Well, good morning again, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, or verse 23, I'm sorry. As we last week looked at husbands and wives, today we'll look at children, we'll look at what it means to be a worker for the Lord. We saw the distinct divine roles of spouses and how God wants them to complement each other in marriage. The husband has been given a divine role of headship. His role requires him to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. The wife has been given the role of helpmate and to submit to her husband as unto the Lord. Loving and submitting are always unto the Lord. I would encourage you, if you want further clarity, to go back and re-listen to last week's service. The spouses are in partnership together, the Scripture tells us, together they run the home and together they raise the children. So today we will finish Christ's likeness and relationships. We'll look at children in the home and how we are to approach our vocation either as a worker or as an owner. So I encourage you to stand with me as we would read from God's most holy word. Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse 23 to 6, 9. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. 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. Fathers, do not exasperate, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by way, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and in him there is no partiality. It's the word of the Lord, you may be seated. So we looked at the spouses, we look now at the family. Remember our three points were marriage, family, and work. Marriage, family, and work. Today we look at family and we will look at work. If God should grant the husband and wife children, they are to raise them in accord with God's word. God's children also have the God-given responsibility to honor God and how they respond to their parents. And that's how Paul now deals with their responsibilities. I would assume that Paul, in writing this in the letter, is writing to children that are able to understand what Paul has written. I don't think he wrote this to infants and toddlers because they can't understand it. The parents are to teach the children what it means to honor God from a very early age. Paul begins with obedience. The command of obedience to children is for their lifetime, by the way. In the ancient world, the parents were to be obeyed till they died. Their authority ended when they died. That's the perspective in which Paul comes from. We understand that relationships change. But there was a hierarchical system back when Paul wrote this. And because that was the system back then, doesn't mean God's command is null and void today. It says this in 6.1, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. The word obey is hapakuo. It literally means to listen under. How many times have you, as a parent, asked, are you listening to me? Or said the words, listen to me? You know that when you say those words, you are expecting an action of obedience behind that. You expect something to be done in return. You expect them to obey what you are saying. And children, of course, are to obey their parents, Unless, of course, the parents ask them to do something that God clearly commands them not to do. As the wife is to submit to her husband as unto the Lord, so too children are to obey as unto the Lord. That's what it says. Look at it again, 6-1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. As we've said, all Christian duty is first unto the Lord. All Christian duty is first unto the Lord. God commands children to obey their parents because it is first obedience unto the Lord. If children are rebellious to their parents, they are being rebellious to God. It's literally that simple. Paul gives two reasons why children are not to be rebellious. He gives reasons from natural law and divine law. Look what it says again in verse one. Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Right, that's natural law. The word right is diakos. It means conforming to law or custom. History has shown that every society functions within a hierarchical order. There is a leader and there are people who are under the leader. Every society has worked that way, right? What's the old saying, right? And I'm part American Indian so I can say this. You have too many chiefs and not enough Indians, right? That doesn't work. That creates chaos. Where there is rebellion and chaos, a society cannot function. It is no different for the family. And this is clearly seen in nature. Not only is obedience to parents a natural law, it's right, but it is also a divinely instituted law. It's divine law. You know, by the way, who makes the laws of nature anyways? God, right? You know, you think Newtonian laws of physics, you put Newton's name on it, no, it's God's laws of physics. Newton just figured it out. Everything is God's law that's right and good and true and just. It's God's. So it says in 6.2, the divine law, honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise. Honor is timao, and it literally means to provide aid or financial assistance. Oh, wait a second. I didn't think it meant that. I thought it was respect. Well, that's certainly part of it. To provide aid or financial assistance with the implication that this is an appropriate means of showing respect, to give assistance, to provide for the needs of, as a sign of respect, to support and honor. Paul here quotes the fifth commandment, to show that God has divinely instituted how the parent-child relationship is to be lived out. The child