The Gospel and Life

Call to Worship

Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Scripture Reading & Prayer of Confession

1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Colossians 3:18-4:1

The Gospel impact in relationships

Introduction

One of our favorite things to do at home is to have family dance parties. Yes, I know we are baptists and not supposed to dance, but there is just something precious and right about dancing with that little girl of ours. So, I do not apologize if I have burst any bubbles for people thinking we are perfect.

Now, one of our favorite songs to dance to is Family by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Part of the lyrics are:

You don't choose em, you can't lose em

We all have a song to sing

Some are crazy, some are amazing

All got a little bit of everything

Family, sons and daughters

Family, like a photograph

Family, baptized in the water

Family, put me on the map

The line in particular that comes to my mind this morning is that you don’t choose em. We don’t choose our family, we don’t even choose our roles in the family. So in not choosing those things, how do we live these roles out as Christians? That’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. Our various roles in our homes, and how we live them out in following King Jesus.

Recap

Since starting the book of Colossians, we have seen that Christ is supreme over all things, and that there is nothing else outside of Jesus that is necessary for salvation and living out our Christian lives. And as we have seen that it is Jesus who has put to shame the rulers and authorities. It is Jesus who we are called to walk in. And as we walk in Jesus, as we grow in knowledge of who God is, it changes us. And part of that growth is how we live within our households. And that is where we turn this morning in Colossians 3:18-4:1

Text

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Main Point

Christian, regardless of your life status, you are to live unto the LORD in serving him.

Points

Living out the gospel in our various life stages.

Living out the gospel in living to the LORD.

Living out the gospel in light of our inheritance.

Living out the gospel in our various life stages.

In life, we have people at all kinds of various stages of life. We have young, we have old. We have the lower, middle, and upper class. We have children, we have adults. We have those free and those indebted to serve.

The world wants to dictate how these are to look. And yet, because of the power of the gospel, we are to live out our lives in a way that brings glory to Christ and live for him, which we will get to in point 2.

For now, let's look at the stages of life that are addressed in our text this morning. We see that wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters are addressed. In light of the gospel, each of these roles are to be impacted by the gospel.

Wives

Following the order of the text, let's start with wives. Even the fact that wives come first in this list is significant. Yes, here in Colossians 3:18, wives are called to submit to their husbands. However, wives are mentioned before husbands, showing elevation and significance to women being addressed before men.

Culturally, the women would have been ignored or put at the bottom. However, they are the ones addressed first. They are put equal with men in regards to respect, dignity, and care. Why? Because the gospel breaks that of social norms. The gospel changes how we live out our various life stages, including the role of wives.

Women are given significance here. But how, you ask since they are told to submit to their husbands?

First, wives are called to submit in a way that is fitting to the LORD. This means that they first and foremost are intended to submit to the LORD, in the obedience of faith. Therefore, their submission to their husband is never to go against their primary submission to King Jesus.

Second, wives are to submit to their own husbands. This is not a universal submission for all women to all men. It is for a wife to submit to her own husband.

Third, the wife submits in giving respect, dignity, honor, and value to her husband. She submits as a helper, not a slave or servant. For in Genesis 2:20b-23 says, “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Fourthly, wives submitting to their husbands is by no means room for any kind of abuse: spiritual, emotional, verbal, or physical. If there is ever a case that we are to hear about where this takes place, legal authorities will be contacted, and appropriate steps in confronting sin will be taken. There is no room for this kind of twisting of this passage. The submission of wives to their husbands gives no ground to abuse. Wives are to be treated as the weaker vessel by their husbands as we read in 1 Peter 3:7. They are to be treated with dignity, value, and respect.

And last, in wives submitting to their husbands, this models the submission of the bride of Christ, the church, submitting to Christ as we see in Ephesians 5:22-24. Wives, as you submit to your husbands, it is modeling the gospel to the world, even for some of you, your own husbands who do not know the gospel. Live out this submission in a way that you honor, love, and respect them. Even if they are not the most loveable at moments. For again in 1 Peter 3, in doing so, they may be won to Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands bringing honor to the name of Christ.

Husbands

Now, Husbands, we are called to love our wives and not to be harsh with them. We are to love them forever, never stopping, never giving up on them. We are to love them fiercely and compassionately. We are to love them in the manner that Christ loved the church. Here how Paul puts this in his letter to the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 5:25-31:

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. 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

If you are a husband here, brothers we are to cherish our wives. We are to build up our wives, for that is what the Ephesians passage means in saying to nourish. We help them grow in how we speak to them and treat them. We love them in a way of showing them great honor and value as the weaker vessel according to 1 Peter 3. We treat them with gentleness and care.

