What If Our Passions Were After God

     So, I've finally figured out that I indeed can't have my cake and eat it too...I can't have Facebook and football.  I can have one or the other, but not both at the same time.  It's something that Amy has been telling me for a long time, and I'll tell you when I finally realized that she was right.  Much to my displeasure, my alma mater (Mississippi State University) fell flat in our annual regular season finale against Ole Miss, our in-state rival a few Saturdays ago.  I mean, it wasn't even a game really.  Amy and I got home from our Thanksgiving travels right before kickoff, and before we have the cars fully unloaded, the score was 21-0 bad guys.  Come on guys...it was even senior day.  Possibly the greatest player in MSU history, Dak Prescott, was playing his final home game.  Everything was in place for a storybook ending to an outstanding career...at least until the game started.
 
     Over the course of the next few hours, I watched in complete disgust every time our bulldogs would show some glimmer of hope, things turned in the opposite direction.  "If we can just get a stop here and score quickly" turned into "how do we not cover that guy."  Amy could see that both my patience and my sanity were both floating right out the window.  She even told one of the kids that it would probably be best if no one bothered daddy the rest of the night.

     Now, I'm not usually one to get irrational about football, but this game is different.  This is a game that for me literally causes a divided family.  However, even in moments where I get wrapped up in it, I'm over it by the next day.  I've never understood the person who because of an athletic team that they aren't a part of losing, that somehow their week is shot.  I'm the type of person who gets upset in the moment, but for the most part I'm able to quickly put it behind me.  My issue comes in (and this is where the newly established no Facebook rule comes in) in getting through the game and back to the level of sanity that I typically have without saying or doing anything foolish.

     As the game was coming to an end and it was more than obvious that there was no miracle comeback to be made in Starkville that day, I took a cheap shot.  For those who don't keep up with college sports, it can be a pretty dirty business.  Coaches, alumni, and boosters are always accused of "buying" certain recruits to get them to come and play for their respective schools.  It's widely acknowledged that this takes place nearly everywhere to varying degrees.  That's not to say that it isn't illegal or that it isn't a detestable practice, but just that it's a reality.  Well, several of the key players for Ole Miss had some stories come out about their recruitment falling into this category, so I focused in on that.  [To be fair, several of the players of MSU have had similar stories written about them as well]  I wrote something to the effect of at least Ole Miss spent their money on quality players.  I know that it was a tasteless comment, but I didn't really view it as that big of a deal, especially not in that moment.  I expected to get a lot of Hotty Toddy's (their chant of sorts) back in return, which I did.  I knew that folks would let me have it (which they did), but I didn't expect what I saw.  People that I haven't spoken to in years were commenting, sending me messages, and really getting upset over what I had said.  In the span of only a few minutes, I had more people engaged in a conversation on social media than I had in quite some time...and that's when it hit me.

     I'm on social media a good bit (I wonder at times if I'm not on it too much).  For the most part, I enjoy reading articles, sharing things, and keeping up with old friends.  I've previously written about it on this blog.  However, it occurred to me during this "debate" that began Saturday night and ran well into Sunday morning how shameful it is that the passion for the gospel isn't as deep as the passion for athletics in our world.  Look, we've all heard the lines about the biggest church in Baton Rouge, LA being open on Saturday night, filled with Catholics, but there isn't a Bible anywhere in the place.  And that's not a situation unique to Baton Rouge, but is a reality in virtually all communities where major college football, professional football, or any other major sport exists.  The thing that kept ringing in my mind all throughout the day on Sunday was the fact that I see all types of Christian articles and blogs posted on Facebook pages, but none of them generate the volume of responses that something about an athletic event generates.  Quotes from great theological minds don't seem as important to folks as the latest shot that can be taken at someone with an opposing ideology.  Now, I'm not talking about those "Share if you love Jesus" posts; I'm talking about actual gospel proclamation.  I've posted several articles in the past few months with little-to-no feedback whatsoever.  However, the second that I posted anything against a college football team, you would have thought that I rented an ad that was running during halftime at the Super Bowl.

     Look, I'm slowly learning my lesson about reacting to things in the moment; especially athletics.  It's a slow process, but I'm getting there.  The newest challenge that has arisen out of all of this in my life is to see the people in my geographic area (south Louisiana and the Southeast in general) come to have a passion for the gospel that not only drawfs their passion for football, but makes it seem as if they don't even keep up with it.  Yes, I know that it goes without saying that that should have been my goal all along, and you're right.  I guess I just didn't see the (attempted) choking out of faith that our desire for athletics has on our society as a whole.

Mary Did You Know (Part 2) - Luke 2:1-20; Deuteronomy 18:15

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                Now, I know that many of us in this room have read and/or heard the different accounts of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and the state of affairs in that region at that point in history so many times that we feel like we pretty much know all that can realistically be known about that night in Bethlehem.  However, simply because something can’t be known fully doesn’t (nor should it) stop us from asking various questions about it.  One of the questions that commonly gets asked of these events is if they were expected; was the birth of Jesus expected?  Now, this may seem like a bit of an odd question.  After all, we have all of the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament about how the Messiah would come into the world and what he would do once he was here.  We know that Jesus is referred to at various points as the long-awaited Messiah.   So, the short answer to whether or not these events were expected is yes.  Maybe not every detail, but these events were anticipated in a general sense.  Well, do you know where most of these expectations came from?  As I mentioned a moment ago, they came from those prophecies that we find in the Old Testament.  They, of course, all have God as their source of origin, but they were delivered to His people through prophets.  A prophet was someone who spoke for God to His people.  God’s will for His people was revealed through the speaking of a prophet, who himself had received God’s instructions via dreams, direct hearings, or some other theophany.  God would also from time-to-time reveal future events that were to come in the life of His people; these were called prophecies.  Well, God had spoken through various prophets for some time revealing little pieces about who the coming Messiah was to be.  We refer to these specific prophecies as Messianic prophecies.

                One of the earliest revelations about the coming Messiah comes to us from Moses’ words to the nation of Israel just before they were to enter into the Promised Land.  In Deuteronomy 18, Moses tells the Israelites, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”  Moses then goes on to remind the people of the events that happened previously, during their wanderings in the wilderness, when the people fully acknowledged that they needed someone to stand between themselves and God because of their sinfulness.  They not only acknowledged their need for someone to stand in such a place, but begged God to provide them with that person.  “Don’t just let us pick someone, but you choose who should stand between yourself and us.”  And God tells them that He will do just that in his words to Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.  And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  So, the question that we’re going to ask and somewhat answer is whether or not Mary, Jesus’ mother who was looking into his newborn eyes that night, had any idea that her son was the eternal prophet promised by Moses some roughly 1500 years prior to Jesus’ birth.