is to care for the parent at the end of their lives. They're to provide for the needs of their parents when they are no longer able to for themselves. Remember, Jesus chastised the religious leaders about this. He said, you know what, you dishonor the commands of God because you say to your parents, whatever I owed you, whatever honor I should have given to you, I now give to the Lord. And because God is better than you, higher than you, I can't renege on it. God deserves it more than you. And Jesus said to the religious leaders, He goes, you profane the law of God. It is a shame in our nation that we just ship our parents off to nursing homes or facilities and they're good. Now I get it, not all relationships are right and good and it's hard. But this is what God says, the honor to provide for your parents at the end of their lives is a huge burden. There's no question about it. My wife and I lived it out with my dad. My children lived it out with my dad. It is a huge burden. but it is a burden that God will provide for and give strength for because God has instituted it. Because God has, God is not gonna tell you to do something in which he will not provide the means to be able to do it. The family, just like the church, is a picture of God's order. Christ is the head of the church, the father's the head of the family. Rebellion against the head is to be in rebellion against God. God cares so much about the family order that he attaches a promise to the command of honor your father and mother. What it says in Exodus 20 verse 12, honor your father and your mother. When you hear people quote that, and this is just as an aside for whatever it's worth, you hear people say, honor your mother and your father. That is actually, oh pastor, come on, that's such a small thing. Reversing the order? No, correct the order because to say mother and father is to say that God's divinely instituted order of headship is wrong. Honor your father and your mother. that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Paul says in Ephesians that it's the first command with a promise. It's the first command with a blessing, a positive promise to it, right? That it would go well with you and you would live long in the land. In a day and an age in which they lived, the time of the Exodus, people's life expectancy wasn't long. They lived hard. They lived, you know, hand to mouth. It was hard living. Paul expands the command that God gave. He's not adding to it, he's not taking away. He's filling it out, giving the meaning, the further meaning of it, where he says in Ephesians 6, 6-3, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. He adds that it may go well with you. That it would go well with you. When a child is rebellious and continues in rebellion, they are in for a life of hardship. I mean, society has proved this over and over and over again. Most likely, a rebellious child will not have good relationships. They will choose the wrong people to associate with, which corrupts good character. The result is that they will be out of favor with God. The hand of God will be against them. That is why it is imperative that children be taught to obey as to the Lord, and there to be taught the truths of God in the way that does not provoke them. Now, this is very convicting. And just I should have opened up with by way of don't sit there, parents, and go, you getting this, kids? And parents, kids, don't sit there and go, you getting this, parents? Or don't think because you have no children that this has no application for you. Because this is God's word. Suppose you're at your family's, and your sister, your brother, whatever, and they say about their kids, they say something, and they're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do, You who have God's Word can say, well, I can show you what to do. God tells you what to do. This is for everybody. It says, And how fathers always get a bad rap. And maybe justly so. But fathers here does not mean fathers, exclusive to the father. The father had the job of being the prophet, priest, and king of his home, no doubt about it. But it means both parents here, not just fathers. Just like when we read in James that the prayer of a righteous man avails much, doesn't mean women don't have righteous prayers. We know that that's not what is meant by that. The word fathers is pater, means both parents, both father and mother. Parents together are not to provoke their children. Look what it says in verse four again. Fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Provoke, parogizo, make angry, Excavate, not excavate, exasperate. Excavate, what do we bring, backhoes over here? Exasperate. Paul wrote a very similar admonition to the church in Colossae, but with the result of not anger, but discouragement. Colossians 3.21, which by the way, it's the companion letter to Ephesians. Colossians is the companion, or vice versa, however you want to look at it. It says, fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Have you ever seen a child who is just discouraged? It's a sad thing to watch. John MacArthur in his commentary gives two examples in the ways in which parents provoke their children to anger or discouragement. Again, this is not meant to make us guilty. If God convicts you, God convicts you. There's always hope in God's conviction, by the way. There's never hope in condemnation. John MacArthur writes this, well-meaning overprotection is a common cause of resentment in children. Helicopter parents. You think it's good now, but trust me, when they're older, it's