1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,840 So I want you to imagine the scene for just a moment. 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:08,160 You're at the Target checkout, arms full of groceries in the 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,960 long line, when all of a sudden your 3 year old spots the toy 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:16,120 aisle. They want a toy, You say no. 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,640 The drama begins. OK, all of a sudden you're 6 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,960 watching this Hollywood worthy performance unfold by the bluey 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,120 display, right? Full hysterics, tears, all of 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,840 that. And in that moment, every 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,800 parenting philosophy begins to whisper in your ear, one by one. 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,080 Anyone ever been there? Gentle parenting whispers? 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,520 Get down on their level and name the feeling, right? 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,840 Traditional parenting says absolutely not. 13 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,080 You said no mean it. TikTok says tantrums are just 14 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,480 nervous systems dysregulation. Time to see a professional or 15 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:56,200 try some tips and tricks, right? You've got your grandma's voice 16 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,400 in your ear that says that child needs a consequence. 17 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,560 The Utah mom on Instagram says this is a beautiful opportunity 18 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,680 for emotional coaching. Meanwhile, the guy who's just 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,680 walking by who doesn't have kids gives you a look that says 20 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,080 you're the worst parent in the world. 21 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:13,960 Anyone ever been there? Anyone relate? 22 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:18,920 OK, a few of us here today. Look, what started off as a 23 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,880 routine trip to the store is now a full on existential crisis for 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,560 parents, right? Are you being too soft, too 25 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,280 harsh, too controlling, too permissive? 26 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:36,960 Are you shaping their character or are you causing some material 27 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:38,360 for therapy later on? Right. 28 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,520 How do we give the correct, appropriate response to moments 29 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,200 like these with people under our care? 30 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,040 All you wanted was milk, and all of a sudden you're having this 31 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,680 moment right? And that's the tension, isn't 32 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,240 it? Whether you're parenting 33 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,760 children or leading people in general. 34 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,360 Maybe it's teaching students or managing your employees, 35 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,760 coaching A-Team, or caring for anyone under your influence 36 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,280 there. There are 1000 voices telling us 37 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:11,720 how to use authority, how to give correction, how to care and 38 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:17,840 set boundaries, and how to lead. It seems like everyone is an 39 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:22,440 expert. And so there's a tension that 40 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,520 naturally exists, right? So today we're in our Ephesians 41 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,440 series and we're continuing on. We've been looking at chapters 4 42 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,080 through 6 in Ephesians. And today we're going to be in 43 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,680 Ephesians chapter 6. If you'd like to turn there in 44 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,120 your in your Bibles, we have, we have always encouraged physical 45 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,920 Bibles and so, but it'll be on the screens as well. 46 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:49,680 So Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to start though, by 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,320 talking a little bit about what we talked about last week and 48 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:59,560 that was found with Ephesians 5. This is kind of a Part 2 to to 49 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:01,920 last week as well. But what we talked about was in 50 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:06,000 Ephesians 521 we see this sort of banner verse that acts as 51 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,760 instruction for all of us. In verse 521 where the apostle 52 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:16,560 Paul writes this to the church in Ephesus, he says submit to 53 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,760 one another out of reverence for Christ. 54 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:23,960 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 55 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,440 This is the umbrella instruction for everything that follows. 56 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,680 And So what we see is that Paul goes into a series of different 57 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,200 relationships in which we are called to submit to one another, 58 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,800 including wives and husbands, children and parents, and then 59 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,280 even slaves and masters. Last week we talked about wives 60 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:43,560 and husbands. If you want to go back. 61 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,480 And what he's doing is he is he's presenting household codes 62 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,080 for the Christian Church. Now, household codes were very 63 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,920 common during this day and age, but they were very harsh in the 64 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,280 fact that they were calling men to rule over their wives, to 65 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,960 rule over their children and their slaves. 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,000 At the time. It was very hierarchical in 67 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,480 nature, and it was very patriarchal society as well. 68 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,880 And So what Paul is doing is he's not sort of throwing the 69 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,480 household codes out, but rather he's working within them. 70 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,800 Why? It's because at this time there 71 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,440 was there was a lot of suspicion around these new religions and 72 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,320 cults that were popping up, especially if the Colts were 73 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,160 drawing women and slaves away from their roles. 74 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,440 So Paul's working within the established cultural framework 75 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,360 of his his time, but he's subverting it and he then is 76 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,920 submitting it to Christ. So in each of these instructions 77 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,960 to follow, he's connecting the household, the family codes to 78 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,040 his broader teaching of the spiritual family. 79 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,720 In chapters 4 and five, it's almost echoing the 2. 80 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,280 So chapter 6, verse one, Paul begins by addressing the 81 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:04,760 children. Chapter 6 Paul writes, Children, 82 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,680 obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. 83 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,000 Honour your father and mother, which is the first commandment 84 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,600 with a promise so that it may go well with you and that you may 85 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,400 enjoy long life on the earth. So what Paul's going to do is 86 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,080 he's going to give a series of instructions followed by the 87 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,000 motivation instruction. Motivation. 88 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,680 So the instruction here is to obey, but the motivation is 89 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,880 because it's right and there's a promise. 90 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,160 So the question is, what is the promise? 91 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,920 If children obey and they honor, what is the promise that Paul's 92 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:41,200 referring to? So what he's doing here in 93 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,480 Ephesians one through 3 is he's he's sort of slamming together a 94 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,520 couple different Old Testament passages. 1 is found in the 10 95 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,160 commandments, which is found in Exodus chapter 20, verse 12. 