An Unlikely Arsenal

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

This morning, though we get to gather in Christ’s name, we respond to all those different commands in the New Testament to encourage one another and to assemble and not neglect that for his name’s sake. And so we do that then in obedience and joy, remembering that our help is in the name of the Lord. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and let the unrighteous man, his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, give me seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Father, we trust that even this word that we’ve just read will accomplish its purpose among us today. We acknowledge this morning that your ways are not our ways.

They are much higher. We come to worship you this morning As the sovereign and good creator of the universe, we do ask that you would grant that we would behold you rightly and be better conformed to the image of your son as he is, not as we would have him to be. Thank you for the privilege of worshiping you here together and for giving us the means and the interest in doing so. And we pray this all in Christ’s name, amen. Shawn has mentioned that in Omnibus Ten of Ross, we are currently reading the Iliad and we’ll be discussing the second half of it, this Thursday night, God willing. But there are some parts about physical battle and spiritual battle that have very clear application for us even as we examine Ephesians five and six this morning.

In book three, there’s a duel between Menelaus and Paris that is not exactly fair. If it were fair, then Menelaus the better man would have crushed Paris, but he was conveniently whisked away by Aphrodite rescued from the heat of battle and off to the bed chambers of Helen. In the next book, in book 4, Athena, who is on the side of the, which is the self-problem, but is on the side of the Greeks, persuades a Trojan archer named Pandaros to take a shot at Menelaus, but with no intention of of mortally wounding him. So, Pandros shoots the arrow, but Athena makes sure that it only grazes him, and the black blood is spilled on the ground, and Agamemnon thinks that his brother is dying, but in sort of a comical scene, it’s just a little bit of blood.

If it were less strictly up to men, he was a good enough archer to slay Menelaus, but Athena was going to make sure that that did not happen.

And the amount of armor or weaponry the Menelaus brought to the battle would not have made any difference. He was going to get hit no matter what. It is folly for us to suppose that had he been better equipped, Menelaus could have been protected from that arrow, or had he been better trained, he could have been victorious over Paris. But such was not the case because the gods were against him. And as our study this morning, we’re going to be looking, at least in part, at Ephesians 6 and the popular passage on the armor of God. And sometimes lost in these studies is the silliness of or even the foolishness of some of the weapons that we choose to bring to spiritual battle in our war against sin. Paul reminds his readers in this passage that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So that you’d be saying, yes and amen. And then we respond to that by taking up the weapons of willpower and personal discipline. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with personal discipline. The Bible commends this highly. But too often, we bring a proverbial knife to a gunfight, as it were. And our physical weapons do as much injury to our spiritual enemy as a bullet injures a cloud. Our independent and our stubborn insistence to fight spiritual battles in the flesh is not only silly, it’s also sinful and it requires our repentance. So if you have been independently battling sin, or if this brings to mind other sins that you do need to repent of, this is time carved out of our service for you to do just that.

As is our custom, if you would like to, you are welcome to kneel in humble confession. And in a moment, I will pray for us corporately. So let’s pray together. Father, as a culture, we tell our children that they can do and become anything that they put their minds to. But try as we might, no matter how hard our minds are set on it, we cannot attain holiness apart from your spirit. We fight spiritual battles with fleshly means, supposing that you’ll honor our efforts. And what you really want from us is our dependence and our surrender. Please forgive us for our failure to depend upon you. Forgive us for our independence.

Grow our faith that we would practice what we know and help us to view our independence as the glory-robbing sin that it is. We are grateful for the sacrifice of Christ and that we can stand before you, blameless in Him. We pray now in Christ’s name. Amen. You may stand. Our promise of forgiveness this morning comes from Ephesians chapter four verse 32. And in an almost off-handed way, Paul assumes our forgiven status in Christ and we can happily cling to this charge and this promise ourselves. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Being forgiven in Christ ought to energize not only our kind and patient treatment of one another, but it also ought to energize our worship. So let’s sing even now as forgiven people.

Today’s scripture reading is Ephesians 5.22 through 6.24. 5.22 through 6.24. Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church. His body and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle of any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, For this is right. Honor your father and mother.

This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ. Not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering the service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him. Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the end the evil day and having done all to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth broadly, boldly, to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador and change that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak, so that you also may know that I am what I, that know how I am and what I’m doing.

Ticacus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

Let’s pray. Father, quite a passage we have this morning. Help us to digest it in a big way and in the small, intricate ways as it pierces our own hearts through your spirit, as Jonathan instructs us. We think of our government today And we thank you that we have a new Supreme Court Justice and all the hassle that went on help us honor you and help him honor you in the decisions that he makes in the court. We think of all the craziness that we live in right now. And I ask that you would give wisdom to those that know you in the government to act properly and to be that witness to those people that are alongside of them.

We think of our men in our congregation in the Navy. We think of Ben Hackbarth and Dan Wibbermeyer as they’re serving now. We think of the men in our congregation, the fathers of the families and that family unit and how they are to lead that unit. We ask for special dispensation on our elders and deacons, leaders of our church. We think of Sean as he’s away teaching another church about marriage and the one another’s and their body, help him to convey words that are a joy to them, and help Jonathan and I hold down the fort and be able to say the right things for today’s worship of you. So we think of these personal supplications today.

