Okay, let's turn to Colossians
chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. We'll read verses 17 down through
verse 1 of chapter 4. Whatsoever ye do in word, Would
you ever consider doing your word, whatsoever you do in word
or deed? Do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands,
love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, obey
your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the
Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children
to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, and I take this to
be you that work at a job, the master being the boss man. Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh. not with eye service as
men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever
you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing
that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance,
for you serve the Lord Christ. He's our master. But he that
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done,
and there's no respect of persons. Masters, give unto your servants
that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a
master in heaven. Now verse 17 begins with whatsoever
you do. That includes everything. Whatsoever you do, in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, given thanks to God
and the Father by Him. Now, believers, you who know
the Lord, who trust the Lord by His grace, this is the heart
of the matter right here. This is the heart of the matter.
This is our rule of life in all that we do. in worship and in
our daily lives. Whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him. All our strength, all our grace
comes to us from God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord said, abide in me like a branch abiding in the vine.
He said, you abide in me because without me you can do nothing.
We can't come to God. We can't even thank God and be
heard of God without Christ. We can't do anything without
Christ. All grace, all strength, all mercy comes to us through
Christ of the Father. So it says here, do all for His
glory and do it with thanksgiving to the Father. Always thankful
to Him. Believe on Christ. Believe on
Him. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. It doesn't matter what you say
or what you do. If you haven't begun by faith,
it's impossible to please God. Pleasing God is to come to God
in His Son. Pleasing God is to come to God
in Christ, resting in Him, robed in Him, perfected in Him, and
not looking anywhere else but Him. And that's the only way
we can please God. Walk as you have Christ for an
example. He's the perfect man. He's the
perfect God-man. Call on Him for all help in all
things. All things. He is our help. He
is our strength, our buckler, our shield, our high tower. And
do everything for the honor and glory of His name. This is the
rule of our life. That is the rule of our life
right there. For His honor, for His glory.
Whether it's preaching, whether it's singing, whether it's praying,
whether it's teaching, whether it's our conversation just with
one another as brethren here or in one another's homes or
on the telephone or by email, whatever it is. Do everything
in the name of Christ and for His glory. And it doesn't only
include when we're here. The believer's salvation, his
walk, his conduct, it's not just in the church building. It's
in his day-to-day life throughout his dealings in everything that
he does, in things civil, in the government, in all social
things that we do. This is the rule of our life.
Our Redeemer has given us liberty. He's given us liberty. He's redeemed
us and He's made us free in Him. And He's given us a new heart
and a new nature and new aims and new desires. And He's given
us the aim and the desire to honor Him in what we do and to
glorify Him in what we do. This world doesn't want you to
do that. Nobody who doesn't believe God wants you to do that. They
want you to honor man. They want you to honor yourself.
They want you to exalt yourself. Do all to His honor. And do it
all giving thanks to God our Father by Christ Jesus. What
are we giving thanks for? For all things. When are we giving
thanks for all things? All the time. All things always. Because this is what He said,
what do you have that you did not receive? What do you have
that you don't owe God the thanks for having? What do we as believers
have that, you know, somebody gives you something, you say,
thank you. Well, what do you have as a believer? What do you have that God didn't
give you? Nothing. Everything we have,
God gave us. Thank Him. Whether it's good,
whether it's, we don't deem it as being good. He's given it
to us. It's for our good. It's for His
glory. We thank Him always. I have some friends whose child
was in a very serious car accident this past weekend. And when I
was thinking about this, we were talking about it Thursday night,
about how close we come every day and just driving 70, 75 miles
an hour down the interstate and just past cars, just within feet,
sometimes less than that of one another. And we just take for
granted God protecting us. And in dangers we don't even
see, in dangers we don't even know about. We have so much to
be thankful for. Everything, every day, it's by
Christ that we can thank the Father. Thankful for Him, because
it's by Him we have access to come to Him and thank Him. He
chose His people in Christ. He gave His Son, He blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in Christ. He gave us everything
in Christ that we needed to be accepted in the Beloved by the
Holy God before as yet He ever even made the earth and made
us and put us on it. That's what He did for His children.