96 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,240 Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the 97 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,520 land the Lord your God is giving you. 98 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,040 So it's connected to the land. Then again, in Deuteronomy 12, 99 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,640 this is Moses addressing the Israelites before they cross 100 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,120 into that land, that promised land. 101 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,640 It says be careful to obey all these regulations I'm giving you 102 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:20,120 so that it may always go well with you and your children after 103 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,400 you. So the context here is that God 104 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,760 is creating a new people and he's giving them a new land by 105 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,040 which they can dwell and they can thrive and they can worship 106 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,960 underneath his rule and his presence. 107 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,200 And so the idea is in this new society he's creating, in this 108 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,400 new promised land, if the children will obey their parents 109 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,280 and they will give them honor, the culture, by and large, the 110 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:47,320 society will function much more optimally, right? 111 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,840 There will be longer life, there will be less conflict. 112 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:55,440 So this is a generally true statement about the Israelites 113 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,320 and the people group at the time. 114 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,960 Does that make sense? So Paul is bringing the new 115 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,560 humanity that God was creating through the Israelites, this new 116 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,360 people group, under a new rule, under new law, new culture. 117 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,720 He's bringing that idea into the new church. 118 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,720 Now under Christ, there's a new spiritual family being formed, 119 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,000 not just for the Jewish people, but for the Gentiles as well. 120 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,120 Does that make sense? We have that inheritance in that 121 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:27,360 promised land as well. So God is creating a new 122 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,920 humanity with the Israelites through the line of Abraham in 123 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,680 the promised land. In a similar way, God is 124 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,640 creating a new humanity for those in Christ, a new kind of 125 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,480 household with equal dignity, value, respect and care. 126 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,240 So whenever you get married, there's this passage in in 127 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,400 Genesis where it talks about leaving the father and mother 128 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,600 and cleaving to the wife. This is the idea of leaving and 129 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:54,560 cleaving. Basically, when you leave and 130 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,040 you get married, often times there's a new set of principles 131 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,880 and and, and codes that ought to rule your new household. 132 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,320 Does that make sense? You just have a different way of 133 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,400 doing things. This is kind of what's happening 134 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,080 here as well. And so when with God and the 135 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,000 Israelites, God's basically saying, hey, we're not doing it 136 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,240 like we used to do in Egypt. There's a new humanity, there's 137 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,480 a new way. And Paul in a similar, similar 138 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,920 way, is saying, hey, we're not doing it like they do in Rome. 139 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,520 There's a new humanity being formed. 140 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:31,480 Children obey. There is a new societal function 141 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:36,760 and ethic here. Verse 4, Paul says fathers, He's 142 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:41,400 now addressing the parents here. Fathers, do not exasperate your 143 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,680 children. Instead bring them up in the 144 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,680 training and instruction of the Lord. 145 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:53,000 Now that word exasperate is the word for provoking someone to 146 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,520 anger. So it's connected to being 147 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,240 angry, which again Paul addresses in earlier chapters. 148 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,200 This is the idea of of how as parents we are called to not 149 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:06,480 treat our children harshly, which couldn't cause embittering 150 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,200 or embitterment inside of them. This is a reminder for us 151 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,960 parents to not set unrealistic expectations upon our kids, to 152 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:21,960 not put undue pressure upon our children, and instead, rather 153 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,320 than exasperating, rather than pushing our kids so hard to even 154 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:29,000 to the point of anchor anger, What is Paul's new ethic here? 155 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,200 He says this. He says bring them up in the 156 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,360 training and instruction of the Lord. 157 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:39,400 I love this, this word. Bring them up in the Greek, it's 158 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,720 the word ectraifo, which literally means to nourish them 159 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,960 up into maturity. Is that a good vision for us 160 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,360 parents when it comes to our kids, to the idea of nourishing 161 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:55,720 our kids into maturity? We need to be careful with with 162 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,040 how we treat our kids and what we're impressing upon them. 163 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,160 Why? Because they are impressional, 164 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,720 impressionable by nature. Children are like a checkbook. 165 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:08,200 Not just because they drain our resources and our funds, right? 166 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:10,600 But you guys know how a checkbook works. 167 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,680 Some of you basically with a check you, you write on the top 168 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:17,880 layer, but then you flip it up and what's underneath, there's 169 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,760 an impression made on the second layer through the carbonless 170 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,160 paper, I think it's called. There's an impression of what 171 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:27,720 you wrote on the surface. So in other words, the harder 172 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,200 you impress something on a checkbook, the deeper the layers 173 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,040 go and you're able to see that imprint. 174 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,600 Same is true with children. The more you speak over them, 175 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,760 the more you impress something upon them, the deeper it will 176 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:46,800 go, for good or for bad. So for us parents, we need to be 177 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,480 mindful then of what we're impressing upon our children. 178 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,560 Being careful, pay careful attention to what is being 179 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:57,320 imprinted. Are we imprinting value and 180 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:02,760 worth and importance or are we frustrating them with undue 181 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:08,040 expectations? Paul encourages all parents to 182 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,880 bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 183 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,520 And so I think this is a healthy like encouragement for all of us 184 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:16,440 as parents. Like what are we training our 185 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:18,200 kids into? Have you ever thought about 186 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,240 that? Like what is my training 187 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,360 programme for my kids? There's all sorts of different 188 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,720 organisations that work with kids and they all have different 189 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,760 mission statements for for kids. For instance, Girl Scouts of 190 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,920 America, their mission statement is this Girl Scouting builds 191 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,800 girls of courage or builds builds girls of courage, 192 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,880 confidence and character who make the world a better place. 