It is sad that Terry Hurd’s dad died at 3.30 last night, and that the family, we want to give them a special strength through this, helped them be a good witness to all the people that they’ll come in contact with and all the arrangements. And in a strange way it was a blessing as Terry’s dad had just become almost unrecognizable to them as he had gone down the road of Alzheimer’s or whatever variation of that disease that he had. So we thank you for that. We think of Lila Massey as as her sister-in-law did go to be with the Lord this week, and the prayers for the difficult time for that family also, and that the family, Lila, would like to adjust to the new normal without her.

We also pray for wisdom for the Marlatt family and the doctors that are examining Autumn’s MRI that she had this week at Children’s, so that the doctors and the Marlatt’s would be clear on the right way to proceed with Autumn’s problems with Crohn’s. And we all want to see that happen so she can be fully engaged. We also think of Jen Vanderbrecken’s brother with his brain cancer, and that he was able to travel and camp out and be with some people over this last week, and that we would pray that he and his wife would really draw near to you through this trial, and that you would use that in that way. And we thank you that Russ Hanley is strengthening from his visit and that he might be with us today.

I didn’t notice, but if he is, welcome back Russ. But if not, we pray that you would get stronger and be able to be with us. So we think of the outreach of our school and the Good Shepherd’s Home and the adoption people. All of those ministries are great and to change our environment here in Northwest Washington. Help us to be that salt and light in our community. And we thank you for the local churches like Reclamation, Damascus Road, Cornerstone, that are preaching the gospel. Help them to do that in a strong way today. And we thank you for just being here with us and being inside of those of us that believe in you.

So we thank you for all of these things and it’s in your son, Jesus Christ’s name. We pray, amen. Father, it is of great comfort to us to know that you encircle us with your protection even when we cannot see it. We know that you have called us to do counterintuitive things, like to prefer one another our head ourselves as an act of strength. And we thank you for the promises of your word. We thank you for giving it to us. We pray that as we study it this morning, and you would help us to submit and to learn, to be instructed, and may it fall on the ears of fertile soil, and we pray for your spirit to help us apply it.

We ask in Christ’s name, amen. I would encourage you this morning to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter five. We’re going to be studying the passage that Dave read moments ago. 522 through chapter six. All Christians are former slaves to the devil. There’s a nice little encouraging start to the message. Perhaps the most important part, there is former, having been bound to the will of the devil and bought with a high price of the death of God’s son. Living then a new and a liberated life in Christ, our walk should look different from before. We must cast off our old identity and its behaviors, embracing the new man and walking in the light.

We know all of this. The second half of Ephesians instructs us on how to do so. In chapter four verse 17 through chapter five verse 21, Paul helps his readers to see what they have been rescued from and what they ought to now embrace in Christ. And when he reaches chapter five verse 22, where we’re going to be beginning this morning, he starts to instruct about the counter-cultural relationships that ought to characterize faithful Christians. Like our culture, first century Roman culture viewed submission as a demonstration of weakness. The Bible, however, treats submission as a demonstration of strength. It takes spiritual power to place the preferences and needs of others ahead of ourselves.

It takes spiritual power to behave as though real glory is actually tied up in honoring Christ and not ourselves. It takes spiritual power to, at least in any consistent fashion, lay aside our rights for the sake and the interest of others. And as we study this passage this morning, I would have you to consider them as fighting words. They don’t look like fighting words, but think about them in that way. If Christians could fight like this, the world would most certainly be different. And we can fight with Christ as our spiritual head using the weapon of submission. This will then manifest itself in how we submit to and treat one another.

Of course, the enemy would love to cultivate among us if he could selfishness in our lives, But instead, we can behave with the right sort of submission to one another in the fear of Christ. And when we do that, we win. In this passage, Paul begins to explain what mutual submission looks like by explaining several relationships in light of chapter 5, verse 21. And as you’ll recall, 521 says, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And he continues with that thought with some specifics. in 522 through 6.9, he explains, God’s having placed some in authority over others in the kingdom. And this not based on inherent worth or merit, it is by his design.

Paul is showing us that mutual submission, this submission is mutual, requires us to prefer one another ahead of ourselves. It means we must deny ourselves and what we want for the sake of our neighbors. For a child, for instance, means that he should not throw a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. That would also apply to adults, by the way. Instead, he should joyfully submit to his parents because his parents have actually been placed in his life by God himself and to chafe against that authority structure, to chafe against what God has designed. For a father, it means putting off, kicking up his feet, and reading his newspaper when he gets home, perhaps, for sake of spending much needed time with the kids and the list and the application goes on and on.

So as we examine this passage, we’re going to hang our thoughts on three separate headings. And they deal with the offensive arsenal in 522 through 6.9, the defensive arsenal in chapter 6, verse 10 through 20, and then the sign off from the battle, which is at the very end, verses 21 to 24 of chapter 6. So we’ll get right to it. And look first at the offensive arsenal. And here we have the breakdown of children and parents, husbands and wives and the rest. So we’re going to begin with wives in chapter five, verses 22 through 24. The submission of wives. Wives submit to your husband, says Paul, as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior.

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also should wives submit in everything to their husbands. I’m actually not gonna spend a whole bunch of time on this because it’s pretty familiar to us and it’s not complicated. But we would note that Paul is not instructing women to submit to men. He is not saying that wives are to be subject to men in general, but rather to their husbands. That’s by design, obviously. Women are not inferior to men. However, there is a God-designed structure in marriage that the family is to emulate, and it has no more than two partners. There’s a very clear role for each participant with the wife subjecting herself to her husband, at least in this charge.