And He's blessed us when we came forth into this world and He
protected us, He guided us because He ordained us from the beginning
to believe on His Son, to rest in His Son, to see His glory
in the face of Christ Jesus and to rest in Him. And He worked
all things through all our rebellion and through all our haughtiness
and our arrogance and thinking that we knew something when we
were just ignorant and knew nothing. He's doing that for some, some
I pray here today, some that are here now. He's doing that
while as yet you don't know him and don't have a desire for him
and don't care about him. If you're his sheep, he's directing
you and bringing you to where you're going to hear this word
of truth and he'll bless it to his, to the heart so that it's
just like food going in and he blesses to the nourishment of
our body. He blesses his word to the nourishment of our souls
so that we can hear him and know him and believe him. He's done
that because he ordained it from the beginning for his people.
And He gave us spiritual life, making us to be born of incorruptible
seed by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. And
He's made us to worship Him and rejoice in Him in good times
and in bad times, in happy times and in sorrowful times. Why?
Why are we thankful to the Father? Because we have all these things
freely given to us of God the Father by and through and for
the sake of His Son. And that very one that we thank,
we thank God the Father through, by Him, by Christ, we come to
God and we thank God the Father. That very one through whom we
come and by whom we come and whose blood we're washed and
whose righteousness we're accepted in the presence of God the Father,
even as we come to Him in our prayers. That one is the very
one in whom we thank Him the most because He's the unspeakable
gift of God. God gave His only begotten Son.
And His Son came and accomplished our salvation. Satisfied God. Declared God just and justifier.
And made us perfected forever in Him. We've got, you who believe,
have eternal life. And we've got all things by Christ.
So we come to God the Father and we thank Him. Verse 17, Whatsoever
you do in word or deed, through all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father, by the Lord Jesus. That's the key to our unity of
heart. That's the key to our unity of purpose. The believer's
unity of heart and purpose. Two can't walk together unless
they're in agreement. It's just an impossibility. It's
just an impossibility. But where God gives this unity
of heart, He gives it in His Son. And we're in agreement. We're just in agreement. You
can't be separated from one another There's a love there, where the
love of God is. You love those that are begotten
of Him. That's just so. And you walk together in unity.
This is the key to it. It's the key to driving out divisions
and strife. Whatever you do, in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. The key is we do nothing
for self. not do anything for self, do
all for the sake of Christ, for His glory, for His honor, for
the glory of our triune God, given thanks to the Father by
Him. Now there's three divisions here
in which He gives us examples. Very simple, simple exhortation,
simple instruction. This may come as admonition,
reproof, rebuke for some. It may come as encouragement
for some. I hope it strikes us in all those ways. There's three
divisions here, husbands and wives, and number two, it's parents
and children, and number three, it's masters and servants, employees
and employers. Every relationship we have as
believers, I've said this to you repeatedly and I'm going
to keep saying it as long as the Lord will give me grace to
say it, every relationship we have on this earth becomes sweeter
when we behold these relationships in the light of God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why they were made. God
didn't make the sun in the sky just to one day walk along and
look up and say, ah, there's something that glorifies the
light I am. He put the sun there for that
purpose. And he made these relationships. He made a husband and a wife,
parents and children, and masters and servants to show us examples
of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And these relationships
become sweeter. Now, before we begin here, I
want to say this. If your husband or your wife,
if your father or your mother, if your son or your daughter,
if your employer or your employee is an unbeliever, if they're
an unbeliever, still do these things. You're a believer, they're
an unbeliever, you still do these things. Because as Peter said,
that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word
be won by your conduct, by your conversation. People are more
willing to listen to the word of the gospel through which God's
going to bless their heart and quicken them and make them alive
and save them when your deeds are seasoned with grace and your
words are seasoned with grace. And then two, if you're an unbeliever
sitting here, you listen to this word too. And I'll tell you why.
