New Home Missionary Baptist Church
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      • Malachi 3:10KJV1900

  • Introduction

    Good morning Church! It’s good to see each and every one of you who have made it out to God’s house this morning.
    Today we will be continuing on in our study of the Book of Ephesians and today, we’ll be looking in Chapter 6 at Verses 1-9 if you’d like to take your copy of God’s Word and be turning there.
    Last week, we finished up Chapter 5 by looking at God’s Guide to a Merry Marriage and the roles of the Wife and the Husband in marriage and what it takes to make a marriage merry.
    Now, before I move on I want you to look back to Verse 21 of Ephesians 5 because this verse is the foundation that Paul has been building off of for the rest of Chapter 5 which we looked at last week, and then the scripture we will be looking at today as well.
    Ephesians 5:21 KJV 1900
    21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
    It all begins with living in submission to one another and now that doesn’t mean that I am to just let people walk all over me or talk down to me. That’s not what that verse is saying. What it does mean is to walk in humility and meekness putting the needs of others before our own.
    Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40...
    Matthew 22:37–40 KJV 1900
    37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
    We are to love God above all else and then, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and when we do this, as commanded by our Lord, the light of our Lord shines through the darkness, like a beacon in the dead of night, and draws those lost in the darkness to the light of our glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
    Today, we will be looking at Paul’s continuation on this thought of submission but in light of our homes and our workplaces.
    Last week, we looked at God’s Guide to a Merry Marriage and today we will be looking at God’s Guide for the Homeplace and the Workplace.
    So, with not further ado, if you have your Bible’s turned to Ephesians 6:1 would you say, Amen.

    Instructions for Children — (Vs. 1-3)

    Paul begins this continuation of submission with God’s Guide to the Homeplace and he starts with some instructions for Children.
    In Verse 1, Paul says...
    Ephesians 6:1 KJV 1900
    1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
    All my children in the Church say, Amen.
    I want you to see here that this set of Verses was written for you!
    Paul was writing to all children down throughout the ages that would ever be born and so this set of scripture right here was written with you in mind!
    Now, Paul may have penned these words but who was it that was guiding his heart to write them?
    It was God, right?
    So, if we know that God moved upon the heart of Paul to pen the words then we can conclude that God wanted us to get the message, right?
    Ok, so even though Paul is writing we know that it was actually God that was trying to get this message across to us.
    And the Bible says here...
    Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
    Last week we seen the Greek word (hypotassō) which was made up of “hypo” and “tasso” which simply means to rank under and is where we get our English word “submit” from.
    Today, we see here that Paul starts by saying...
    Ephesians 6:1 KJV 1900
    1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
    The word “obey” has the same root word “hypo” as the word submit we seen last week. The second part of the word though is different.
    Here it is the Greek word...(hypakouō). And “Akouo” means to hear.
    So, just as “hypo” meant under last week, here it means the same thing so the thought behind the word “obey” is...to hear under, to listen attentively. By implication it means to heed or conform to a command or authority.
    So Children, who does it say that children are to obey here in Verse 1?
    Parents, right!
    So, what Paul is saying to all the Children here in Ephesus is this...listen to your parents! And don’t just hear, but listen. Listen means you hear and apply what you are being told, right?
    It’s not good enough to just hear your parents but to heed or conform to what they are telling you to do.
    As Children, we must obey our parents and then notice what Paul says here...in the Lord.
    Now, what does this mean?
    It means that you are to listen to the instructions of your parents as long as it does not go against the Word of God. I highly doubt this ever happens but if your parents were to ever ask you to do something that explicitly goes against the Word of God like stealing, killing, committing immorality or worshiping an idol, then you should obey God rather than men. God’s instructions always trumps mans.
    But children are to obey their parents, not the other way around which happens in many households today. The children run the home and not the parents which leads to dysfunction and chaos in the homeplace!
    There’s a story I came across of a young 10 year old boy who when he answered the door, a strange man was standing on the porch. The man said, “Son you don’t know me, do you?” The boy responded and said, “No sir, I don’t.” The man replied and said, “Well, I am your uncle on your father’s side.” To which the lad replied, “Well, I am glad to know you sir, but you are certainly on the losing side.” — Mattoon’s Treasures
    Children, your parents are the authority in the household and it’s your responsibility to obey them and listen to what they tell you to do not because it’s what we think should happen or how it should be but because that’s how God originally intended for it to be...look at what God says here at the end of Verse 1… “For this is right.”
    Treasures from Ephesians I. Instructions for Sons and Daughters (6:1–3)