This is not dependent upon the wife’s agreement with her husband. Many would argue that where there is agreement, submission is not possible. Submission actually happens where there is disagreement. Neither does it allow her to wait until her husband deserves her submission for her to submit. To illustrate the point, Paul says, The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is also the head of the church. In verse 23, obviously, simple illustrations are in order here. A body does not function without a head. It is the head that makes the decisions and ultimately controls the rest of the body. The body never does what the head does not want.

The same things can be said about Christ and his body, the church, and likewise, it should characterize the marital relationship. So this is not complicated. It’s not hard to understand. It’s very difficult to apply, and especially in the flesh. And I think it’s safe to now back up the bus over the husbands. Let’s go to verse 25 and following. This is the submission of husbands. Versus, start with verses 25 to 27. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.

A husband’s proper submission will have him putting the needs of his wife ahead of his own. This is the subjection to one another that Paul is talking about. And in the same way he submits to Christ and he defers to his wife. In brief, all that men are called to do here is to love their wives as Christ loved the church. That’s it, right? How hard could it possibly be?

Well, humanly, it’s actually not possible. Ha. Husbands are called to love their wives sacrificially as Christ did to his church, and Christ did not seek his own good, but rather the good of his bride. And of course, we recognize that ultimately it benefits Christ. We’ll get to that moments from now. He modeled love in a perfect way, not seeking his own interests. In verse, well, yeah. We see this also in this passage that there is an important motive for Christ giving Himself up to the forsake of the church, and that is that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

This is actually one of my favorite concepts in all of the New Testament, that Christ is personally invested in the sanctification of the church. And the church comprises many members. And you are numbered among them, which means, by extension, that Christ has a personal investment in your personal holiness, in your sanctification, in your purity. And he’s going to make sure it happens. Christ wants to present to himself a pure and an undefiled bride in the church. Ultimately then, Christ loves the church for sake of his own good, pleasure, and glory. and that is right and it is good. He desired to present the church to himself in splendor, so the more glorified and perfect she is, the greater will be his pleasure in taking her as his bride.

And he’s gonna make sure that it is all the way perfect in the end. So then Jesus invests himself personally in the purity of his bride. And you can find tremendous encouragement in that this morning. In the same manner, husbands should be personally invested in the purity of their wives. Husbands should earnestly long to see their wives purified and holy. They should approach them with all the tender love and affection that Christ has demonstrated in the pursuit of His church and her sanctification. Like the church, men should view their wives as less than perfect, but as having been entrusted to them for the purposes of her sanctification.

Men’s greatest desires for a bride can be fulfilled only by following Christ’s model. are satisfied with far too little in their wives that they’re happy to have someone, a servant perhaps at home who will cook and clean for them, feed the little one, send them off to school. Rather he is to follow Christ’s example, longing to see her purified. And this is what I mean when I talk about the submission of husbands. This is the subjection I’m talking about. We got hung up on the term submission because like I said, our culture thinks about submission as a demonstration of weakness. And it is actually a a death to self forsake of someone else. That is the mutual subjection that Paul is aiming at here or else he wouldn’t follow verse 21 with all of these duties and responsibilities that these relationships have toward one another.

He would only speak to children, he would only speak to wives, he would only speak to slaves, he would not speak to parents, to husbands, to fathers, to slave Masters. Verse 29, so let’s go verse 28, in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So husbands are to love their own wives as their own bodies. For For instance, a husband feeds his body, exercises, bathes, and does other essential and deliberate acts to keep his body in running order.

Men who neglect their bodies tend to die prematurely. It’s not too complicated of an illustration. The body depends on the conscious decisions of the mind in terms of subsistence and even love. Likewise, husbands are to nurture their wives in the same way. Paul even goes so far as to say, he who loves his own wife loves himself.

That’s a very interesting word order, Paul is arguing that love for himself apparently depends on or is manifested in a husband’s love for his wife. A husband’s love for his wife is a demonstration of his love for himself because it is in his interests to care for her as she is his body he is her head. A husband is called to provide for his wife not only in terms of temporal sustenance, putting meat on the table, but also spiritual nourishment for the Christian husband meeting his wife’s temporal needs without nurturing her spiritually as failure as a husband. Conversely, discipling his wife and caring and carefully and gently helping her to grow without caring for her immediate temporal needs is also a great failure as a husband. Verses 31 to 32 say, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. And I believe the

part that Paul is talking about being so mysterious because Christ didn’t have a mother to leave. I think the one flesh-ness is what he is talking about here. The two shall become one flesh, verse 31, Christ who has exalted with the Father even now, the preeminent one, a la Colossians 1, would willfully and deliberately take on fellowship with us. That’s crazy. It’s not as though he needed that or as though we were particularly lovely, yet Christ has desired and worked to join us to Himself and the church shall be joined to Christ. However, says Paul, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. In verse 33, yeah, Paul tags this on here as if to say at the end of this paragraph, in any case, if you don’t learn anything today, learn this, in a nutshell, each individual among you is also to love his own wife as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”

Literally entire books, like I’m reading one right now with my wife, have been written about the substance of Paul’s charges here to the weaknesses of the sexes. Women who love their husbands might struggle to respect them, and men who have a respect for their wives might struggle to love them, and love and respect encapsule very well what he is going after in the preceding verses. We move on in chapter 6, verse 1 to the submission of children, the submission of children in verses 1 through 3. Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

Paul’s exhortation to his Ephesian readers here is that they pay careful attention to family relationships as these relationships have been designed, orchestrated, ordained by God. It’s kind of like your circumstances in general. If you affirm the sovereignty of God and His goodness, then you’re calling not good, what He has called good. And your circumstances, which are by design from Him, may be giving gifts from Christ to help sanctify you, because he cares about that. When you hate them, who are you really upset with? When a child hates his parents, there’s a reason why it’s abominable in the Old Testament. It is because he is spitting in the face of God’s designed order.

