Walk Worthy: Obedience and Obligation

Introduction

Ephesians 5:21 NASB95

21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Husbands and Wives Eph 5:22-33

Children and Parents Eph 6:1-4

Slaves and Masters Eph 6:5-9

In all 3, Paul speaks to the person of submission (wife, child, slave) and then turns the attention to the greater responsibility of the authority figure (husband, parent, master).

Message Title: Walking Worthy: Obedience and Obligation.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:1-4

A Child’s Obedience (vv. 1-3)

Obey your parents

Command (vs wife “ought” 5:24)

Proverbs 1:8 “8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;”

Colossians 3:20 “20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.”

Proverbs 4:1 “1 Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding,”

“in the Lord” - relationship with God

Honor your Parents

Exodus 20:12 “12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Leviticus 20:9 “9 ‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.”

Deuteronomy 21:18–21 “18 “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. 20 “They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 “Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.”

“Command with a promise” (natural consequences)

A Parent’s Obligation (v. 4)

Do not provoke

Colossians 3:21 “21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.”

Ephesians: Verse by Verse Instructions to Parents: Don’t Provoke, but Build up Your Children (6:4)

They are not to marginalize and diminish their children or make them bitter and angry through mistreatment, insensitivity, or unrealistic demands

“Don’t let the things in your life get taken out on your children.”

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Two Challenges

Here are some possible causes of angering our children:

• Failing to take into account the fact that they are kids

• Comparing them to others

• Disciplining them inconsistently

• Failing to express approval, even at small accomplishments

• Failing to express our love to them

• Disciplining them for reasons other than willful disobedience and defiance

• Pressuring them to pursue our goals, not their own

• Withdrawing love from them or overprotecting them

Bring them up (Disciple)

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Value and Care for Children

“It is from God that parents receive their children, and it is to God that they in turn ought to lead them” - Bonhoeffer

Discipline

Proverbs 13:24 “24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”

Proverbs 19:18 “18 Discipline your son while there is hope, And do not desire his death.”

Proverbs 22:15 “15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”

Proverbs 23:13 “13 Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.”

Proverbs 29:17 “17 Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.”

Hebrews 12:6–10 “6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Obey Your Parents

Make their disobedience an occasion to teach the gospel

Instruction

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 “4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Proverbs 22:6 “6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Walk Worthy (Love your spouse)

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Set a Christ-Centered Example for Your Children

children are learning obedience, respect, and submission as they watch their parents submit to and obey God.

Conclusion

GRACE IS THE KEY!!!

Titus 2:11–12 “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

Psalm 127:1 “1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”