Ephesians 6:1-9

Children Obey Your Parents

The context by which this is written must be understood in order to grasp the severity of the message. There are 3 societal implications that make this verse important

1. patria potestas (The father power) A father had ultimate control over a child’s life as long as he lived. Even when the child was a grown man, he remained under the authority of his father. Even if he was the governor of a providence, he was still under the authority of his father. The father had the right to punish his son or daughter up to death.

2. Life or death - When a child was born it was put at the fathers feet. If the father bent down to pick up the child, he recognized it as his own. If the father did not pick up the child it was tossed aside and became the property of Rome. They would house the unwanted children and allow people to come by and pick them up at night. The people that picked them up could sell them or use them as personal slaves. If they were not picked up, then they were used to stock the brothels in Rome

3. Sick or deformed children - Children that were born sick or deformed were immediately drowned.

As one can see being a child during this time was very tough. In order to survive, a child must obey their parents.

It is also right to obey your parents because it is good in the sight of the Lord. When a child obey’s their parent the Lord makes 2 promises to that child. The first is that it will be well with them. It makes sense that when a child obey’s their parents then they will be provided for and will not endure punishment. The consequences of disobeying their parents at this time were quite severe. The second promise is that you may live long on the earth. When a child is obedient to their parents, they will likely get an inheritance. This will provide for them for a long time. Even if the inheritance is not material, they can inherit the blessing of a good legacy.

One of the major issues that contribute to the breakdown of the family is children disobeying their parents. There is tremendous grief and pain found in disobedient children. If a child refuses the authority of their parents, then they will refuse all other form of authority. This will prove to bring them tremendous grief in life. If a child recognizes the authority of their parents, they will learn the value of obeying authority. Of all the people in jail, I often wonder how obedient they were to their parents.

Father Do Not Provoke Your Children To Anger

Fathers are not to break the spirit of their children. Father’s can crush their children because their children want to please them. If a child feels like a disappointment to their father then they will be broken. Three ways we crush the spirit of our children.

1. Expect them to grow up the same way we did. We must understand that are children live in a different generation than we did. What they face on a day to day basis is much different than what we faced. For instance, fighting was a part of school. You would get in a fist fight and then when it was over you would go home. Today people are more apt to shoot or stab rather than fist fight. When we were in school there was pressure to drink. Today their is pressure to do more dangerous things than to have a beer. There are drugs that have the potential to kill. The availability of porn on the phone has enhanced sexual temptation. More kids are having sex today than they were when we were in school. We must recognize that they live in a different world than we did. This does not mean that we compromise biblical principles, but that we must teach them how to apply them in a different world.

2. Exercise too much control. Parents can exercise so much control over a child’s life that it is insulting. When we exercise too much control, we are communicating that we don’t trust them to make good decisions. What it boils down to, is that we don’t want to see our kids suffer for poor decisions. It is too hurtful to us to see them suffer. Exercising too much control is selfishness. A person that is excessively controlling is protecting themselves rather than helping their children. It is good for children to learn from their mistakes rather than their parents always bailing them out.

ng that we don’t trust them to make good decisions.

3. Lack of encouragement. Parents that base their affection on performance will break a child. They tend to be over critical of their children. They will find that their children will never meet their expectations. They will constantly criticize their kids. A word of encouragement goes a long way. Tell story of Benjamin West.

Slaves Be Obedient To your Masters.

When this was written there were approximately 60 million slaves in Rome. The Roman culture was one that said work was beneath them. Slaves did all the work. Everyone that was not a roman citizen was considered a slave. They were considered property of the roman citizen. There was not suppose to be a relationship between the Roman citizen and the slave, but there was.

Paul instruct the slaves to work diligently for their master. This is right in the sight of the Lord. He says that they are to work as unto the Lord. This is because the master could invoke upon the slave a severe punishment. If the slave did a good job for the master then the master would be more inclined to treat them better.

Today we do not have masters but bosses. Although we are not property, our bosses can affect our quality of life. We are to work hard and give everything we got to our employers. We are not to do it just when they are watching, but ALL THE TIME! We are to do our jobs as if we are working for the Lord. the Lord will take care of the rest. Whatever good we do, we can expect to receive back from the Lord. If we do a good job, then we should expect to get promoted or get a raise.

Masters Don’t Mistreat Your Slaves.

Contrary to popular belief at that time, slaves were people too. They have a God in heaven that loves them. Unfortunately many masters found great pleasure in mistreating their slaves. It revealed their dominance in society. God says don’t mistreat them because they belong to me just as you do.

Business owners and bosses must treat their employees with fairness and respect. Any good business owner or boss always puts their employees in the best position to succeed. This is beneficial for the company as well as the employee.