Paul’s command in verses one through three here is not for children to simply obey their parents, but to do so in the Lord. This helps orient the children, helps them to recognize that God has appointed their parents over them by design. And in fact, God has given children as a gift to parents, not the other way around, although he does control it all. And to submit to parents is a child’s demonstration of, well, it is. To submit to parents is a way that a child can submit to God, and that is his design for all of his children. Honor your father and mother is a quotation from Exodus chapter 20 verse 12, and although he is appealing to Gentile Ephesians, he still opts to make a reference to the Old Testament, and in further detailing the Old Testament command, perhaps even the Gentiles will see that this is something that God took seriously enough to attach a promise to it.

so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Obedience without submission, then, is not honor rendered to parents. It is common for a child to be obedient on the exterior while being rebellious internally, maybe standing up on the inside but sitting down on the outside or reverse. This is not what Paul means when he says, honor your father or mother. There’s an understatement. Rather, obedience accompanied by subjection is reflected in a child’s humble delight in his parents and his recognition of God’s having placed them in authority over him. So when children are submissive and obedient to their parents, and notice what I mean by that is that it comes from the heart, they honor their parents.

This means they treat their parents as though they have real value. Likewise, those things that we honor are those things which we value. In a child’s life, however, we recognize that his parents are his primary God-given authority and their source of training. Much of the responsibility then falls to parents, as no child is born knowing how to submit to his parents. Much of the responsibility, as I said, falls on the parents to teach the child how he ought to conduct himself. have to be trained to obey and honor their parents and who is going to teach them, if not the parents themselves. It would be silly to expect any child to honor or obey or to generally conduct himself in a righteous manner without having them first taught to do so.

The little urchins are born in sin. And so are you. Obedience is the child’s duty and obedience of the child is the parent’s responsibility. Further, this obedience yields great blessing. And this is, of course, a biblical principle from cover to cover that obedience to God’s commands results in tremendous blessing from Him. And He says as much here, so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Of course, it’s not suggesting that it’s a guarantee that you’re going to live to old age if you obey your parents. But He’s not saying you’ll be exempt from premature death in every way. Of course not.

does testify to the biblical pattern of obedience leading to blessing. But what about the submission of parents in verse 4? Let’s look at that. The submission of parents, verse 4. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. How on earth is this submission?

We must remember that these commands fall under this umbrella of chapter 5, verse 21, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, or submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, depending on your translation. For parents then to commit to honoring even their children, parents honoring their children, it is their own call to submission which is just as submissive as it is for children to obey their parents. It’s just different and I’ll get to that in a second. Or for wives to submit to their husbands or for husbands to love their wives. The identity of the person who is submitting does not change the fact that all are called to submit. Every Christian is supposed to submit. Identity has no bearing on whether or not submission is actual or legitimate. So our identity has no bearing on whether or not the submission is actual or legitimate. It’s simply different. These parties, as well as slaves and masters, are all to subject themselves to one another. But the way that they do so differs

for each group. So far, at least every human falls into the category of child. So there’s nobody who is exempt from this, all these different categories or these litany of responsibilities.

And many of us fall into more than one category. But it is at least an all-inclusive list, though it is not exhaustive. So, looking at verse 4, we observe that the subject of this command is fathers and we can gather by language and context that applies to both parents. The subjects then are parents and the objects, the recipients of the action are children and immediately followed following a command by children to honor and obey their parents is a command for parents to give them another reason to obey and honor beyond the scriptural command. The responsibility in this passage belongs to parents. It is their duty not to provoke their children to anger. I actually have Ephesians 6-4 scratched on our spanker. So who’s being oriented there? Who’s being reminded? Not children, though, about your parents, but when you take up this rod, Dad, your job is to inflesh the gospel, not to exasperate your children. It would seem important for us to know what this entails. The anger spoken of here

includes a resentment that most of us understand firsthand related to this anger piece. It’s far below the exterior and it often doesn’t come up until later in life, but if parents bring their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, the children will have no cause to be provoked to wrath, at least not from them. Of course, this anger can also refer to the immediate rage that a children experiences as a result of a of a parent’s failure to act righteously in any of the above situations. So, and sometimes kids are just mad that happens, so are we. But in a very strange and orienting reality, this, the context of these words, fathers were receiving this instruction under first century Roman law, Potiphamilius.

And that is they had basically carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to or with their children. If a son were rebellious and disobedient and a father determined to execute him, there would be no legal repercussions for that. And how counter-cultural would it be? How counter-cultural would it be for a father to actually look to honor his son by bringing him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, the discipline and instruction of the Lord, for him to live as Christ before his son? It would look different. It would look different than it would even in our culture. And yet that was the context in which this was being presented.

