Ephesians 6:1-9

Ephesians 6:1–9 ESV

Children, obey your parents in 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. Bondservants, 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 bondservants 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 bondservant or is 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.

This set of verses is another set of verses I didn’t see applied much to me. Im not a parent, were not parents, but oh how i was so wrong.

You’d think i would have learned after last week,

I thought that I had nothing to apply from a Remember what I said last week?

When will you understand christ and Him crucified? when will we get it?

Not just when you go to the passages about Christ but when you see Christ in every passage.

You are going to see the gospel in this passage. You are going to see Jesus in this passage. We are going to see redemptive history in this passage, we are going to go into the land of canaan, God’s promises to israel, etc. You are going to see the church in this passage, you are going to see righteousness in this passage, you are going to see sonship in this passage, you are going to see prayer in this passage.

In 2022, 70% of children ages 0–17 lived with two parents (65% with two married parents and 5% with two unmarried cohabiting parents), 22% lived with their mothers only, 5% lived with their fathers only, and 4% lived with no parent

In 1970, 67% of Americans ages 25 to 49 were living with their spouse and one or more children younger than 18. Over the past five decades, that share has dropped to 37%. Only 37% of Americans between ages 25-49 are living with a spouse and a kid.

With the drop in the share of adults living with a spouse and children, there has been an increase in other types of family living arrangements, like unmarried adults raising children

In 2021, there were over 700,000 same-sex married couples in the United States,

Satan has had an attack on families. Why is this important? We’ll God constituted family. He created it. Art is to be admired, especially the art of God. This of a family like God’s art, but instead of admiring it, we have stepped on it and perverted it.

We see that the family was in God’s original design.

Marshall Segal says this

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26). And then two verses later, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Genesis 1:28). Parenthood takes its pattern from God himself. New life comes from the intense and intimate love between a husband and wife because human life began from the intense and intimate love within God. He did not make man and woman because of any deficiency in himself. He wasn’t lonely or needy or bored. Life was the natural overflow of his love.

But as we will see, God’s design for family was to point to something deeper. Just like I said last week, God uses physical and natural means to point to deeper spiritual realities, last week, we looked at how the establishment of marriage pointed to His second return. This week, we are going to see how God’s establishment of family points to another great spiritual reality

Family extending past biology

Romans 9:8 “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Mark 10:29–30 “Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Romans 16:13 “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.”

1 Corinthians 4:15 “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Verse 2

First command with a promise

What is this promise?

Deuteronomy 5:16

In Genesis 17:8, God promises to give the land of Canaan to Abraham's offspring as a "perpetual holding". Some say that Canaan was strategically located at the crossroads of Europe/Asia and Africa, making it an ideal place for God to make himself known throughout the ancient world

This land was a result of covenant. “To be God to you and to your offspring after you.” FOR AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION, and I will be their God.

Deuteronomy 9:4–6 ““Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”

Point 1: God promised land

God promised Abraham a promised land. He makes it very clear that it was by His grace that they were going to possess the land.

They did posess the land. As we see in the book of Joshua, but they weren’t there for long. were disobedient, time and time again, they inherited the land but lost it because of disobedience.

Moses prophesied this

Deuteronomy 31:15–16 “And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent. And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.”

God places Adam and Eve in the garden as divine image bearers of God, empowered with choice, freedom, and authority in this temple garden.

They choose to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and define right and wrong for themselves (Gen 3:6

They suffer the consequences by being exiled from the Garden (Gen 3:23

God warns Cain that “sin is crouching at the door, it desires to have you” (Gen 4:7

Cain does not heed the warning, kills his brother Abel (Gen 4:8

Then cain is banished from the Lord’s presence (Gen 4:16

God tells Israel not to make idols or worship other gods (Ex 20:1-6

They make a golden calf and worship it (Ex 32)

Point 2: They didn’t make it into the promise land, but instead went into the wilderness, because of disobedience

Jeremiah 22:29 “O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!”

Jeremiah 23:10 “For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.”

So can a piece of real estate hear God’s word and mourn the curse? Of course not. The point is that the promised land, through every stage of Israel’s history (promise, conquest, possession, misuse, loss, and recovery), becomes so central to Israel’s covenantal experience that to speak of the land is to speak in terms of Israel’s unique relationship with Yahweh. It was the place that guaranteed restored intimacy with God and promoted human flourishing—a new garden paradise.But that gift is accompanied by ethical responsibilities. Israel may possess the land, but God is still the ruler over all creation, so they remain accountable to him in what they do with it. It’s not a “one and done” type of deal. It’s the context for ongoing obedience to God and faithfulness to God, family, and neighbor. Everything they do in the land, from establishing territories to pruning trees, is an opportunity to serve and obey Yahweh. And if they don’t obey, they forfeit the land.