                Now, as we said last week, it would be pretty unlikely for Mary to have a completely accurate idea of the magnitude of who Jesus really was there in that moment.  The truth of the matter is that she was probably still dealing with a little bit of the euphoria of delivering this child into the world.  The reality that she was now a mother was still setting in.  All of the emotions that come with this life-changing event were more than likely raging inside of her then just as they do within most women who give birth today.  However, because of the visit from the angel Gabriel telling her that she was to give birth to the Son of God and because of Joseph’s being visited by the Lord during a dream, they both knew full-well that there was something different about this child that wasn’t like anyone before.  I mean, it’s not as if there hadn’t been some pretty amazing births already recorded in Scripture.  Think back to the births of Isaac or Moses or Samuel.  In a few of these cases we’re told of either barrenness or age or a combination of the two on the part of their mothers leading to it being highly unlikely that these children would be born.  Yet, they were born in God’s unfolding of His eternal plan.  In the case of Moses, the situation that existed with the slaying of all Hebrew boys was even more bleak-looking than Herod’s vendetta to kill Jesus.  I mean, we need only look at John the Baptist’s birth to see God’s overcoming of Elizabeth’s (a relative of Mary’s) barrenness to bring John into the world.  However, none of these miraculous births and survivals are as amazing or incredible as the virgin birth.  So, Mary (and Joseph as well) had to know that there was something much greater about this particular child, something much greater than the world had ever known.  They know that this child isn’t just some man of God like the world has seen come and go, but something entirely different.

                Now, I don’t want to get off on too much of a tangent here, but there are those who will fully acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet.  However, they won’t acknowledge that he is the eternal prophet who serves this very day as our advocate with the Father.  That’s an important distinction to be aware of.  For example, those in the Muslim tradition will point out that Jesus speaks numerous times about his being sent by the Father and they take these references to mean that he is merely referring to himself as just a prophet.  They point to texts like Matthew 13:57 and Jesus’ words to the people of Nazareth when he told them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” as proof that even Jesus acknowledged himself to be merely a prophet.  Well, there are two things there that need to be cleared up.  First, Jesus’ acknowledgment of himself as a prophet doesn’t mean that he isn’t something else in addition to being a prophet.  I would acknowledge that I’m a pastor, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be a judge or a doctor or some other profession as well.  Now, I’m not, but I know of several ministers who have other professions in addition to the pastorate.  The second thing of note in this misinterpretation of Jesus as merely a prophet is that it is incorrect exegesis of the original Greek.  The word that is translated “prophet” has no other possible meaning.  The word that is translated “angel” can also be translated as “messenger” or “one who is sent out for the purpose of proclamation.”  So, we can’t mistake Jesus’ words about being sent by the Father and make him merely a messenger for God.  After all, part of the job of a prophet was proclamation, so there is going to be some overlap.  To view Jesus as merely a prophet is to incorrectly reduce the significance of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish.

                If we were to turn our attention to John 4 and read the account of Jesus at the well with the woman of Samaria, we would find that after a moment of conversation that the woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”  However, only a mere 10 verses later, her understanding of Jesus grows and she recognizes him as the Messiah.  “Can this be the Christ?” she says in verse 29.  She sees that Jesus was much more than a mere prophet.  Another example in John’s gospel of Jesus being much more than what we may think at first is found in the very first words of this account.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” (1:1-2).  You see, Jesus didn’t only proclaim the Word of God; He is the Word of God.  Perhaps the clearest statement on the superiority of Jesus comes to us from the opening words of the epistle to the Hebrews (1:1-2).  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”  Are you starting to see how all of this adds up?  When we take the prophecies of the Old Testament and the revelations that God gave to Joseph and Mary and we put those with Jesus’ own words about himself (words like “For I have not spoken of my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” John 12:49), then the picture of Jesus being the faithful prophet of the New Testament becomes even clearer.  Jesus is the fuller and more perfect prophet than all those who have proceeded him.  All of the prophets that had come before Jesus have one thing in common; their time of God speaking through them came to an end.  However, that isn’t the case with Jesus.  There is an eternality to his serving in the role of prophet.  Also, it isn’t as if his speaking to God’s people about God is something that he knows little about.  In fact, he knows all there is to know because he is God himself.  As R.C. Sproul says, “Jesus is not just the subject of prophecy; He is the chief object of prophecy.  He did not just teach about the future or declare the Word of God; He is the Word of God, and He is the focal point of all the prophetic teaching of the Old Testament.”

                So, we may not be able to come to a definitive conclusion on whether or not Mary knew that the baby boy that she was looking at was the eternal prophet, the promised Messiah.  She might have.  At the very least, we could assume that she had a good idea about some aspects of Jesus being the One whom God would speak through to His people.  However, we can come to a conclusion on whether or not we know that Jesus is the once for all prophet of God.  Do you live your life as if Jesus still serves as the eternal prophet?  I know that that sounds like a bit of an odd question at first.  Let me clarify, do you live as if the only rule for your life is that which is given to us through Jesus?  Is your life governed by the Word of God?  Or is your life governed or commanded by something else?  Do you take orders from the things of this world (your desires, earthly governments, society in general)?  If your identity as a Christian, as one who is obedient only to the commands of God, came in direct conflict with your personal security, the security of your family, your financial security, or your health, which one wins out?  I know that’s a tough question to answer.  I also know that many of you are saying to yourselves, “Well, God would never ask me to choose between Him and my family.”  No, God wouldn’t make us choose, we’re the ones who choose without even being asked.  We’re the ones who seek personal desires over the kingdom of God.  We’re the ones who take care of ourselves first and then worry about everyone else. 

                The reality of the matter is that for many, life is lived as if Jesus isn’t the eternal prophet.  For many, we take as much guidance and leadership from our own experiences and understanding as we do from Christ’s commands for us.  “My previous experience in this situation dictates how I’m going to approach this more than my following Christ.”  As we’ve said already, Mary may not have known the full extent of Jesus’ serving as the eternal prophet, but we do…at least to some extent.  Maybe we should take the advice that Mary gave to the servants in the text that we looked at last Sunday at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.”  In other words, live as if Jesus is in charge of your life and not as if you are the one in charge.

Mary Did You Know (Part 1) - Luke 2:1-20; John 2:1-10

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                I realize that it seems a little early in the Advent season to go ahead and read the account of Jesus’ birth.  Well, the truth of the matter is that we are going to read this exact same text each time we gather leading up to the celebration of Christmas and we’re going to ask ourselves the very same question each time:  Mary, did you know?  Yes, the very same question as the title to the very popular Christmas song written by Mary Lowry back in the mid-1980’s and rerecorded many times since then.  Each Sunday, we’re going to ask if Mary had any idea about a particular aspect of what her son Jesus was actually going to do during his earthly ministry (and even beyond to some extent).  We’re going to ask if she had any idea who he really was.  This Sunday we’re going to ask ourselves if Mary had any idea about the signs and miracles that her son would perform and what they meant.

                I’ve often said that having a child becomes real for a mother long before it becomes real for a father.  Whether it’s the moment that the test comes back positive or someone buys that first present, the woman feels like a mother.  Maybe it’s that first battle with heartburn or the first sleepless night or even the joy (that quickly turns to pain) of the baby kicking in her stomach, the woman feels like a mother.  Do you want to know when a man feels like a father?  For some, it’s that moment when they hand your baby to you after delivery.  However, for most men it’s that first moment when all of the hustle and bustle quiets down and we are left holding our precious gift from God in our arms.  Now, I’ve been blessed to experience this three times in my life, but there was something different about when Ashby was born that the boys didn’t have (something more than just the fear of being a parent and realizing that someone else’s life was my responsibility).  I can remember looking into her bluish/grey eyes and wondering who she was going to be.  It was something that I had never known with any person in my life.  The possibilities were (and are) literally endless for who that little girl might become and what she could do with her life.