193 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:45,920 Not bad, pretty good mission statement, would you agree? 194 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,000 But the question for us is what is your mission? 195 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,280 What is your vision for your kids life? 196 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,960 Are you just training them up to be a good American citizen? 197 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,480 Are you just training them up to be a good employee someday and 198 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:04,000 have a job to be a quote nice person or training them up in 199 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,960 your family values? What is your what is your 200 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,000 vision? And now for many of your parents 201 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,040 today, you might just be thinking most days I'm just 202 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,160 trying to keep my kids alive. Thank you very much. 203 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,120 OK. And I continually remind my wife 204 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,400 like some days that's good enough. 205 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,080 Amen. Some days just keeping the kids 206 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,600 fed and and warm. You're good. 207 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,560 You know what I mean. But this is an invitation to ask 208 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:29,280 ourselves, what am I training them into? 209 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,560 In other words, what is the vision that I have for my kids 210 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:34,960 life? Because once you have a vision, 211 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:40,080 then you can create a strategy. Pastor John Tyson, he wrote the 212 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,880 intentional father, he puts it this way, if you don't impart 213 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:49,400 your values to your son, the culture will impart its values 214 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,680 to your son in their place. Whoa, is that freaking freak 215 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:56,080 anyone out a little bit? A little, yeah. 216 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,280 OK, I was trying to remember this. 217 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,600 And so actually yesterday I threw this in. 218 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:02,720 Yesterday, I was with my son David. 219 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,560 We were in the sunroom, He was hanging out on a chair and all 220 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:07,800 of a sudden this little bug started crawling towards him. 221 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:09,560 And he was a little bit freaked out. 222 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,160 He's like, dad, take care of the bug, take care of the bug. 223 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:14,000 And you know what I was doing? I was like, no, I'm going to 224 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,960 train you up to be, you know, a, a tough, courageous individual. 225 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,160 And I said, no, David, you take care of the bug. 226 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,120 He's like, no, I want you to do it. 227 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,560 I'm like, David, just flick the bug man. 228 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:25,640 You're, you're big, you're strong, you're courageous. 229 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:27,280 And I'm trying to like pump him up. 230 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,640 You know what I mean? Trying to train him up and say 231 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,600 like, no, it's like think of David and Goliath, like, you got 232 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,560 this right. And I even like came over to 233 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:36,720 him. I'm like, here, I'll help you do 234 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:37,760 it. I stood right by him. 235 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,280 I'm like, David, just flick the bug off of the chair. 236 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,080 You know, I was like kind of showing him how to do it. 237 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,280 He never ended up doing it. OK, he didn't have the courage, 238 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,520 but later on he did actually stomp on it. 239 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,040 So I, we call that a win. So way to go, David. 240 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,040 But the point is like, we have to, we have to train and impart 241 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,880 our values into our kid. Otherwise, someone else will. 242 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:02,320 So for me in that moment, it was like, I'm not going to take care 243 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,280 of this for you. I want you to experience the 244 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:06,960 fear and I want you to learn how to overcome that fear. 245 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,600 You know what I mean? We need to have a vision for 246 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,800 Christ, likeness for our kids and then create a strategy for 247 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,080 it. Again, Tyson, he has four 248 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,920 questions to ask yourself about your children. 249 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,840 And the four questions are these, number one, what do you 250 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:28,680 want your child to know about God, about himself or herself, 251 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:36,840 or about life #2 who do you want your child to be #3 what skills 252 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,680 do you want your child to have? And #4 what formational 253 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,960 experiences do you want them to have? 254 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,480 Just four simple questions to give you a vision to begin 255 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,560 forming a picture of who they might be in the Lord. 256 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,760 Each of us are called to help our kids get to Jesus and follow 257 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,280 Him. Matthew 1914 in this sort of 258 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:05,360 radical statement, which would have been kind of upside down in 259 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:07,480 the world at this time, Jesus said this. 260 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:12,000 Jesus said, let the little children come to me and do not 261 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,480 hinder them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 262 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,760 Jesus said, let the children come to me. 263 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,920 They can follow me. Let them be close, let them see 264 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:21,720 me. And an age where children were 265 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,680 not highly valued as much as adults. 266 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,720 Jesus says let them come. Parents, we need to remember 267 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,760 that our children answer to God. They answer to Jesus. 268 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,640 And generally speaking, by obeying us as parents when our 269 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,880 commands are good and right and helpful, by obeying us, they are 270 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:46,200 doing what is right to the Lord. So we must help our children to 271 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,560 obey so that they can obey and learn to follow God's 272 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,200 commandments. Like all followers, like all 273 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:58,280 disciples, we are to teach them to obey Jesus's commands. 274 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:00,800 It's the Great Commission. Teach them to obey. 275 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,960 Have you ever heard of the phrase God has no grandchildren? 276 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,000 In other words, God only has children. 277 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:13,720 He doesn't have grandchildren. Your children, they, they have a 278 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,960 relationship with the Father. They can come to Jesus. 279 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,920 And our job is to help facilitate that, helping our 280 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,120 kids get to Jesus, knowing his commands. 281 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,880 Deuteronomy 6 talks about impressing these commands on our 282 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,520 children. Again, the checkbook to talk 283 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,240 about them when we get up, when we lie down to tie them on our 284 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,920 hands and bind them on our foreheads, to write them on our 285 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:37,320 doorposts. The Christian is to continually 286 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,160 be encouraging the children to follow and walk in the way of 287 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:46,520 Jesus, to obey. I was talking with my daughter 288 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:48,600 Jane, and I got, I got permission to share this story 289 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:49,840 from her. So I'm trying to get better 290 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,440 about that. She she, I talked to her. 291 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,520 I was like, hey, yeah, I'm preaching on obeying Jane and 292 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,120 how children should obey their parents. 