not gonna be what you think it is. Children who are incessantly told they can do whatever they wish and can have their own way are children who will soon mock their parents, teachers, moral standards, the law, and society in general. That is absolutely 100% true. Don't let your children do whatever they want to do. I'm not gonna go on many examples. You, husbands and wives together can talk about that. It says, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Discipline is a paideia, it means to provide instruction with the intent of forming proper habits of behavior. It's a teaching your children how to behave. So it is important. Yes, thank you, please, Those things matter. We raise them in a discipline, an instruction, noothesia. Perhaps you've heard of noothetic counseling, where it's counseling straight from the Word of God, teaching counseling. Instruction, warning or admonition. And you say to little Johnny, not because my son's name is John, just a generic kid name, Johnny, little Jane, the reason that you don't hit your brother or sister, the reason that you don't be disrespectful, the reason that you don't hit, the reason that you don't steal, the reason that you don't, is because God says in his word not to do this. The goal is to teach children how to, I'm getting ahead of myself. That's why it's in discipline and instruction of the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up into discipline and instruction of the Lord. The goal is to teach children to respond to what God says out of love for God. We don't want our children just to obey so that there is peace in the house, though I understand at times that's what we want. Parents should want their children to obey God first and foremost. For when they do, God promises that it will go well for the child. God promises. And children, listen, God promises you that he will bless you and he will be with you Failure to discipline our children in the instruction to the Lord means that we may be a willing party to their death. Oh, look what it says in Proverbs 19, 18. Discipline your children for in that there is yet hope, for that there is hope. Do not be a willing party to their death. Discipline your children for in that there is hope. Now, there's always hope with God. Do not be a willing party to their death. We should put in parentheses or maybe just add there, do not be a willing party to their spiritual death. If you're feeling convicted, parents, then I've really blown it. I've really messed it up. It says, for in that there is hope. There's always hope. Confession to God, confession to your children. As we sang this morning, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you're feeling an incredible burden for your children who are walking away from God, well, as we sang this morning, we can always run to Jesus. Jesus, strong and kind. We bring them up in the instruction of the Lord because as Psalm 19.8 tells us, the precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. You know what God commands? Is right. Is what God commands always easy? No. Is what God commands popular in the world? Absolutely not. But is what God commands right? Yes. Does it rejoice the heart? Well, it doesn't seem like it because all my friends are doing this and everybody's having this kind of fun, but I'm sitting here reading the Bible. How does that work? Well, I can only tell you that if you do it, you will find that your heart is rejoiced. The commandment of the Lord is pure, it enlightens the eyes, it gives you wisdom. As Paul prayed earlier in Ephesians, that the eyes of the heart would be enlightened, that you would know the hope to which you are called and the glorious inheritance that is yours in the saints in Christ Jesus. Children, obey your parents, for this is right. Parents, do not provoke your children, betraying them in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. What about our work? What about our jobs? Paul says in verse 5, bondservants. It's the word doulos, which is slave. Now, modern day America is far removed from slavery. The slavery which Paul speaks of is not equal to the slavery that America so wrongly had embraced at one point. Bond servant here usually means somebody who fell upon hard times and had to sell themselves to somebody, so to speak, to provide for themselves. Or it could also possibly mean someone who is a slave, in terms, you were bought at an auction. Now, we recoil at that truth, but that was going on in their day. It's a historical fact. So how do you react when you find yourself at your work When you find yourself in a position in which somebody has authority over you that you don't want them to have authority over you, how do you respond? Well, there are several things in which Paul says to do. He says, number one, obey. Look what it says in verses five to seven. Bondservants, obey. We'll highlight the words that are highlighted. Obey your earthly masters. Big distinction right there. with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as unto the Lord. Now the word obey here for bondservants is the same as for children. Hapakura, listen under. Obey your earthly masters. The word masters is kurios, from which we get our word Lord, one who exercises authority over. We are to serve under the masters who God has put over us with fear and trembling. Phobu kai tromu. That's the words, right? So parents, there you go. You can even say it to your kids, you know. Phobu kai tromu, right? Just get the point across. Fear and trembling. It's not fear and trembling like we think. As Arkennt Hughes