And in our study in 1 Corinthians, on Wednesday nights, we recently
saw and spoke on the subject of adorning the doctrine of the Lord, and that is exactly
what this portion in the book of Colossians deals with as well,
adorning the doctrine of the Lord, and that's what
It is to submit to your own husbands as is fit. A wife who is faithful
to the scriptures in that is adorning the doctrine
of Christ's authority, of his care for and love of his bride. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they
too shall be one flesh This is a great mystery, but I speak
concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of
you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and the
wife see that she reverence her husband. This word reverence
is often translated fear in the context of fearing the Lord.
And that's the same with all Relationships in which God has
given earthly authority parent when children are to obey their
parents there to do so with godly fear with Respect unto the Lord adorning
the doctrine Verse 19 husbands love your wives
and be not Irritated with them be not bitter against them Be
not exasperated with them And see here, as always in the
scriptures, how that love is defined by what it does and doesn't
do. It's not just a feeling, it's
action. It's an attitude, a behavior. We're to always remember that. And again, this is gospel language. Husbands, love your wives and
be not bitter against them. That's gospel language. Ephesians
5.25. Husbands love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church. What does earthly marital relationships
have to do with the gospel? Everything. If you don't see
that, then you don't know what true love between a man and a
wife is. And most people don't. That's
why most, I guess it's most still get divorced. It's not mysterious. If you don't even know what it
is, you're probably not in on it. Even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. Does that sound
compatible with how that most men and women are always I always want to resort back
to my old slang way of saying things. They're always ragging
on each other. That's not the right way to say it. But always
saying bad things. The Lord covered our sins. He
did away with our sins. Love covereth a multitude of
sins. that he might sanctify it and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself." That's how close, that's how great the union is between them. And isn't that the glorious doctrine
of scripture concerning the love of God for his own? Oneness. That's the way he describes his
love for his own. So it's an adornment of the doctrine.
That's the point this morning. I in them and thou in me that
they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. Love like that, to where there's
no distinguishing one from the other. If you've done it unto her, you've
done it unto me, like he speaks of his children that way. Good or bad. And can we rejoice
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not exasperated with us? that he's not bitter against
us, that he's not put out by the fact that, again, I wanna resort to just
common sense language. The fact that we're idiots, the
fact that we're horrible, that we're unfaithful, that we're
wretched, he's not exasperated by that. He loved us. even while we were
yet sinners. And his love is shown in that
even though Gomer was unfaithful and horrible and wretched and
despicable, he told Hosea, you go yet love her, if you wanna
know something about my love. Our very nature, is disappointment
and failure. And yet he's not bitter toward
us. It's an adornment of the doctrine. Verse 20, children, obey your
parents in all things. That kind of covers it, doesn't
it? That kind of covers it. For this is well pleasing unto
the Lord. That ought to matter to you if it doesn't. I'm personally okay with one
appeal. If your parents tell you to do
something, I'm okay with one please. Because sometimes parents make
rash decisions. Sometimes an automatic no needs
to be thought about maybe. So one time maybe, please. That's it. Sitting there and
endlessly arguing back and forth with your parents about stuff,
it's not cute. Don't take an adversarial tone
with your parents. If they make a decision, that's
just killing you. It's just killing you, but you
say, please, once more. But then if the answer don't
change, then honor your parent. And I may be giving you a little
bit too much leniency there. But I've heard parents just endlessly
arguing with their children about that. It ought not so be. You've
got to adorn the doctrine. If you're a believer, if you
know the Lord, it can't be like that. You honor them by obeying them. That's how you honor them. Even if it's done in a lighthearted
way, now I want to be clear about this. Maybe it's just something
you and your parents, you know, you have this cute little thing
where you, no. Find something else funny to
laugh about. That ain't it. And remember this, when you're
arguing with your parents, and it may not always be lighthearted,
but whether it is or not, if you're even thinking about arguing
with your parents, remember this, nobody on this earth loves you
more than they do. Nobody. That's easy to forget. Your friends don't. Nobody wants you to be happy
more than they do. And let's face it, and I know
you don't believe this, but they know more than you. They just do. Experience is true knowledge,
and they have it, and you don't. Not as much, at least. Besides
all that, it's just right. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. That's really the only reason
you need to know. But it's good to know this too.
It's an adornment of the doctrine. It's honoring to the Lord. It's
gospel. And think about that now in the
moment. It's a gospel matter. Verse 21, fathers, provoke not
your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Now this
is just as important as the previous verse, but it's not a contradiction
of the previous verse. It doesn't mean that if your
children are upset over a decision that you made, that you should
just cave, you know, because we don't want to make them mad.
That's not what it's saying. Not at all. What it does say
is that having your children being obedient unto you in all
things is a great responsibility. To unnecessarily grieve them
by not considering their feelings at all, being a tyrant, being
overbearing, being abusive in any way. There's a lot of ways
to abuse people. It's not scriptural. It's an
abuse of the authority that God has entrusted you with. And I've
always wanted to give specific examples in cases like this because
I do think it helps us get in our minds the day-to-day reality
of what's being taught and it brings it home. But at the same
time, I don't want it to limit your understanding of the text.