293 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,760 And I was like, hey, Jane, should I talk about like how 294 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,320 sometimes it's a little bit hard for you to obey, you know, right 295 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,000 away? Should I mention that to him? 296 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,040 And she's like, no, don't tell him that, you know? 297 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,920 And then and then she's like, well, what about instead? 298 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,920 What if instead you told him about how, how I have been 299 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,319 obeying? And I'm like, duh, that's a 300 00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:18,599 better idea. Thank you, Jane, right. 301 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:21,839 She's she like humbled me And and she told the story about 302 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,800 like, she's like, we remember that time where we, me and David 303 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,000 were riding our bikes and he we, we collided and he fell to the 304 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,160 ground. And remember how you told me 305 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,200 that when someone falls down, we help them back up? 306 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,480 I was like, oh, yeah, I did tell you that. 307 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:37,840 Like, that's right. I did. 308 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,120 And and then she reminded me. I was like, Jane, you're 309 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,720 absolutely right. The last two times, The last two 310 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,960 times where I saw David fall down in front of you, you went 311 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,800 over and you helped him back up. And I said, way to go, Jane. 312 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,080 That's amazing, right? And here I was thinking about 313 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:54,720 all the times where she wasn't obeying. 314 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,120 And I, like, missed over the fact that like, no, she's 315 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:01,080 getting it right. She's figuring it out, and as 316 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,920 parents, that's the beautiful and challenging job is to teach 317 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,880 and to train and to help our kids walk in the way of Jesus. 318 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,600 When people fall, we help them back up. 319 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,360 It's a good reminder that there is no junior Holy Spirit, right? 320 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:22,280 That our kids can be filled and living and walking in the Spirit 321 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,320 just as we can. There is no lesser disciple to 322 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,000 Jesus. Our kids are capable of walking 323 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,320 into the fullness of discipleship and following 324 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:35,760 Jesus. So as parents, we nourish our 325 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:40,000 children into maturity through godly instruction. 326 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,360 What a great vision to nourish our kids into maturity. 327 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:51,480 Now Paul then he he shifts gears so he talks about the the child 328 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,400 parent relationship, but then he continues on to the slave and 329 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,520 the master relationship. Here in verse 5 S Ephesians 330 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:04,960 chapter 6 verse 5, Paul writes Slaves, obey your earthly 331 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,560 masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, 332 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:13,560 just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their 333 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:18,400 favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ doing 334 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:25,200 the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly as if you 335 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,440 were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that 336 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:31,920 the Lord will reward each one of you for whatever good they do, 337 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:38,040 whether they are slave or free. OK, so he's encouraging the 338 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,120 people who find themselves in the condition of slavery at this 339 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:46,000 time in Greco Roman era. He's encouraging them to work 340 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,840 with a different motivation and calling in mind to work as if 341 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:51,720 they're working for Christ himself. 342 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,840 So now we need to talk a little bit about slavery to provide 343 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,680 some some context. It's different from what we 344 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,680 envision when it comes to slavery when when we think about 345 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,320 slavery, we were taught about the transatlantic slave trade 346 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,560 that took place, which was essentially kidnapping and 347 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,640 enforcing people into slavery based on race. 348 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,760 Now, it's important to distinguish what this was back 349 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,080 in their time versus what we have in our mind. 350 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:18,840 Slavery at this time was much more akin to what we would call 351 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,680 indentured servitude. This was about 1/3 of the 352 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,400 population that made-up of slaves. 353 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,160 So this is a huge group of people that we're talking about. 354 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,240 People would fall into slavery for a variety of different 355 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:31,840 causes. Some would be born into it, 356 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,320 Sometimes parents would sell or abandoned their kids into 357 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,480 slavery at this time. Which is of course of all is 358 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,720 awful. Often times slaves would be 359 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,960 captives of war or if someone was had the inability to pay 360 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,840 their own debts, they would sell themselves into slavery. 361 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:49,840 There wasn't such a thing as bankruptcy like we have today. 362 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,280 So you would sell yourself into slavery to pay your debts. 363 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,280 Some people would voluntarily become an indentured servant or 364 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,400 a slave in order to better their own condition. 365 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,560 And of course slaves had the ability to buy their way out. 366 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,000 As a matter of fact, Paul in the New Testament encourages this 367 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,680 when possible. He says if you can get your 368 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,120 freedom, be free. Now, of course there was still 369 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:14,280 cruelty. There was still harsh masters 370 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,120 during slavery at this time. But in in other cases, the 371 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,840 slaves were considered to be a part of the family. 372 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,320 Again, this was not based on race like we are familiar with 373 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,320 now. None of this makes it makes it 374 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,040 right, but it's important to distinguish the cultural era at 375 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,240 this time. It was commonplace. 376 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,680 It was very, very common at the time. 377 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:36,640 Klein Snodgrass, he's a, he's a theologian. 378 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,680 He writes it this way. In the Greco Roman world, 379 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,080 slavery was so much a part of life that hardly anyone had 380 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,600 thought about whether it might be illegitimate. 381 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:51,000 It was considered an economic and practical necessity and 382 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,560 assumed part of life as much as birds and trees. 383 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:57,840 In other words, people weren't like thinking about like, is 384 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,920 this morally right or wrong at the time by and large. 