                Over the last almost seven years, I remember that moment every time I read this passage and the same question roams through my mind each time:  I wonder what Mary was thinking when she looked into Jesus’ eyes.  Obviously, she knew from the fact that the angel Gabriel had revealed to her who Jesus really was that her son was someone unlike any the world had known before.  We know that she understood that Immanuel (the name that the Lord revealed to Joseph in a dream) literally means God with us.  However, I’ve often wondered if even she had any clue who Jesus really was and what he came to do.  Did she fully know and believe that her son was the long awaited Messiah of God’s people?  For example, what did she think each time that her son performed a miracle?  If we look at the second chapter of John’s gospel, we find one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, his turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  One thing that is different about this miracle that isn’t necessarily present with all the other miracles is that Jesus’ mother was actually present while this miracle was performed.  Also, keep in mind that this was his first miracle to perform.  So, it’s not like Mary had heard of all of the wondrous things that Jesus had done elsewhere prior to this.  John 2 reads, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’  And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

                Now, we know that Jesus goes on to turn the water from six large stone purification pots into not just wine, but the best wine of the evening.  We’re not going to dissect this miracle for the specific details that are contained within it.  We did that only a few years ago when we walked through John’s gospel.  However, I will remind you of what a miracle really was; Jesus’ miracles where much more significant than the physical action that is recorded in Scripture.  When Jesus performed a miracle, what he was ultimately doing was pointing to the greatest miracle that was to come, his work upon the cross and his glorious resurrection.  In fact, the Greek word that is translated miracle can also be translated as sign (something pointing to something else).  His reference here to his hour having not yet come is a reference to the hour of his crucifixion not being at hand.  Sure, he turned water into wine, but the ultimate purpose behind this miracle or sign was to point to himself as the promised Messiah.  We can’t make the mistake of separating the miracles that he performed during his earthly ministry from his work upon the cross.  It’s just like how we can’t separate Jesus’ calls for compassion, mercy, and love from his call to leave all the things of this world and follow him.  It’s foolish to appeal to any one aspect of Jesus’ mission and not all of the call to be a follower of Christ, especially when the aspects that we want to appeal to are merely signs that are pointing towards his primary purpose.  I’ve heard folks say recently that certain works of compassion and caring are the most Jesus-like things they’ve ever seen.  My response has continuously been, “No, the most Jesus thing to do is to die upon the cross so that mankind might find forgiveness of sins.”  You see it’s simple:  you can’t have Jesus without the crucifixion and resurrection.  Without these aspects of Christ’s work, we’re simply being moralists and not followers or disciples of Jesus.

                Now, as far as this particular miracle goes and it’s pertaining to our specific look at Mary’s understanding of who her son was, did you notice what she told the servants at the wedding after Jesus reminded her that his time had not yet come?  Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.  I’ve often found it interesting that Mary would even go to her son in the first place when it came to the issue of having no wine at this wedding.  After all, Jesus wasn’t in charge of this event, but an invited guest just like everyone else.  Also, we know that Jesus’ trade was in carpentry and not wine-making.  Why would she go to him with this problem unless she knew that he had the power to do something about it?  John Calvin suggests that Mary had no expectation of Jesus producing more wine but instead was looking to him to give some pious exhortation that would relieve the guests of their uneasiness.  After all, it was seen as an insult to them for there not to be enough wine.  However, because of his having done no prior signs, it’s highly unlikely that Mary expected anything along the lines of the events that took place.

                Regardless of her expectations, she knows that whatever Jesus is about to do is for the good of everyone.  Imagine how much better the world would be if we just took Mary’s words to the servants in a general sense.  “Do whatever [Jesus] tells you.”  Mary realizes that Jesus, even though he is only a guest, is in control of this situation.  We see an understanding on her part that there is no authority other than Jesus.  We’re not told of her going to the host of the party, the father of the bride, or any of the servants.  We’re told of her seeing a need and running directly to Jesus and laying the matter at his feet.  We see from this example that if we desire anything from Christ, we will not obtain our wishes, unless we depend on him alone, look to him alone, and do whatever he commands of us.

                Now, as I’ve said already, this was much more than a mere transformation of one substance to another.  This was much more than a taking of something natural and common and making it into something that was synonymous with joy.  This was something to point the way to Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  If we look at the closing words of this account in John’s gospel, we read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”  The works of Jesus are great and wonderful.  We love reading about his healing people of their infirmities, his driving out demons, and things like that.  However, we cannot miss the ultimate reality that they are much bigger than the actions themselves.  They are signs that are pointing the way to the cross, to the Messiah, and to God.

                So, did Mary have any idea about the miracles that her son would perform?  Well, we can assume from the text in John 2 that she didn’t know on that starry night there in the manger in Bethlehem.  However, she did come to see the power of Jesus’ works and the sign in which they were pointing to.  She grew in her understanding of who her son was just as we must grow in our understanding of who he is.  We can’t reduce Jesus down to his miracles or his teaching or his good works, but we must come to know him for the totality of who he is.  He is our One True Hope, the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the eternal prophet, priest, and king.  Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, the Lion of Judah, and the Good Shepherd.  Jesus Christ is everything to us.

Ephesians 6:18-24 "The Call to Prayer"

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Today we’re going to finish our look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, but we’re going to have to back up a bit to do so.  I know that after I finished last week several of you commented that you wished that we had gone more in depth with different pieces of the armor of God or the way in which all the pieces work together, but there just simply wasn’t time.  I didn’t have time to really dive into things as deep as I could have or would have liked to.  That’s one of the difficulties that comes with constructing a sermon without it having a one hour delivery time.  Unfortunately, there are times (nearly every Sunday) when you simply have to gloss over something in the interest of time.  Well, every now and then you get lucky and the way that the schedule falls affords you a chance to go back and revisit something.  So, with that being said, we’re getting lucky today.  We’re going to be backing up to verse 18 to begin this final reading from Ephesians, and there are some things that went largely unsaid last Sunday that we will see more fully today, specifically in the area of prayer. (Read Ephesians 6:18-24)

Now, we’ve been talking each week since around the beginning of August about the audience and the central message of this epistle.  Essentially, it is a message to a church (a healthy one at that) about the Church and what the Church is to look like and how she ought to function.  It’s a message about how a church that is rightly focused upon God and the keeping of His commands ought to look and the things that they ought to be concerned with.  And I don’t think that it can be lost on us here that despite having just given us a good deal about loving one another, imitating God, submitting to Christ, and being prepared for the spiritual warfare that exists in the world, that Paul would choose to end his word to this church by talking about something quite unoriginal, yet foundational.  Paul ends this letter by talking about prayer and the power of it.

Prayer is one of the most foundational elements of a person’s faith.  It’s also one of the easiest spiritual disciplines for us to do and keep regularly.  I mean, you don’t even have to be good at it for you do it.  There’s a certain aptitude that must be present to preach.  There’s a certain knowledge that needs to be had to teach.  There are particular skills and characteristics that a person needs to have to do mercy ministries.  If we were to comb through the entirety of the New Testament and pull out all of those things that we would consider to be spiritual gifts, we would end up with a pretty extensive list.  Our list would be no shorter than 9 or 10 and possibly even as long as 20 gifts.  Some would be things like teaching, preaching, and governing, that are still universally acknowledged as being active in the life of the Church today.  Other things, like speaking in tongues and prophesying, would be on that list, but are not universally acknowledged to still take place today.  However, do you know what wouldn’t be on that list anywhere?  Prayer; prayer would be nowhere on the list of spiritual gifts.  Do you know why that is?  Well, the simple answer is that prayer isn’t a gift, but it is instead a responsibility or an obligation that falls upon all Christians; albeit an all-to-often neglected and forgotten responsibility.

Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians by telling them that they are to “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”  Did you notice the repeated use of the word “all” in that one verse (v.18)?  Pray at all times using all kinds of prayers, praying always for all the saints.  It’s verses like this that cause us to have to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves about the state of our prayer lives.  When do you pray?  Do you pray in times of struggle or times of difficult decisions?  Do you pray before enjoying a meal (even when you’re in a rush and just say a quick blessing)?  Do you pray during your daily devotional time?  Do/did you pray with your kids before they go to bed at night?  Do you have a set amount of time that you try and pray each day?  All of these things are wonderful rules, principles, and guidelines to have when it comes to prayer.  However, the sad reality is that it’s never enough.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s never enough to please God.  I’m saying that it’s never enough to fully cover all the prayers of adoration for God, confession of sin, thanksgiving, and supplication that we have at any given moment on any given day.

Several years ago I was convicted by a friend of mine who was someone whom I viewed to have a rich prayer life.  If we were having a conversation and anything in the conversation seemed to even need the slightest amount of prayer, he would want to stop the conversation and pray for it.  I’m not talking about saying that he would be praying for it; I mean literally stopping everything and praying right there on the spot.  When we would talk on the phone, he would want to end every conversation with a prayer.  Now, I’m a fan of prayer, but in the sinful and shameful rushed and hurried pace to life that I was living at the time I didn’t think that I had time for all of that praying.  I had things to do; I couldn’t “waste” all that time in prayer.  I started sort of going out of my way to avoid him just so I wouldn’t get caught in that prayer/time vacuum that followed him.  Finally, one day when I was in a huge hurry to go and get something done, I ran into him and after a rushed conversation, he asked me if I had time to pray with him.  Stressed out as I was (I know it’s a poor excuse), I asked him if he prayed before getting the mail that he didn’t get hit by a car on the way to the mailbox, or if he got up in the middle of the night and prayed for safe travels to the bathroom and back.  Now, as I said those words, the absurdity of what I had said hit me like a ton of bricks.  He and I were able to laugh off what I had said, but the wrecking ball effect that it had upon my conscience and my soul was immeasurable.

I walked away from that conversation wondering how I could be so foolish and treat prayer as if it was some bothersome task that I was asked to undertake.  How could I think such thoughts about a dear friend whose only goal was to help others bring their problems to the only One who can solve any problem?  How foolish was I to have such a lowly view of prayer.  In teaching our children what prayer is, the simplistic definition that Amy and I have gone with is that prayer in an opportunity to speak with God and to thank Him for all the wonderful things He has done for us, confessing all the ways in which we’ve failed Him (knowing that He forgives us), and asking Him for help in the areas where we need His help and guidance.  How could I have let my life become so consumed with anything else that I could ever view prayer as anything other than the greatest privilege a person could ever imagine.  It’s like me getting invited to the Super Bowl and passing up the opportunity because my yard needed to be cut.  What kind of idiot would pass that up?  Well, what kind of idiot would think that what he had to get done was more important than spending time with God?  This idiot.

Prayer isn’t a burden, but a blessing.  When we neglect our responsibility to pray, we’re not only neglecting something that God has called us to do, but we are not enjoying one of the greatest gifts that He has given us also.  It is right to pray in seasons of struggle, but it’s just as right and necessary to pray in seasons of blessing and joy.  It’s a good habit to pray at the beginning and end of each day, but don’t forget to sprinkle in some prayer throughout your day as well.  Take everything to the Lord.  Take everything to Him all the time.  Don’t just pray for your friends and family, but for your enemies as well.  Jesus, during the Sermon on the Mount, specifically calls us to pray for those who persecute us.  I know that it can be a hard thing at times, but it’s what we’re commanded to do.  No one ever said it was going to be easy being a Christian.  In fact, as we’ve seen recently in our study of this epistle, Paul actually taught that the opposite is true; that it’s difficult to be a Christian.  I’ll admit to you that I’ve struggled with how to pray over all of the acts of violence and terrorism lately.  I’ve struggled with how to pray about the issue of American security vs. Christian compassion and empathy.  These aren’t easy matters for us to deal with, and that’s because we’re feeble and finite.  The only hope that we have of having any proper guidance when it comes to issues like this is to seek the One who is infinite and upholds all of creation by the power of His word.  And thanks be to God that my seeking Him isn’t based upon the eloquence or effectiveness of my prayer, but on the sincerity of my heart and outworking of His wonderful and glorious plan for His creation.

So, why does Paul choose to end his letter to this thriving, vibrant, and healthy congregation by calling them to constant prayer and reminding them of the importance of prayer?  So that the mystery of the gospel might be proclaimed.  All of the application of Paul’s message about being called by God for the work that is at hand is nothing without prayer.  Like we said last Sunday about having the armor of God on our bodies and having no idea how to use it ultimately leaves us nearly just as vulnerable as we would be without it, having all the answers and all the knowledge without spending time with God is useless.  Do you know what point in my life that story I told you about earlier happened?  It happened while I was in seminary.  Yeah, while I was training to become a pastor I neglected prayer.  The events that were so important to me, those were the long hours spent in the library trying to pound out final papers for a handful of classes during 10 hour days in the library.  I was writing papers on the doctrines and gifts of God and missing the most fundamental one aside from Jesus.  Let me tell you from personal experience that it is far too easy to miss the trees for the forest.  It’s far too easy to set our focus so intently upon something else that we miss what is right in front of us.

I want you to think back to all the things that we’ve seen in this letter.  Our being called by God to be His is revealed to us in prayer.  Our understanding of God’s grace and the strengthening of our faith comes through prayer.  Our union with one another in Christ is nurtured through prayer.  The Church is strengthened in prayer.  Our taking off of the old self and putting on the new is made possible and lasting only through the constant power of prayer.  Our submission to one another in our earthly relationships and to God in our heavenly one is a work that comes about through prayer.  And our right adorning of the armor of God is made possible by prayer.  Praying to God is one of the most basic, fundamental, and foundational aspects of our faith.  As I’ve said, it’s not something that you have to be particularly good at to do it.  It’s something that we teach even the youngest and newest of Christians to do.  The question that we must ask is if we’re doing it enough.  Are you praying enough?

We’re going to end our look at Ephesians with a challenge.  I want to challenge all of you in your prayer life.  I know that the surveys that many of you turned in back a few months ago had a question about your prayer life.  Almost everyone who turned it in said that they wanted to do more.  Well, do it.  What’s stopping you?  Many said that they try and pray every day but forget.  Well, don’t forget.  We work at training ourselves to remember to eat, to take medicines, and all sorts of other things.  Make prayer one of those things.  Make prayer something that if you go hours without it then you start to hunger for it.  Make prayer such a foundational part of your daily life and your faith that the desire for prayer begins to grow and grow within your heart.  May your prayers be used to glorify God and to proclaim His name boldly.  May our prayers as a church glorify God and give us the eyes to enjoy Him forever.  That is why we exist, and that is our primary purpose in this life.  That’s what Paul was trying to get across to the Ephesians; the Christian needs constant and regular prayer.