    *

    Children are to obey their parents in the Lord: for this is right!
    And then look what Paul goes on to say here...
    Ephesians 6:2–3 KJV 1900
    2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
    Kids do you know what it means to “honor” your father and mother?
    When Paul says here to “honor thy father and mother” the word honor means to show respect, to give recognition to, to reverence, value or consider precious.
    Rod Mattoon — In the Old Testament, the word “honor” means “to be heavy” or “to give weight.” In other words, “to consider seriously and give importance to something or someone.”
    Children, when God says to “honor thy father and mother” it means to respect them; to take what they tell you seriously and let it settle upon your heart. It means to value your parents and consider their advice very valuable!
    I assure you that one day you will look back and say… “man I wish I had of listened to what mom and dad were trying to tell me!”
    Or, “I sure wish I had of taken mom and pops advice!”
    When we as your parents tell you something or how to do something there is a reason we are telling you that and it’s for your own good.
    God has entrusted us with the responsibility of raising you and raising your correctly so trust us when we tell you something or give you advice. It’s for your own good!
    You may not understand it now because your children but one day, I promise you will look back and say, “Man...mom and dad were right!” or “Now I know why mom and dad always said this or that.”
    And listen, you should respect us because we are your parents but even more than that, look what Paul says about honoring your father and mother...this is the first commandment with promise!
    What is the promise?
    Look at verse 3...
    Ephesians 6:3 KJV 1900
    3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
    When the Bible says here, “That it may be well with thee” it speaks of divine blessing and prolonging of life.
    Chuck Swindoll writes — The original commandment offered blessing in the Promised Land (Israel) for children who honored their parents: “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you” (Deut. 5:16). But Paul’s readers—mostly Gentile believers in Ephesus—were not the recipients of the Law of Moses, were not obligated to its numerous mandates, and were not the intended beneficiaries of its promises. So Paul leaves out the final clause of the commandment, generalizing the theological principle that applies even to Christians today: Obedience to parents brings with it a blessing in this world, just as it brought with it a blessing to the Israelite children. Paul says that submission to parents will lead to wellness and long life (Eph. 6:3).
    Of course, this isn’t a guarantee that those who honor their fathers and mothers will never get sick and will live to be a hundred! Rather, Paul is presenting proverbial wisdom: Children who learn from the wisdom of their parents will avoid all sorts of destructive hardships and even deadly consequences. In fact, the same kind of promise is described in Proverbs 1 for those who heed the call of wisdom: They will “live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil” (Prov. 1:33).
    Paul’s practical point is clear. In God’s ordering of the family, He has placed parents in authority over children because the young need the wisdom, guidance, and protection only loving fathers and mothers can provide. The Christian home is meant to be a school for life lessons. Parents are meant to be teachers of truth and trainers in righteousness. They are to live the gospel of Christ and walk in grace. Children must therefore honor and obey their parents, not grudgingly, not merely outwardly, but with respect and love.
    So, what are Paul’s Instructions for Children?
    Obey your parents in the Lord. Honor them. Listen to them. Respect them. Reverence them. Be thankful for them. Consider them precious and their instruction needful to lead a long and blessed life.
    Don’t disrespect your parents. Don’t talk back to them. Don’t do what they tell you not to do. Don’t try sneaking around behind their backs because even though something may be hidden from them it’s still done before the eyes of God who see all!
    Now, before we move on I do want to say one thing...Parents, although this scripture was written to instruct children, it goes without saying that it is our duty as their parents to raise them correctly.
    The Bible says in...
    Proverbs 22:6 KJV 1900
    6 Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
    It’s our job to Parent our Children. There has to be a subordinate relationship. There is nothing wrong with being a friend to your child but at the end of the day they must know who is in charge!
    I feel too many parents today want to be their child’s friend instead of their parent and they allow the kids to run the homeplace instead of the other way around!
    That’s not how God intended on the homeplace to function. Just as a husband is to be in submission to Christ and the wife in submission to her husband, children are to be in submission to their parents. God has given us our homeplace as our castles to rule over not our children.
    Vance Havner wrote — The nation is crumbling because our homes have been devalued; what was once a man's castle has become only a place in which to change clothes.
    Parents, our homeplaces are our kingdoms to rule and we must rule them in light of scripture which leads us to Paul’s next point in Verse 4.