Leviticus 25:23 ““The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”

meaning God could withdraw his protection and allow Israel to become like landless foreigners again if they broke his covenant.

Israel's time in the wilderness Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 years in the wilderness. This was to show that He is redemptive. Not just in macro events but in micro ones too. His life was sufficient. God is sovereign enough even to include it in the details.

Now this wilderness is also mentioned

Revelation 12:6 “and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.” 3.5 years

Hosea 2:14 ““Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.”

Daniel 12:1 ““At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.”

Revelation 12:13–17 “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”

Matthew 24:15–17 ““So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,”

Isaiah 43:19 “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

The term “wilderness” generally referred to land east of Jerusalem as well.

Jeremiah 31:2 “Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,”

. Do not be a political advocate for israel who is not willing to give your life on the day when all of this unfolds. Your political solidarity with the state of israel means nothing if you are not willing to give your life for it. It will become an issue of martyrdom not an issue of politics. World war 2 was a dress rehearsal. In the same way that the christian community in germany and poland watched the the trains drive by through their stained glass windows in their churches and they just sang louder so they couldnt hear the trains when the jews drove by. It will be the same way. you can become apart of the regime and bow your knee to it, you can sign louder and ignore it. or you can take a stand with and for israel which may cost you your life but will absolutely guarantee you an eternal reward.

It means very little to advocate for Israel, we must be a martyr for israel.

Verse 17:

John macarthur says “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, went off to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” He’s now reached his absolute boiling point. He has not been able to destroy God’s people, he never has been able to do that. That’s the history of Israel. God is going to have His remnant, they’re going to be saved, they’re going to be delivered and they’re going alive into the Kingdom and they’re going to be made up of Jews and they’re going to be made up of gentiles.

I am repeatedly overwhelmed that God has saved me. Aren’t you? That He has chosen me, that He has called me to Himself and redeemed me. And all of this is something that I will never experience because He has planned for me eternal glory. Inconceivable.

and it looks as if His grace stopped, but it didn’t stop, it actually just expanded.

Romans 10:16–21 ESV

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Romans 11:11–32 ESV

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Admittedly, the promise of Abraham’s seed (the family line that will become the nation of Israel) occupies much of Genesis. But as the Torah unfolds, it’s the promised land that takes center stage. In fact, the land becomes one of the most prominent features of the story, almost as if it takes on the role of a lead character. For example, the prophet Jeremiah speaks to the land, “O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD”

The prophets arrive on the scene to make sense of these questions. Yes, the loss of the land was a horrific fracture in Israel’s relationship with God, but it wasn’t the end of it. Ezekiel reveals that God is alive and well in Babylon, reigning on his mobile throne, while Jeremiah speaks hope for God’s people despite the destruction of the temple. God’s people are not cut off forever. They could experience the covenantal blessings of relationship with Yahweh again through repentance and renewed obedience—even in Babylon. This reoriented their understanding of the promised land. The theological concepts attached to the land (security, blessing, responsibility) remained intact, but they now made room for life with God in exile.

This reorientation is a pivotal moment in a redemptive history. Israel may have lost the promised land, but they were still God’s people, which prepared the way for the widening of God’s purposes in the world to embrace the Gentiles in a way that Israel had not previously envisioned. Salvation is no longer tied to a specific space or limited to one ethnic group. In fact, Ezekiel anticipates the broad scope of salvation when he outlines the boundaries of the new land and commands Israel to give an inheritance to all the foreigners among them (Ezek. 47:21-23

Ezekiel 47:21-23

Ezekiel 47:21-23 When God gathers his people, they would be from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

The redemptive purposes of God that began with Israel and their promised land find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the offspring of Abraham who possesses the world

I believe this is a foreshadowing of the new heavens and new earth.

1000 years, 6000 years, 7000th year is a thousand year period of rest

Genesis 9:1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

How does this happen? By making babies.

Family has always been a good thing and has never ceased being a good thing. Psalm 127:4–5 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”

WHY DO I SAY ALL OF THIS

I say all of this because it should show us the weight and the value God places on family structure. Its not just, oh i hope i have a family, its not just some arbitrary thing. THIS IS GODS DESIGN PHYSICALLY AND IT REVEALS HIS PLAN SPIRITUALLY. Whats another takeway in this?

- HIS SOVEREIGNTY. This shows that God is sovereign. He wanted the gentiles and he used the disobedience of the Israelites to get us.

Now could he have done it another way? YES. And thats the point. HE CHOSE to do it this way. HE CHOSE to use their disobedience to usher in our salvation.

Romans 11 puts it so well.