Ephesians 6:10-20 "It's A War Out There"

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                “It’s a war out there!”  This is a phrase that has often been used to prepare people in one setting for the reality that they are about to be faced with in a soon-to-be setting.  A football coach may recite these words to his players in a pregame speech.  A commanding officer would undoubtedly tell his troops of the vast difference that exists between the transport and the battlefield using these words.  Students are given similar words during their training, prior to entering the workplace.  All of these examples carry with them various levels of severity when it comes to interpreting the term “war”.  However, there is perhaps no more right or immediate usage of that phrase than had Paul used it here in our text.  You see, he was preparing the Ephesian Christians for a war.  But unlike most other wars, this war had been ongoing since almost the beginning of the earth, and will continue until the establishment of the new heaven and new earth that we read about in Revelation 21.  This war, while being played out physically, is really a war that is being waged within the hearts and minds of every human being.  Paul was preparing these Christians for what is known as spiritual warfare.  He wanted them to know just how real it was and is and exactly how they should prepare for battle.

                If you remember, he’s been telling them about the Church and about their relationship with God.  He began by telling them about their being chosen by God and kept in Him through faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  He told them of the great unity and togetherness that we as Christians are to have in being united in Christ.  He’s talked about how the truths that all Christians are made to understand are some of the greatest treasures that we could ever hope to have.  Paul has talked about how God not only calls us to a new way of life, but He actually delivers us to that new way.  God not only tells us that we ought to be better, but He shows us exactly how we are to be better.  God works in our hearts and causes us to want to shed the old self and put on this new life that is found in Jesus.  If you recall, I summed up the last few Sundays last week by saying that what we really need in order to grow closer to God is to just submit and understand that it is God and God alone who is rightly in control of our lives.  Well, lest someone get the idea that what I’m calling for (or more importantly what Paul is calling for) is some “Jesus take the wheel” type of approach to life, where all we have to do is just sit back and wait for Jesus to take care of everything, our text for today tells us otherwise.  Our text for today is the words of preparation that we need to hear and take to heart if we are going to lives as Christians in this fallen world.

                Paul doesn’t want either the original audience or futures audiences (us) to read the first 5½ chapters of this letter and think that everything about the Christian faith is easy.  He doesn’t want us to get the impression that once we have Jesus in our lives, once we take off the old self and put on the new, once we submit fully to Christ, that things are going to be easy.  Paul doesn’t want us to mistakenly think that because we have done exactly what he has called us to do that our days will be filled with nothing but sunny skies and calm weather.  Paul knows that it’s going to be hard, and he’s trying to prepare us as best he can for that reality.  He tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”  You don’t need armor for just walking around during times of peace.  You only need armor when you are in the midst of a battle, and Paul is telling us to be sure and have the full armor of God on at all times.

                Now, we’ll look at the armor itself in just a moment, but I want to take a minute and talk about the most important thing in any battle:  the enemy.  Verse 12 says, “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.”  Now, don’t be confused and think that Paul is saying that we are at war with governments here.  What Paul is doing is he’s building an escalating list of enemies.  He’s starting with things of the lowest magnitude (our own flesh and earthly forces) and going all the way up to spiritual forces of evil.  Are we going to struggle with our own flesh, corrupt rulers, and unjust authorities?  Absolutely; but the struggle against them is nothing but an offshoot of the real struggle that we have against our primary enemy of Satan.  Yes, we struggle with sin, but sin is ultimately just a tool used by Satan to find us at our weakest moments or in our most vulnerable places so that he may work at driving us farther away from God.  So, we’re not fighting against some unknown enemy, but an enemy that is quite well known.  Sure, we may be able to physically see evil sometimes, but not always.  We need not mistake unseen for unknown.

                The question then becomes, “how do we go about fighting this unseen enemy?”  The answer is that we fight him using the armor of God.  “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”  There are two things I want to point out very quickly before looking individually at the pieces of God’s armor.  The first is that we are to put on the WHOLE armor of God.  We can’t just place importance upon one area of our faith, but have to be concerned with the entirety of it.  This point will become clearer after we look at the pieces of God’s armor.  The second thing that I want to point out is that even though we are going out into war, the majority of this armor is defensive.  In fact, 5 of the 6 pieces of the armor of God are more defensive than offensive.  Plus, just look at some of the reasons that we just saw for putting on this whole armor:  to withstand, to stand firm.  These are more indicative of standing one’s ground than moving forward.

                Now, as quickly as I can, I want to cover the pieces of the armor of God.  And I want you to notice that each of the pieces described here by Paul correlates to a piece of armor worn by a typical Roman soldier of the day.  First, we have the belt of truth.  A soldier’s belt would have supported and protected his lower abdomen, gathered his tunic together, and held his sword, giving him confidence.  We could draw a connecting line to the confidence that comes from having a certainty about the truthfulness of God’s Word.  Next, there is the breastplate of righteousness, which allows us to be able to withstand accusations of the devil and gives us a certain level of protection against Satan.  A righteous life will go a long way to protecting our hearts from being pierced by Satan.  We’re then told of shoes for the readiness of the gospel.  A Roman soldier’s sandals gave him stability and protection during battle.  The shoes in God’s armor protect and prepare us for the battle that is at hand.  Then there’s the shield of faith, protection from the darts of Satan.  The shield of a Roman was quite sturdy and made to cover his entire body during an onslaught of arrows.  Our faith in Christ is what covers us completely and protects us from falling victim to a fiery arrow from Satan.  The fifth piece of the armor of God is the helmet of salvation.  For Paul, salvation is a present experience as well as a future hope.  The believer’s final ground of confidence is the faithfulness of God to complete the salvation He has already begun.   Finally, we come to the only purely offensive weapon in the armor of God, “the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”  We see Jesus use God’s Word as a weapon at various points in his earthly ministry.  We see Paul do the same during his missionary travels as well.  You see, it takes the Word of God for a heart to truly be changed.  It takes the seed being planted by the Word.  The only hope that we have of combating the forces of evil in this world is to rightly wield the sword of the armor of God, the sword of the Spirit, His Word.

                It’s pretty easy to understand that if a soldier went out into battle without having all of his pieces of armor that he would be quite vulnerable.  Neglecting any area of protection for the body would leave him open to an increased chance of being injured from an attack leveled by the enemy.  For us to neglect any one area of the armor of God would leave us increasingly vulnerable to an onslaught of sin from the evil one.  So, we can’t place importance upon one piece of armor over any other.  However, I ran across this quote this week that I have read before, but in preparation for this sermon I found it quite meaningful.  Of God’s Word, Dr. R.C. Sproul says, “I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible.”  Now, there’s more to Dr. Sproul’s quote, but this part speaks to just how neglected the Word of God is in our modern Christian worldview.  Can you imagine a soldier going out into the midst of a battle without a sword?  Even if he has all the other pieces of armor, the best he can hope for is merely survival without making really any impact.  When we go out into the world without the Word of God, then the best that we can hope for is survival without any impact for the sake of the gospel.  Does that sound like what we’re called to do?  Are we merely called to survive the onslaught of attacks, or are we called to go out and have an impact upon the world?