This is how we avoid being harsh with them. To love our wives and not treat them harshly, husbands, let us rejoice in our wives as Proverbs 5:18. Or as it adds in verse 20 of that same passage, we should be intoxicated always in the love of our wife.

We have a lot of confusion on what it means to be men in our day and time. And brothers, it is more manly and Godly for us to love our wives in this kind of way than trying to be the next John Wayne out there .

Let us love our wives as Christ loved the church, by laying our lives down for our wives. Let us love them with gentleness and kindness. Let us love them in cherishing and nurturing them. This is our call to love our wives.

Children

The third group on the list is children. In verse 20, it says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the LORD.” Children, you are not called to obey your parents in the things you want to obey them. You are not called to obey them only in the things you can’t get away with you. Children you are called to obey your parents in everything. It is this that is pleasing to the LORD.

Children who are in Christ are still called to obey mom and dad. They are to honor their parents in this obedience. Children, you are not going to always like what mom and dad tell you to do or not do. And that is okay. But your job in following Christ as a child is to obey, for your parents are charged with loving, caring, and shepherding you while you are still a child. And your role is to obey in everything.

Now, there are some clarifications that need to be addressed here. Children, your call to obey in everything does not give your parents the right to ever harm you by abuse. Children are to obey and be loved.

With a rising number of child sexual abuses within Southern Baptist Churches, I want to address this right here and now. There is no tolerance for any harm or abuse for a child. If there is ever a case of this, it will be turned over to the proper legal authorities. For this is grievous sin and will not be tolerated. If there is ever a hint of such wickedness or it is ever exposed, we will fully cooperate with authorities to properly handle the situation.

Fathers

In turn, as we think through children obeying parents in the right context, here is what is given to fathers. According to verse 21, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

Fathers not provoking their children refers to not causing them to be bitter. In other words, the role of the father is not to tear down or drive them to anger. The role of a Father is not about being a hard and strict man.

The role of a Father is to be a gentle and loving shepherd for his child’s heart. Father’s it is our job to raise up our children in the nurture and admonition of the LORD. It is our job to teach our children the ways of the LORD. Fathers it is our job to guide our children with love.

Now, do we need to discipline them, yes. But the aim of that discipline is never to come out of anger or frustration. As we discipline them, the purpose is to teach and correct their hearts, not have them be perfect soldiers. Fathers, we need to see when we are tempted to be impatient with our children and tempted to be harsh with them, that in reality we are more like them than different. In his book Parenting, Paul Tripp writes, “When you are frustrated, mad, discouraged, unkind, abusive, bitter, joyless, vengeful, or irritated as a parent, you don’t so much need to be rescued from your children-you need to be rescued from you.”

Fathers, let us love our children well, building them up and pointing them to Jesus. And when we fail, as we all will, confessing our mistakes and short-comings. And then pointing to the only real hero in the Bible, Jesus!

Slaves and Masters

Now we turn our attention to a little different direction in the household with slaves and masters.

I’m going to handle these together rather than separately. In this section of text, the role of bond-servants, that is slaves, is neither condemned or confirmed in a positive light. There are certainly times in both scripture, and in parts of the world where there was a bond-servant, slavery system in which the bondservant was indebted for an economic standing to survive. In fact, much of India is that way today. There are I believe three tiers of social classes there. And the lowest class is indebted to serving as bondservants for the middle and upper class. The lower class doesn’t exist outside of this kind of bond-servant culture if I have understood correctly.

But what we see in India, and often in the Bible is not the case we in America have understood slaves and masters. What we know of slavery here in the United States and in the slave trade that took place from Europe is a grotesque system. For the slavery we know of was far from that. It was the stealing of people from their homeland in Africa. It was people enslaved by force, not economic standing. And it is on the affirming of this kind of wicked slavery that the Southern Baptist Convention was founded on.

The Southern Baptist Convention was formed because of the affirming of this kind of wicked slavery. And it is to our utter shame. Because in Colossians 4:1 we read, “Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” A system that involved the stealing of people from their homeland, the locking in the bottom of cargo ships in shackles is not just and fair. The Bible nowhere affirms this kind of wickedness.

Therefore, we as the Southern Baptist Convention will continue needing to repent of our wicked start. We must continue to strive for racial reconciliation and healing from our sinful past. We must continue to call it what it is in sin, and we must continue to reconcile the division between races. For in Christ, we are all one. That was the whole point back up in Colossians 3:11, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

The people of God are a new people, with a new social order. And it is to this point that Colossians 3:22 and 4:1 are aiming at. Bondservants are addressed first in 3:22, showing recognition and value in being specifically addressed. And even in their role as bondservants, they are called to obey in everything. For the Christian bondservant, they were to obey their masters. They were to serve them with sincere-hearts and not just be people pleasers. In other words, they are not meant to only do what they are supposed to when someone is watching. They are to do their work in a way that they sincerely obey, fearing the LORD.

