for decades, still need God's help in getting along. It's important. The woman's desire, unless overruled by the Holy Spirit, will be to lord it over her husband. The husband under the control of the Holy Spirit will engage in loving leadership in the home, but he will not be such an authoritarian that it amounts to my way or the highway. I am the Lord of this home and what I say goes." Gentlemen, We'll get to husbands in verse 19 soon, but let me just tell you, that's not a very good approach. I don't recommend it at all. The leadership position that a husband is to enjoy will be governed by agape love, sacrificial love, a willingness to die if need be on behalf of one's spouse. And then the text says, as it is fitting in the Lord. Relationships between masters and servants, parents and children, husbands and wives are elevated to a higher plane. It is in the Lord. When all are Christians, the differences do not go away, but they are melded together through the Lordship of Christ. servants and masters. This is true of you if you know Christ as your Savior. Philemon verse 16 says concerning this runaway slave, to be received him back not as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but now much more to thee in the flesh and in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 22, he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man. Likewise, he that is called being free, the master, is Christ's servant. You're bought with a price, the text says. Children and parents, children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou may live long on the earth. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up and nurture in admonition of the Lord. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. In the Lord. Wives and husbands. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Love your wives. Go back to the text, please, Colossians chapter 3. Look at verse 18 again. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Verse 20, children, obey your parents in all things for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Servants, verse 22, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-services, men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Verse 23, Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord. Verse 24, Knowing that of the Lord ye will receive the reward of inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. Chapter 4, Master is given to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. In the Lord, unto the Lord, fearing God, to the Lord, of the Lord, the Lord Christ, the Master in heaven. Folks, when Jesus enters into the equation, everything is changed for the better. Husbands love their wives as they should. Wives fulfill the role that God has ordained for them. And you have a happy, healthy, wholesome Christian home. And God give us more homes just like that. End of sentence. End of message. End of story, ladies.