385 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,840 So it begs the question for us then, what kinds of evils do we 386 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,280 just accept as practical necessities in our day and age, 387 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,640 right? Amazon one day delivery, Walmart 388 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,880 one day later, right? Like I know y'all aren't 389 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,000 choosing the like carbon friendly option when it comes to 390 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:19,360 that. OK. 391 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:23,200 Like, but whether it's fast fashion or whether it's cheap 392 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,160 labour or whatever it is, right? We have to kind of this, this 393 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,080 begs the question, like what are the things that we just kind of 394 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:32,680 accept as normal? That may not be OK, but one 395 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,000 thing we need to understand about slavery is that the New 396 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,760 Testament never endorses slavery. 397 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,760 I need to be clear on that. But then the criticism often 398 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,560 times as well. Why doesn't it directly condemn 399 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:46,720 it then? Or why doesn't it just outright 400 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,600 say this should not take place? I want to introduce to you this 401 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,800 idea called the redemptive movement hermeneutic. 402 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,640 The word hermeneutic is just basically the approach to how we 403 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,120 study Scripture. So this is a hermeneutic and an 404 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:06,040 approach to interpreting Scripture called the redemptive 405 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,200 movement hermeneutic. And it's the ideas of this that 406 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:15,360 Christ is continually moving his people from the ravages of the 407 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:18,640 fall, meaning the curse and the fall of man and sin in this 408 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,960 world. He's moving them from the fall 409 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,480 to life in his Kingdom. But this process is progressive 410 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,560 and not instant. In other words, it's progressive 411 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,600 not because God is changing his mind on the matter, but because 412 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,680 we can't receive either individuals individually or 413 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,840 culturally all of the redemption that God has for us all at once. 414 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:45,520 So Doctor William Webb in his important book called Slaves, 415 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,720 Women and Homosexuals, he terms this this phrase I redemptive 416 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,560 movement hermeneutic, and he explains it by the XYZ 417 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,240 principle. So let me walk through this 418 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:56,680 really quick 'cause it's a little bit thick. 419 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,880 So when it comes to the XYZ principle, X is the cultural or 420 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,400 original cultural context of the day and age in which it was 421 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,200 being written. So in this case with slavery, 422 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,680 slavery had many, many abuses that were taking place during 423 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,840 the time of Paul. So why then is the words of 424 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:19,200 Scripture? So the words of Scripture, as we 425 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,480 see in the Bible is slavery still exists here. 426 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,080 However, it has better conditions in fewer abuses. 427 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,240 Paul is saying you need to have dignity and there needs to be 428 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,200 mutual respect and mutual submission in our culture. 429 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,320 Then the next phrase over in our culture, this is the place where 430 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,960 we're in this process. Now, when it comes to this 431 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,440 movement, what we see is that legal slavery has been 432 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,360 eliminated. We're still continuing, of 433 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:48,800 course, to work towards equality and civil rights and true 434 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,960 reconciliation. Now, slavery obviously still 435 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,600 exists in the world. It's, it's, it's a huge problem 436 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,240 when it comes to sexual trafficking and things like 437 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,080 that. But legal slavery, at least in 438 00:24:58,080 --> 00:24:59,720 our culture, has been eliminated. 439 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:04,120 And then Z, this is the, the sort of the ultimate ethic. 440 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,120 So this is where we are being led to by Christ. 441 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:11,240 This is the, the end picture where everything is redeemed and 442 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,160 made right again. So the ultimate ethic when it 443 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,880 comes to slavery then is that there's harmony, there's 444 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:21,160 equality and respect. So in other words, this 445 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,880 hermeneutic is saying there's been a trajectory that God is 446 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,960 leading people on that is all leading to perfect harmony, 447 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,960 perfect unity, perfect equality and dignity, right? 448 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,240 He's moving people in their actual cultural context, in 449 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,520 their actual where there really are towards the perfect picture. 450 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,320 All of this, in other words, is pointing to the new humanity 451 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:49,440 being fulfilled in Christ. So to summarize Paul's intention 452 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,720 here in Ephesians, Paul's intention wasn't to lead the 453 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:57,200 anti slavery revolt which surely would have killed the Christian 454 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,000 movement under the boot of Rome. That wasn't his intention. 455 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:04,760 Rather, the letter to the Ephesians is reminding every 456 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,600 Christian of the immensity of the riches and freedom they've 457 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,960 already attained through Jesus's victory on the cross. 458 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,320 He's calling them to live into this reality in their everyday 459 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,440 actual relationships. So by calling them to the 460 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,680 highest virtue in Christ, he's undermining the hierarchical 461 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,480 status quo of ruling men and masters. 462 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,720 He's undermining it by calling the focus up to Jesus. 463 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:34,400 What Paul is doing is he's planting the seeds of life and 464 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,280 freedom in the heart of every believer, and that would 465 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:42,520 eventually grow and multiply and transform their cultural 466 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,520 surroundings. In other words, it's an inside 467 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,960 out revolution taking place in the Kingdom. 468 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,120 FF Bruce puts it this way. What Paul's letters do is bring 469 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:57,560 us into an atmosphere in which the institution of slavery could 470 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:02,840 only wilt and die. What is that atmosphere? 471 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,320 It's the atmosphere of the Kingdom of God that the beauty 472 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,960 of the way of Jesus becomes so much more compelling than the 473 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,000 allure of wealth and power and control and greed. 474 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,680 It's an inside out thing. The Kingdom is like a seed 475 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,800 that's planted and eventually it grows and it has many branches. 476 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,320 Everything is moving to that beautiful picture, that new 477 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,440 humanity, that perfect picture at the end of the age. 478 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,720 So as a church then as a church, we we recognize we're not going 479 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,000 to be able to address every single social injustice that's 480 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:39,680 out there in the world. Does that make sense? 