Reading: Colossians chapter 3 verses 18 to chapter 4 verses 1:
SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Husbands and Wives: Love and Submission (3:18-19):
(2). Parents and Children: Encouragement and Obedience (3:20-21):
(3). Masters and Servants: Honesty & Devotion (3:22 to 4:1):
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
It was Winston Churchill who spoke those immortal words:
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills..."
• One wit heard that quote and said,
• "It sounds exactly like our family holidays!"
• Sometimes it is not easy getting on with people.
• Quote: Mark Twain (American author and humourist)
• “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”
• TRANSITION:
• This passage deals with people and how to get on with them:
The apostle Paul talks about three of the most important relationships we have in life;
• Wives & husbands.
• Parents & children.
• Masters & slaves (Employers & employees)
• So those of you who are retired, widowed and have no children;
• You can all go home!
• Because these verses are not talking to you!
• Now, don’t take me seriously!
• Because the Word of God always has something to say;
• Always we can be encouraged or spoken too, from it!
• Before we start this section of the letter;
• I want to mention three things about relationships:
FIRST: RELATIONSHIPS ARE TO BE ROUTINE.
• Our faith must out work itself in the everyday, ordinary, mundane matters of daily living.
• And there’s nothing more routine, mundane, humdrum than family life and work life.
• And if our faith doesn’t out work itself there in family life and work life.
• Then our faith doesn’t work!
• We need to look at what we believe and why!
Ill:
• Police often get called out to domestic quarrels and incidents.
• I heard about one last week.
• A police officer calls the station from his squad car.
• “Sarge”, he said: “I have an interesting case here;
• A woman shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped.”
• The sergeant replied; “Have you arrested her?”
• The officer replied; “No, not yet. The floor’s still wet.”
• TRANSITION: Well not all relationships end up that bad!
• But our faith must work in the everyday affairs of family life and work life.
• If our faith doesn’t out work itself there, then it doesn’t work!
• Belief must affect behaviour; creed must affect conduct.
SECOND: RELATIONSHIPS HAVE DIFFERENT ROLES.
• Let me emphasize that we are talking about roles not rulers.
• Everyone in these verses has a defined role:
• Husbands and wives, Parents and children, employers and employees.
• But please remember that everyone is of equal rank.
• The apostle Paul is NOT saying, “Some people are more important than others”
Ill:
• Look back to earlier in the chapter (verse 11):
• N.I.V.:
“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
N.L.T.:
“In this new life one’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and he is equally available to all.”
• The apostle Paul emphasises in these verses that we are all equal in God’s eyes.
• Equality is not the issue in these verses, the issue is one of order.
• Note: Order not importance! i.e. Driving on the roads and in the world of sport.
• God is a God of order!
• And life will always work best when we follow His rules for us.
THIRD: RELATIONSHIPS ARE TO BE RECIPROCAL (THAT IS MUTUALY SHARFED).
Ill:
• A boy had done something very wrong and very bad;
• The mother decided he needed to be disciplined the old-fashioned way.
• She placed the boy over her knee, picked up a slipper;
• The slipper then sailed through the air and made connect with the child’s backside.
• The boy looked up and asked his mother; “Why are you hitting me?”
• The mother replied; “I am hitting you because I love you.”
• The son then said: “I wish I was old enough to return this type of love.”
• TRANSITION: Well the apostle Paul reminds us in these verses;
• That we are all old enough to return the qualities mentioned!
• Wives & husbands, parents & children, masters & slaves (employers & employees)
• Need to relate to each other positively,
• If their relationship is going to work well!
Note:
• What the apostle Paul was writing in the first century, this was radical stuff.
• Wives, children and slaves (for our discussion, employees)
• Were looked down upon in society.
• They types were viewed as second, third and……even lower-class citizens)
• But, Christianity elevated women, valued children and gave slaves a value!
• Quote: ‘Only place a slave was equal with his master was in the Church’.
• Let’s look at these three pairs these three relationships;
• And take note of the simple but wise advice given by the apostle Paul.
(1). Husbands and Wives: Love and Submission (vs 18-19):
“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”
ill:
• We all know the old jokes.
• “I am the boss in my house, and I have my wife’s permission to say so!