                I think that all we have to do is look at Paul’s further instructions to see that our calling is much more than mere survival.  He gives instructions to pray at all times, the keep alert, to persevere, and to proclaim “the mystery of the gospel.”  Our goal is to weather the attacks that are going to come our way, but to also seek to push forward.  I know that it’s a shame when we compare modern-day athletics to warfare, but there are some good analogies that can be found there.  Think if you will about the offensive line in football.  The number one job of an offensive line is to protect, they are to prevent an opposing team from entering your backfield so that you can attack them offensively.  When an o-line does their job (providing proper defense), then it allows for those offensive “weapons” to progress and move the ball down the field.  So, we see from this that there is a certain amount of defense that goes into an offensive strategy.  For us, in our Christian faiths and our daily living, we are adorned with the armor of God to protect us so that we may go on the offensive with the Word of God; so that we may take the Gospel outward and into the world and fulfill the Great Commission.

                So, why is Paul using this analogy of armor in his epistle about the Church?  Well, where do you think that we are fitted with this armor?  Where do you think it is that we are trained in how to use this armor to its utmost effectiveness?  You could give me the latest in combat gear, but unless someone trains me on how to use it, then it’s pretty much just a lot of bulky clothing that might protect me from some attacks, but not all that it was designed to do.  If we look back at what I said is the central verse of this epistle, Ephesians 4:12, we find these words, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up the body of Christ.”  That’s why we exist as a church, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.  And the way that we equip them is by adorning them with the armor of God and training them to rightly use this armor.

                We serve no greater purpose as a church than to prepare Christians for what awaits them in this world.  We serve no greater purpose than to equip Christians for spiritual warfare.  We serve no greater purpose than to teach and instruct and train each and every person who walks through those doors about how to anchor themselves to Christ as a means of overcoming the evil that exists in this world.  It’s not just enough to make sure that we know how to use the armor of God, but to make sure that everyone is rightly equipped and adorned with this armor.  This world is tough and seems to be getting tougher each and every day.  The only hope we have of remaining in Christ, of keeping off the old clothes and adorned with the new armor of God, is to rightly prepare for what’s at hand.  Let this day be the day that you pledge either for the first time or pledge anew that you will rightly wield the armor of God and seek for all others to be adorned in it as well; that we may go out into this world and not only weather the storms, but fight for the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 6:5-9 "Submitting to the Master"

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                Today we come to the third and final earthly relationship that Paul used to convey our relationship with God and what right submission ought to like to the Ephesian church.  We’ve seen Paul’s examples flow from the marital relationship that exists between husband and wife to the parent/child relationship and now to work relationships.  And the question that we’ve been asking each week is:  what is Paul trying to teach us in each example?  What is Paul teaching us about our relationship with God from this example of masters and slaves?  Now, I need to address the elephant in the room before we really get started on this text.  Don’t mistake these verses as a biblical endorsement of slavery.  There are opponents of the Christian faith who will say how heinous these verses are because Paul not only doesn’t condemn slavery, but he seemingly has no problem with it.  Now, we know from looking at the entirety of Scripture that Paul does have issue with it, but he simply chooses not to address it here.  In other places he most certainly condemns it, just not here.  I have a theological issue with homosexuality; however, I don’t walk up to every person that I know is a homosexual and condemn them right there on the spot.  I don’t encourage them, but I don’t harshly condemn either.  And my lack of condemnation at a given moment ought not to be misinterpreted as my endorsing such behavior.  The reality of slavery in Paul’s time was that it existed.  Despite what we may think and know of it today, it was a common practice in Paul’s time.  That doesn’t make it right, but its commonality does make it a fairly universally understood teaching illustration.  Also, I would remind you that slavery at that time wasn’t racially driven like what comes to mind today when we think of slavery.  It was more national or cultural than anything else.  Think if you will of the Hebrews in Egypt.  Paul uses slavery here as an example simply because it was one of the predominate work relationships of his day, and a third avenue for teaching right submission and obedience.

                We have to keep in mind that all three of these relationships are calls to submission (wives, children, slaves).  That’s what Paul’s trying to teach here.  Remember, we’re in the midst of talking about how to put off the old self and put on the new.  The only way that that can be done is not by the sweat of our brow or our most valiant efforts, but by our complete and total submission to God.  Paul is using these three different examples to teach submission because everyone could relate to at least one of these three relationships, if not all three.  And even though slavery doesn’t still exist in our world today (at least not in our society), I think that these words from our text today are just as true for us today as they were during Paul’s time.  However, instead of slaves and masters, we must think in terms of employees and bosses.  So, I’m probably going to jump back and forth saying slaves one minute and employees the next.  Just bear with me and know that when I say slaves I’m referring to modern-day employees.  Paul says that slaves are to obey their masters “with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as [they] would Christ.”  Now, to me this is a hard word both in the historical and modern context.  Historically, Paul is saying that those who are enduring the harsh conditions of slavery should serve their masters with a sincere heart; no doubt something that would be quite difficult and against one’s natural inclination.  The modern context or application of these words would be that we are to work for our bosses with all that we have; treating our jobs with the same level of care and importance that our bosses do.  I’m fortunate in that I love my job.  However, not everyone has that luxury.  I’ve worked in some jobs where it was a struggle to get up and go each morning.  So, I know that the reality of this statement in our modern context is quite difficult as well; maybe not to the same level as slavery, but still difficult.

                Paul continues by saying, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ.”  There’s that “of Christ” again; similar to “as the Lord” or “in the Lord” that we’ve seen the past few weeks, but we’ll deal with that in a minute.  As I was reading the words eye-service and people-pleasers, I thought back to the summer of 2004.  I was working at Starkville Country Club in Starkville, MS on the grounds crew trying to save up enough money to buy an engagement ring while Amy was in a town about an hour north of Baltimore, MD working at a horse farm.  I got up every morning at 4 am to go cut grass until about 3 or 4 pm.  My first day there, the head of the grounds crew told me that I always needed to be busy.  If you finished what you were doing, then go weed eat a ditch or wash carts or something.  Well, one of the guys that had worked there for a while was lying under a tractor one day.  I thought that it might have broken down on him, so I stopped to ask him if he needed any help.  After finishing my question, I could then hear that he was snoring.  I woke him up and he got mad at me.  “Don’t you know how this job works?  You’re just supposed to look busy.  You don’t have to actually be busy all the time.  That’s only for when any of the bosses are around.”

                Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first or last coworker that I have had who felt the need to simply look busy (i.e. do actual work only when someone important was looking).  Paul is calling us to constant work.  If you recall the account of creation in Genesis, God called Adam and Eve to constant work as well, with the Sabbath rest coming on the seventh day.  It wasn’t that God told Adam and Eve to simply look busy, but to work and care or God’s creation.  Basically, God was commanding them to submit to Him and to work and care for His creation just as if it was their own.  I want you to just hear the rest of the words that Paul gives to the Ephesians here:  “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.”  Do you hear the words of care that slaves or workers are to have?  Working from the heart; earnestly working.  And we’re not working to please man, but to please God.  I don’t care if you’re a pastor like me or a teacher or a welder or a ditch-digger; whatever your occupation is, you are to do it as a servant of God.  No matter your vocation, you are to seek to bring honor and glory to God’s kingdom through the right working of your job.  I’m not going to call out any companies specifically, but we’ve seen different restaurants and merchants operate in a manner that honors God while still providing equal or better service than those who don’t.  We’ve seen individual people who work in the same job (and sometimes for the same company) as someone else, but yet God is honored and proclaimed through one of them and not the other.  Paul is calling all people to submit to their work (i.e. their employers), but to do so while honoring God.