If you care anything at all for your immortal soul, and you're
going to live somewhere for eternity. You're going to live in the presence
of God or you're going to live in the presence of devils. But
you're going to live somewhere for all eternity. And if you
care anything at all about your immortal soul, heed these words
and here's why. It's much easier for a believer,
whether they be your mother, your father, your sister, your
brother, your boss, or somebody you work with, it's much easier
for them to speak to you the truth of God and His all-sufficient
grace when you're peaceable and teachable than it is when you're
just a horse's behind. it'll be much easier on you and
everybody else. So listen and heed this word
now, all right? Here's the first division, husbands
and wives. Colossians 3.18. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and
be not bitter against them. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
the preeminence in our hearts, then He'll have the preeminence
in our homes. And if He has that preeminence,
this is going to be the key to a well-ordered, loving home. The wife must be in subjection
to the husband as is fit in the Lord. That means submit to the
husband. It means obey him. It means respect
his judgments, respect his decisions, follow his leadership as long
as he doesn't violate the Word of God, as long as it's in the
Lord. Follow him because he's the head of the house. The believing
wife follows Christ her husband. You who are believing wives,
you're in submission to Christ your husband. That's a blessing
a wife has. You have a double blessing. You
have your heavenly husband and you have your earthly husband.
Married to him. Married to him. And you submit
to Christ, follow your husband. Whatever he says, whatever his
decision is that he thinks is best, we may think contrary,
you may think something opposite to it. It's always best to follow
what he says because he's the head. The husband is to love
his wife. Be kind to her, not bitter towards
her. Not bitter towards her. Respect
her and defend her. Before who? Before your parents. She's first before mother and
daddy. You left mom and daddy. You join now to your wife. She's
first, not mother and daddy. Before your children, she's first. The wife's first. And before
all, any and all who would discredit her or dishonor her, you defend
her, you protect her. She's before all. The husband
and the wife are one in the Lord. Even as Christ our husband and
his bride are one in separable union. Christ and his bride cannot
be separated. Who can separate us from the
love of God in Christ? Nothing can. Guard this union. Maintain the union of a husband
and a wife. Don't let it be broken. Maintain
it in your hearts. Maintain it in your eyes and
in the eyes of all those around you. Maintain it constantly,
particularly before your children. Maintain unity, unity, unity. Just as the church is built by
the bride or built by the bride being in subjection to Christ
our husband, that's how the church is built. by the bride being
in subjection to Christ our husband. That same way that Christ our
husband builds his church. That's how the home's built.
It's not by contending for separate and selfish ways. It's by walking
together in love and affection, seeking the glory of Christ.
That's how the house is gonna be well-ordered and well-built.
whether it's this house right here, as the bride of Christ
in subjection to our husband, or if it's in your own homes,
and you wives being in subjection to them and husbands loving your
wives. Here's the reason. Look over to Ephesians 5.22.
Ephesians 5.22. It's because Christ is the husband. And you who believe, the church
together, and members in particular, we're the bride of Christ. Look
at this, Ephesians 5.22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife. Now look at this, even as Christ
is the head of the church. And He's the Savior of the body.
Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body,
the savior of his bride. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Do you remember who the first
one was that Satan went to in the garden? He went to Eve. He went to the wife first. And
he beguiled her. He tricked her. and she ate,
and that's how he enticed Adam into eating. And after the fall,
when the Lord told Eve that she was going to be in subjection
to Adam, her husband, it was for her own salvation. It was
for her own salvation. It was a picture of the salvation
that the church, we as believers, the bride of Christ, that we
have by submitting and entrusting our well-being into the hands
of Christ, our husband. What does it say there? even
as Christ is the head of the church and he's the Savior of
the body. He's the Savior of the body.