There was no legal limit by how a father could punish a child’s disobedience or his rebellion. Of course, there were undoubtedly loving fathers, even among the pagans. But this command is radically different from the normal experience that they would have been familiar with, He calls them to bring their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And this training then was not to come from fathers on the basis of their own worldly wisdom or knowledge or understanding, but rather on the basis of the Lord’s instruction, His word. We turn to the submission of slaves in verse 5, the submission of slaves in verses 5 through 8.

Slaves obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ not by way of eye service as people pleasers but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man knowing that whatever good anyone does this he will receive back from the Lord whether he is a slave or free. First we look at verses four to six being content in our circumstances and resting in God’s sovereignty means that we meet being obedient to those who are in authority over us as having been appointed by God. This takes a variety of forms and for example by extension and principle honoring one’s employer is honoring God.

I guess a brief timeout is in order. The type of slavery that existed under first century Roman culture was closer, let’s put it this way, the type of slavery slavery we saw in the United States 200 years ago is closer, 150 years ago or so, is closer to first century Rome than it is to Old Testament Israel. So even as Americans, we at least have some sort of idea how perverse and wicked the notion of being able to own somebody’s soul, if they had a soul, might actually be. And in this context, Paul is arguing for slaves to submit and for masters to love their slaves. So if they can apply that, then how easy should our circumstances as employees be by extension or comparison?

If we recognize that God is in control of our circumstances, then that necessarily means that he has placed us in the station of life where he has, and the our station of employment for his purposes. It’s ultimately then disobedient to God to disobey our employers or to fail to honor them as we ought. And of course, all the qualifiers are in place if the employer is asking you to sin. Your responsibility before God is to disobey. But if they’re asking you to be, if what they’re asking is reasonable, or even if it’s hard and lawful and they have the prerogative to do that, then you have an opportunity to honor Christ in how you submit to your employer.

God places individuals in our lives as spiritual authorities as well. Just as we submit to employers, masters, so we ought to submit to God via our spiritual authorities. So physical authorities, spiritual authorities, if God has orchestrated it, if God has ordained those and put them in place, then we can show our love for Christ by how we submit to one another. Note Paul’s references to the source of his submission with a sincere heart, doing the will of God from the heart. He keeps going back to the heart in these consecutive verses because it’s paramount that the readers understand the importance of not simply trying to do good works to please God or doing them simply externally with no substance behind them.

The point in view in verses five through nine is that as Paul states three times, we should never endeavor to work to please men when it is God that has ordained our circumstances. If we aim to please men, we will receive our reward in this world and it will be limited to this world. Men’s favor is fleeting and fickle. Beyond this, it is inappropriate for you to be seeking to honor men, and it’s unloving to them. So when a wife does the dishes in order to earn the praise of her husband, that’s wrong on a couple of levels, in order to earn the praise of her husband, because what if he doesn’t notice? Well, is God honored in that?

Hmm, not exactly. And the husband’s a dirtbag sleeping on the couch for what he didn’t notice. Whereas if she is working to, if she is doing the dishes to serve the Lord and do the right thing and be, and joyfully serving her family, taking great delight in that and her, and from the heart with a sincere heart, the Lord is pleased. Her husband may notice, it doesn’t, and if he may not notice, it doesn’t matter, she’s happy. But when he does notice, hey awesome. So if our aim is to please the Lord, at least we have a static goal we’re shooting for. Because we know his will and he is unchanging. He wants our faithfulness.

If we’re aiming to please men, that is a moving target and a constantly fluctuating standard. It might overlap, so the Lord’s is steady, man’s is vacillating. There are some intersecting points to be sure, but the way to really please men is by aiming to please the Lord. And more than life, you’re going to please the right kind of men along the way. So that has application for our relationship as those who are in submission.

Our honoring of men presents an opportunity for us to honor God, whether it’s doing dishes or showing up five minutes early for work or being a self-starter. Note the last part of verse five, as to Christ, and again in verse seven, render service as to the Lord, not to men. We are literally to act as though in serving those in authority of us, we are serving Jesus. And doesn’t that make it easier? It does in my mind. And the same thing actually applies for those under our authority as well. If by the Spirit’s empowering, we delight in our circumstances as God-ordained opportunities for us to grow and become like Jesus?

Well, then in our righteousness, we may not only grow in him, but we can be pleasing to him. For this reason, our mindset must not be eternal, it must be eternal and not temporal, otherwise. We would not believe Paul when he says, whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. He says that a slave or a free man. And verse eight, man will disappoint. It’s folly to seek honor from them. We must find our satisfaction in serving the Lord. The submission of masters in verse nine is shorter. Verse nine says, masters do the same thing to them. Stop your threatening knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no partiality with him.

So if by God’s grace we are put in a position of authority according to the flesh anyway, as an employer, perhaps, we’re not to boast our position but rather recognize that we too are all slaves and masters alike, servants commonly of the same master in heaven. We dare not act arrogantly then, our leadership in righteousness and righteous deeds, we will receive back from the Lord whether slave or free. Our service is to the Lord not to men. So we should not seek the favor praise of men rather. The glory of God in our conduct. And really if you weren’t clear enough here in this exhortation to The father is in verse four.