says, this does not suggest servile respect, shaking in your boots lest you make a wrong move, or an obsequious fawning, yes, sir, double yes, sir, whatever you say, sir. Rather, it suggests Christian reverence and respect for the master's position and authority. Well, that's a whole different ballgame. See how the perspective can change? When we realize that all authority that is handed out in the world has been given by God, right? How do we reconcile in our minds that God has appointed the wicked rulers of the past and even today? The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things He has revealed belong to us. The fact is God put them in power for His own purposes. and he's gonna use them for his own purposes. We're to obey, it says, bond servants, wherever you work, put yourself in modern day America where I work. Obey your earthly masters, my boss, my foreman, the owner, with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart. As you would Christ, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond service to Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord. It means sincere, haplotes, generosity, liberality. In other words, I'm going to work harder and better, and I'm going to give more. then I'm not gonna work hard in a way that is of eye service or is a people pleaser. I was at a job once, and before I was a pastor, I was in construction for years, and I remember the guy said to me, always walk around with a hammer in your hand. Why? Because you never know when the boss is gonna show up. And I thought to myself, why shouldn't we just be working? Right? Why don't we just be working? But that's how people think. Not by way of people pleasers or by way of eye service, like, you know, you're sucking up to the boss or you work hard when the boss is around and you look like the good guy. No. Work is unto the Lord with a sincere, with not a begrudging attitude. It says rendering service with a goodwill. Iunia, zeal, eagerness. Oh man, you don't know my boss. You really don't know. Carol Booley right now is going, you don't know my boss. And she'll say, that statement proves why you don't know. But you know what, we have an example of Joseph. Joseph was an example of how to serve an earthly master as unto the Lord. I don't know about you, but when you hear the stories of Joseph, here it was really bad. Brothers threw him in the pit. sell him off to the Ishmaelites, they bring him down to Egypt, he ends up in Potiphar's house, and he's serving the Lord there, and it all seems good because Potiphar loved him, and Potiphar cared, and he did, right? Till his wife made the false accusation, next thing you go, he's in jail. And we think, and we read the story, and it says that Joseph found favor in the jailer's eyes, and he ran the whole prison, That like it was all really good for Joseph. Well, if you read Psalm 105, 18, it says that Joseph was in iron shackles on his feet and on his neck. It wasn't easy life for Joseph. Let's not ever get that. It was hard. It was unfair right from the start. He should have never been there. But we know that Joseph's perspective was always correct. It was always right. What did he say to his brothers at the end? Listen, all this happened, I hated it, I didn't like it, but God sent me here for you. That's the right perspective. We have in Joseph an example of how to serve an earthly master, and we have in Jesus the supreme example of how to serve our heavenly master. Believers, we are to work as unto the Lord. It doesn't say anything here about if the boss is good, the boss is kind, or the boss is fair. It doesn't say anything here about if your parents are good or bad, honor them. What it says, again, in verses 5 to 7. As you would Christ. As you would Christ. Not by way of eye service. people pleasers but what as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord four different times there as unto the Lord husband and wives as unto the Lord children as unto the Lord work vocation as on to the Lord who are we working for? Are you working for the man? No. You're working for the God who loved you and gave himself for you. You're working for the God who knew that you were far off and has brought you near by the blood of Christ. All Christian duty is unto the Lord. All Christian duty is unto the Lord. As Paul writes to the church in Colossae, and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. He also goes on to tell the servants. the workers, do this as unto the Lord, because in verse eight it says this, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. Jesus, the scriptures, the scriptures over and over. Even we read in Isaiah this morning, the word recompense was there. God is fair and God is just and God pays back. We don't earn anything in salvation. We don't earn a single thing. But God sees what we do. God sees what we do. Really the whole thing about eye service, It's to get us to do it from the heart. God sees what's in our heart. And God will pay back. Jesus says in Revelation 22, 12, Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, or my apodidomai is the Greek word. I'm bringing my recompense with me to pay each one for what he has done. Everybody will stand before the Lord one day. Everybody will be judged according to the works they have done. As it says in the book of Daniel, the multitude of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, some shall rise to everlasting life and some to everlasting damnation because of what they have done in the body. We work as unto the Lord. We work as unto the Lord. And