    Instructions for Fathers — (Vs. 4)

    Ephesians 6:4 KJV 1900
    4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
    The NLT does a great job of translating this verse...
    Ephesians 6:4 NLT
    4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
    I like what Phillips said here...
    John Phillips — The Bible is a balanced book. God does not command children to obey their parents without giving an injunction to parents. Fathers (or parents, as the Greek word can be translated) are not to provoke their children to wrath by being unreasonable in their demands, outrageous in their punishments, or inconsistent in their examples, rules, and controls.
    My father often referred to children as “the little people.” It was a quaint expression, yet a profoundly wise one. Children are people. They are not mindless objects to be bossed and bullied; they are people who have thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears, likes, and dislikes. As children grow older, winds of change blow over their developing bodies, minds, and personalities; life becomes more complex and decisions more significant. But children are people and must be respected as people. Because they are little people, they need constant supervision, counsel, and limits. They are growing up in a confusing world, and they encounter people whose values are quite different from those of their parents.
    As parents, we must raise our children in such a way as to set boundaries so that they know who is in charge and sometimes that involves disciplining them but we must also love them, cherish them, teach them and instruct them in the ways of the Lord.
    When it comes to how we are to raise our children and follow this verse, Solomon gives us many great examples.
    Proverbs 4:1–4 KJV 1900
    1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, And attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you good doctrine, Forsake ye not my law. 3 For I was my father’s son, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. 4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: Keep my commandments, and live.
    Proverbs 22:6 KJV 1900
    6 Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
    Proverbs 29:15 KJV 1900
    15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
    Proverbs 29:17 KJV 1900
    17 Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
    I would like to think every parent sitting here this morning wants to see their child succeed in life and if that be the case, the best way we can love our children is by raising them in the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
    Solomon said in...
    Proverbs 1:7 KJV 1900
    7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    We must begin at an early age teaching them of the ways of the Lord. If left to their own devices and the ways of the world, destruction is sure to come.
    So, we see here Paul’s instructions to children and parents and then he moves on to instructions to servants.

    Instructions for Servants — (Vs. 5-8)