He is exhorting slave masters not to be domineering and threatening as there is no partiality with God. From the perspective of the father, the slave is no different from the master in terms of value. And the father is capital F there. So from the perspective of our heavenly father, the slave is no different from the master in terms of inherent value. Both are image bearers of God. Likewise, a child is no less important than his father. They’re both bearers of God’s image. They’re all commanded to submit to one another, and this portion of Paul’s letter teaches us that this looks different for each person, but it remains submission nevertheless.

It’s perhaps fitting then that this would be a part of this larger discussion of mutual submission. And while it’s an immediate context that this principle applies to slave-master relationships, it’s appropriate for both spouses and families in general, we must not approach our relationships as anything other than God-ordained circumstances. We must not approach our relationships as anything other than God-ordained circumstances. A father must not glory in his lordship over his children. A husband must not glory in his headship over his wife, at least not inappropriately. When we are going to glory in that, we’re going to glory in the same way that Christ is going to glory in being the head over the church.

For a child to seek the sole favor of a father rather than that of his heavenly father, he is inevitably setting himself up for disappointment. Likewise, where a husband will fail in leadership and authority, God is constant and unchanging. It’s wise then to seek God’s favor by our mutual submission rather than the favor of men. We must trust that in accordance with God’s desire and with God’s design, harmony in our relationships will necessarily follow when we submit to Him. And in the case of husbands and wives, love and romance likely follow when we learn to submit to the Lord. So we talked here about the offensive arsenal by our offensive weapons, by our submission to Christ. We fight against the broken ideologies of this world, but the enemy attacks us as well. How can we stand strong before him? We move on to verses 10 through 20 and then the defensive arsenal, the defensive arsenal. After this series of exhortations that we just work through regarding how Christians are to treat one another in these specific situations.

And after having taught them how to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, Paul urges them to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. It’s not merely a tagged on paragraph here at the end, but rather a dramatic climax to the letter where Paul brings again to the attention of his readers a number of points that he’s been laboring throughout his letter. Specifically, he refers back to the power of God, like the power that was at work in Christ in the resurrection. He refers that way back in chapter 1. The empowering work of the Holy Spirit are being in Christ. In addition to bringing to a head the instructional material from chapter 4 verse 1 through this passage, Paul is speaking of the power source required to carry out these commands.

A special source of spiritual power and protection is required for the spiritual battle in which we are engaged. Where the word of God goes forth and ministry is effective or fruitful, there the schemes of Satan are also most evident. An effective ministry often is marked by conflict and persecution. Satan needs not waste his time or the battle is not being fought. The Christian that applies all of the doctrine and direction from Ephesians chapter one, verse one through six, verse nine, should expect to be engaged heavily and spiritual warfare. Such a believer must then be adequately prepared for the battle and such preparation is the nature of Paul’s instruction here.

The apostle is not exhorting his readers to rely on any strength of their own, but rather be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. The strength of course, he supplies. He also supplies the armor. His might is great and it is then not our own strength on which we rely. We are engaged in battle if we employ these teachings, and we certainly won’t win on our own. For those who are made alive by the Spirit, having been spiritually dead and slaves of unrighteousness, in chapter two, verses one through five, only by the Spirit’s empowering can we walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called, chapter four, verse one.

So it naturally follows that the Spirit would assist us in our walk in the Spirit, chapter five, verse 15 through 21, as well as our self-subjection or submission one to another, the passages we just studied. And of course, now, our spiritual warfare. Paul wishes for his readers to understand that it is impossible for those who were born spiritually dead to engage in any spiritual living. Not to mention spiritual warfare. The power of the flesh, especially against an enemy that we cannot see, is impotent. It’s folly. We must in all these things be strong in the Lord. The apostles command is to put on the full armor of God.

He says to do that here. This is a powerful word picture, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps inspired by his being chained to a Roman guard from a Roman jail while he is penning this. This is one of the prison epistles. Perhaps he looked on the soldier’s armor and noticed some interesting similarities between the protection that that soldier’s armor offered him and the protection that God offers us. This is armor which God supplies, of course, and a failure to properly wear the armor is hazardous. For we do not wrestle, says Paul, against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, and against Athena, who is directing that little arrow so it pricks Mennelaus.

Only armor that God, that was added by the way, that the Athena part’s not actually in the original. Only armor that God supplies will be sufficient to protect us from spiritual attack. We can wear all of the chain mail we wish. That’s fine, but it won’t protect us from unholy thoughts. Context and Paul’s words themselves tell the readers that the rulers, the world forces of darkness, this present darkness, the spiritual force of wickedness, they’re not physical powers. They’re rather spiritual forces require a set of spiritual weapons. If we would fight them, that is. Logic and rules of warfare, they’re fantastic.

They demand that a soldier adorn himself appropriately. The armor in view here is spiritual to protect us from spiritual attack. Now I’m gonna break down this armor just a little bit. I’m not gonna geek out too much, hopefully. I also don’t wanna take Paul’s illustration too far. It’s an illustration, of course, it breaks down at some point. But I think that looking at it at least a little bit will help us to better understand Paul. So bear with me. Stand there for, he says in verse 14, having fastened on the belt of truth and having girded your loins is what he says here in verse 14.

