it. And now once again we'll continue
our meditation in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians and
chapter 3 and reading this evening from verses 18 to 22. The epistle of Paul to the Colossians
Chapter 3, and reading verses 18 to 22. 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, obey in all things
your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye service,
as men pleases, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. while having read together those
verses in Ephesians 5 and 6, you would have noted that the
words that the Apostle wrote there to the Ephesians was very
similar to this which he'd written to the Colossians. It was a more
lengthy account than these words which we read here this evening. And we realize that he's speaking
to husbands and he's speaking to wives and he's speaking to
children and he's speaking to fathers and he's speaking also
to those who are masters according to the flesh that they should
be served rightly by servants. So really if we think of that
list in one way or another really it really encompasses everyone. And as we read the comprehensiveness
of the list we realise how we fail in these things and have
to confess we don't do as well as we should do. and desire the
Lord will help us and give us grace to walk out in the words
that the Apostle writes before us. And it's good really to have
these points put before us and just before we go through them
there's a few other texts which are very useful to us to understand
the reasoning behind these words. Well, when the apostle wrote
to Titus, He speaks again here to women and he says that they
may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at
home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of
God be not blasphemed. And then when he wrote to Timothy,
the first epistle in chapter two, verses 12 to 15, again he
says, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority
over the man, but to be in silence. And then he gives us the reason
for that reasoning. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding,
she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety. So it's important for us to realize
that the Words that the Apostle writes really bring us back to
the Garden of Eden and the very beginning when Adam and Eve were
created. And of course Eve was created
from the rib of Adam. And then just one more reference
and that's in the first of Corinthians chapter 11. 11 verses 3 and then 8 and 9. He says, But I would have you
know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. The man is
not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman, but the woman for the man. So I think it's quite useful
for us to have those references as a background which therefore
gives us an understanding why the Apostle wrote as he did. Again, as I say, to the Ephesians
and also to the Colossians. And it was, of course, he was
writing really in love to our souls to direct us in that which
is good and right and in accordance with the Word of God and we shouldn't
take it and say well of course I must operate like this and
I must do this we realize it is because it refers really to
those references which we've given to you in Timothy and Corinthians
and Titus And so he says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands. And then it's very beautifully
qualified. It says, as it is fit in the
Lord. So how instructive that is for
us to do everything as unto the Lord and as the Lord would have
us. and not to go around pleasing
ourselves. And so there is a very direct
word here to the wives, and in that chapter that we read in
the Ephesians, it again similarly states, wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. So it's good, isn't
it, that there's those qualifications for us to direct us to the Lord
himself. And then, husbands, love your
wives and be not bitter against them. So quite clearly the Apostle
recognised under the influence of the Holy Spirit that such
words were necessary for us husbands to not to forget to love our
wives and not to be better against them. And again, the apostle,
when he wrote to the Ephesians, he goes on to say, for the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the
church is subject unto Christ, So let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with a 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 would
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. So it's very clear instructions
that the apostle gives to us and we all needs to pray that
we may have grace to walk in accordance with the Word of God. Left to ourselves, we walk contrary
to that. What a blessing it is when the
Lord helps us to do that which is God-honouring. And then he
comes then, having dealt with wives and husbands, to children. And he speaks to the children,
he says, Children, obey your parents in all things, for this
is well-pleasing unto the Lord. And again, the apostle, when
he wrote to the Ephesians, said, children, obey your parents in
the Lord. It's important, therefore, to
realize that those words are wonderfully added, because he
goes on to say, for this is right. And we should not think it's
superfluous, but it's there so that children might truly walk
rightly and obey their parents. And then he speaks to, he says,
children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord. And then he says, fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. And you
may think, well, surely that doesn't occur. Well, it does
occur. I can remember when I was a boy,
my dad made me very angry on one occasion. And you see, we
have a word like this. Fathers, provoke not your children
to anger, lest they be discouraged. Again, how wonderful it is that
the word of God qualifies such a statement. We don't want to
discourage children, do we? we want to encourage them. And
then lastly, he goes on to say, servants, obey in all things
your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye service,
as men please us, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. And again here, there's no real
qualification. It's not as though we're being
told, you serve, godly people, godly masters, you should be
very good and honourable to them. It doesn't mention that. It says
servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. So as we go to work we are to
obey our masters in the things that they ask us to do, as long,
of course, as it's lawful. If it's unlawful, then, of course,
we should not do it. But if it's lawful, even if we
don't want to do it, we should still obey such a word of exhortation. Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh. And then he goes on to
say, not with eye service as men pleases. We shouldn't just
do it to please men and to try and gain accolades for ourselves. Not with eye service to men pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, fearing God. So if we are believers,
we should desire to do things honorably. We should work well
to the best of our ability for our masters. We shouldn't shirk
things. We shouldn't think, oh, the boss
is not in today, I can take it easy and I needn't worry too
much. We should always work well, even
if the boss is not about. And doing it as, in singleness
of heart, fearing God. Well, these are words of exhortation. They're good words. May the Lord
give us grace to follow it out. and pray that we may be helped
in so doing.