Trust and Obey, For There’s No Other Way

Prayer

Lord, You have made each and every man and women in this world in Your glorious image. Let us remember why we were created and our role in this blessed Creation. May we continually strive after holiness and obedience to you, day after day, not seeking our own glory, but Yours alone.

In Christ’s Name.

Amen.

Introduction

Jonathan Leeman, in his book Authority, writes,

From start to finish, no matter what story is being told, the biblical hero is the person who is obedient to God.

pg. 5

Obedience is a repetitive theme in the Bible. Characters are praised for obeying God or cursed for not. Noah is praised for obeying God by building the Ark in faith and cursed for disobeying God by getting drunk and participating in debauchery. Abraham is praised for his obedience to God in having faith in His promises and cursed for disobeying God by trying to establish his nation through Hagar rather than Sarah. Moses is praised for obeying God rather than Pharaoh and cursed for disobeying God and trying to act unilaterally. David is praised for obeying God in honoring Saul as anointed but cursed for disobeying God and committing adultery. Obedience is a biblically praise-worthy category. One could say that obedience is the cornerstone of Gospel-living.

As we have ventured our way through the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Church in Ephesus, we begin to see a continual theme. This overarching theme is the unity we have as adopted brothers and sisters in the eternal family of God as a result of the Gospel. Nearing the end of chapter five we saw the theme of submission and leadership in the home and how that relates to Christ and His Church. As you may know, everyone is under some form of authority. Children are under parents, parents are under their church elders, and elders are under God. Obedience to this authority is a major means of submitting to God. You want to know how to glorify God and submit to Him and yet you cannot even submit to the simple authorities above you now? Today we’ll study further in Ephesians how God practically enables us to submit to even the little authorities above us and how this is a tremendous blessing and means of grace.

We now come to chapter six of Ephesians where Paul continues to unpack the transformation of the family and the human life by the Gospel. He writes,

Ephesians 6:1–4 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.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Now I must ask you:

Are you an obedient person?

Pause for a moment.

This question is not answered lightly. To even begin to answer it, we must unpack several themes and ideas. What is obedience, first of all? Secondly, what is honor? Thirdly, what does that have to do with Ephesians 6:1–4? The answer is everything. Paul wants to convey to us and to the Ephesians the reality that true Gospel-rootedness (1) shapes how you live, (2) why you live, (3) and the joy you have to live for.

How You Live (vv. 1a, 2a, & 4)

In our passage, Paul instructs both children and fathers here first and foremost in how they should live in light of the Gospel of love. Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents… Honor your father and mother… Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger…” With each point Paul calls the Ephesians to act like Christians. That is really all it is. You, little child, act in obedience to your father and mother even when it seems impossible. You, parents, display a godly attitude toward your child and do not stoop to their immaturity even when your child is exasperating you. That seems all well and good but how does this apply to you? Your children are out of the home with families of their own and you are long past childhood. Why does this matter to you? It is because Paul’s emphasis is not on the children or even the fathers.

Friends, is your life different than that of the world? Do you grumble and complain when the food on your plate is not to your liking? Do you snap at those trying to help because you find them incompetent? Do you obey the authorities above you only in your outward actions but have a heart of grumbling and miserable disposition on the inside? Do you know what Jesus called that? He called it being a “white-washed tomb.” Seemingly pretty on the outside but dead on the inside. Filled with all manner of decay and dissolution, these tombs are representative of a heart that produces no good actions.

James, the brother of Jesus, writes in James 2:18,

James 2:18 ESV

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Friends, can this be said of you? Do people know you are a Christian based on how you act? Are you quick to obey those God has placed above you? Are you quick to encourage those God puts in submission to you? Many, if not all of you, have sat under the faithful preaching of the Gospel for decades. You have been baptized in the holy Name of God. You’ve made that declaration of faith. But what do you have to show for it? When the rubber meets the road, are you living out your faith?