You and I, as the bride of Christ, you know what we are? We're like
Eve. We're easily beguiled. We're
easily tricked by Satan. Paul said, that's my biggest
fear that you're going to be, as Eve was beguiled in the garden,
so mine's going to be deceived from the simplicity that's in
Christ, the singleness that's in Christ, by this hocus-pocus
magic junk that men say where they definitely don't make you
think that they're against particular redemption, but they definitely
don't make you think they're against universal atonement either.
I don't know what that is, but it's not the simplicity that's
in Christ. I know that. It's not just telling
the truth as it is the truth. It's not that. our safety, our salvation as
believers, as his brightest, by being united to him, being
in subjection to him, and trusting him to do all that's necessary
to save us. You know what one of the chief
reasons is that free will works religion is such a dishonoring,
unbecoming, something that just does not
glorify God of heaven and earth, Christ and his bride, it's because
that free will works religion teaches that the bride, the sinner,
the church, has power over Christ our husband. He can't do anything
unless you let him do it. If that's how you husbands operate
in your homes, you're a worthless, sorry, no good excuse of a husband. And I am too. If we can't do
something except our bride permits us to, Satan has beguiled the
so-called church that says that. He's beguiled the woman. He's
made her a contentious woman, a brawler who will have her way
over her husband or she won't have anything. That's why the
wise man said it's better to dwell in a little small corner
of a housetop. It'd be better to worship in
a place like a little firehouse that's not beautiful and not,
well, has all the glamour and the earrings and the bedazzling
of the contentious wife, than to dwell in a broad house, the
biggest that money can buy and the best that money can afford
and the best and the most beautiful, with a contentious woman, with
a free-will, works-mongering woman that's turned upside down,
that Satan has beguiled and tricked. Far better. Far better. The contentious
woman is like a rainy day. When it's raining on a rainy
day, you can't get any comfort. You just can't get any comfort.
It's just raining on you all the time. It's like somebody
trying to hide the wind. It's impossible to do it. It's
impossible to tame that obstinate heart of free will, that obstinate
fleshly heart of man's rebellion that says, I'm going to have
the rule over Christ, not Christ over me. It's like the ointment
that bereath itself, the proverb says. You squeeze a tube of stinking
ointment, and you can try all you want to to get that stink
from filling the room, it's going to fill the room anyway. That's
what that contentious woman is like. That's when it's turned
upside down. And that message that teaches
that error, it's teaching women, the wives, to rule over their
husbands. It's teaching young ladies to
try to have the rule over man. Because Satan wants everything
to be upside down. And that's why this world is
bad and getting worse. It's because everything's upside
down. The only way that's going to be cured is when Christ enters
the heart. It takes dominion of the heart
and makes us to see Christ is our head. He's our husband. And
we're in subjection to him. And all our salvation is entrusted
all into his hand. And that's why God instituted
this picture of a husband and a wife to show us that very thing. It's not just a random, arbitrary
thing for a husband to try to rule like a tyrant over his wife.
That's upside down too. That's upside down too. Be not
bitter against them. But look here, verse 25. Husbands,
love your wives 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, 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. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherishes it even as the Lord
the church. For we're members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. And for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be drawn unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh." That's why the wife comes before
the mother and the father. That's because this is what happens. Whenever God saves you, whenever
God calls you by His grace, Christ takes preeminence over mom and
daddy. The husband takes preeminence over the mom and daddy. If mama
don't believe the truth, it's all right. Christ has got the
preeminence. It doesn't matter if mama doesn't
believe it. Just as when you marry a woman, you're not listening
to mama anymore. Now you're the head of your own
house and you're leading your house. And wives aren't going
home crying to mom and daddy anymore. That's over with. You
two become one flesh. That's what's pictured here between
Christ and his bride. This is a great mystery. How
could we be one flesh with Christ? It's 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. Is any godly work beneath
a believing husband in order to provide for his bride? And
we can see here that this provision, it's for Christ's bride as well
as our own brides. Is there any work that's beneath
a believer, godly work that's beneath a believer to provide
for Christ's church and for your bride if you be married? It may
not be work that's in our field. It may not be work that we quote
studied for. But work's work, and work's honorable.
