Order in our Relationships

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Looking at God's order for our relationships

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Intro

Creation and the Trinity as the Pattern for our Relationships

1 Cor 11, Paul shows that the pattern of our familial relationships comes from creation.

The mutual submission of the Trinity is our example

Colossians 3:18–4:1 NLT
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. 20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites. 1 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.

1. Jesus brings order to your family. (Col 3:18-21)

a. Jesus has given us an order within our marriages. (Col 3:18-19)

Colossians 3:18–19 NLT
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

i. Order was established at creation and even before.

1. Gen 2:18 says woman was created equal to man. “Helper” most often used for God.
2. The Godhead involves submission even though all three persons are full God.

ii. Wives are called to voluntarily submit to their husband’s Christlike leadership. (3:18)

1. Grammatically, the verb for submission indicates a voluntary act similar to Christian humility.
2. Submit does not equal obey. Submit is to yield authority. Obey is to follow a command.
3. “Submission points to the wife’s calling to honour and affirm her husband’s leadership and to help him exercise his role within the family. It is not an absolute surrender of her will, for Christ is her absolute authority, not her husband. Nor is there any suggestion that the wife is naturally or spiritually inferior to her husband.”

iii. Husbands are to sacrificially love their wives and imitate Christ in their relationship. (3:19)

1. Parallel passage in Eph 5, “as Christ loves the Church.”

2. Husbands do not rule over their families. Christlike husbands lead their families.

3. These words in light of the previous versus (3:12-13) of Christian virtue. What a testimony.

b. Jesus has given us order for parents and children. (Col 3:20-21)

Colossians 3:20–21 NLT
20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

i. Children are to obey their parents.

ii. Parents are to encourage their children rather than discipline in a manner that causes them to be continually discouraged.

2. Jesus brings order to your work.

a. A word about slavery.

i. Widely accepted in the ancient world.

ii. Not typically based upon race but war.

iii. Slaves held a multitude of positions. Often included in the household. (Acts 10, 16, household conversions of Cornelius and Philippian jailor)

iv. Slaves a majority in many cities.

v. Equality of slaves and masters in 3:11 lays foundation for overturning slavery.

b. How we work is ordered by God. (Col 3:22-25)

Colossians 3:22–23 (NLT)
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

i. We are to follow the rules of our employer and to work hard. (Col 3:22)

ii. Our work is to be done as if we are doing it for Jesus. (Col 3:23)

Colossians 3:24–25 NLT
24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

iii. God will both reward us and judge us for how we work as well as how we treat others. (Col 3:24-25)

c. How we treat those we oversee is ordered by God. (4:1)

Colossians 4:1 NLT
1 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.

i. Treat them fairly and justly.

ii. Remember that we all are under God’s authority.

Conclusion

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