Episode Transcript
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But if you're able to remain standing, please do. And let's turn our
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attention to Ephesians, chapter six.
Ephesians six, this is one of Paul's
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shorter letters in the New Testament.
Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. We
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have been reading and in hearing God's
Word Preach through this book for some time
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now. We're coming here to the
end and in particular tonight we come to
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the end of the section where he's
been giving various instructions for households, the
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first audience, of course, being
these Christians in the first century, but
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still applying in many ways to us
today. I'm so let me begin a
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tonight by reading chapter six, verse
five, and our focus this evening will
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be on the Lord's commands to masters
in verse nine. So here is a
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God's word now from Fesians chapter six, verse five. Bondster, bond servants,
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obey your earthly masters with fear and
trembling, with a sincere heart,
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as you would Christ, not by
way of I service as people pleasers,
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but as bond servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart,
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rendering service with a good will as
to the Lord and not to man.
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Knowing that, whatever good anyone does
this, he will receive back from
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the Lord, whether he is a
bond servant or is free, masters do
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the same to them and stop you're
threatening, knowing that he who is both
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their master and yours is in heaven
and that there is no partiality with him.
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God bless his word to us.
You may be seated well here.
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Paul writes in the context of an
evil world, which is how he always
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writes, and Paul writes in the
context of a world that is full of
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difficulties and sins, a complex situations, things that are a challenging to navigate,
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and he's giving us instructions on how
we ought to live in the world
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in light of the things that he's
been talking to us about, about Christ,
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about the Kingdom of God, about
God's plan for us before even the
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beginning of time. All of these
things, on these very lofty things,
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these very heavenly things, matter for
how we live here and now, in
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our various stations and which we find
ourselves when we become Christians, great and
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many things change, but some don't
change immediately, and particularly those things which
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are very fixed into our society.
Other things are fixed into our biology,
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our gender. Perhaps other things are
fixed into our relationships, husbands and wives.
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Other things are institutions and society,
or workers and bosses. And here
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in the first century, masters and
slaves. What do you do if you're
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a Christian slave? What do you
do if you become a Christian and you
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own slaves? As we've thought about
in a lot of different in each of
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these different sections dealing with children and
parents and husbands and wives, this is
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something you've got a lot to think
about and Paul doesn't give five books of
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instructions. He has a short passage
which we're called to listen to, pay
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attention to and and seek to apply. Now, eventually slavery would be undone
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in much of the world and there
would be various places where those that institution
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would be gone, but of course
only after many horrors and wars over it.
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And we find in some ways that
in some places it still exists and
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they are complicated and difficult challenges as
we think about slavery, and this is
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not a sermon on slavery in particular, but I thought it appropriate to quote
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to you from Chrysostom, one of
the great theologians of the fourth century,
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and he asks this question. Where
does slavery come from? How do we
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think about it? And what he
says applies a particularly to our passage and
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how we think about the relationships of
masters to slaves and to their Lord.
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Prsostom rights. In some sermons on
a Fesians Society, arrangements, like laws
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made by sinners, acknowledge these distinctions
of classes. But we are all called
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to accountability before the Law of the
Common Lord and Master of all. We
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are called to do good to all
alike and to dispense the same fair rights
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to all. God's law does not
recognize these social distinctions. He's drawing this
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from the command and in verse nine, where he says to the masters,
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he who is both their master and
yours, is in heaven right. God
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is not acknowledge these, these classes
is he commands obedience to his will.
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PRSOSTOM continues. If anyone should ask
where slavery comes from and why it has
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stolen into human life, for I
know that many are keen to ask such
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things and desire to learn, I
shall tell you it is avarice that brought
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about slavery. It is acquisitiveness.
He means, like acquiring things which is
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insatiable. This is not the original
human condition. Remember that Noah had no
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slave, nor able, nor seth, nor those after them. This Horrid
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Thing was begotten by sin. It
does not come from our earliest ancestors.