481 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,000 We don't have the resources, the time and the energy to do that. 482 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,440 We will focus on some the ones we feel called to. 483 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,920 So rather our approach, our mission instead is to make the 484 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:54,640 kinds of disciples that will instinctively live out the heart 485 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,360 of Christ against any social injustice in any context that we 486 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:00,880 find ourselves in, right? Because we believe the potential 487 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,880 of that is enormous. Like what if instead of just 488 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,480 like tackling 1 little thing at a time, what if we could create 489 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:08,600 the type of people that multiply, the type of people 490 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,840 that go into every corner of the globe and fight injustice with 491 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,680 their time, their effort, their resources. 492 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,360 That's a powerful thing. So that's why we say at Presence 493 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:20,280 Church, we want to witness a spirit LED disciple making 494 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:22,920 movement in our churches and communities. 495 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,200 It's what we're about, making disciples, planting the seeds of 496 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,800 freedom in people. The seed of freedom is seen 497 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,520 germinating, and we saw it germinate in the early church, 498 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,440 even as early as 380 AD. Saint Gregory of Nicaea. 499 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,000 He laid out a four fold argument against slavery in his homily 500 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:46,480 with Ecclesiastes Early at the early abolitionist movement in 501 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:49,400 the United States was led primarily by Christians and 502 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,680 Christian values, people like William Wilberforce, Harriet 503 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,520 Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and more. 504 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,920 They believed in these transcendent truths about human 505 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:03,080 dignity, justice, and love. And where did they get it from 506 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,080 Scripture. They got it from God. 507 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,840 So we need to remember that when it comes to the issue of 508 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:13,080 slavery, that because God planted dignity and worth in 509 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:15,320 every individual, slavery couldn't survive. 510 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,480 And what if Paul is doing here when he's talking and addressing 511 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,280 the slaves here who find themselves in this cultural 512 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,440 circumstance, in this difficult, difficult environment where 513 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,840 they're stuck? Is he saying when you're slaves 514 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:35,680 to the one true master, when you truly submit yourself as if 515 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,440 you're submitting to Christ himself, nobody can truly rule 516 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,960 over you because Jesus rules over you. 517 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,160 He is your true master. This is a protest against the 518 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,920 evil powers of ruling. And he doesn't stop with the 519 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:52,760 slaves. He starts talking to the masters 520 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:58,400 here in verse 9. Verse 9 masters, treat your 521 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:03,840 slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them since you 522 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,120 know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven 523 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,240 and there is no favoritism with him. 524 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,320 So just picture how radical this would have been at a time Paul 525 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,880 treats the masters, he looks at the Christian masters and he 526 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,800 says treat your slaves in the same way. 527 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,600 He provides this equalizing statement and he's levelling the 528 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,000 playing field between masters and slaves here. 529 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:32,840 This statement alone should have abolished all Christian slavery 530 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,120 back in the day. If this verse was followed, it 531 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,840 should have eliminated it all together. 532 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,200 Now we know that Christian slave owners in America used passages 533 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,520 like these incorrectly. They use them as as means of 534 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,400 control and they misused and abused these passages. 535 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,440 It's because they weren't actually reading the text. 536 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:58,160 In the heart of Jesus it says in the same way, treat these 537 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,840 slaves. How we treat the people beneath 538 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,880 us says everything about our character. 539 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,760 Would you agree? How we treat the people that we 540 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,800 deem as being beneath us reveals who we really are. 541 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,320 Ever been on that? That like half hour 45 minute 542 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,040 phone call with the customer service representative? 543 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:24,360 You know what I'm saying? And like 1 hold leads to the 544 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,600 next hold and you've asked for a manager and it's just not 545 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,040 happening. Anyone ever been there before, 546 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:29,880 right? Anyone else like start to just 547 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,720 get this like boiling anger to begin to form right? 548 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,960 Where you're just like, just solve my problem, right? 549 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:42,120 How we treat even those people in those moments says a lot 550 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:46,760 about who we are. So Paul here is saying masters 551 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,600 in the same way, treat them as if you're treating Jesus 552 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:56,200 himself. Why? 553 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,200 There's the instruction, but what's the motivation? 554 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:04,840 He says do not threaten them since you know that he who is 555 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,440 both their master and yours, he's talking about Jesus. 556 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,440 He who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is 557 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,080 no favoritism with him. So when Paul's saying, hey, he's 558 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,600 basically looking at these masters and he's saying, hey, 559 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,640 just a reminder, just a reminder, they're actually 560 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,080 serving Jesus, who's your master as well. 561 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:32,120 In other words, both master and slave will stand side by side in 562 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,840 front of God as equals. And Paul's looking at the 563 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,000 masters and he's saying, hey, you should probably remember 564 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,160 that when it comes to treating your slave, one day you're going 565 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,520 to be standing in front of the true master, King Jesus, and 566 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:44,720 you're going to have to answer for how you treated your slaves. 567 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,520 This is the This is what Paul is communicating here. 568 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,640 There is no favoritism with God. Acts 10 God does not show 569 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:56,680 favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears 570 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,160 Him and does what is right. God does not show some favor 571 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,560 over others based on station in life, based on nationality, 572 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,040 based on material possessions, based on skin color or tradition 573 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,680 or creed. He judges the inner and outer 574 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,440 character and condition of the heart. 575 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,200 Our God accepts foreigners as well as natives, children as 576 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,920 well as parents, slaves as well as masters, rich as well as 577 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,000 poor, men, women, Jews, Gentiles, and so on and so 578 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,720 forth. In other words, every dividing 579 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,440 wall of hostility is torn down when it comes to Jesus Christ. 