Last verses. Colossians chapter
3 beginning with verse 18. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Now, he has several
exhortations to the wives in the book of Ephesians and other
places in the Scriptures, and each one is worded a little different. But here, he uses the word fit,
as is fit in the Lord. And the word fit means several
things. The word fit means first of all,
proper. It means proper. And then again,
it means to attain to. Like when one thing is fit to
another, like two pieces of puzzle fit together. And then thirdly,
it means convenient. And convenient means suitable.
It means suitable to purpose. So we might read it this way.
Colossians 3 verse 18. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as it suits God's purpose in Christ. You see what he's saying there?
as it is fit in the Lord. And wives are symbolic of the
church. All these earthly relationships
are symbolic of spiritual relationships. between the believer and his
God, between the believer and Christ, and so on. All these
earthly, whether we're talking about a friend, whether we're
talking about a master, whether you're talking about a father,
or a wife, or a brother, or a sister, all of these relationships that
we have in this world, the real value of these relationships,
the purpose behind them, they're symbolic of spiritual relationships
between the believer and his God. And wives are symbolic of the
church. So in all things, as the church
is subject to Christ, wives should be to their own husbands. They
don't see their husbands as the Christ. And they're not in subjection
in that respect. But they're subject as this thing
is a picture, so that the picture might have its true value. People
look to these relationships and they gain understanding by these
relationships. And believers want those relationships
to adorn the gospel of Christ. Does that make sense? Our husband
and wife relationship, they have to project according to the purpose
behind them. And when they don't, you see
what it does. You see what kind of an awful
picture that gives. totally contrary to the purpose
of God in their creation. We're subject to Christ. Wives
should be to their own husbands. And it's never the church's place
to call down Christ. I've seen wives call down their
husbands. You don't ever hear the church calling down Christ.
And so now we've made that relationship dishonoring according to what
it should appear to be. You don't ever hear the church
questioning Christ or correcting Christ. And it's never the place
of the church to speak independent of Christ or to live independent
of Christ or to act independent of Christ. And so in all of these
things is that picture. Just keep in mind what this is.
This is symbolic of this relationship between Christ and His church.
And so anything that we do contrary to that, whether we be wives
or husbands or children or employees or anything else, we take away
from the purpose of that relationship. I know this, ungodly women assert
their independence. Godly women submit themselves
to the Lord. Ungodly women plead for the rights
and equality. Godly women plead for grace and
mercy. The last thing you want is your
rights. That's the last thing you want. And one of the most dishonoring
things you can do is to publicly ridicule or argue with or correct
your husband. And I'm not suggesting that husbands
are above reproach or have no need of correcting. I'm not saying
that in the least. I'm just simply saying it's not
your place to do it. And it's dishonoring to that
relationship, and it's dishonoring to the purpose behind it. If
he's doing something that you believe is wrong or irritating
or embarrassing, Wait until you're alone and then quietly talk to
him about it. Just talk to him about it. And
even if he's an unbeliever and you don't get along, submit yourself
unto him for this reason. That's why Paul's saying this,
as it's fit in the Lord. Well, suppose my husband wants
me to go to another church. Or to believe another gospel.
Suppose my husband wants me to go with him somewhere where it
wouldn't be seemly for me to be. Suppose he tells me to do
something my conscience won't allow me to do. We are to obey
them in the Lord. That's what the Scripture says.
In the Lord. We'll obey them until it becomes contrary to
the Word of God. And then we're not to obey them.
So let this holy union magnify and glorify our Redeemer as it
was purposed to do. That's all Paul is saying in
this. And then in verse 19, Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter
against them. Husbands are to love their wives
as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. Last week
we talked about charity. Charity is active love. And that's
the only kind of love God has, active love. He loved us and
gave himself for us. It's an active love. The love
of God is charitable. It's active and it's sacrificial. And what I see most of the time
in husbands is leftover affection, is what I call it, leftovers,
like leftovers from a meal. Just leftovers. After he gets
everything he wants and does everything he wants, then he
goes to give his wife whatever time's left. That's a leftover. Christ gave Himself for His church. And she is what He wanted. She's
what He wanted. He went where she was. Went where she was. And where
He is, He told him before he left that where I am, there you
may be also. I'm coming back for you. He gave her his best. He gave
her his name. He gave her his affection. He
gave her his labor. And he gave her his presence.