Take what you can get right now and do it, and do it heartily,
with all your heart, to provide for your bride. Provide for her. And when something better comes
along, you can take that, and maybe it'll be in your field.
But that's not what's important. It's providing for the bride.
That's what's important. Even as Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. All right, here's the second
thing. The second division is parents and children, verse 20.
Children, now, and I said to you before, whether you're a
believing child or an unbelieving child, listen to this, it's for
your good, just as it is with a believing husband or an unbelieving
husband, believing wife or an unbelieving wife. Children, obey
your parents in all things. What does that include? All things. All things. For this is well
pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, And this is probably
said to the fathers because they're most likely to be more strict
and more stern. Fathers, though that's not always
the case, but fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest
they be discouraged. If we'd learn how to be parents
and children, You know, somebody would say, Clay, your children
are young. How are you going to tell us about parents and
children? Paul didn't have any, and he's right in this. He knew
about parents and children because he was a child to his Heavenly
Father, and he knew about parents and children because he saw the
relationship between God the Father and God his Son, and that's
all we need. We got that. You can be the wisest
Wisest of parents, even though you may not even have children,
you can understand something of what it is to be a parent,
a father, a mother, and a child. The child's obedience to your
parents is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Why is it well-pleasing? Disobedience is never pleasing
to God the Father. Disobedience in any fashion is
never pleasing to God the Father. The first son that there ever
was, the first child there ever was, was Adam. And he disobeyed
God. And he plunged the whole human
race into spiritual death by that. God wasn't pleased with
that. He didn't please God. Disobedience never pleases Him.
The last Adam, the second son, is the first son. He's that son
who came forth who is the firstborn son, Christ the Lord. And he
did only that which pleased the Father. In perfect obedience,
he pleased the Father from beginning to end. He's the firstborn son
in God's house. And this firstborn is the firstborn
among many brothers and sisters. God gave him the responsibility
as the head of his house. God the Father gave this responsibility
to his son to come forth as a son, as the elder son, the firstborn
son, and provide everything that would glorify his father's name
and save all his brethren in his household. And that's what
Christ came forth and did. You see, his obedience, the son,
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of David. His obedience
as the God-man mediator, as a child, as the son given, the child born. His obedience is all our salvation
because His obedience glorified the Father and saved His whole
house. Let me show you that Hebrews
chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Verse 4 says, Every house is
built by some man, but he that built all things is God. Now
Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken afterwards. But Christ
as a son over his own house. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end?
Christ came as a son over his own house, and his obedience
is all the salvation of his brothers and sisters, given to him by
the Father. See, the obedience of a child's
very important, isn't it? The obedience of a child to their
parent, to their father, is very important. It's what all our
salvation is based on, the obedience of another, of Christ to the
Father. So then, if you want to honor
God the Father, then submit to His Son in faith. Trust all into
the hands of the elder brother. And if you want to honor God
in this earth, honor God the Father in heaven, then submit
to your earthly father and your earthly mother. God made this
order to glorify His relationship between Him and His Son, to show
it, set it forth to us. Well, do you want to be like
Adam? Do you want to dishonor your father? Dishonor him? Dishonor God the father? Dishonor
your earthly father? And lead your brothers and sisters
to ruin like Adam did? Or do you want to honor him by
trusting his son Christ Jesus and following after him and walking
after his pattern of obedience to your parents? And maybe, maybe
God will use you to be the salvation of your brothers and sisters.