580 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:36,000 Every dividing wall is broken. And if the slave and the master 581 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,360 could live into this type of mutual submission for one 582 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:44,200 another, their lives would be a protest and a witness to the 583 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,800 higher calling in front of them if they could live it out. 584 00:33:50,920 --> 00:34:00,480 So Paul addresses the children obey parents nourish slaves work 585 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,920 as if you're working for God. Masters treat with equity in the 586 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:12,800 same way treat with fairness. Do not threaten Paul is 587 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,440 equalising the playing field in front of Jesus. 588 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,360 And so for us here today, when it comes to these, these 589 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,440 authoritative or these subordinate roles that are here 590 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,080 in, in in Ephesians chapter 6, when it comes to us, we need to 591 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,040 remember that whether it's with a spouse or with a child or with 592 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,280 a servant, the biblical call is to treat everyone with value, 593 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:39,159 dignity, and equality, nourishing, speaking in love, 594 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,280 submitting and loving like Jesus loved. 595 00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:47,960 So for the parents here today, we need to nourish our kids into 596 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,800 maturity through godly instruction and training. 597 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,000 What does that actually look like? 598 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:55,400 Well, I'm here today to tell you the exact right parenting 599 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,360 techniques so that you'll have it all figured out by the time 600 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,440 you leave here. Just kidding. 601 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,480 OK, I have not figured this out, but there are a few things I 602 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,200 think we can all agree on as Christians. 603 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,440 Number one as as as parents to nourish our children, we need to 604 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,280 always be creating a context of grace, of love and support and 605 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,120 respect and encouragement for our kids. 606 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:21,080 We need to always be speaking the truth and love to them. 607 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:25,040 We need to attend to their material and their emotional 608 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,480 needs. We need to always be teaching 609 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:30,920 and enlightening, warning, holding accountable and 610 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:35,000 disciplining our kids as a part of a life lived to Jesus. 611 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,080 Let the little children come to Jesus. 612 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,040 We need to be able to give them a theology of who Jesus is. 613 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,040 It's good to give our children experiences, especially in work 614 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,320 and in caring for others. If someone falls down, we pick 615 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,840 them up. This means refusing to put down 616 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,480 our kids, to demean our kids, or to damage our kids. 617 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,640 Shrill or angry speech does not belong in the mouth of a 618 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,760 Christian parent. It's convicting for me. 619 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,520 We need to reject any jealousy and contempt when it comes to 620 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:09,320 our kids. We need to be able to grant 621 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,600 freedom to our kids within legitimate boundaries, 622 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,880 experiencing and allowing them to, allowing them to encounter 623 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,520 an appropriate amount of risk. We need to avoid any unhealthy 624 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,200 pressure or expectations that we place on our kid. 625 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,360 And finally, we need to refuse to live through our children 626 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:31,160 vicariously. For many of us, the temptation 627 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,400 is to have an over focus on our kids as well. 628 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,160 We need to be on guard against that. 629 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:40,000 Our kids can become an idol in our lives, a good thing that 630 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,640 becomes an ultimate thing. We can even put our kids above 631 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,720 Christ through overindulgence or over leniency, Right? 632 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,120 And please hear me, Parenting is one of the most important and 633 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:52,080 most difficult jobs in the world. 634 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,960 Children are enormously valuable and important, but they're not 635 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,200 the ultimate end goal in life, OK? 636 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,080 So we don't want to put them on a pedestal that they can't even 637 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:02,720 support. We don't want to idolize them 638 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,520 and over focus them either. So for parents, we need to 639 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:11,040 remember that as we're disciplining our kids, we first 640 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,200 need to discipline ourselves first. 641 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:18,640 Rather be disciplined ourselves. We need to have an appropriate 642 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,520 and healthy mentality. We need to focus on our own 643 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,920 mental health at times and focus on our own emotional 644 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,720 intelligence. Here's a reality that is that 645 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:29,880 all of us should remember with the sober mind. 646 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:36,640 If we as parents don't transform the pain that we experienced in 647 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:41,080 our upbringing, we will end up imparting that pain onto our 648 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,400 kids. We need to be willing to go to 649 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,840 therapy. We need to be willing to take 650 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:50,640 breaks, to practice breathing exercises, to check our 651 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,800 emotions, to practice pausing or whatever it is. 652 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,960 We need to have structured and consistent age appropriate 653 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:03,440 discipline in agreement with our spouse the other day, just this 654 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,440 week, a lot of illustrations. There's just this week, just 655 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,120 this week alone right there. One of my kids, I won't say who 656 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,360 one of my kids was just delirious after a really long 657 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:13,840 day. You ever had that where like 658 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,400 there's no reasoning. They're not listening to the 659 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:19,440 instruction. No part of their brain is 660 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:21,040 function functioning logically ever. 661 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:22,200 You know what I'm talking about parents. 662 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,880 I don't see any head nods. OK, a couple of you, I heard a 663 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,040 yes. No, part of them is, is like, 664 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:29,680 it's just time for bed. You know what I'm saying? 665 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,600 Like just get them into the bed. And man, I was getting so 666 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,000 frustrated, to be honest with you. 667 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:35,720 That's a confession. I was getting frustrated. 668 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,120 And the kid was, it was in a room. 669 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,440 They weren't supposed to be. They were doing something they 670 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:43,920 they weren't supposed to do. And I just went into the 671 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:48,520 bathroom and by God's grace, by God's grace, this thought came 672 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:50,440 to my mind. And it was a simple thought, but 673 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,560 it was profound. And the thought was this, choose 674 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,880 how you're going to respond now rather than just reacting. 675 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,360 You're like, duh, that's self expected. 