That’s the belt of truth, yeah. For a Roman soldier, the belt actually was significant because the loins are an area of great vulnerability. There’s a lot of soft tissue and little protection So it was necessary that one engaged in battle protect his loins, Roman soldiers, like most people at the time, they wore an undergarment of light fabric that was like a long pillow case. And it could be encumbering, kind of like if you were to go off to battle in a miniskirt, it actually wouldn’t be incredibly convenient. So they had to cinch it up and tucked it into the belt. So it would encumber them less. So when preparing for a rigorous activity, like dressing for combat, it was necessary that the soldiers render this garment less cumbersome by tucking the tail of it into a heavy leather belt that girded his loins.

So the belt that he says here, for purposes of girding your loins, is referred to as the belt of truth. All the encumbrances, and this is again, running with the illustration, all the encumbrances that would impede the movement of the believer are to be bound up in the truth. The soldier may then operate and move uninhibited by temporal or spiritual distractions. Rather, the truth will, in fact, bind all of the unnecessary distractions. It is essential to draw from the truth, I’m sorry, it’s essential for us to draw from the source of all truth, that is God’s word. Clearly, the Bible teaches much with respect to what needs, what truths we need to dwell on and to engage successfully in spiritual battle.

Like that is our source of wisdom. You hear it said sometimes that any time a person sins, he is in that moment believing the lies of the devil more than he is God. Failure to trust God, for instance, suggests that he is unable to save you or that he has forgotten his promises. So we know that we are to rehearse the truth. And second half of verse 14, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate is a piece of armor, body armor, that protects the torso, not just the chest. The chest is the largest target of the soldier’s body, so it’s the easiest target for missiles, like arrows and crossbow bolts, that sort of thing.

So this would necessarily be the largest pieces of armor that a soldier put on. Kids, if I’m losing you here, think just, you know, Batman. Okay, like what’s the biggest piece of his body suit? Okay, the breastplate would provide general protection of the most susceptible part of his body. Likewise, the general covering of righteousness the best defense of a Christian engaged in spiritual battle. For a Roman soldier, the breastplate was a sleeveless garment covering, or a piece, covering the entire torso. It was made of leather or heavy linen, which, by the way, can actually stop an arrow. Isn’t that crazy? I did geek out one time and watched a medieval weapons test, and they’re shooting an English longbow, which the Romans, the Gauls didn’t have English longbows.

I get that. but they did have some pretty powerful weapons. And they were shooting at this body covering that was just multiple layers of linen, and this longbow with a draw weight of about 120 pounds could not pierce, the arrow could not pierce the linen. Now it could break ribs, no doubt. It would provide some punch and take you out of the battle. It could actually stop an arrow. It’s remarkable. We can run with the illustration there. Righteousness is potent. Sown to the covering would be maybe overlapped pieces of hammered metal or animal hooves or bone, horn even. And that would conform better to the shape and contours of the soldier’s body than solid pieces of metal, like the medieval knights in their shining armor.

And its function was, of course, to protect the vital organs. It covered more than just the soldier’s breast, but also as highly vulnerable back and sides. So the righteousness that Paul is speaking about here is not self-righteousness. That’d be silly. It’s not imputed righteousness, which we have, whether we put it on or not. Christ has given that to us. It’s rather a practical or a behavioral righteousness that comes from living in conformity to God’s word. To enter the battle without a breastplate would be stupid. Similarly, to endeavor to engage in spiritual warfare without having a life marked by personal righteousness is to invite swift destruction, walking in sin.

We are useless to God. More than that, we’re dangerous. The church gets in trouble when the unrighteous are trying to set straight the people of God. Unrighteousness doesn’t help anyone, and although he is able, of course, to even use unrighteous people for his purposes. We know that. Paul says, having girded your loins with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, these two parts are prerequisite. And only having put them on should a soldier dare to put on the rest. The shield of faith.

I gotta move along here. The shield, there were two types of shields that Roman soldiers used. One was like a round one that was about two feet across. You could use in close combat. That’s awesome. That’s not what he’s talking about. He’s talking about the big rectangular one that was solid wood overlaid with heavily oiled leather or even metal that would line up in the famous Roman phalanx. They could interlock these shields and create an impenetrable wall of protection. That is the shield, the type of shield that he is talking about. Fascinating that just as a soldier’s first offense is his shield, so a Christian’s first defense is his shield of faith.

It is with a shield of faith that a believer is able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. I wish I could talk about the flaming arrows, and how they did them in pitch, and how they splattered upon impact when they were lit, and all that. But faith will extinguish flaming arrows of the wicked one. And potentially, some have argued, those arrows of the enemy are temptations. And our faith can extinguish those temptations that the enemy would lob at us. Verse 17 reads, take the helmet of salvation. And of course, perhaps one of the areas that is most vulnerable and likely to suffer lasting harm if impacted is the head.

Therefore, a Roman soldier would wear a rather extensive helmet, wrapping most of his head. It was often made of pieces of thick, hard, and dry leather with perhaps some metal flaps covering the cheeks, if not being entirely of metal. And it was designed to turn sword jabs into glancing blows. Our protection is salvation. Salvation guarantees eternal joy and bliss in heaven.