                Before moving on to the masters, Paul tells slaves of their reward.  He says, “knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”  Paul is saying that the blessing in all of this is that through our submission we will receive something much greater back in return.  We don’t just submit in order to get the reward, but because we submit we are rewarded.  Because we submit, because we honor God in our vocation, God is going to give us something so much greater.  In fact, he’s already given us this great gift in the person of Jesus Christ, and he’s going to continue to give us this great gift through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our hearts, shaping us more and more in the image of Christ.  Now, I do need to say before moving on that submitting to our masters is similar to that of wives submitting to husbands and children submitting to parents.  It’s similar in that all of these are not simply blind submissions, but are submissions in so far as the respective heads are in line with the will of God.  If a boss tells you to be dishonest, to steal, to do shotty work that might endanger the occupants of a building, then we as Christians are not compelled to obey them.  We are compelled to obey God first and foremost.

                Paul makes this point very clear in his only comment aimed directly at masters (or employers) when 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.”  Masters do the same.  In other words, bosses are to be held to the same standard as their employees.  I can remember growing up; my father owned a paint manufacturing business.  If he ever asked his employees to work late in order to complete a big job, then it was just understood that he was going to be right there with them.  There was never a sense of “I’m the boss.  I’m above that.  That’s what I pay you people to do.”  Anything that he expected his employees to do was something that he was completely willing to do himself.  I can’t count the number of times when I would go and see him and arrive to find his clothes were twice as filthy as anyone else that worked for him.  Employers are to hold themselves to the same standards as they would employees.  Doesn’t this sound almost identical to the relationships that we’ve seen the last few weeks?  Doesn’t setting realistic standards and having mutual respect for the other party in a relationship sound just like what we said about the relationships that exist between husbands and wives and parents and children?

                Now, I want take some time and pull not only this text, but all three of our examples together with the few minutes I have remaining.  For starters, I love the part that Paul puts in there about both slaves and masters having the same Master (notice the capitalization of the “M” in this usage) in heaven.  It’s worth noting that the Greek word that is translated master throughout this passage is the word kurios, which is translated in most other passages as Lord.  I don’t think it can be lost that Paul could have used a different word for master, but specifically used this particular word in this passage.  Paul’s reminding us that no matter slave or free, employee or employer, that we ultimately serve the same Master, the same Lord.  The same could be said of the other two relationships as well. 

                Whether we are the designed head of these relationships (husband, parent, or master) or the ones who are called to be in submission (wives, children, or slaves), our status with Christ is unmoved.  In Paul’s words, “there is not partiality with [God].”  Yes, we have different roles to play on this earth and yes we are called to different responsibilities within those different roles, but our service is ultimately to God.  Look at it like this, in the overall scope of a company, the job of everyone is to create a quality product.  There are undoubtedly different roles held by different people, but the task of creating a quality product remains the overall unified theme.  As we’ve been talking about these relationships and the overarching theme of submission, we have to remember the context.  As we’ve already said, they are given to us on the heels of Paul’s teaching about putting off the old self and putting on the new.  We are able to put on the new and shed the old only by submitting to Christ.  But don’t forget that this is part of an epistle that Paul wrote about the Church.  Doesn’t this talk about all serving the same Master and all working towards the same goal just scream out to you about how the Church (by that I mean both universal and local) should operate.

                No matter what role we have in the Church, the bride of Christ, we are to fulfill our role.  We are to do our job not matter what that job is.  Sometimes we’re not going to like our job.  Sometimes we’re not going to like giving what we are called to give, doing what we’re called to do, or giving up what we have to give up in order to serve the Lord.  However, that is what we are called to do.  In other words, we are to submit ourselves to the will of God.  We aren’t to say, “Lord, I’m willing to do whatever it is that you are calling me to do as long as it is located where I want, giving me what I want, and not making me uncomfortable.”  No!  Instead, we are to simply say to the Lord, “I submit.  Use me however you see fit; even if that means to my personal detriment.”    The bottom line is that we must understand who we are in our earthly relationships, while also understanding who we are in our relationship with God.  We are to always serve God, be in submission to Him, and obey His will for our lives.

Ephesians 6:1-4 "But I Want to Obey"

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                Today we are focusing our attention on the second example that the Apostle Paul gave as a means of teaching proper obedience and submission to Christ.  Last week, we looked at the relationship between husbands and wives, and we connected that with Christ’s relationship with the Church.  As wives are to be submissive to husbands (reminder, not in an inferior way but in a loving way), so husbands are to love and lead their wives (also, not in a tyrannical or superior manner, but in a way of love).  The wife is to lovingly submit, while the husband is to lovingly lead, even if that means harm coming to him.  It’s sort of like the captain going down with the ship.  Well, that’s exactly how Christ loves the Church.  Christ gave up his life for the Church.  He loves the Church so much, that despite obvious faults and failures, he laid down his life on her behalf.  Well, Paul turns his attention to another relationship, that of parents and children.  As I said last Sunday, this is really a natural progression from spouses to children to work relationships.  And we’re going to approach it much the same way as we did last Sunday, by looking first at the earthly relationship between parents and children, and then connecting that to God’s relationship with and love for His children, the Church, Christians.

                One of the greatest pieces of advice that I have ever received came from my father when I was just a little kid.  It wasn’t something that he set out to intentionally bestow upon me, but it was something that I learned through the way that I was raised.  One time, I had just done something to get myself in trouble (shocker), and my father was going to be the one coming up with my punishment.  Typically my mom was the disciplinarian, and I had grown virtually immune to her forms of punishment.  However, my dad knew exactly the things that really got to me.  This particular time, he made me not only miss my baseball game, but he made me go to the park and sit and watch my team play in a game.  After we got in his truck after the game, he asked me how it felt.  I told him that he wasn’t my friend anymore.  Expecting my father to be crushed by the weight of that statement, his reply was simple, “Well, good thing my job isn’t to be your friend, it’s to be your dad.”  I was stunned to the point of silence by those words that that ended the conversation right then and there.

                Years have passed since all of that happened.  We’ve never really spoken about it, but it has been one of the most impactful moments of my life, not just in how I go about raising my kids, but how I see the world.  When I look out into the world, I see a place where parents are seemingly striving to be their children’s best friends.  I see a place where the role of parent has somehow become secondary to the role of friend and confidant.  Don’t mistake me, I’m not telling you that my father and I aren’t friends.  Until the time that I met my wife, my father was my best and closest friend.  He was the best man at my wedding.  However, during the time that he and my mother were raising me (and even beyond), there has always been a clear authority structure in place.  It’s just like what we saw last week with marriage, God has a created structure for marriage and a created structure for parents and children as well.  In fact, both of these things put together comprise God’s intended order for the family unit as a whole.  The husband is the head with the wife lovingly taking her cues from him and the children in submission to them both.  I know that some will hear these words and think that they are archaic, and I will acknowledge that indeed they are as old as time itself; that’s because they are the order that God created.  However, I will quickly remind you that simply because something is old doesn’t necessarily mean that it is outdated or obsolete.  I know that we live in a world that places modernity and newness as priorities, but newer isn’t always better.  After all, it isn’t as if God needs to be updated to fit our context.  The problem isn’t with God, it’s with us.