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We pay our ancestors no respect by
blaming them. We have insulted nature by
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this system. He continues. No, how Paul connects everything to the idea
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of headship. As the woman,
he says to the as to the woman,
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he says to the husband, love
her. As to the children,
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he says to the parents, you
are to rear them in the instruction and
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discipline of the Lord. As to
the slaves, he can only say,
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knowing that you two have a Lord
in Heaven. In light of this,
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or Sastom says, the masters,
be benign, be forgiving. I think
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we are all right to praise God
that none of us here are in a
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situation that would be characterized as as
slavery, and particularly not in the way
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that we've known it in America.
But just because we don't happen to be
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slaves or don't happen to be masters
doesn't mean that we just skip over this
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section because it doesn't apply to us. Because what this section does do is
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it reminds us of many things,
but perhaps the ones I want to think
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about tonight is our common responsibility before
God, are obligations to him as our
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Lord, as our master and,
of course, our ultimate hope in heaven
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as well, something beyond the institutions
and classes and castes of this world,
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something a heavenly kingdom in which we
all are glorified in Christ. So what
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are the commands that God gives here
to masters? First thing to notice is
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that masters are given the same instructions
as slaves, a remarkable thing, something
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that perhaps undermines the institution itself.
Masters, he says, do the same
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to them. Well, what is
the same thing masters are to do?
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Well, you have to go back
and consider the commands he gave to bond
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servants. What does he say to
them? He says to serve Christ as
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you serve your masters, to not
do this work under compulsion, even though
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you are under compulsion, but to
do it freely, to do it from
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the heart, to do it truly, to work and serve not as someone
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who's simply trying to do the bare
minimum or get away with the least possible
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amount of work, but one who
serves hard and works hard from the heart.
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Verse Seven, Rendering Service with a
good will as to the Lord and
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not to man. This in these
instructions, this way in which we carry
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about our work, the sincerity which
is to happen on the part of bond
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servants is applies to masters as well. Masters are not to work and rule
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and serve within their households as those
who are mere people pleasers, perhaps treating
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their their their their family and their
slaves in one way in public and then
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another way in private, perhaps looking
honorable and respectful out in front of other
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people, but then threatening and beating
and terrifying and private. In fact,
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interestingly, the only command that the
masters get in particular that's different from the
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slaves, in verse nine, is
really more of a warning than a command.
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He says, stop your threatening,
knowing that he who is both their
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master, speaking of this the slaves, and yours, speaking of the masters,
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is in heaven and there is no
partiality with him. God doesn't care
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that you're the boss, doesn't care, God doesn't care that you think you're
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in charge or that you maybe even
have a certain human institutions and laws on
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your side. You are called to
be obedient to him, and this is
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an important reminder for all who are
in power, whether that's in this particular
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situation, in the first century,
or any time you find yourself vested with
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some authority, whether that's as a
parent or as an employer, or as
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a ruler in the government or even
an unformal relationships, how common it is
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for those who are in power to
let it go to their head. It's
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so common, so frequent that it's
it's hardly worth even giving examples for,
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but there are many. You might
remember people appealing to Solomon asking for relief,
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or of his son, and his
son pressed them. Solomon son pressed
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him even harder than their father.
Did you think of Pharaohn and the slaves
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in Egypt? You think of any
number of examples of people that tried more
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than anything to secure their own position, that thought of themselves more than they
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thought of the Lord in Heaven.
There is a warning here to all who
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are in authority. Just because you
might be a big shot here doesn't mean
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that you're higher than God. All
of us are subjects of him. You
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answer to him, Paul says,
just as much as your slave does.
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Where Society might give you a pass
where society might allow certain excuses. Why
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give you the benefit of the doubt? The Lord always knows the heart.
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You always knows what is right.
Slaves would have the temptation to forget that
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they serve a master higher than their
earthly one, to fear their earthly one
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more than to fear the one that
they have in heaven. The same temptation
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applied to masters to can think of
themselves as all there is is you have
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reached the top once you've got to
me. But of course that's not true.
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As we read in this passage,
as we've heard in the psalms,
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as we've considered in various passages this
morning, the Lord is so far above
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us. My thoughts are not your
thoughts, my ways are not your ways.
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He rules from a heavenly throne,
with myriads of angels surrounding Him who
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are ready to do his bidding perfectly
and capably at any moment. God rules,
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not just for a time, as
human authorities to, but eternally,
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from beginning to end. He is
keen, he is ruler, he is
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judge, he is Lord. Even
these words, this language that we use
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regularly to describe him, describes our
position underneath him. What master? What?