Wouldn't that be something? So obey your parents, respect
them, respect their rule. Whatever they're teaching you
that's honorable in the Lord, respect it and obey it. Speak honorably to them. You
know, I know you get upset about things. I know that everything
seems like they're just constantly telling you something to do and
not to do. Everybody's doing that to you as children. Teachers
are doing it. Your parents are doing it. Everywhere
you go, somebody's telling you what you can do and what you
can't do. And that gets old after a while. I understand that. I
understand that, but that's the order of things. That's the order
of things. That's how God's done it. Don't
speak back to them rashly. Don't speak back to them and
smart off to them, or even under your breath, in your heart, walk
off and speak dishonorably to them. And your mother and your
father, you're not going to have another one. You're going to
have it. And this goes for if it's your grandparents, it's
your grandmother, your grandfather, or if it's your guardian, whoever
it is that's given that responsibility. Honor them. If it's time to go
somewhere and, you know, You've had plenty of time to realize
this is the time we're going here every week. You be the first
one ready. Be the first one ready. Be dressed
and ready and waiting. And let everybody else be the
example for everybody else in your family. Be ready to go so
that nobody else is having to wait on you. You're ready. If
you're running behind, it won't be your fault. We're ready. I'm
ready. The old saying, if you're waiting on me, you're backing
up. I'm ready. Be ready. And parents are to
raise our children in the nurture and admonition, the correction
of the Lord. Our danger that we face is one,
it's either being too hard and unreasonable with our children.
You know, the Heavenly Father has nurtured us as His children. You who believe in mothers and
fathers, the Heavenly Father's nurtured us. He's not taught
us in a way that makes us think there's no way of pleasing Him.
Sometimes that's what we end up doing. We make our children
think there's absolutely no way they can please us. And they
become disheartened and discouraged and think, well, I can't please
him. I can't do anything to please
him. That's not how God the Father nurtured us. He nurtured us so
as to teach us that he's pleased with his son and he's pleased
by, he draws us to his son. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love, therefore in loving kindness have I drawn
you. You remember the, The prodigal son, the parable of the prodigal,
when he came, he said, Father, I've sinned against heaven in
thy sight. I'm no more worthy to be called
thy son. And the father railed on him
and said, well, I'm going to show you, boy. No, you know what
the Father did? When He came confessing His wrong,
and confessing His sin, when His heart broke and contrite,
you know what the Father did? He said, bring forth the best
robe and put it on Him. Bring forth the ring and put
it on His hand, and shoes on His feet, and kill the fatted
calf, and let us have a feast and be merry. Isn't that what
God the Father did when He, when you came to Him, confessing your
sin, and confessing your rebellion against Him, and confessing everything
that you've done? He's faithful. and He's just
to forgive you of your sins. He robed you in the perfect robe
of Christ's righteousness. He put that ring of everlasting
covenant that has no beginning and no end into your heart and
wrote it in your heart to show you I've loved you from everlasting
to everlasting. without beginning, without end.
And He shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel. And
He gave you this Gospel, this fatted calf to feed upon and
feast upon and to rejoice in continually. That's nurture. It's not only what we're teaching
our children, but also they're learning the Spirit in which
we teach them. Not just what we teach them,
but they're learning the spirit in which we teach them. The other danger we face is being
too indulgent and too easy with them. And this is probably what
we face more in our day than anything, is being too indulgent
and too easy. Hebrews 12, 6 tells us, verse 6 says, Whom the Lord loveth,
He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.
Now is your son, is your child a bastard, or are they your child?
Are you going to treat them like they're just an illegitimate
child that you don't care anything about? Are you going to treat
them like they're a child? Turn to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. Our God's faithful to correct
us. He's faithful in correcting us when we need
correction. Look at Proverbs 22.15. This
is a word that's preeminently better than any parenting handbook
a man or a woman's ever written right here. This is far better
than, what was that? Dr. Spock, was that it? This
is far better than Dr. Spock right here. Proverbs 22.15. Foolishness is bound in the heart
of a child. Wasn't it bound in your heart,
child of God? Huh? Wasn't it bound in your
heart before God the Father? There was no enmity that God
provoked you unto. The enmity was our own. It was
our own. He didn't provoke us to anger.
