DEFINING LIFE: Christ-Centered Ethics

INTRO

Colossians 3:18–4:6 ESV

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. 1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

1) Christ-centered Ethics in Your Home (vs. 18-21)

Colossians 3:18–21 ESV

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Husbands and wives (vs. 18-19)

Wives are to submit.

The original wording is clear that this statement is not a harsh command, but an encouragement towards a willful choice.

There is also a qualification: “as is fitting to the Lord”

As Christ willful submitted Himself to the Father because of their relationship, so a wife should seek to willfully seek such an intimate relationship with her husband as a testimony of Christ at work in her household. (1 Cor. 15:28)

Husbands are to love their wives and be gentle towards their wives.

Self-giving love just as Jesus loves us. (Parallel with Eph. 5:25)

The instructions of “do not be harsh with them” is a display of being counter cultural.

Even in today’s context, as husbands we need to make sure that we do not communicate to our buddies that our wife is the “ol’ ball and chain”. She is a daughter of the King of Kings and a woman whom we are to sacrificially love and scripturally lead as a display of Jesus at work in our home.

Parents and Children (vs. 20-21)

Unlike vs. 18 where the wording gives way towards encouragement, the wording here is a direct command that reflects the command of God in the 10 Commandments.

In a Christ-centered home, Children are to please the Lord by obeying their parents.

Parents need to teach children that they can please the Lord by being obedient to Him.

This is not a ploy to manipulate your children (as see in vs. 21), but rather a call for parents to love their children and lead their children in a way that their obedience to you is honoring and pleasing to Christ as well.

Because of the nature of the culture, Paul addresses “fathers” but the implication of the context is very applicable to both parents.

Parents are to be genuine, patient, and compassionate, while being certain and direct with their children.

To provoke means to “be resentful or to cause bitterness”

Parents provoke their children when their words and their actions are duplicitous. Parents should not be “do as I say, not as I do” parents. They should be striving to be examples of Christ so that their children do not loose their motivation for Christ-centered living or as the text says, “lest they be discouraged”

Strive for your home to be Christ-Centered.

2) Christ-centered Ethics in Your Work (vs. 22-4:1)

Colossians 3:22–4:1 ESV

22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. 1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Employees (vs. 22-25)

Again, the wording is clear that this is not to be considered optional. If your boss gives you a job to do, do it all out. Don’t just do enough to get by, but let your work ethic be all out so that you are working as if you are working directly for Christ Himself.

Don’t work to please your boss, work so that you are honoring-Christ. Let your employer ask, “What makes you such a great employee?” so that you may respond, “I follow Jesus and the work I do is an expression of worship to Him, so I go all out.”

To work in such a way that is misleading of your skills and abilities and misrepresents who Jesus is making you to be is wrong. Here Paul clearly teaches that wrong doing in the job doesn’t just hurt your employer or your fellow employees, it has a lasting impact on yourself as well.

Supervisors (vs. 1)

Be just and fair with those whom you are over.

Employees are a blessing and should be treated fairly and not taken advantage of. When a Christian becomes an employer, the main focus is not their business…it is Christ. Be sure that Christ is honored in how you run your business and especially in how you treat your employees.

Also, let your work be an example of Jesus so that those whom you supervise see Jesus through you.

If you’ve ever worked for a strong, Christian believer, you know that this makes a huge difference!

Whether you are an employee or an employer, all work for the One who is Supreme (vs. 23-25)

3) Christ-centered Ethics in Your Words (vs. 2-6)

Colossians 4:2–6 ESV

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Words to the Lord (vs. 2)

When we interact with others in our home, we are to seek to glorify Jesus. When we interact with others in our jobs, we are to seek to glorify Jesus. When we seek to interact with God, we likewise seek to glorify Jesus.

Our prayers should be frequent and abundant (1 Thess. 5:17). They should reflect an attitude of gratitude!

We should always be watching over our hearts to make sure we are not becoming self-centered with complaints and bitterness, but rather we must be Christ-centered and grateful!

Words to others (vs. 3-6)

As we focus our lives and how we live on Christ, we should always be looking for ways to tell people about Jesus.

We need to care about making sure we share the Gospel (“...declare the mystery of Christ...”) with clarity (...”which is how I ought to speak.”)

Our communication with others (verbal and non-verbal [vs.5]) should be wise and deliberate. We need to make sure our tongues are under control and not controlling us (Jam. 3:1-12).

As we seek to keep Christ the driving force behind of our lives, our words should be graceful and seasoned with gracious living for the purpose of answering each person as to why our lives are so different from what we see in the rest of the culture.

CLOSING

Christians should be different from the rest of the world around us.

As Jesus transforms our lives and the ambitions of our life change to focus on His glory, the world should find us peculiar like it finds Jesus peculiar.

We must grow and be transformed in every area of our lives.

All this comes from the one who loves us, and gave Himself for us that we may be changed from the inside out.

Do you know Jesus? Is he changing your life?