For the Christian, the worst that can happen is physical death, which simply ushers us into God’s presence more quickly and in one respect then we welcome death with our salvation as our guard and our guarantee. So no matter what, our salvation is our protection, that is our helmet. The fact that the head and salvation are linked together in this passage tells us a lot about how the enemy attacks us as well. A soldier’s helmet protects his head and ultimately his mind. It is the mind that the enemy attacks using such tactics as discouragement and doubt causing the believer to rely not on the promises of scripture but instead on his own logic. So that reminds us of our own need for familiarity with our weapons. And the last sort of defensive weapon that Paul gets to is prayer. He says in verses 18 through 20, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints. And also for me, the Now words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery

of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.” In the closing exhortations here, Paul is instructing his readers in terms of how to pray specifically. He tells them to pray at all times, in the spirit, with alertness from perseverance and petition for all the saints, and on Paul’s behalf. The sense behind Paul’s speech is that this prayer is urgent and necessary, and it’s essential, that is, prayer is essential to the Christian’s defensive arsenal as well. In prayer, we call on God ultimately to protect us. It’s fitting, then, that this would come right after he’s just talking about these weapons of warfare and the armor of God.

Prayer is what renders us capable of even using our armor. Inquiring of God as to how to use the weapons he supplies is essential. Paul includes himself in this assessment, pleading with them to pray on his behalf. He asks for them to pray for him to have the right words, for him to have the boldness to preach the mystery of the gospel. It’s worth noting that Paul, a remarkably gifted and bold declarer of the truth, would not do so in his own strength, wouldn’t dare to do so, but only with what God supplies. He asked the Ephesian Christians to partner with him in this. It’s remarkable too, that despite his what we might call less than favorable circumstances, the apostle does not request prayer for his physical strength.

He does not request prayer for sustenance or for the guards to set him free or anything that would be of mere personal benefit for him. Rather, he prays for boldness that in proclaiming the gospel, I may speak boldly, he says, as I ought to speak. Many of us would do well to ask God for this kind of boldness. And then last, we have the sign off from the battle, which is verses 21 through 24. Paul says, so that you may know how I am doing, and what I am doing, Ticacchus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

Paul, possibly wanting for them to know better how to pray for him, sends Ticacchus to deliver this letter, and to give additional information on Paul’s welfare. Now, Tychicus had accompanied Paul and others to Jerusalem in Acts chapter 20, verses four through six, and he was with Paul during his first imprisonment. He was frequently sent by Paul on missions. You can see in 2 Timothy 4.12, Titus 3.12.

And as Paul called him the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, he would be a good candidate to deliver not only the letter, Paul’s greetings to the church regarding his welfare as well. And then he finishes by saying, and we’re going to stop here as well, peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. And along with Paul, we conclude the letter of Ephesians, a book that’s loaded with mysterious glories and happy promises if we would cling to them. May God grant us the faith to fight our spiritual battle with the proper weapons and the proper defenses. Let’s pray.

Father, we are grateful for your promises and for your faithfulness. We’re grateful that you have instructed us how we are to do battle in this world and it is with unlikely weapons. It takes faith for us to wield them, but only by faith will we ever wield them in the first place. And that faith too comes from you. Grant us to do what we know and to do it with faithfulness. We thank you that you have given us a formula for human flourishing and that when we do these things we have even in our own lives seen fruit that comes from that kind of obedience. And by your grace may May this church excel still more. We love you and we thank you and we pray this in Christ’s name.

Amen. So now we come to the time in our service for communion. In our communion is an open communion. We don’t restrict it to only members of our church. We want people that love the Lord and know him as their Savior to participate in the communion. So we open it up in that way. And so we see it as those who have been baptized into one body by faith, as those who have repented of sin and put their faith in Christ were able to partake of his body and blood. Now to the issue that Jonathan was talking about in Ephesians, that it’s a supernatural thing now we’re going to do. We are going to have this little piece of bread and this wine and have it represent what God did for us at the cross, and that only God is the one that could have saved us.

Only his sacrifice would allow us to even come together in the communion of our worship together, in our church, in our coming every week to him to thank him for the things that he’s done and to praise him for who he is. And that, as Jonathan already did, and it’s gonna be in the charge that I’m gonna give you after we do communion, but this verse, I took it out of a New King James Bible. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Newer translations put reverence.

I always get bugged about that. The word is fear, and the issue is, we should fear the person that can cast you into hell forever. That’s an awesome thing that God can do. And yet he offers us a way out through his son. And that’s what we’re celebrating in communion. So the idea that all these armaments for these supernatural battles that are going on in front of us in our lives, we have the equipment to do it, we have the fellowship to do it, and the one another’s allow us to help each other in those things. So let’s remember that as we partake together to have communion that we are part of the body of Christ and the mystery of the gospel as it says in Ephesians.

And we hope that that honors the board. We feel that it does. And I know that it’s changed my view of communion and worship that we do do it weekly like this. And I think it is a unique thing that happens to us every week with the communing together to give him thanks for what he’s done for us. And today’s commission is right out of Jonathan’s last teachings. Ephesians 5, 15 through 21. So here’s our charge. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always, and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence, fear for the Lord Christ. Amen and go and do likewise.

And we hope that that honors the board. We feel that it does. And I know that it’s changed my view of communion and worship that we do do it weekly like this. And I think it is a unique thing that happens to us every week with the communing together to give him thanks for what he’s done for us. And today’s commission is right out of Jonathan’s last teachings. Ephesians 5, 15 through 21. So here’s our charge. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always, and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence, fear for the Lord Christ.