Verse 4

Colossians 3:21 “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger

The father has a leading responsibility in bringing the children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Notice that verse 1 says, “Children obey your parents.” Both. Not only father or only mother. But parents. But when the focus shifts from the duty of children to the duty of parents, the father is mentioned, not the mother. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Nevertheless, both mother and father are called to this together. Both are mentioned as the special object of the child’s honor. Verse 1: “Children, obey your parents (mother and father) in the Lord.” You can hear this truth in Proverbs 6:20-21: “My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.” And you recall that Paul reminded Timothy to hold fast to what his mother and grandmother had taught him as a child (2 Timothy 3:14; 1:5). So both mother and father bear responsibility in this marriage to bring the children up in the Lord, with dad having the leading responsibility.

Discipline

On March 13, 1942, Japanese troops arrested the missionaries and confined them to police barracks. Then inexplicably, Dr. Jaffray was permitted to remain with the women while Darlene's husband, Charles, was sent to a concentration camp, where he experienced brutality, rotten food, and disease. He died on August 28, 1942.

Darlene, confined in the barracks a hundred miles away, did not learn of her husband's death until two months later. A fellow prisoner smuggled the news to her and gave her a pencil sketch of her husband's grave. She had lost everything. All her belongings were destroyed. Even their marriage certificate had been so badly charred in the bombings that it disintegrated when Darlene picked it up.

Now she stood before the packed church. "Young people," she said, "it cost me everything to serve the Lord." She paused, then added, "For Jesus' sake, I'd do it again." Obedience to Christ can be costly, but in the end it’s worth it. It was through hearing that story that Dorie (the author) finally responded to God’s call to be a missionary, even though it meant her father disowning her. She and her husband took the gospel to an unreached people in New Guinea a few years later. The very last thing Dorie ever wanted was to be a missionary, but she was willing to say not my will, but Yours. Jesus was willing to say not My will, but Yours. Are we willing to say that?

Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Hebrews 12:11 “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

A byproduct of love is discipline. We look at culture today and see a lack of discipline. What does that mean? That theres a lack of love!

Everyone wants a happy home but not everyone wants a purposeful home. But they don’t realize that the only way to get a happy home is to have a purposeful home. To go on mission with your kids. To discipline them unto something. To discipline them unto looking more like Christ.

Discipline awakens delight. It is the key to a delight filled relationship with God. Without discipline we will never have delight. At least in the true sense we are to have it.

Many times we run when we are disciplined. and then we blame the one disciplining us as if they did something wrong. But in this dynamic, if the discipline is rightful, its not the giver of the discipline in the wrong but the receiver of the discipline.

Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

Its the receivers job to take the discipline and to hold it dearly.

God, may we be a people that love discipline.

Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

God’s discipline should not produce in our heart a distancing from Him, but an awe of Him, a zealousy for Him, an awareness of Him.

If he disciplines us, he cares for us. If he disciplines us, he cares for the wellbeing of our soul, if He disciplines us, He isn’t passive with us, If he disciplines us, we are not illegitimate but legitimate. Discipline should be a huge role in our households when we are parents. But if you have not received discipline you will not know how to administer it. How will you know how to father if you’ve never been a son.

Prayer: Father, make us sons today

Ephesians 6:1-4 Family Life

Ephesians 6:5-9 Life outside the home

The point of this is to show us whatever societal status one has here on earth, God shows no partiality, and he will require each one to give an account.

Ephesians 6:9 “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.”

Conclusion

WE NEED FAMILY. I wonder if the reason we don’t have enough good fathers and mothers is because they didn’t start asking these questions now. Stats show one of the biggest things married couples fight over is how to raise their kids. We see that the world is pushing these conversations off till later, but maybe these are conversations we need to be having earlier.

THE GLORIOUS CHURCH IS THE FAMILY OF GOD. THE GLORIOUS EKKLESIA. PAUL IS SHOWING US HOW TO LIVE INTO THAT

Physical family points to spiritual family, we are in spiritual family now, so this passage applies.

You can’t be a father if you’ve never felt like a son. Your family starts now. I want to see my friends be incredible parents and have incredible marriages one day.

Let’s live as family. Cook together, love on each other. Give sacrificially, do what a family would do,

Obedience is necessary to honor. Obedience is necessary to enter into the promise.

Family creates structure, structure creates role differences, a child is to submit to its parents. As we (children) are to submit to God, when we submit to God, we get to reap the benefits of His return. We MUST learn from the Israelites examples of disobedience. They failed to enter the promise. SO THAT WE COULD ENTER IN. There will be a day where sin does not expand Gods grace, but where sin is pronounced judged, and if we do not repent, we will not make it.