Amy and I were talking in the car last weekend on the way to meet some friends at the Global Wildlife Center over in Folsom. The kids were in the back seat occupying themselves and it gave us the rare opportunity to talk to each other without too many interruptions, which is a good thing considering all of the things and all of the changes that we have going on in our lives right now. We were asking questions back and forth and one of the questions that she asked me was what I was preaching on the next few Sundays. “What do you mean, I’m preaching on what the following text is?” I told her that we were covering the new-self last Sunday, Christian relationships the following Sunday, and Paul’s farewell the next Sunday. “Really?” she asked. “What? I’m confused.” “We’ve got family coming to town and you’re doing the wives submit to your husbands and children submit to your parents passage? I’m pretty sure one or both of our parents heard that when you preached through Ephesians.” Two things; it never hurts to hear it again, and at least I know that Amy’s paying attention to my sermons.
In all seriousness, we’re at a place here in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae where he’s already given the theology portion, that Christ should be supreme in your life. He’s talked about both the supremacy of Christ and the sufficiency of his death. Paul’s already given the application of that principle in the form of the old self vs. the new self, i.e. that Christ changes who we are. When we’re in this relationship with Christ we’re very different than we were before. Now, Paul is giving somewhat of a series of case studies and some additional words as to what this change ought to look like. As I’ve already mentioned, this is a much-abbreviated text from the similar one contained in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. And I said when we looked at each of these three relationships, marital, parental, and occupational, we can’t see the word “submit” and our minds immediately go on the defensive. We can’t simply understand submission as something that is inherently bad. Instead, we have to take these various calls for submission and obedience in their proper context. It’s hard for me to fathom that the Apostle Paul would have promoted a structure where husbands, parents, and masters had complete dominion over their respective counterparts without some reciprocity, accountability, or restraint. I don’t think that such a system would be keeping in step with God’s created order either, i.e. not a biblical system.
I want you to pay attention to a brief little statement here that Paul makes, and really there’s not much attention given to it in many commentaries for some reason, but I find it crucial to our understanding of this text. Paul says, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” It’s this “as is fitting in the Lord” that I want to give some attention to this morning. The relationship of husbands to wives, wives to husbands, parents to children, children to parents, masters to slaves, and slaves to masters are all to be held in the context of keeping in line with God’s commands. If you recall, I said back during our in-depth look at these relationships during our study of Ephesians, these aren’t biblical stamps of approval for those in positions of authority to demand whatever they want of those in various relationships with them. I hesitate using the phrase “underneath them” because it tends to imply a certain level of superiority and inferiority that quite honestly I don’t think exists. Husbands aren’t superior to wives. Parents aren’t superior to children. Nor are masters (or bosses) superior to their slaves (or employees). The issue is one of authority, nor superiority. And ultimately the questions that must be answered are: Am I showing the proper amount of respect to the other person? And am I keeping in line with God’s will for me in my particular role? You see, we can see in each of these three relationships that are listed here that there is a responsibility on behalf of both the one in authority and the one under that authority. Submission and love, obedience and respect, justice, and fairness are required from all parties. There’s a responsibility there for everyone involved. And in addition to it being “as is fitting in the Lord”, I also think that each person in these relationships should be guided by verse 23, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” I think that when we’re working for the Lord and not for ourselves, even though we may be in some type of supervisory role, it doesn’t even feel like it. I don’t want to speak for my wife, but I will. We’re both trying to raise our children in the Lord, and she will fully tell you that her belief (formed by Scripture) is that the husband/father is to be the leader of the family. What I also hope that she would tell you is that she hasn’t spent one moment feeling as if she was inferior or underneath me in our task of raising our children and strengthening our family. It’s really more of a partnership than anything else, but someone has to be in the position of authority. I know that it’s difficult for us to understand because it’s not how our minds work, but it’s just the way that it is. It’s sort of (on a smaller level) like how we struggle with the concept of the Trinity, all three being equal but having this hierarchy or subordination amongst themselves. It’s just another example of a heavenly concept that we’re too sinful to fully grasp.
So, that’s Paul’s first instruction here in light of this new self life is that we are to fill our proper place in all of our relationships and roles while remaining faithful to God’s revealed will for us. The next thing that Paul gives to his audience is a list of various instructions. “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving…prayer also for us…walk in wisdom toward outsiders…let your speech always be gracious…so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Now, these are just some of the words spoken here by Paul, but two things really seem to stand out here: prayer and sharing the gospel. And I want to take just a moment and talk about these two aspects of the Christian life and relate them back to what we’ve already said about these various relationships.