                 “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”  Much the same way that I said last Sunday that so many see “Wives submit to your husbands” without seeing “as to the Lord”, we do the same thing with this verse.  We simply focus on the call for children to obey their parents without ever seeing the words “in the Lord.”  Yes, children are to obey their parents.  Children are to honor and respect their parents as well.  Verses 2 and 3 of our text are simply a repetition of Exodus 20:12, the fifth commandment.  However, they are not to do so blindly, but are to do so “in the Lord.”  Well, what does “in the Lord” mean?  Without going into too long of a rant, it simply means that they are to obey their parents as far as their parents’ expectations and commands do not interfere with or contradict those given by God.  For example, if a father where to forbid his child from attending church and worship, then that would not be a command that is keeping with the things of God.  For that child to disobey his/her parent and attend worship would not be a violation of the fifth commandment or the obedience command that we see here from Paul.  And you could easily apply this principle further out and see that this doesn’t give parents free reign to compel their children to steal, murder, commit fraud, lie, or any other activity that is strictly forbidden by Scripture. 

                Now, it needs to be said here that even though the majority of the verses in this text seem to be commands towards children, much of the focus here is actually on the parents.  You see, as parents, we have to set good examples for our children to follow.  If we are to expect the obedience of our children, then we must ourselves be obedient to the Lord so that our requirements for them are in keeping with God as well.  Also, in order for them to honor us as parents, we must be someone worthy of honoring.  Now, this can be a bit of a slippery slope here.  Do I think that any person is worthy of the type of honor that we should show Christ?  Absolutely not!  However, I do think that there is a sense of honor and respect that is appropriate to be shown by children to their parents.  They can honor and respect things like showing love, nurturing, being hard-working, providing for them, being noble and upright, and there are numerous other things that we could add to this list.  Children cannot honor immorality, deceitfulness, drunkenness, being untrustworthy, or any other corrupt traits.  As parents the bulk of the responsibility is on us, as it rightly should be, to set the right example.  I mean, when we come right down to it, shouldn’t the parents be the ones with the bulk of the responsibility.  I know that there have been times in my own home when I’m frustrated with one of my children and my words or my actions teeter a little too far, bordering on dishonorable.  Amy often times will call me out on it.  After I protest, she will remind me that I’m the parent and that the other party is a child, ages 2, 5, or 6.

                Paul concludes this example of obedience and proper relationships by saying, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  Now, even though Paul specifically uses the word for fathers here, this isn’t just a statement for fathers.  It’s just as much for mothers; similar to how brethren can be interpreted to mean a group of both males and females.  “Fathers” was most likely used to drive home again the point of the husband as the head of the household.  Paul says that parents aren’t to provoke their children to anger.  Some other words that would fit here are exacerbate or aggravate.  Don’t irritate your kids.  Some of you are saying, “The whole reason I have kids is to irritate them.”  Well, what Paul’s talking about is to not be unreasonably severe in your parenting.  My parents often like to remind me during times when I’m frustrated with some of my children’s outbursts that they are indeed my children.  Basically, Paul is encouraging parents to not view their relationships with their children to be that of a tyrant, but more like that of a loving head (much like husbands and wives).

                Now I want you to pay attention to two specific words used here by Paul:  discipline and instruction.  Paul warns parents against taking verses like Proverbs 13:24 (Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him) out of context.  Paul’s calling for a balance.  Martin Luther famously once said, “Spare the rod and spoil the child—that is true.  But beside the rod keep an apple to give him when he has done well.”  Luther’s humor aside, what he’s saying here is keeping right in line with Paul’s teaching.  As parents we are to be wise in the raising of children.  We are to show discipline where it is needed and instruction where it is needed.  All of this talk about not provoking our children but still using discipline and instruction is Paul’s call for balance in our parenting.  Much like I said about my father previously, he is a dear friend, but he was also responsible for teaching me right and wrong.  I want my children to love me as a friend, but I want them to love me as a father even more, and sometimes that means making a difficult choice.

                So, what are we to take from this relationship between parents and children and apply to our relationship with Christ?  As I’ve pondered just how to sum all of this up over this past week, the concept of fearing the Lord has kept coming up in my mind.  What does it mean to fear the Lord?  Well, in essence, it is something that comes out of a right understanding of who God is.  Knowing that all it takes is for God to say one word and the wrath that I am rightly owed descend upon my head is a terrifying thing.  In fact, it is a frightening thing.  However, does that mean that I’m to be afraid of God?  No!  Being afraid of God and fearing the Lord are not the same thing.  I had a fear of my father growing up, but I was never afraid of him.  I knew that he loved me and that he would never do anything to hurt me.  However, I knew that if I were ever disobedient to his will, that there were consequences.  I knew that when I missed my curfew, when I spoke back, when I carelessly broke something around the house, that there were consequences.  I guess what I’m saying here is that I knew that my father loved me and that’s really where the reason to discipline came from.  He didn’t discipline me to be mean, but he did it to refine me sort of, to make me into a better person.  And lest I ever forget and think that we were equals in the relationship, he was quick to remind me that we most certainly were not.

                I think that that is somewhat Paul’s central message here.  We, as children, need to be obedient to our Father.  We need to be obedient to God.  We need to show him the honor, reverence, and respect that are due to Him.  While we may have to decide whether or not our earthly parents are setting Godly goals for us, we don’t have to make that decision when it comes to following Christ.  Everything that Jesus calls us to do is completely in line with the will of the Father.  We also don’t have to worry about God provoking us needlessly to anger.  We don’t have to worry about God setting unrealistic standards for us.  Sure, we may not be able to keep them now, but we could in the persons of our first parents Adam and Eve.  And not only that, after our first parents lost the ability for all of mankind to keep fully the statutes and commands of God, God sent His Son into the world as our substitute to endure the punishment that was owed. 

Now, that doesn’t mean that no further discipline will ever be needed.  Don’t hear what I’m saying and take away that all hardships and trials are over and that there is nothing but sunny skies and calm seas ahead.  Jesus’ sacrifice was an act that is aimed at our being freed from a salvific perspective.  His death makes it possible for us to dwell for all eternity with God, not a guarantee that we will never endure any difficulties in life again.  Are there times when we will fail?  Sure.  Are there times when God will have to discipline us and instruct us?  Absolutely!  However, we must never be deterred in our failures, but constantly seek to obey.

When our kids get in trouble, Amy and I sit them down and talk to them and we make sure that they understand what they did, why it’s wrong, and how they need to change their behavior moving forward.  Can you imagine if they ever said, “Well, I’ve already messed up this once, so why try anymore?”  That would be absurd.  Instead, they keep trying to obey us and meet our expectations.  Do they mess up and fall short again?  Sure they do, but the desire to obey never leaves them.  It may seem hidden at times, but in their hearts we know that they are still working at fulfilling the expectations that we have set for them as parents.  Shouldn’t our desire be to fulfill the expectations that our Father has set for us?  Regardless of the fact that we’re probably going to mess up and that we’re probably not going to live up to those standards fully, our hope and our desire to meet them shouldn’t change.  As children of God, we must long for nothing else than to obey our Father in heaven.