Children and Parents
The next
section we turn to is a section on children and parents (especially
fathers). Notice what Paul says to
children? Paul asserts the commandment
to honor the parents. Then he teaches us
something out of the Old Testament. We
honor our parents so that it may go well for us. Paul is telling us that our parents should be
good role models for our lives. Sadly,
this isn’t always the case, but it should be.
When we
honor our parents – that is, to show them respect – we are inviting them into
our life to impart their most fundamental qualities into us. We are welcoming their correction, their
encouragement, their advice. This is why
things will go well for us. As they pass
along the lessons that God has taught them, we have an opportunity to hear God
speaking into our own life. We don’t
just honor our parents – or others in authority over us – because we are told
to do so. We do it so that they have an
opportunity to speak God’s truth into our lives.
Then Paul
turns and gives some advice to parents.
Specifically, notice that Paul calls out the father. Paul tells the father that he should not provoke
the child to anger. Do you hear how well
this lesson coexists with the lesson about being a husband yesterday? The husband is to love the wife
unconditionally. The father is to not
provoke the child to anger. Both have to
deal with issues of love. When we love
someone, we will not want to provoke them to anger. We will want to have a positive relationship
with them.
Anytime I
hear a repeated lesson so closely to each other, I usually have to ask myself
why. Why does Paul feel it necessary to speak
twice to husbands about how to love in such close proximity? I think the reality is that when human beings
think of love in a family, we think of mothers first. Fathers play many roles, but the word love is
not often at the very top of the list. How
many times have you heard a person say, “I know my dad loved me. He never said it, but I know it was
there.” The truth is that men often have
a difficult time genuinely demonstrating love with confidence. I think Paul speaks to men twice in such close
proximity so as to encourage men to take the point position in the family of
embracing this dynamic of demonstrating God’s love.
Slaves and Masters
We next
turn to the section on slaves and masters.
I use the word slave while many translations speak of bond-servants of
servants. The word here is slave. Paul’s advice here is clear. Slaves, do the work you are supposed to
do. Don’t do it just to get your
master’s eye. Don’t do it for selfish
reasons like that. Do it because it is
the work you are supposed to do and honor the commitment.
We may not
live in a culture of slavery today, but I think this is great advice for
employees, too. Employees, do the work
your employer expects to be done and do it not to impress them. Rather, do it because you wish to honor your
commitment.
The same
goes for masters – or we might say employers in today’s culture. Masters and employers, respect those under
you who do an honest job and who honor their commitments. Do it because it is the right thing to do.
Full Armor
Before we
get to the final greetings, we turn now to a famous passage: the Armor of God. I’m going to speak briefly on it because it
is such a famous passage. First, notice
that the purpose of the armor of God is so that we can resist evil when it
comes. We are not to be a people of
compromise. We are to be a people who
resist evil and genuinely believe that it is not futile to try and resist evil
and the ways of the world.
As for the
armor proper, let’s look at the components of the armor: truth, righteousness,
peace, faith, salvation, Spirit, Word of God, prayer, supplication. You know what you don’t see? You don’t see violence, aggression,
assertiveness, self-centeredness, concern about fairness, getting what you can
out of life. The armor of God is about
turning to God and living according to God’s agenda first. What we see on that list are things that the
world does not typically value. So again
we can understand a fallacy that the world teaches us. The world values things that are of little worth
while they also teach us to undervalue the things that are of great worth.
Ending
Paul then
ends his letter. He ends his letter with
words of peace. He genuinely cares about
the Ephesians and wishes them to be well.
He genuinely wants them to be encouraged – even in the midst of his
imprisonment. He sends Tychicus to them
for this very reason. He does not want
them worried about him. Even in the
midst of the prison cell, Paul is more concerned about the Ephesians than
himself.
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