And for Masters, they are to treat their bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that they too have a Master in heaven. In other words, the master is called to treat the bondservant with dignity and respect. To care well for their bondservant. The master was not meant to be cruel or harsh.

And while we in our context today do not have slaves and masters, we need to be aware of what was actually being addressed here. We need to understand throughout history, there have been periods of slavary. And we need to see how the Bible addressed those things.

Both are called to care and respect the other with dignity. Neither was to be undermined by the other, for both were created in God’s image.

Now, some will try and say that this could be said that this is referring to employees and employers today, and while I will apply it that way for points 2 and 3, it isn’t really the same thing.

Summing it up

The gospel plays out in every role in life. It plays out in the role of wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters. The gospel calls us to live these roles out in light of who we are in Jesus. In each of these roles though, a call for respect, love, and dignity is to be shown to those in different roles. The gospel gives no room to allow for abuse of power or position. The gospel calls for us to care well for one another. And we will see that as we turn to living out the gospel in living to the LORD.

Living out the gospel in living to the LORD.

Turning our attention again to Colossians 3:11. It says, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Because of Christ being all and in all, we are no longer living for ourselves. This is what grounds each of our roles in life. Whether single or married, parents or non-parents, the slave or master, the employee or the employer, we who are in Christ are resting in Christ alone over everything and knowing that Christ is in all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is why we read in verses 23-24 of our passage, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Christians, because we have been transferred from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son, we realize we are not our own. We belong to the LORD who purchased us.

And therefore, it is to the LORD we live to and for. This is what enables us to live our various roles from point 1 in a way that is counter culture to the world around us. This is what enables us to stand against the current trends of society and being swept away by the world ever changing. We see that we serve the Lord Christ. It is he who is our King, our Lord. It is King Jesus who is our Master.

Therefore, all that we do, we are called to work heartily as for the LORD, and not men. That means in the role of a wife, a husband, a child, a father, a slave, a master, an employee, an employer, a student, a teacher, a young person, an old person, a retiree, to a third shift worker, whatever the role we are to do those unto the LORD. Our concern isn’t to please people in how we measure up, but to do our job unto the LORD for it is in him we will receive our reward.

Living out the gospel in light of our inheritance.

And that brings us to our third and final point this morning, living out the gospel in light of our inheritance.

Jesus is our King, and yet he has invited us to receive an inheritance with him as our reward. He has invited us to join with him in inheriting the new heavens and the new earth. He has invited us to inherit eternal life with him forever and ever.

The invitation to live for Jesus, to live unto him, is an invitation to share in his inheritance as the firstborn of all creation. Christian, this is what we are promised in holding to our faith in Jesus.

It is an invitation to merely come and look to Jesus. Isaiah 45:22 says, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

Charles Spurgeon commented on this in his The Promises of God Devotional:

“Only a look! Will we not turn to look at once? We are to bring nothing in ourselves, but to look outward and upward to our Lord on his throne, to where he has gone up from the cross. A look requires no preparation, no vigorous effort. It needs neither wit nor wisdom, wealth nor strength. All that we need is in the Lord our God. If we turn to him for everything, that everything will be ours, and we will be saved.”

But, as rich as this invitation is, there is a warning for those who reject from turning their eyes to Jesus. In verse 25 it says, “For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”

The beauty of the gospel is that all we need to do is turn our eyes to Jesus and rest in him. The stumbling block for many is thinking they do not need Jesus, that they do not need a savior. Here in Colossians 3:25, we are reminded though that the justice of God will come against the wrongdoer. That our sins deserve punishment and death. And that none will escape, since there is no partiality. That means the gravest sin to the smallest sin will be judged fairly and the same. All sin deserves death.

Yet, even for those who have previously rejected Jesus, there is the opportunity this morning to come and set your eyes on him. Confess your sins this morning, trust in Jesus, and believe.

Conclusion

Like the song Family, we don’t choose our family, we don’t lose our family and we are in those roles for life. But in light of those roles and duties we have within our households, we live them out in light of the gospel. We live them out as unto the LORD and we do them with sincere hearts. The gospel transforms our lives and how we live our lives out. Therefore Central City Baptist Church, let us be a people who live unto the LORD in all that we are called to do.

Let’s pray...