• Or “I wear the pants in my house, but the wife tells me which pair”
Note:
• These verses are not about master and subservient;
• It is about two equal partners called husband and wife.
• Note: Paul did not address the wives first because they were the neediest!
• We must not think of submission as "slavery" or "suppression."
• Most people do not like the word, ‘Submission’.
• It is often a negative phrase meaning; ‘to supress, to defeats and to subdue’
• And none of us want to be suppressed, defeated and subdued by someone!
• If these verses or phrases are taken out of context;
• The meaning changes and submission can be wrongly seen as "control."
I think we would all agree that none of us here naturally like to be controlled!
• So, submission is a word we rarely use,
• It is an idea that does not appeal to our human nature.
• We want people submitting to us and not the other way around!
Notice: what the apostle Paul says to the wives:
• The apostles Paul says; “Wives submit to…” who?
• Answer: “her (OWN) husband”
• He is not saying; “Women to submit to all men!”
• Note he says; “Her husband”; and not, “Every man!”
• The Bible never commands a general submission of women to men in society.
• This instruction by the apostle Paul is given in the context of marriage.
• In the context of a loving, a trusting relationship.
Ill:
• Now we live in a culture that is overrun with a sense of entitlement and egocentrism,
• We live in the age of the ‘selfie’.
• Even as I speak,
• Selfies are being clicked and uploaded on every possible social networking sites.
• (Joke: pull out phone for quick pretend snap).
• Now remember that behind every good selfie photo published;
• There are about 47 similar pictures that did not make the grade!
• After all we want to look good in them, don’t we?
• TRANSITION: Relationships that work;
• Are not built on an attitude of ‘self’
• Or a sense of entitlement and self-centeredness.
• Remember the Bible says (1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5):
• “Love is not self-seeking”
• True love will put the good of the other person first!
If you want a modern expression for what the Bible means when it uses the word ‘submit’.
• I suggest this the expression ‘put the good of the other person first’.
• (N.I.V.) ‘Love is not self-seeking’
• (ESV): “Love…does not insist on its own way”
• Anybody who wants to express true, biblical love;
• Will not insist on getting their own way or demanding their own rights.
• True love is always putting the good of the other person first!
Ill:
• In fact, this is what every Christian husband and wife promised each other;
• In every marriage ceremony, BOTH husband and wife;
• Make a public pledge, that went something like this:
“to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part”
• In those poetic words the wife pledged to submit to her husband;
• To look out for his good whatever the circumstance may be.
• And the husband made a similar pledge,
• Demonstrating publicly to loving his wife and putting her first.
• The key in making such a vow is always love for the other person!
• Then submission is not a burden it is a delight.
A happy marriage does not come automatically;
• It is something that must be worked at all the time.
• But as we walk with Christ and are in submission to Him,
• Then we ought then to have no problem submitting to one another.
ill:
• Penny and I have been happily married for almost 23 years;
• The secret to our happy marriage is to go out each week for a romantic meal.
• I go out on a Tuesday and she goes on a Wednesday! Only joking!
(2). Parents and Children: Encouragement and Obedience (vs 20-21):
“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”
FIRST: CHILDREN:
Quote:
“The world is passing through troublesome times. The young people of today think nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint.
They talk as if they know everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness to them.
As for the girls, they are immodest and unwomanly in speech, behaviour and dress
• Those words were written by Peter the monk in the year 1274!
• But he was not the ?rst to notice the downward trend in young people.
• Quote Aristotle in the year 300bc:
• "When I look at the younger generation, I despair of the future of civilisation”
• TRANSITION:
• Parents, children, young people will always view life differently!
• The generation gap is nothing new, it has always been there!
Ill:
• By the way, the next time your child or teenager laughs at you;
• Regarding modern technology and your failure to master it.
• Just remind them you taught them how to use a spoon!
The apostle Paul wrote some advice to both parents and children;
• Once again, the advice is two-way, he is not taking sides;
• Requiring BOTH parties to do something.
Note:
• Families are close to God’s heart. In fact, they were his idea in the first place.
• The family was the first institution created by God;
• In Genesis chapter 1 verse 28: He brought man and woman together.
• In Genesis chapter 2 verse 18: He told them to go mand make children.
• Families were God’s idea in the first place.