Now you think about that. You think about that. Husbands,
love your wives and be not bitter against them. There's a tendency
in men to be bitter at our wives when she's not what we think
she should be. But let me tell you something.
All that's needed here is a look at what we are in comparison
with Christ. And that judgment will go a whole
lot softer. It will go a whole lot softer. Brethren, the lives
we live now as Christians is a life of grace. It's a life
of grace. It's a life of mercy. It's a
life of long-suffering and kindness. Isn't that what He said? That
in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace toward us in His kindness, in His kindness toward us. We live lives of grace. Be kind
and long-suffering, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And then here in verse 20, children,
obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto
the Lord. Natural children, that relationship
is typical of the children of God, of that spiritual relationship. These earthly relationships were
given us to help to understand our relationship with God. And
even the relationship of a child to its parents is typical of
that spiritual relationship. You know, our Lord gathered those
children unto Him, and the disciples were trying to push them away.
And He said, you suffer these little children to come to Me.
For He said, such is the kingdom of God. They're put here for
a reason. And the reason is to show you
in your ignorance and in your immaturity that relationship
to God by faith. We're immature. The oldest of
us are immature in spiritual things. We're like little children.
And we don't, you know, I know and we're to punish our children. I understand that. But let me
tell you something. God don't cut your throat when
you disobey Him. You know, He don't beat you to
death. He corrects you. He'll chastise you, but He don't
beat you to death. He corrects you in love, just
like we do our children. And these things will teach us
something about our spiritual relationship, and all we've got
to do is look. Just look at what's going on.
Look at how we do with those that we love. And we'll begin
to understand some of these things. We are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. Listen to what the Scripture
says here. Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore
thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ. And then the Scripture said,
God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as
He is the Father of His only begotten Son, so He is the Father
of all those begotten by Him. And then this verse has a special
application to young believing children yet under their parents'
rule. But subjection is to be taught
and insisted on and enforced even on them that do not believe
because of what this relationship pictures. Verse 21, Fathers,
provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Now let me just tell you what
Henry Mahan said about this. He said, over severity. There are two things you can
do. You can be too severe and you can be too indulgent. Either
one will do your children harm. If you are too indulgent, then
they become spoiled. And they sin against God. If you are too severe, then these
children despair of your affection to them, and the same thing's
true. They'll sin against God. So you
have to be careful to stay in the middle. You can't go too
far, and you can't go too easy. And that's just a battle that
every person has fought who's ever been born with their children.
Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath by unjust... Listen to this. Here's what John
Gill said about this. I'll just read it to you. Provoke
not your children to wrath by unjust and unreasonable commands,
neither by harsh language or frequent and public chidings,
neither by indiscreet or angry expressions. Do not provoke them
by preferring one over the other or by denying them the necessities
of life. Do not provoke them by denying
them proper recreation or by striking them cruelly. Parents
are responsible for their children. They're responsible to correct
and rebuke their children, yet we must take care not to provoke
them to wrath, because in so doing, our rebukes and corrections
become useless. They're just useless. Now they're
doing harm instead of good. And as mothers are prone to be
too indulgent, fathers are prone to be too severe. Too severe. Now look at the second half of
this verse. Lest they be discouraged. When a child is discouraged,
they quit trying. They quit trying. The Scriptures
teach us to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Instruct them in knowledge about
divine matters. Set for your children good examples. Take care who they keep company
with. Pray with them and pray for them. And bring them into the house
of worship and expose them to God's means of grace. Here is
how Solomon put it in Proverbs 22, verse 6. He said, train up
a child in the way it should go. And when he is old, he will
not depart from it. You teach him the true way, God's
way, God's means, God's message, God's messenger. You teach them
the true way. They might rebel against it now,
and they might shirk against it now, but if you'll teach them
from the Word of God, teach them that way and be faithful, that
way will never depart from them. Even if they sin, they know they're
sinning against truth. And then verse 22, now he's going
to talk about servants. All of these are earthly relationships. And servants, that is in our
case employees, obey in all things your masters according to the
flesh, not with eye service. What's he talking about there,
eye service? That just means when they're
looking. You're real obedient when they're looking, but as
soon as they go around the back, let me tell you about that guy
over there. You know, when you start talking about him, you
start laying around, standing up against the wall and all that
kind of nonsense. Not with eye service, as men
pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. If we work
for a man, be he friend or stranger, do what you agreed to do. You
remember that parable where the Lord, He hired some men early
in the morning, just breaking day, and He hired some, put them
out in the field, and then a little bit later on, about 10 o'clock,
He hired some, and then dinner time, and finally, just an hour
before quitting time, He hired some, put them out in the field.