    The term “servants” that Paul uses here is often also translated “slaves”.
    During the time in which Paul would have written this to the believers at Ephesus the slave trade was possibly at it’s largest in history.
    It is estimated that in the Roman Empire alone there were somewhere around 60,000,000 slaves!
    Slaves during this time were not regarded as people but as things. They were mistreated in the most evil of ways and often disregarded as nothing more than worn out tools.
    William Barclay — Aristotle lays it down that there can never be friendship between master and slave, for they have nothing in common—‘for a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave’. The Roman scholar Varro, writing on agriculture, divides agricultural instruments into three classes—the articulate, the inarticulate and the mute. The articulate comprises the slaves, the inarticulate the cattle, and the mute the vehicles. A slave is no better than an animal that happens to be able to talk. The statesman Cato ‘the Elder’ gives advice to a man taking over a farm. He must go over it and throw out everything that is past its best and no longer of use; and old slaves too must be thrown out on the scrap heap to starve. When slaves are ill, it is sheer extravagance to issue them with normal rations.
    The law was quite clear. Gaius, the Roman lawyer, in the Institutes lays it down: ‘We may note that it is universally accepted that the master possesses the power of life and death over the slave.’ If a slave ran away, at best the penalty was to be branded on the forehead with the letter F for fugitivus, which means runaway; at worst, the punishment was death. The terror of slaves was that they were absolutely at the mercy of the master’s whims. Augustus crucified a slave because he killed a pet quail.
    Juvenal tells of a Roman woman who ordered a slave to be killed for no other reason than that she lost her temper with him. When her husband protested, she said: ‘You call a slave a man, do you? He has done no wrong, you say? Be it so; it is my will and my command; let my will be the voucher for the deed.’
    The female slaves who served their mistresses within the household often had their hair torn out and their cheeks scratched by their mistresses’ nails. Juvenal tells of the master ‘who delights in the sound of a cruel flogging think-ing it sweeter than any siren’s song’. Or ‘who revels in clanking chains’, or ‘who summons a torturer and brands the slave because a couple of towels are lost’. Another Roman writer lays it down: ‘Whatever a master does to a slave, undeservedly, in anger, willingly, unwillingly, in forgetfulness, after careful thought, knowingly, unknowingly, is judgment, justice and law.’
    It is against this terrible background that Paul’s advice to slaves must be read.
    Aren’t you glad the slave trade is all but obsolete today, Amen!
    There were rare circumstances, considering the sheer volume of slaves, where masters were good to their slaves and thereby cultivated deep and meaningful relationships treating them as part of the family but for the most part, slaves held no regard whatsoever and were treated very poorly.
    Even with all of this in mind, Paul writes here that slaves were to be obedient to their masters “according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ.
    I think the NLT gives us a good translation here when it says...
    Ephesians 6:5 NLT
    5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.
    The key to their service was to serve their masters as if they were serving Christ!
    No matter what the circumstances, no matter how bad they were being treated, they were to serve them as if they were serving Christ.
    This would have undoubtedly been hard to do in certain situations. The only way that I can imagine a slave would have been able to accomplish this task, especially if they had a ruthless, evil, master was to know that God was always watching and sees everything that takes place and would reward them for their service and humility.
    After all, in the overarching theme, it is God we’re working for ultimately and not man, right?
    Look on down at Verses 6-8.
    Ephesians 6:6–8 KJV 1900
    6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
    In Colossians 3:23 Paul wrote...
    Colossians 3:23 KJV 1900
    23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
    Whatever we do, we are to give it everything we have not for men but for God!
    Now, this plays right into what Paul says here in Verses 6-8.
    Now, although we may not have slavery today it does not mean this scripture is outdated or of no use.
    We are to take this scripture here and apply it to the work relationship today.
    At our jobs we are to serve in our positions and capacities as though we are working for the Lord!
    Every morning, and this was an eye opener for me, we ought to get up and go to work for the Lord not for the man!
    We ought to ask God to help us do a good job today for our company but more importantly for the Kingdom!
    “God help me to serve today in such a way that it somehow, some way, brings honor and glory to your name! Help me to serve today in such a way that your light shines through me to a lost and dying world!”
    When we go at it that way, it makes getting up and going to work a little easier and especially more worthwhile doesn’t it?
    And notice what Paul says here in Verse 6...
    Ephesians 6:6 NLT
    6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.
    We aren’t just to work hard when the boss is watching but rather we ought to always be busy for the Lord in some respect. Give them everything you got not for man but for God!
    He gave us everything He had when He sent His Son to die for us so the very least we can give in return is our best for His best although our best pales in comparison!
    Paul finishes it up in Verse 8 with...
    Ephesians 6:8 NLT
    8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
    Now, not only are there instructions for us as Employees but there are also instructions for the Employers. Look on down as we finish out this section in Verse 9.

    Instructions for Masters — (Vs. 9)

    Ephesians 6:9 KJV 1900
    9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
    Ephesians 6:9 NLT
    9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
    John Phillips writes — Just as the master (the employer) is purring with satisfaction at the demands God puts on his slaves (his employees), the Holy Spirit turns all this heavy artillery on him. “You too,” He says. “Do the same things. This is a two-way street. You have obligations and responsibilities too.”
    The employer expects a fair day’s work; he must give a fair day’s pay. The employer wants the employee to be diligent and promote the best interests of the company; the employer must be diligent and promote the welfare of the employee.
New Home Missionary Baptist Church
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