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Colossians - New LifeSeries: Colossians - New Life · Talk No. 8

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Sunday, 06 April 2008

Donny Kwan

Colossians 3:18-4:1 ESV or NIV

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Introduction

‘That’s not fair!’ Said the driver as he pulled over.

A police officer stepped up to the driver’s window of the speeding car he had just pulled over.

“What’s the problem officer?” asked the driver.

“You were going at least 75 in a 55 zone,” said the officer.

“No, sir. I was going 65.” It’s not fair the guy beside me was going faster.

“Oh, Harry. You were doing 80 kilometres an hour,” said the man’s wife in the seat next to him. The man gave her a dirty look.

“I’m also going to have to give you a ticket for your broken tail light,” said the officer.

“Broken tail light? I didn’t know I had a broken tail light!” exclaimed the man. It’s not fair the guy in front had his broken too.

“Oh Harry, you’ve known about that tail light for weeks,” said the wife, who got another dirty look from her husband.

“I’m also going to give you a citation for not wearing your seat belt,” said the officer.

“Oh, but I just took it off when you were walking up to the car,” protested the man. It’s not fair!

“Harry, you never wear your seat belt!” said the wife.

Exasperated, the man turned to his wife and yelled, “Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you!”

The police officer turned to the woman and asked, “Ma’am, does your husband talk to you this way all the time?”

“No, sir, It’s not fair to say that” she said. “It’s only when he’s drunk.”

The husband thought it wasn’t fair that he was finally caught doing the wrong thing. He showed how he tried to lie and justify his position to get out of sticky situation he was in. In every sphere of his driving life he had no regard for the law and wanted to claim unfair treatment. His relationship with his wife tells us that he was not living an honest life and that she told the truth in all that he did.

Tonight we come to a passage that talks about how we should live our lives in relationship with people.

This all follows from what we hear from verse 17, ‘What ever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’

The motivation for these things is that we are in the Lord. Our conduct in the Christian life should be changed in a way that it affects every part of our life.

Everything in life is to be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus. No area in life stands outside of his control. Paul now turns his attention to the home life and how we should express our obedience to Jesus those relationships. The relationships are all inclusive from the closest to the distant relationships.

The heresy promoted is that God is interested in some areas in our lives and not in all areas in our lives. However God is interested in all areas of our lives including our relationships.

The first area of relationships we turn to is

In the Home (18-21)

18 ¶ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.  20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 

  • a) For the wife
  • Wives submit to your husbands, as fitting in the Lord
  • This is not popular in our modern day world. Some may say that the bible is old fashioned and out of date but we have to remember that this is what God says about how we should relate in family relationships when we have Jesus as Lord.
  • This is how a Christian family will look like.
  • It is not saying the wife is to be a slave to the husbands. Nor is it saying wives are to be naive and be taken advantage of.
  • It is also not a passage for husbands to use against the wife. This is a teaching for the wives.
  • If you are focused on Jesus then this is a character reference. This is what a Christian household will look like.
  • How she submits to Jesus as Lord is how she should submit to her husband.
  • The principle that qualifies how she should live in submission to her husband is that it be done as fitting in the Lord. It means she should submit in a way that would please God but in a right way that expresses her relationship with Jesus.
  • The wife is to submit because it is based on a relationship with Jesus. It is right for her to express her relationship with her husband because of how she understands how she relates with Jesus.
  • It’s like a husband deciding where to buy their first house. The wife submits to the decision because she believes he is leading the family in a fitting way as Christ leads the church.
  • b) For the husband
  • Love your wives and do not be harsh
  • Like wise this teaching is for husbands and not for wives to use.
  • How we love our wives is an expression of how we love Jesus.
  • Husbands are to show unceasing care and loving service for the wife’s entire well being.
  • Much like how Christ loved the church and gave his own life for the church.
  • This explains what is meant by love.
  • Husbands are sinful and should not abuse the authority we have.
  • We are to proactively love our wives. Not be passive lovers.
  • We should not be harsh and lord it over them. but rather husbands will be self sacrificing for the wife
  • For the husbands, maybe something we need to think about is what we expect from our wives. Perhaps expecting dinner on the table when you get home from work first is not loving. Even jokingly saying they should get it ready for you may be harsh. Why not as an expression of love for her prepare dinner for her for a change. Maybe start with once a week.
  • c) For the children
  • Children obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. A better way of translating this phrase is children obey you parents in everything for this is please in the Lord.
  • Again this teaching is for the children and not parents.
  • I think this is more for children who depend on their parents. They are to obey them in everything.
  • Obeying parents is part of obeying Christ. Why because it is pleasing to Jesus. It is what is expected of Christians as we submit to Jesus as Lord. We obey him in everything and not in the areas we pick and chose. Children are to express this same obedience to Christ with their parents.
  • If we are focused on the cross we will obey our parents. The motivation is because we have a relationship with Jesus.
  • It also qualifies that we should do it because it pleases the Lord. Now someone might ask what if the parents say you can’t be a Christian? The simple answer to that question is does it please the Lord? If no then perhaps that is the only exception but for every thing else children should obey their parents in everything for this is what pleases God.
  • d) For the father/parents
  • Fathers/Parents/ do not embitter your children or they will become discouraged.
  • It mentions fathers because they were seen as the one responsible for leading the family.
  • Parents and fathers are not to abuse their authority over children. They are not to treat them like slaves or to continually put them down.
  • Rather they are to offer firm guidance and it should be done in a way that will encourage their children so they will continue to live in obedience.
  • Parents are to be role models of how the Father loves his Son Jesus.
  • All these relationships in the home is a picture of a harmonious family because they are focused on Jesus.