The anger was all our own. It was full of foolishness. But
the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. That means what
it says. It means a rod. It means that
which hurts. Not the hand, a rod. A rod. God always brings His
child down. He always brings His child to
see our sin, to see our wrong, to see our dishonor of Him. And
it's painful, and it causes tears, and it causes great sorrow of
heart. But He always does that when
He brings us to see what gracious and merciful things He's done
for us in Christ. That rod don't kill a child.
It don't. It helps a child. Look over Proverbs
29, 15. But don't just do the rod. It's
got to be something that goes with it. God doesn't just chasten
us and leave us. God chastens us. The rod and
reproof give wisdom. He corrects us, He turns us,
and He teaches us, too. He teaches us of Christ our Christ,
and He gives us wisdom thereby. But a child left to himself brings
his mother to shame. Now, this is God speaking. This
is God speaking, and this is certain. That's leave a child
without correction. Leave a child without instruction,
without reproving, and they're going to bring you to shame.
It's just going to happen. Just going to happen. Either
one of these extremes being overly severe or being indulgent is
going to make the child become discouraged. It's going to provoke
him to everything that's bad to anger, to being spoiled, being
rebellious, everything. God our Father is perfectly consistent.
He's perfectly consistent in teaching us and giving us all
things necessary for our encouragement and perfectly consistent in correction
when we need it. He's perfectly consistent. And
that's what happens. We get tired and we stop being
consistent. You ever had a dog? It's the
same training a dog. If you're consistent and you
do it the same way every time and you're consistent, the dog
learns. Same teaching a child. We're just all dogs by nature.
It's the same teaching a child. We do it consistently, but we
get tired. We're much more consistent with the first one than we are
with the last one. That's just always the case, because we're
younger, and we've gone to school to learn how to raise that one,
and read all the books about how to raise that one. And then
we discovered that the books didn't know everything that we
thought they knew. And we learned that if you drop something on
the floor, it won't kill you to pick it up and eat it. We're
not nearly as consistent with the last one as we were with
the first one. Seek God's will, not our own. Seek God's glory,
not our own. Seek God's way, not our own.
That takes consistency. It takes consistency between
a father and a wife, between both parents. That's the worst
thing is to undermine one another, to undermine one another. All
right, let's go to the last thing now. We'll wrap this up. Masters
and servants. This is Employ your employee. Verse 22. Servants, obey in all
things your masters according to the flesh. He puts according
to the flesh because we really, as believers, we only have one
master. Not with our service as men pleasers, but in singleness
of heart, fearing God." That's what that singleness of heart
is. Fearing God, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily. Here's
what that singleness of heart is, as to the Lord and not unto
men. Knowing that of the Lord you
shall receive the reward of the inheritance. He's the one that's
giving you all grace. For you serve the Lord Christ,
that's who you serve. When you're working for somebody,
that's who we're serving, the Lord Christ. That's who we're
either honoring or dishonoring. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for the wrong which he hath done. And there's no respect
of persons. The Lord's going to correct his
child, whether he uses the boss man to do it, to us or whether
he uses our parents to do it or whether he uses a husband
to do it. He's going to use whoever he's
put in authority to correct us and we're going to be corrected.
We're going to receive chastening of the Lord. and there won't
be any respective persons with it. Verse 1, Masters, give unto
your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also
have a Master in heaven. Now Christ is our Master, and
every believer is a willing bondservant to Him, willingly by His grace,
by Him making us willing in the day of His power. We've been
carried to the door and we've had our ear marked with the all,
and we're willingly now saying we want to be with our master
and serve him. We want to serve him and honor
him in everything we do. So you that are working for somebody,
you're serving. You who believe and work for
somebody, you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And for the
boss man, you also have a master in heaven. You're the master
according to the flesh over somebody, but you've got a master in heaven.