• Family is the most basic unit of society.
• This is universally recognized; it is built into the fabric of life.
• i.e. Ancient Greece, the Orient, Africa, South America;
• Wherever you go in the world children are expected to honour their parents.
Ill:
• Remember that two of the Ten Commandments deal with the family.
• The fifth command commandment deals with the parent-child relationship,
• And the seventh commandment deals with marriage and sexuality.
• Because if the family unit breaks down and is wrong,
• Then society will also break down and end up wrong.
Quote:
“The child who does not learn to obey his parents;
Is not likely to grow up obeying any authority.
He will defy his teachers, the police, his employers,
And anyone else who tries to exercise authority over him.
The breakdown in authority in our society;
Reflects the breakdown of authority in the home.”
• For the most part, children do not create problems;
• They reveal them.
• Parents who cannot discipline themselves cannot discipline their children.
• If a father and mother are not under authority themselves,
• They cannot exercise authority over others.
• It is only as parents submit to each other and to the Lord;
• That they can exercise properly balanced spiritual & physical authority over their children.
Notice: what the apostle Paul actually says; children are to obey "in everything":
• That obviously does not mean sinful things;
• Remember context, context, context to understand a Bible verse or teaching.
• The context is parents who are submitted to the Lord;
• Parents who are submitting to one another,
• If that is happening, then these parents should not mistreat or abuse their children;
• But lovingly live out before them the things of God.
To obey "in everything":
• Does not mean they are robots who obey every single command;
• Rather it means they obey; not just in those things that please the child.
• But by submitting themselves to their parent’s guidance in other areas as well!
• In verse 20a the apostle Paul;
• Tells us the measure of the child's obedience is "in everything";
• In verse 20bthe apostle Paul:
• Tells us the motive of the child's obedience is “to please the Lord.”
Ill:
• Suppose at one of our Youth Houseparties;
• I gave the young people a quick test.
• The test was simple; make a list of things that please the Lord.
• When the answers were gathered in, I think I would know what most would say.
• (1). By exalting Jesus Christ.
• (2). By proclaiming the message of the cross.
• (3). By believing in God and his promises.
• (4). By staying pure.
• (5). By sharing the gospel with unbelievers.
• (6). By giving to others in time of need.
• I might be wrong, but I wonder how many if any would put down:
• By submitting to my parent’s authority even when I don’t want too!
• Yet this is where a young person can prove that their Christianity is reel;
• It pleases God and long term will work out for their good;
• It makes for a happy family!
SECOND: PARENTS:
• The word fathers in verse 21 could also be translated "parents":
• Paul made it clear that parents must make it as easy as possible for children to obey.
• “Do not embitter your children” or "Provoke not your children"
ill:
Four things a parent can do to discourage a child:
• (a). Ignore them.
• A father with no time for his children is raising them with deep-seated resentment.
• Quote: “Give your children time when they are young, or they will take it when they are older”
• (b). Indulge them.
• Give them everything they want, spoil them.
• And they grow up feeling like the world owes them.
• (c). Insult them.
• Some parents are overly critical.
• And as a result, their kids grow up with very low self-esteem.
• (d). Intimidate them.
• Threats and unfair expectations can break their self-esteem.
• Sadly, some children can never please their parents no matter what they do
• TRANSITION:
• The apostle Paul reminds us in these verses the formula for a happy home:
• In verse 20a: Paul tells us the measure of the child's obedience is "in everything";
• In verse 20b: Paul tells us the motive of the child's obedience is “to please the Lord.”
(3). Masters and Servants: Honesty & Devotion (chapter 3 verses 22 to chapter 4 verses 1):
Ill:
• Somebody once asked the Pope how many people worked in the Vatican?
• He replied; “About half of them!””
• TRANSITION: In the workplace,
• A person can prove that their Christianity is reel,
• Because true faith out works itself Monday to Friday as well as on Sunday!
FIRST: SERVANTS (EMPLOYEES):
“Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.”
• Slavery was an established institution in the apostle Paul's day.
• At least half of the people in the apostle Paul’s days were slaves.
• Many of them were well-educated people;
• Who carried great responsibilities in the homes of the wealthy.
• As well as running the household they were doctors and well-schooled people.
• In many homes,
• The slaves helped to educate and discipline the children.