Illustration: Sports illustrations. Don’t do this don’t do that. Can’t you do better?

Application: What should our attitude be towards our family members? Let me ask the wives

Let me ask the husbands. Let me ask the children and let me ask the parents. How we relate to our family members reflects how we relate to Jesus. Do our relationships reflect our relationship with Jesus?

Paul moves on to get describe the relationship between the slave and master. Now today we may not have the relationship of slaves working for masters but the modern equivalent can be drawn between workers and the employers. There are some differences which I will point out as we look at this section of Colossians.

In the Workplace

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.  23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,  24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.  25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favouritism.  NIV Colossians 4:1 ¶ Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

  • a) for the slaves
  • What relevance is there about slavery for today? Back then all slaves lived under the same roof as their masters. These are relationships within the every sphere of the household.
  • The first thing is slaves are to obey your earthly masters in everything.
  •  
  • Today we are not to totally obey our employers in everything. The difference is we are not owned by our employers. We are however to obey our employers rules and regulations as we work for them.
  • For example being told to mop up any spills so that we keep the workplace is kept a safe work environment. That is an example of obeying our employers. An example where we should not is when they ask us to be unethical or asking us to do what is wrong.
  • A slave is under the complete authority of their master. They are to obey them in everything. But a worker is not to obey in everything. Workers are not slaves and can chose not to obey. This is because they are not living under their rule and authority 24/7 like a slave.
  • All slaves are to accept their situation in life and serve their masters in everything.
  • It is not serving in a way to attract attention but rather in a conscientious way and out of pure motives.
  • As they engage in wholehearted work for their masters in that very action they are serving God.
  • The motivation is not to suck up or just to make it look good but we are to remember that we are working for the Lord first and foremost. It is because we work for Jesus first we employ the same principles to our employers. We will work at it with all our heart.
  • It is not about workaholism nor am I advocating it. It is about the attitude. We are to work at it well not just when it is visible for the boss to see.
  • In the time allocated we should work hard at it. Work hard for our boss as we work hard for God. When they watch us and are present and when they are not watching us and not present.
  • Christians have God watching our actions and attitude all the time. He is the ultimate boss we are working for.
  • Verse 24 talks about the reward. Workers are given the motivation for their obedience to authority.
  • All who do wrong will be repaid for the wrong they do. You will be rewarded for doing what is right and punished for doing what is wrong.
  • b) for masters
  • Chapter 4 verse 1 is for masters.
  • Again it is not an exact parallel, but the same principles are taken here too.
  • If you have people working for you, you are not to abuse the authority you have over people. The authority we have over people should be a Christian one.
  • People in authority have someone greater in authority over us. That is God.
  • We are to treat those under our authority fairly and justly. This passage is not about asking for freedom for slaves. Rather it is about treating people fairly and justly. We all have a part to play in our different roles while we relate to one another.
  • The reason we are to treat people fairly and justly is that both slaves and master have a master in heaven who is watching over them.
  • Both owe obedience to Jesus and they are to reflect this understanding to each other.

Illustration: It’s like the movie remember the Titans. As the coloured and white teams come together some come to play for themselves but they have the coach who is watching their attitudes and behaviours. The leaders have to set the example.

Jesus showed us how we should be treated. He was treated unfairly yet he did nor retaliate.

He loved us far more than anyone can or could. He loved us so much that he gave himself up for us by dying on the cross in our place..

He showed us how to live with God as the absolute authority while at the same time being under the authority of earthly authorities. Like paying the temple tax.

He showed us how to submit, to love, obey, to not embitter and to do things in a way that is right and fair in god’s sight.

Application: How we treat Jesus is expressed in how we treat each other, in the family and in the workplace. Christians are not called just to be nice. We are to treat people rightly and fairly because of our Lord Jesus. Jesus shows us how we should live as a Christian. Do we express our love for our husband or wives as Christ expressed it for the church? Do we as children and parents express how our obedience and encouragement for each other as and expression of our obedience to Jesus. Do we live in a way that shows we are trust worthy and reliable to our employers? Do we live in a way that shows we treat who are under our authority at work rightly and fairly as God does? Can I urge you to think about what relationships we need to change to reflect our relationship with Jesus as Lord? Some will need to show more love and care. Some will need to encourage or show obedience. Others will need to uphold the name of Christ in the workplace whether they are employees or whether they are employers.

Conclusion

Do we treat people rightly and fairly? The only way we can treat people rightly and fairly is when we understand our relationship with Jesus.

Our attitude and how we behave will be changed not by following rules but by focusing on Jesus and what he has done for us on the cross.