I think that's the danger of it. Because you'll think, well,
that's what it means then. And that's not all it means.
It's just an example. You can't give every example.
Let me just say this. Children can make you very angry. Would anybody argue with that? Children are capable of making
you really mad. Wives and husbands can make you
very angry. And that's the point. That's
the moment which more often than not. These truths are tested. Don't let your pride or your
selfishness or your personal shortcomings hurt those that
you love. Don't let it happen. God forbid
it. And this is the same Bible now
that says if you don't spank your children, you hate them. Exactly what it says. And furthermore,
it says that it's a very danger to their souls if you don't spank
them. It's not ambiguous. It's not
a way of interpreting it. There's nothing to argue about.
Scripture says talks about it as being beaten with the rod. Is that? Unclear anybody Doesn't
mean injured with the ride or abused with it But it must be done in love If you don't know how that can
be done in love, then just forget it. It's gospel teaching. It's an adornment of the doctrine. And your children will be thankful
for it. Are you thankful when God rebukes you? Are you thankful for the fact
that he put you in the dust and put you out of business? It's got to be done in love and
it's got to be done for their good. No other reason. It's gospel teaching, not just
because I say it is, but because God says it is. Adorn the doctrine
of God in all things. He says at the end of this passage
Whatever whatever of this all of your doings of all of this
let it be Honoring to the Lord verse 22 servants obey in all
things your masters according to the flesh and And of course he says, according
to the flesh, to qualify the fact that your real master is
not according to the flesh. Your real master is spiritual,
it's God. But your master is according
to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers. And we know
that's clear as a bell, isn't it? But may the Lord make it
clear as a bell to us. It's eye service, it's when they're
looking. You're a real good employee when they're looking, because
you want to please them, because you benefit from pleasing them.
How about God? But in singleness of heart, fearing
not men, God, fearing God, having respect and reverence unto God,
not the man, except in the right way. Now the negative aspects
of these exhortations, see the word not? Not with eye service, not as
men pleasers. These negative aspects of these
exhortations are given because that's exactly what we're gonna
do. Unless by God's grace we're given
a heart of obedience unto him. Now immediately our minds start
looking for loopholes, don't they? I suspect you're a little bit
like me. As soon as somebody says you ought to always obey
your boss, first thing I'm thinking of, but he's an idiot. I know
they don't mean, I know it doesn't mean that. He's a complete loser. He hates
my guts. There aren't any loopholes here. There's the basic truth that
if obeying God and obeying men are not the same thing, then
you obey God. But don't start making that excuse
for everything you disagree with. If you work for somebody that
you cannot obey without sinning or dishonoring the Lord in some
way, then you need a new boss. It's not that big of a deal.
Don't sit there and work for somebody for years that you have
to sin in order to work for. You was looking for one when
you found that one. The Lord makes a way of escape,
doesn't he? Unless you're in a forced labor
camp, then you don't have any excuse. It's our tendency to
get away with what we can to do as little as possible. It's
not going to cost us. We slack when the boss ain't
looking. You might please me and if you only work hard when
they're looking, but that doesn't please God. It's not complicated
singleness. With singleness of heart, that
means simplicity and sincerity. A little experience will teach
us what that means, won't it? Most people are always working
an angle of some kind. Always some kind of an angle,
some kind of a scam, or some kind of an agenda, or they do
things in such a way as not necessarily to benefit who they're working
for, but themselves. They do it to their own advantage,
and very, very inventive in that. That's all of us, isn't it, a
little bit, but boy, have you ever known anybody who was just
a genius at that? Always work at an angle. That's
the opposite of just simple sincerity. And the key to all of it is in
the next verse, verse 23. Whatsoever you do, And of course, how would you
limit that? What would that not apply to?
But there is a context here. And I think it's important to
recognize the context in this. In your relationships, family
or business or whatever relationships, do it heartily. as to the Lord and not unto men. That's when you will do everything
that's written above with a single heart. It's when you understand that a win at the end of every
day, a win is not how far ahead you came out. A win is not that you impressed
your boss and promoted yourself. A win is that you did everything
you did to please God, not for merit, but because of love. This is a gospel matter. Verse 24, knowing that of the
Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ. Now why would the reward be brought
up here? Because if you honor the Lord
in this world, there's a real good chance you're
not gonna benefit financially from that as far as men are concerned. But the silver and gold doesn't
belong to men. And what's way more important
than that anyway the reward The reward of being a joint heir
with Jesus Christ Heir of all things For you serve him This world is Corrupt and it's easy to excuse
things because of that Most people that know me know
how I feel about the man The man steals our money at gunpoint
and kills babies with it Can I be blunt about it? That's what
they do If you don't believe there's a gun involved, quit
letting them steal it. See what happens. But you and I, we who know the
Lord, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been infinitely
and eternally blessed by Him in Christ, and remember, a blessing
from God is not an isolated incident. Well, the Lord blessed me. Well,
that may be true, but his blessing is all or nothing. If you are
blessed of the Lord, you're blessed in everything. You can't dash
your foot against a stone without it. Not a hair can fall from
your head. If the cattle on a thousand hills
is his, they're yours too. How shall he not also with him
freely give us? But he said the silver and gold
is mine. You know what that means? It's
yours too. If the best thing for you right
now was to come into a billion dollar inheritance or something,
that's what would happen. That's not the best thing for
me. So it probably ain't gonna happen. You understand what I'm saying
though? If you're blessed of the Lord, everything is a blessing. All of it is. Don't let us miss that, Lord.