• They were the schoolteachers and nannies
Question: Why didn't the church of that day openly oppose slavery & seek to destroy it?
Answer:
(a).
• For one thing, the church was a minority group;
• That had no political power to change an institution that was built into the social order.
(b).
• The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 21:
• Did instruct Christian slaves to secure their freedom if they could/
• But not once did he ever advocate rebellion;
• Not once did he encourage slaves to overthrow the existing order.
(c).
• The priority of the early church was to spread the Gospel and win souls,
• Not to get involved in social action.
• Had the first Christians been branded as an anti-government sect,
• They would have been greatly hindered in their soul-winning;
• And in the expansion of the church.
Now don’t forget:
• That the gospel message is one of liberty and valuing a person;
• So naturally these issues would arise at some time.
• If you know your history, then you will know that they did.
e.g.
• William Wilberforce (British politician from the 1700/1800’s):
• Was hailed as a 'Renewer of Society',
• William Wilberforce was the conscience of Parliament.
• His great goal was the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery.
• Quote: Wilberforce wrote, "God Almighty has set before me two great objects,
• The suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners."
• A meeting in 1787 with dedicated abolitionist Thomas Clarkson;
• Was to alter the social fabric of the British Empire and, in time, the western world.
• For 18 years, from 1788 onwards,
• Wilberforce - with Pitt the Younger’s support;
• Annually introduced anti-slavery motions in Parliament.
• In February 2007 a film titled Amazing Grace,
• About the life of Wilberforce and the struggle against slavery,
• Was released to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the date;
• The British Parliament voted to ban the transport of slaves by British subjects.
• YouTube video:
• https://youtu.be/eLU182rj0pA
BACK TO OUR VERSES:
• In our society we do not have slaves.
• (Well sadly society does, people are trafficked into the sex trade and also for cheap labour)
• But none of us own a slave, or approve of slavery;
• For us today, we can apply the principles found in these verses;
• And apply them to any kind of honest employment.
• A Christian worker ought to be the best worker on the job.
• A Christian boss ought to be the best employer that he or she can be.
Ill:
• A man working for shell oil in the jungles of South America,
• Had a problem with his hired workers.
• He was frustrated because they were lazy and worked only while he was watching them.
• When he left, they would sit around and not work.
• The man decided to teach the natives a lesson;
• He had a glass eye so he decided he would take his glass eye out;
• And sat it on a fence post,
• And told the natives he would be watching them even when he was away.
• The man was thrilled, it was such a simple idea, but it worked so well;
• One day when the man returned to the workers;
• He saw them all sitting and lying around.
• He looked over to the fence post; and saw that someone had put a hat over the eye.
• A Christian worker ought to work well;
• Whether there is somebody or nobody watching them.
The apostle Paul tells us that if a Christian follows these principles and remembers,
• That their motive for working (vs 24b);
• “It is the Lord Christ you are serving”
• They will receive their reward from Christ;
• Even if their earthly boss does not recognize them or reward them.
SECOND: MASTERS (EMPLOYERS):
“And masters, treat your servants considerately. Be fair with them. Don't forget for a minute that you, too, serve a Master—God in heaven”.
• Just as the husbands and wives and parents and children;
• Have mutual and reciprocal responsibilities,
• So do masters/bosses and servants/workers.
• The apostle Paul admonished the Christian masters/bosses;
• To treat their servants/workers with fairness and honesty.
Ill:
• In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 22 the apostle Paul:
• Reminds these Christian masters/bosses that they too are also slaves/workers:
• He reminds them that the Christian slave was a free man in Christ,
• And the Christian master was a slave to Christ.
• In other words, he says let your social and physical relationships;
• Be governed by your spiritual relationships.
• And do to others as you would have them do to you!
And finally:
• Notice that in our passage the word “Lord” is used five times.
• When the Lord is over you, you don’t “lord it” over them,
• Whether a husband, parent, or employer.
• As we review this very practical section of Colossians,
• We see once again the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ in our lives as believers.
• It is by His power and authority that we should live in our daily relationships.
• If He is the pre-eminent One in our lives,
• Then we will love each other, submit to each other, obey one another,
• And treat one another fairly in the Lord.
Punchline: Is Jesus your Lord?