So now for the servants, again we look to God and his son. How
did Christ serve God when he took the form of a servant? When
Christ came in Philippians 2 says, and he made himself of no reputation
and he took the form of a servant. That's how we go to our job at
work. Don't go to your job trying to make yourself a reputation.
Don't go to the job, if you do that, you know what you'll be?
You'll be a man pleaser. Go to the job and do the job given
as unto the Lord, as unto the Lord, whether anybody's looking
or not. You'll get a promotion. It'll get noticed. If you work
hard at a job, you got 99.9% of the workforce beat. I guarantee you that. You do.
But how did Christ serve the Father? Verse 22, not with eye
service as men pleasers. He said, it's in my heart to
do thy will, O Father. He came to do the will of the
Father. He wasn't doing this to please men. He wasn't doing
it to impress men. He didn't care what men thought
about him or didn't think about him. He was doing what he did
for the sake of the Father. In singleness of heart, fearing
God. That's how Christ served the
Father. And so he says to us in verse
23, Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, do it heartily, as
to the Lord, and not unto men, not with eye services, men pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, heartily fearing God, as to the Lord,
and not in. Work for your employer just like
it was your own business. It's like there wasn't even an
employer involved. It's your business. It's going to fail
or succeed by you. Work for them like that. Treat
the property with respect. Don't steal from them. Don't
waste. Don't mistreat their property, their time, anything like that. And be content with your wages.
And we agree to work for that, work for that. And if you go
to them and ask them for a raise, you can do that. You can go and
ask them. If you have a need, let it be known that it's for
a need you have. And take into consideration what
they're able to pay you and what they're not able to pay you.
Don't make unfair demands and things like that. Be content,
be content. Verse 24, knowing that of the
Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you served
the Lord Christ. Because of how Christ served
the Father, as the servant of the Father, because of how he
served the Father, you who believe have an inheritance reserved
in heaven for you. An inheritance. He went to the
cross and prepared a place for you. and you serve the Lord Christ. Whether you get something here
or you don't get it here, it doesn't affect what you have
with Christ and reserved for you in heaven. Just keep that
always in mind. And to masters, the boss man, don't forget you
have a master in heaven. Verse one, masters, give unto
your servants that which is just and equal. You know, it was according
to what is just and equal that Christ Jesus, who knew no sin,
was made sin. God did that because he's going
to be just and equal in pouring out wrath upon his son to save
his people from their sin. That was just and equal. He had
to do that. God was just in bruising him
in the place of his people because he made him sin. And because
he satisfied justice for you, now it's just and equal for your
master to give you perfect righteousness, to give you full justification,
to make it so that you will not come into condemnation ever.
So give those over whom you have the authority what's just and
equal, what's just and equal. They have all the same responsibilities
as you do. They have all the same heartaches
and troubles as you do. How often have you said, oh,
I wish my boss, everybody, unless everybody's got somebody that's
over them, whether it's a board of directors or somebody that's
stockholders, or whatever. You've got somebody you're answering
to. And you often think about, how I wish they would treat me. Well, how do you wish your boss
would treat you? Well, treat those under you the same way.
Treat them like you. Your boss may not treat you that
way, but treat them the same way you wish your boss treated
you, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. You have
a master in heaven. Go back to verse 17 now. Whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him and for Him. Christ, our faithful
husband, who loved His bride, who gave Himself for it, to whom
we submitted as His bride, is all our salvation. God, our Father,
Christ, our everlasting father, Christ, the firstborn son, whose
obedience to the father is all our salvation, all our acceptance
with God. Christ, our master, who willingly
served God for us as a servant, by whom we have the just inheritance
awaiting for us in glory, do all things in the name of this
one who is our husband, This one who is our father, this one
who is our master. Do everything in his name because
he's all our hope and stay. He's all our salvation. Given
thanks to God and the father by him. Amen.