Don't let us miss that. Eternally blessed of the Lord
you shall receive, of the Lord you shall receive. You may suffer
in this world for honoring him, but you won't be the loser for
it. You will not be the loser for it. I thought about this and then
in reading verse 24, look up, look up, listen to Luke 21, 26. Luke 21, 26. In fact, we got
plenty of time, so turn there with me. I want us to see this. Luke chapter 21. This is talking
about in the end times. When the Lord is gonna come back. But think about this right now,
if this is the thing to do then, what do you think the thing to
do right now is? When you see trouble, real trouble,
when you see a storm, when the storm is raging around you. Look
what he said to verse 26, Luke 21, 26, men's hearts failing
them for fear, Are you afraid of anything right now? And for
looking after those things which are coming on the earth? Are
you afraid of something that you think is gonna happen that's
coming up? Are you afraid? Are you anxious?
For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory. And when these things begin to
come to pass, you're scared to death. You don't know what's
going on. You don't know up from down. You're lost at sea. You look up. Isn't that beautiful? Look up. Look up and lift up your heads
for your redemption draws nigh. The worst this world gets, the closer our redemption is.
That is, we're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ already,
but redemption in this sense means he's gonna take possession
of that which he bought, which is me. And I'm ready for that. But not only the worse this world
gets, the closer it is, but how's your world? Are you? Afraid and troubled and anxious
and And just terrified it and and the foundations are shaken Look up Look up we serve the Lord Christ I'm aware of the context of that
passage in Luke 21, but can't we apply the same principle here
when we get discouraged? And when there's good reason
to be discouraged, when everything literally seems to be falling
apart, when we seem to have reason to despair or at the very least
be discouraged in these things, then look up. The Lord says,
look up. When that happens. When I am
afraid, David said, what am I going to do? My girls know because
we used to sing this song. When I am afraid, I'll trust
in you. Oh, I'll trust in you. Don't let
the earthly circumstances rule your attitude and your behavior.
in your heart, let the spiritual reality of who God is and who
you are to him, let that rule in your heart. His love for you,
his infinite dying love for you. Let that govern your behavior,
your attitude, your thoughts, Look at the teaching of this
when you're thinking. You know, like the psalmist of
Psalm 73, he said, the harder I work, the further I fall behind.
And it's not like that with evil people. They're doing just fine. Evil men are prospering and the
Lord's people are suffering. Understand this when it seems
that way to you. This world can't give you anything. This world literally cannot give
you anything. They said Moses gave us that
bread from heaven. The Lord Jesus said, Moses didn't
give you that bread. Your boss didn't give you that. The world didn't give you that. Judas left the Son of God and
said to the world, the enemies of Christ, what will you give
me? They can't give you anything. Hold up your hand to the Lord
who has said all things are yours. And no good thing will he withhold
from those that love him. Not one good thing. while he
withheld, spiritual or physical. Christ is our exceeding great
reward. And that's not gonna be true.
That's true right now. How shall God with Christ also
not freely give us all things? He spared not His own Son for
you. And notice this, we serve the
Lord. It doesn't say that. We serve him who is not only
sovereign, but gave himself for our sins. We serve the Lord Christ. The one whom God anointed and
sent into this world to redeem. My God, if I work for this world
and to receive in return only that which this world can give
me, I would have lost my mind a long time ago. But I serve the Lord Christ. What an honor. And I don't serve Him by building
buildings and winning worlds. That's what religion talks about.
I serve Him in my living room by being firm and tender with
my children, by honoring my wife as the princess that she is in
the sight of God and in my heart, by quietly submitting to God's
authority in all things, in daily things, in everything. by living
the gospel at work, at home, in the worship, among his church. In the last verse of our text,
those who do not understand, those who do not know the Lord,
those who do not care for and follow the Lord in these things,
they're not included. They're not included. That's
where that word must comes in, that word in our text in Bible
class. There's a must when God saves
you. There's a must. No matter how much doctrine you
know, if you don't know the Lord and love
Him, He won't save you. It won't save you. Love is the
bond of perfectness. That's also in our recent studies. Love is the bond. Love is the
one thing that makes all of these things one thing. Without that love shed abroad
by God in our hearts, all of our doctrinal knowledge The scripture
says it's just irritating noise. That's all it is. May God shed
abroad his love, make us friends, make us friendly, cause us to
love. The fruit of his spirit is love. And cause us to bow to him in
all things. Amen, let's pray.