you say, yes, I'm working for X company. Yes, I am working for so-and-so, but they're just paying me. I'm working for Jesus. That's how workers are to be. But what about owners or managers or bosses, foremans, whatever it would be in your case? Well, God has a word to them also. He says, masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. Again, the word masters, kurios, Lord, one who exercises authority over. He says, stop your threatening. If you're in a position where you can hold it over somebody, he says, don't hold it over them. Apili means to declare harm to another. Whether that's physical harm, whether that's financial harm, emotional harm, whatever it would be, stop your threatening. You know why you need to? Because you have a master also. You may not know you have a master, but you have a master. Knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven. and that there is no partiality in him. Verse nine again. The attitude of owners, manager, bosses, foremans, whatever it would be, should be that they are serving God, not man. Just as we work to serve the Lord, we'll all be judged one day for how we worked unto the Lord, how we managed in our God-given vocation. As 2 Corinthians 5.10 says this, for we must all appear before the judge and see to Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. God sees everything, and God keeps very accurate records. There'll never be a person who can stand there at the day of judgment and a list is given and you could dispute what God said. No, I don't think you really saw it the right way, God. Are you sure about that one? You might want to double check your facts on that, God. Nope. The fact that we stand before God, we'll know before a holy God that he's right and I'm in the wrong. But if we live for the Lord, The record for God's children is the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is our record. He says again in verse nine, masters do the same to them and stop your threatening knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him. Partiality. Prosopolempsia. That's the word of the day. Favoritism. You know, aren't we so swayed by partiality? I mean, you know, if some famous YouTuber who, I don't even know who it would be, just whatever you know, whatever, or you're, you know, if somebody from the, you know, if Merv, for the older here, if Merv Griffin were to walk in today or Carol Burnett or something, right? We would be, oh my goodness, because we're partial, because they're famous. Well, wasn't Jesus on display? Does he get the same affection? Aren't we more in awe of who God is and who Christ is? James warns us about being partial in things. Well, this one benefits me. I'm only going to be your friend because you benefit me. I'm only going to be kind and good to you, and I'm going to love you as Christ loved the church only because I'm going to get something from you. Or I'm only going to love and respect you because I'm going to get something from you. I'm only going to obey you because I'm going to get something from you. Totally the wrong way to do it. God says, no, you do it unto me. I will reward you. And Jesus promised that His reward is so great and so good that it's a measure pressed down, shaken over, we can't even contain it. Do not be partial, for God Himself is not partial. And Paul, again, is quoting from Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 10, 17. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great and mighty and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. God is not a respecter of persons. Didn't the Pharisees, in trying to trick Jesus, tell him that? We know that, oh, good teacher. We know that you're a man of God and you care not about what man thinks about you. You show no favor to anybody. They at least got that right about Jesus. So the question is this. Are we obeying and honoring our parents as unto the Lord? Are we working as unto the Lord? These are matters of spiritual warfare. From the opening of the letter of Ephesians until now, everything that Paul stated is a matter of spiritual warfare. from believing correctly about God in chapter one and his plan of salvation, for God's purpose for the church, God's commands to husbands, wives, children, and workers, these are all a matter of spiritual warfare. And that is why I believe Paul ends his letter with spiritual warfare. Believing correctly, acting correctly are matters of spiritual warfare. And so Paul gives the admonitions to husbands and wives, to children and to slaves or workers. And he says this in verse 10 to 12, finally, hey, after all this, it all gonna come down to this, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Our daily lives are a spiritual battle. Let us be strong. in the Lord for the glory of God. I encourage you to come next Sunday as we see that the reason that Jesus came was to destroy the works of the devil so that we would be victorious in spiritual warfare. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Lord, it's not always easy to hear, but we thank you that it is life. As we sang this morning, words of life. And forgive us, Lord God, again for failing to be obedient to you in the matters of marriage, in the matters of honoring our mother and father, not being obedient to you in the matters of our vocation. Forgive us, Lord God. and help us, we ask for your strength to live as unto the Lord for the glory of the Lord. Amen and amen. Let's stand, let's close in a song. Let's give glory to God in doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. God bless you all.