But He paid them all the same. And boy, they just... Now wait
a minute, I've been out there since 5 o'clock this morning.
He's only been out there an hour. He said, how much did you agree
on? Do you remember that? Do what you agreed to do. And
don't grumble about it. If you agreed to do it. Now,
if you don't want to do it, just don't do it from the start. But
don't say, I'm going to do it, and then don't do it. That's
what he's telling us here. If we work for a man, be friend
or stranger, do what you agreed to do. And not just when you
know he's around, but especially when he's not around. Serve him
with the understanding that in so doing, you adorn the gospel
that you profess. And in this verse, Paul uses
this phrase, fearing God. You see it there? Fearing God. In other words, serve your employer
in reverence to God. That's what Paul is saying there. And then the apostle also adds
this exhortation, in singleness of heart. What this means is
that our obedience rises from our knowledge, gratitude, and
love of God, and should not be mixed with carnal reasoning. Does that make sense? You're
out there on the job. You're getting ready to do these
things. And we used to have people in mills and different places
that worked there. I had relatives and things and
I'd go over to their house and they'd have rings that they made. And I said, where'd you get that? Well, I made that. I made that
out of a silver dollar. What do you mean you made it?
Where'd you make it? Well, I'm a machinist. I work
for Armco and I made that. When did you make it? Well, I
made it over at work. So your employer was paying you
to do a job, meanwhile you had a silver dollar over there making
a ring. That's exactly right. It shouldn't be mixed with carnal
reasoning. Well, they don't really pay me
what this job ought to be, so it's okay for me to do this.
It's okay for me to take some of this copper home, because
they're just going to throw it away anyway. And on and on and
on it goes. That's carnal reasoning. We don't
do that. When we work for somebody, Christians
are to do it as unto the Lord. That ought to be your primary
motive right there in reverence to God. And then verse 23, and whatsoever
you do, whether we're talking about at work, in school, as
a parent, as an employer, as a teacher, whatever you do, do
it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. It's hard to
work unto men. If you like a boss, then it's
easy to work for him. If you don't like him, it's very
hard to work for him. But if we work for the Lord,
it don't matter. It don't matter. Knowing that of the Lord, verse
24, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve
the Lord Christ. Most of us work by necessity. We have to work or we can't pay
our bills. We have to work or we can't eat. But grace goes
beyond necessity. It will go past necessity. Necessity
will cause you to do what you absolutely have to do. Grace,
it goes beyond that. I'll give you an example. A man
comes and asks for your coat. He don't have a coat. He asked
for a coat. He said, give him two. If he asks you for food,
give him two plates. Grace goes beyond. It goes above
and beyond what's called for. And it does it with singleness
of heart. Grace enables us to serve with our hearts, not by
force or grudgingly, not murmuring or complaining, but from a grateful
and loving heart. And the man who serves Christ
delights in his service. He delights in it. He sees that
what he's doing has been given to him of God, sent to him for
his good and God's glory. That's where you find satisfaction.
You're never going to find satisfaction just in working for work's sake.
You'll find satisfaction in it when you see that what you're
doing is connected with your service to God. Then you'll find
satisfaction in it. Verse 24, knowing that of the
Lord he shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve
the Lord Christ. Paul uses this statement to encourage
Christian servants who now receive little or nothing for their service. That's why he wrote this. And
they're not going to receive it because of their earthly masters
or employers who just pay them exactly what they're forced to
pay them. If they can get away with something
below minimum wage, they do it. They do it to up those profits.