676 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,960 But for me, it was like a moment, right? 677 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,600 And I was like, OK, I have to choose now how I'm going to 678 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,360 respond and how I'm going to handle this situation before I 679 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:09,840 even get into the room to address it. 680 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:13,880 And sure enough, I said, OK, this is what I'm going to do. 681 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,600 I walked into the room. Their response was not great, 682 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,920 but I already had a plan. I carried out the plan. 683 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:23,880 I got him into bed. They fell asleep extremely 684 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:25,960 quickly. And you know what? 685 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:29,680 It was one of those rare times where I'm like, I did it. 686 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:37,600 I'm an awesome dad, you know? But it's a reminder that as 687 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:41,960 parents, we need to be disciplined ourselves first as 688 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,800 we're disciplining our kids. I'm the first to say I have not 689 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:48,560 figured this out, but by God's grace, in that moment He gave me 690 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:51,320 that simple instruction. Choose how you're going to 691 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:55,160 respond now. Don't just react for employers. 692 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,440 As we're wrapping up for employers and those who hold 693 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,960 power over others, remember the simple line that we are to treat 694 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,640 the people under us in the same way out of reverence to Christ 695 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,840 serving them wholeheartedly. We do not Lord our power over 696 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,920 others like the Gentiles do, but rather we enable their 697 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,720 well-being through fairness, service, and treating them like 698 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,640 Jesus would. And so for those of you here 699 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,600 today who you feel like the slave, maybe you're stuck and 700 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,480 you're in a dead end job or you're stuck in some kind of 701 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:29,960 position. Maybe your circumstances have 702 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:33,520 led you to be in a low position or you just feel trapped in your 703 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:35,760 circumstances. I just want to encourage you 704 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,920 with Colossians 323, Paul writes. 705 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:45,360 Whatever you do, in other words, wherever you're at, work at it 706 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,960 with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human 707 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,760 masters. The instruction is followed by 708 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,160 the motivation, and the motivation is this, that all of 709 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:01,120 our work can be done for the glory of God, our one true 710 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,480 master. During Paul's time the slaves 711 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,720 could not have a invest in a in a 401K. 712 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,200 The slaves couldn't buy stocks to better their status. 713 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,400 They couldn't build wealth through real estate. 714 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,840 They couldn't have value or build equity in this life. 715 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,520 And yet what Paul is saying is that through Christ they could 716 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,760 still gain reward in the next life. 717 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,600 That even the slaves who quote UN quote wasted all of their 718 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:31,640 able bodied years for an earthly master can still hear the words 719 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:34,840 well done by the one true Master of the universe. 720 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,560 What a promise afforded to even those who are in the lowest 721 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:43,080 position that their life can still matter in God's new 722 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:45,320 humanity. Anyone stuck in their 723 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,520 circumstances can still contribute to the Kingdom. 724 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:52,760 Even in the worst of circumstances, you can still be 725 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:56,880 building the Kingdom. You can invest in the Kingdom. 726 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,560 You can reap eternal awards because here's the truth, I want 727 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,720 us all to walk away with in the Kingdom. 728 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:10,800 Even those who are lowest on earth can live a life of highest 729 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,440 significance. So if you're here today and 730 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,680 you're feeling low, you're here today and you say I don't have 731 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,080 much to my name. I don't have accolade or 732 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,000 position or notoriety or whatever. 733 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,560 Even you, if you live your life for Christ, can live a life of 734 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:33,360 highest significance. In Paul's day, it was the women 735 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,000 and the children and the slaves who were seen as insignificant. 736 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:42,080 In our day, it's the poor, the impaired, the marginalized, the 737 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:44,640 immigrant, the widow, the unintelligent, whoever. 738 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:50,520 And to those people, Ephesians 6 says, serve wholeheartedly as if 739 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:55,840 you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know this 740 00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:56,960 one thing. Here it is. 741 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:03,040 The Lord will reward each one of you for whatever good you do. 742 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:09,680 You can pour your entire life out sweating and toiling for 743 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,000 evil kings and dictators and employers or masters, gaining 744 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,200 nothing for yourself in this life. 745 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:23,200 And yet if you do it for the Lord, all of it still counts. 746 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:29,320 All of the effort still counts. It all matters because you're 747 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:32,120 investing in the next life. You're investing in the Kingdom 748 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,040 for eternity. All of our work can be done into 749 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:39,160 the Lord. So you're here today and you're 750 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,360 hurting and you're stuck and you're lowly. 751 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,520 Maybe it's painful to be in the position you're in right now. 752 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,320 I just want to remind you of one simple thing, and it's this. 753 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:54,280 God never wastes a hurt. He never wastes a hurt. 754 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,560 No life is insignificant and no one is above the other. 755 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,720 Everyone can live a life of eternal value. 756 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:06,680 Everyone can honor God no matter the circumstance. 757 00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:10,080 And so we look forward to this day. 758 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:15,040 We look forward to the new humanity that God is building, 759 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,920 the promised land that is going to be offered to us at the end 760 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:22,480 of the age where all people are together. 761 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:28,320 Slave masters, rich, poor, child and parent are together under 762 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:34,040 the one true Master, the ruler who will lead and direct us in 763 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,040 perfect unity and harmony and peace. 764 00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:43,320 But here today, the Christian households and the Christian 765 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:47,280 relationships can embody this future now. 766 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:51,880 We can signal a better way and a future hope that we have in 767 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,760 Jesus. That's the hope and that's the 768 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,240 prayer for our church, that in our relationships, as we submit 769 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:05,960 to one another gladly, freely, as we work hard to the Lord, as 770 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:11,720 we raise up our children, we're showing the world around us a 771 00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,520 beautiful future that God has for everyone who's in Christ.