In theology we have a term for the faith. It is called orthodoxy, or right worship. To be a Christian is to have this correct worship. But to be orthodox means you must have orthopraxy, or correct practice. Your life must be the Gospel lived out. And how do we see it lived out here in our passage?

“Children, obey your parents… Honor your father and mother.” They obey with their actions and honor with their hearts. These Ephesian children, and all of ypu who are under authority in some manner, are called to move your hearts and actions towards living out your faith. You give glory to God by honoring and obeying the institutions and administrations and authorities He has placed over us. Likewise we see fathers being called to live at peace with their children.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Fathers are not just meant to avoid discouraging their children but are called to encourage them with the discipline and instruction of God. A father is meant to be a man, living as a man, putting away his childish past and being the authority over his home. He is called to be godly so as to encourage godliness. This is the way of all good authority. Anyone beneath us in terms of leadership or authority should be blessed and encouraged by our authority, not stunted in their growth.

Now we move to our second point.

Why You Live in Obedience (vv. 1b)

Now it is good for us to ask, Why do we live as Christians? Paul tells us, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord… Fathers… bring [your children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Paul tacks these phrases of “in the Lord” and “of the Lord” into his sentences not as a type of “Christianese” shorthand or an afterthought to his message, but as the rationale for why we Christians do as we do. In fact, in 1 John 4:19 we see a principal that might help you understand what it means to obey and submit in the Lord.

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

Your love, your obedience, your humility, your everything is a result of the prior love, obedience, and humility of Jesus because He did it first. Today of all days you can see this picture best. Now, on Palm Sunday, begins Jesus’ slow march towards the Cross. His trek of obedience to death, death for your sins, is what commands you to obey in the small things. If Jesus can obey in the greatest and harshest task of all of human history, you can obey in the small and hard things.

Jesus’ obedience meant carrying the Cross up the hill of Golgotha for your sake. Jesus’ obedience meant being mocked and scorned publically for your sake. Jesus’ obedience meant having thorns shoved into His skull, His clothes gambled, and His back whipped all for your sake. His obedience meant being betrayed and denied by two of His closest disciples. And what does He ask of you?

“Children, obey your parents.”

Pause

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.”

Pause

All that you are called to do can and will be done by the power and grace of the Spirit. You can’t forgive that person you feel wronged you so much? Through the obedience of Christ you can obey and must forgive them. You feel that sharing the Gospel has no purpose at your age because who would listen? Christ was a carpenter from Nazareth Who changed the world. In His obedience to ministry you can likewise obey and share the Good News.

To come back to our question, the reason we live as Christians in obeying and displaying a godly life is because Jesus obeyed and displayed a godly life. The core of our salvation is principally built on this obedience. Obedience is the hallmark of the faith.

Now we come to our third and final point.

The Joy of Christian Obedience (vv. 1c, 3)

Paul ends verse one with the words, “for this is right.” It is right to obey for the sake of Christ. It is good and right to live for the glory and enjoyment of God. That is, in fact, our chief end as Christians. We were created for relationship with the divine. This relationship can only be described as the relationship of a subject to a king, or a son to a father. This relationship is obedience for the sake of love. You must obey because you must love.

Do you love God? Obey Him.

Do you obey Him? Love Him.

Rejoice in this.

This is true joy, because it is true relationship. This is what you were made for. You want to know your purpose? Or what will satisfy you? It is only obedience in love under Christ that can satisfy you. Why?

Because it is right.

In this right relationship, you may now see the promise of the fifth commandment. Paul promises, as God Himself does, “Honor your father and mother… that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” In other words, obey and things go well. Why? Because it is right. This does not mean that if you obey life will go perfectly and be absolutely wonderful. But obedience to Christ is promised a reward. That obedience, faith, leads to something better than a long life. It leads to eternal life with eternal communion with Almighty God.

So how should you live? As a Christian in submission to every authority with a happy heart. Why should you live this way? Because Jesus did it first for you. What does this lead to? Joy and joy everlasting.

Let’s pray.