And he does it for those who are mistreated and taken advantage
of by carnal men. And what Paul is saying is this,
how you are treated here in no way affects how you are going
to be treated there. You are a son of God. Believers
are heirs of God and join heirs with Christ. Turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter 3. In the church at Corinth, there
were divisions and separations being formed based on their conversions
and who they were converted under. There was a lot of big I's and
little U's. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18. He said, Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in the world, let him become a fool, that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man
glory in men, for all things are yours." What a statement. You're over here arguing and
separating yourselves based on a man that God, just a vessel
that God enabled to preach to you and teach to you And based
on his reputation. If he had a poor reputation,
you wouldn't want to be identified with him. If he had a great reputation,
then you'd want to be identified with him. And on and on and on
it goes. But Paul said, don't glory in
men, for all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world. Do what? Or the world. Or life? Life is yours. Who gave it to you? God did.
God did. Doctor told you, you was going
to die. But he's not the one that gives life. God gives life. I don't care
what it is, all things are yours. Life or death or things present
or things to come, all are yours. And you're Christ and Christ
is God. We're heirs of God. We're heirs
of God. And our lifestyle here or our
employment here or our relationships here in no way affect our relationship
with Him. All things are yours. We don't
glory in men. We don't glory in ourselves.
We glory in Him. I've known a few rich men in
my lifetime and their children have every advantage. But no
matter how their life goes, no matter how it goes, in the end,
they're the heir of their father's fortune. Isn't that so? Believers
are heirs of God. They're heirs of God. And you
know a lot. You know his story. And you know
faithful Abraham. This is a man God singled out
to be the father of the faithful, to picture true faith. They're
both heirs of God equally. All things are theirs, life,
death, the world, all things. Well, how does that relate to
our service? I think I've told you this before, but when I first
went down to Louisiana, There was a fellow there that had a
big sweet potato farm. All the brothers there were truck
farmers, but one of them in particular run a really big sweet potato
farm. And I went out with him. He wanted
me to see his operation out there, so I went out with him one Sunday
afternoon, or Monday, I mean, and we were looking around, and
he had a phone call. And he said, if you'll just wait
here in the truck, he said, I'll be right back. He said, I want
you to meet my son. And he went in the house to take his phone
call, and I was watching these men. And they were carrying those
big sacks of sweet potatoes out, putting them on the truck to
go to market. But one guy kept coming out,
and he had two sacks. He had one on each shoulder,
big old hundred-pound sacks of potatoes, and they're throwing
them over in that truck. And he come back out, and he
said, come on. He said, I want you to meet my
boy. And I said, I already know who he is. And he said, point
him out to me. And pretty soon he come out that
door. I said, that's your son right there. He said, how do
you know that? I said, he's carrying two sacks
of potatoes. He's the heir. He got a personal interest in
what's going on. And that's how we serve. We have
a personal interest in these things. We're not just doing
these things out of duty. We're not doing these things
because the law demands it from us. We're doing these things
because we have an interest in them. And that's what Paul's
saying here. All things are yours. Quit glowing
over these petty things. Quit glowing in these things.
And begin to realize that you're heirs. You're heirs of God. And
join heirs with Christ. Let me give you these over here
in Hebrews chapter 12. Well, let's back up just a minute.
Let's take in verse 25. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect
of persons. Being an heir of God does not
mean God will overlook your willful rebellion any more than being
our child makes our child exempt from correction. You just remember
that. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6.
For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all, that is, all believers are partakers, then are you bastards
and not sons. I had loving parents when I was
growing up, and I learned quickly that if I did wrong and got caught,
I was in for double punishment. I get punished once by whoever
I wronged, and then I get punished again as soon as my parents found
out about it. I was in for one for whoever
I wronged, and then again when they found out. And Paul said
to the Romans, He said, provide things honest. Just be honest
in these things, in the sight of all men. We serve the Lord Christ, who
is the guarantor of our inheritance. And we have in us the earnest
of it. May the Lord enable us in all
these relationships, in all that we do. And you remember how this
started out? be dead with Him. If He is our
hope, then we do these things because we're in Him. In Him.