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What human could ever think that they
are above God but they can do
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as they please with other people?
Not So, says Paul. You need
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to serve with a sincere heart God, who's in heaven. John Calvin Rights.
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Masters are mistaken if they think their
slaves will be of no interest to
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God, because they are of no
interest to the rest of the world.
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Big Mistake. God does not respect
status, and the case of the humblest
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person will be just as important to
him as the greatest king. Isn't that
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true? How many times does scriptures
say, I plead the cause of the
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orphan and the widow, I plead
the cause of the one who is down
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trodden, the one who has been
dealt unjustly? How many times have various
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kings and rulers, much more,
much more than masters, people who great
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nations, stood above their accomplishments and
attributed all to themselves, made stupid decrees
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and felt very powerful in their own
shoes, and God took him down in
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an instant, constant reminders, constant
examples of yet we continually forget this,
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and so we fear princes and we
fear governments and we fear masters. And
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we fear people who are over us
more than we fear God. And if
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we happen to be on the other
side and positions of authority, we bear
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ourselves and we decide our own wills
and we think our own our own ways.
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This is not a Christian way to
think. It's not a Christian way
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to think, because is we've been
hearing throughout this book and, as Paul
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says right here, this God who
is in heaven, there is no partiality
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in him. This is a very
condemning news for those who were under the
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law, for those who think that
they are perhaps free from judgment because they
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are of a particular status and society. But of course is great news for
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those of us who know that we
have nothing, nothing to give, nothing
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to bring, nothing to claim,
and to go to God who shows no
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partiality. What a blessing that is. What a wonderful thing it is to
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come as a slaver or a master
and say I really don't have anything to
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offer here. I have sinned.
Forgive me. Can you imagine what our
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faith would be like if God was
a respecter of persons, that God elevated,
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perhaps people of wealth or nobility?
If God, if God paid less
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attention to those people that were less
valuable according to humanst anders. Praise God.
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It's not that way, praise God
that even the humblest, greatest sinners
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of us, the people that are
lowest and most despicable, either for the
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things that we have done or even
things that aren't even our fault, we
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can all go before this king and
find His grace. As we conclude this,
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this passage in Ephesians, these various
codes for household codes, is the're
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sometimes called. It's various commandments for
how we, as Christians, can and
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ought to live out our our very
stations and callings and places in life.
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There are a few things that we
ought to notice as we conclude. The
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first thing to notice is that they
all stem, all of these commands stem
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from the rule of love. Another
thing to notice is that they always put
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God in the highest place. There's
no husband, no parent, no master
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who's higher than God. They also
raise up and dignify and and and give
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a high calling to those who are
under authority as well. They call all
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of us, in all of our
stations in life, to seek the will
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of God and all things. These
commands are the ways in which we show
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forth the Gospel by bearing fruit in
keeping with faith and repentance. So,
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as you think back over these various
commands, as you think back in the
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ways and you think about the ways
you currently live your life, in your
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relationships with your family and perhaps outside
of that as well, and in your
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neighborhoods and your communities, in your
the places that are in people that employ
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you, what do you do when
you see these things lacking in your life?
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What do you do when you see
that this kind of love with which
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you have been loved is not being
brought forth, is not being demonstrated?