There’s no denying the essentialness of prayer in the Christian life. I don’t think there’s any need for me to start throwing any number of the vast volume of verses commanding prayer at you this morning. We need only look to the example of Jesus to see the importance of prayer. Jesus was constantly in prayer. He was regularly retreating off by himself for a time of prayer. We looked at Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer of John 17 during our Lenten season and saw the type of intimacy that existed between God the Son and God the Father, especially in Jesus’ prayer life. However, despite our knowing full-well the fundamental importance of prayer to the Christian, it is commonly one of the most often overlooked aspects of a person’s faith and a church’s operation. How often do you pray? Are there days (or even weeks) where you go along without praying? When you pray, what do you pray for? Do you thank God for what He’s done, confess your sins, or sing adoration for Him? Or is it simply just a list of the things that you want to see happen in your life and in the lives of those around you? Do you treat God as if he’s just some glorified genie, because that’s not the type of prayer that the Apostle Paul has in mind here. Paul’s talking about a prayer life that is rich and fruitful. Paul’s talking about a prayer life where we speak openly and intimately with God and not just at Him. There’s a great difference between speaking with someone and speaking at them isn’t there? I had a seminary professor who is a brilliant man, a world-renowned theologian and preacher, who would always tell us that the prayer ministry was the most important ministry in the entire church. And he would always follow that sentiment by saying, “Yet, sadly, it is typically the least attended and spoken of ministry within the life of the church.” Friends, prayer is crucial to our being in this relationship with Christ. J.C. Ryle says of prayer: Prayer is the mightiest engine God has placed in our hands. It is the best weapon to use in every difficulty, and the surest remedy in every trouble. It is the key that unlocks the treasury of promises, and the hand that draws forth grace and help in time of need. It is the silver trumpet God commands us to sound in all our necessity, and it is the cry He has promised always to attend to…Prayer is the simplest means that man can use in coming to God. It is within reach of all.
The other thing that stands out in this list of final instructions given by Paul in addition to the need for prayer is the need for proclaiming the gospel. We can call it evangelism, outreach, witnessing, conversations, or whatever other title you want to give it. Basically, we need to be talking about it. I’ve said numerous times (and this isn’t unique to me) that the gospel isn’t some wonderful secret that we’re to keep to ourselves and cherish, but a story that is to be told and spread. Now, yes, our faith is something we should cherish, but it’s also something that we need to be talking about as well. How do you think word spread about Christ during his life? People were talking about him and his works and his ministry. How do you think news of his resurrection traveled as far as it did? People were talking about it and people were going to remote places of the earth and speaking of the miraculous things that Jesus had done. The problem, in my opinion, that we run into today when it comes to talking about Jesus isn’t that we’re afraid to talk about him, it’s that we’re afraid of coming across as ignorant. Now, it’s not ignorance for believing in him, it’s an ignorance of what we know. Far too many Christians are walking the face of this earth armed with a handful of Bible verses that they repeat frequently with virtually no other knowledge of Scripture. One of my favorite things to do is when someone throw one of those one-liner verses out at me is to go back in my Bible and look at the context that it’s in. If you recall, last summer when we looked at commonly misinterpreted verses, quite often the main reason for misinterpretation was because we rarely consider the context. We don’t really know what Scripture says because we haven’t really spent the time studying it like we should. What’s sad is that we would never dream of operating on someone without proper study and training, build a house without the know-how, or anything like that, but we don’t hesitate when it comes to Scripture. Again, I applaud the willingness to speak, but Paul is calling us to not only speak, but to speak with knowledge. In order to effectively witness to someone, you have to know about what you’re witnessing to them. Otherwise, you’re not proclaiming Christ, but you’re proclaiming your opinion of Christ.
So, how does this notion of the supremacy of Christ resulting in our change from old self to new self all come together with these relationships and the need for prayer and speaking knowledgably about Christ to others? Well, let me see if I can sum up all of this with the time I’ve got left. First off, the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is what makes us this new creation. When we’re found in Christ then we’re an entirely new creation. We’ve covered that. Secondly, the newness of our being isn’t just something that happens within us, but it radiates through every part of us, including the way that we relate to others; hence the reason for this list of various relationships and the roles that we might find ourselves in while in these relationships. But still, why the seemingly random instructions about prayer and wise speaking about the gospel? How do you think it is that we gain insight into what God wants us to do and how He wants us to conduct ourselves? In other words, when we want guidance from God, where do we go? Well, obviously we go to Him right? And how do we go to God, through prayer and the reading of His Word. Both of which are made available to us through the work of Jesus Christ. You see, in order for us to lead Godly lives, we have to know what a Godly life ought to look like. In order for us to exercise proper Christian love, authority, and respect, we have to know what they look like. And unfortunately, we can’t figure out what they look like on our own. We need help; help that can only come from God. I know that we’re a people who like to figure stuff out on our own. I’ll admit that many times I’ll foolishly lie to someone and tell them I know what I’m doing simply because I want to figure it out on my own without someone having to show me like some kind of a moron. However, we can’t figure this one out on our own; we just can’t. God is the only one who can show us exactly how we are to live, and He reveals it to us through reading and proclaiming His Word and spending time speaking with Him in prayer. Again, speaking with, not at Him in prayer.
Remember, Paul’s fighting this false teaching that is promoting the notion that the believer does something to gain holiness and righteousness. Are there things that we can do to honor God? Yes, but only God can grant us holiness and righteousness. It’s through our responses to God’s generous blessings that we do good works and that we have this desire to be drawn closer to Him. In other words, it’s a work of God in us and not our working in ourselves. If you hear nothing else of what I’m saying this morning then hear this: your salvation is a work of God in you and not your figuring something out. We need to thank God for this gift. We need to seek His will daily through study and prayer. And we need to respond by showing the love of Christ through each and every aspect of our lives.
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