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What ought you to do? Well, one thing is that we ought to
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be attentive to God's word as we
hear it and as we see lot it's
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it lived out in the lives of
others. It helps us not only to
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understand what it is God wants us
to be, but it also helps us
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to see in action how he brings
about forgiveness and grace in our lives,
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how the work of Jesus on the
Cross, the work that he began even
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before the ages began, is playing
out in this world. And if you
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look around you, you will find
that all of us have people that we
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can learn from. These might be
formalized relationships, but it doesn't have to
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be. There are people in my
life that I learned from that are near
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and far, older, younger,
male female. Some I've never met,
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some I have. Let me now
encourage you that one of the best places
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to learn the word of God and
both its law and its Gospel, one
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of the best places outside the church
itself, is in our homes. There's
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a reason Paul focuses so much attention
here on our homes. I think,
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if there was one thing that could
mark our church, how wonderful would it
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be if we had godly homes,
homes in which each household was growing in
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the Lord, sharing and encouraging walking
with one another? Homes in which the
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will of God was sought, homes
in which we subjected everything we did to
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the will of God and not to
arbitrary things or our own whims and especially
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our own sins? What if we
lived in homes that not only sought to
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obey these laws and live out these
commands, but did so from a position
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of faith, faith trusting that we
are incapable of doing these things perfect perfectly,
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faith trusting that Jesus came aim and
died for us so that we might
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be forgiven, so that we are
our salvation in our life together as families
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and as a church doesn't depend on
us. It doesn't depend on us sort
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of falling in and out of God's
grace, but one that is sure and
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strong, having been adopted by him. What I witnessed that would be is
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we opened our homes to each other
and to the world to share with them
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the love of Jesus and the Gospel. Of course, the opposite is scary.
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What if we proclaim one thing here
at church, but then people who
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come into our homes or live next
door would be surprised and say really,
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Christians? What a sad thing that
would do to the goodness of the grace
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God has given to us, what
a sad thing it would say about all
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the ways in which we have been
blessed. My goal is not to just
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lay heaps of guilt on you.
I'm sure there are things my neighbors might
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say about me. My point is
just to say that this is important.
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It's important got it's here in God's
word. We've spent a lot of time
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in it, because God spends a
lot of time a significant section of this
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letter helping us to understand these things. We hear this law and it makes
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us feel bad. Sometimes it pricks
our consciences. We see the ways in
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which we don't fulfill it, ways
in which we have not just make mistakes,
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but ways in which we have supremely
fallen short, ways in which we
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have created consequences for our lives that
we know we're going to feel for a
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long, long time. What do
you do with that? Well, you
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don't throw away the law and say, well, I guess I don't have
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anything to do with that anymore.
Nor do you sort of double down and
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pursue it even harder, without any
reference to the salvation that we have been
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purchase, has been purchased for us
in Christ. No, we pursue the
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obedience to this law, thinking of
it like David talks about, is sweet
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as the drippings of a honeycomb,
enjoyable, pleasurable, full of joy,
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because we see that this good life
that is described here is a good is
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the life that God has called us
into. We have been called into the
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household of God, in which he
is our father and which he is our
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husband and which he is our master, and that household that he has established
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is perfect and wonderful and you can
never be taken away from it if your
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faith is in him, if your
trusting him, him, if you're going
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to him with all of your weaknesses, all of your inadequacies and all of
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your sin and your low stature and
all the rest, because we are not
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accepted into the household of God on
the basis of our works, but on
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the basis of his. You remember
what Paul says about Christ when he addresses
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husband's he says that he Christ.
Well, let me just read it to
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you. We read it this morning, but it's worth hearing again. I'm
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in Philippians all of a sudden.
Okay, if Usians, husbands, Love
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Your wives as Christ love the church
and gave himself up for her that he
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might sanctify her, having cleansed her
by the washing of water with the word,
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so that he might present the church
to himself in splendor, without spot
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or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
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This is the foundation of the household
of God and it can be the
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foundation of our households, our individual
households as well. And when we fall
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short, which we all do and
all will. We mourn of our sin,
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we mourn of the harm it causes, and then we go to God,
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who is not only our master who
judges the world, but he is
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also our covenant Lord Who Saves The
world. We go to we go to
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him as our father, not as
slaves, but as children who have been
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permanently adopted into his family through the
Work of His only begotten Son, on
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the Cross in which he took our
sins and died so that by his blood
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we might, as Paul says,
be cleansed of our sins. This is
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why, when wrongs are done to
us in our families, we can say
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things as radical as I forgive you. This is why, when we are
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hurt or when we harm others,
we can go and we can say I'm
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sorry. John says, we love
because he first loved us. This is
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the message that has been proclaimed to
us over and over again throughout this section
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of God's word. My exhortation to
you is let his life, let Christ's
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life, be the foundation of your
life and of your households, the example
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for your life, yes, but
the source of it, the strength of
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it and the hope of it as
well. Let's pray, let's ask last
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let's ask our savior to do these
things in US and in our homes
