Knowing Our Role in God's Good Design Colossians 3:18 - 4:1

As Mark said, yes, we are, and as Christian said

earlier, we are jumping ahead as Alex and I kind

of swapped what weeks we were going to be preaching.

And so he had already been working on the passage

before mine. So we decided instead of trying

to just make that, you know. to me to take his

notes, we're just gonna confuse everybody and

flip -flop it. So I'm jumping ahead from where

we were at in Colossians, and next week Alex

will go back in time and will preach the message

that takes place before mine. So you're gonna

do some time travel next week and it's gonna

be really cool and everyone's gonna be excited.

But yes, and then also, just to clear up any

confusion, yes, I'm going through... the end

of chapter three and then the first verse in

chapter four which we always love to remind people

the words of scripture are inspired the chapter

and verse number delineations aren't inspired

people came afterwards and i definitely don't

understand why chapter four is just here oh in

the middle of our passage but here it is and

so let's talk about it here this morning i want

you to imagine one of my middle school students

at school. So apart from here, I teach middle

school Bible at Anderson Christian School in

Anderson. So I want you to imagine one of my

middle school students. Now I'm not gonna use

a real one. We'll use the name of someone here

since I don't actually teach them. Let's just

go with Rylan. I think she's in here, okay? So

we'll go with Rylan since not only is she not

actually one of my school students, but I know...

Pretty confidently that she wouldn't be like

this example. Okay, so this is not actually Ryland

just using her name Okay, so Ryland is a star

student in my Bible class. She comes prepared

every single day to class She is always in her

seat when the bell rings. She always raises her

hand when she has a question She is always respectful.

She does all of her assignments on time. She

is just the ideal students and Ashley said She's

laughing so okay. We'll take that for what it

is All right So for all for all that I know as

her teacher of that class she really seems like

an obedient good student however outside of my

class when I see her She's completely different

or at church, but you know okay. You don't have

to like keep nodding your head to that So when

I see her outside of class, she's completely

different. I ask her to help me with something

in the hallway, and she just ignores me and brushes

by and bumps my shoulder for some reason, because

that seems like something Rylan would do. After

lunch, I ask her to take out the garbage, and

she says, no, I can't tell her what to do when

she's not in my class. Now they're nodding still.

See, at first, Rylan seemed like a really good

student to me because she was really good at

obeying in that classroom, right? But I think

if anyone were to see that full picture of this

obviously fake version of Rylan, we would be

able to tell that she's obviously just faking

it in that class time. because she wants to be

a teacher's pet or whatever you want to call

it right because outside of that outside of that

one set spot and condition and situation she's

a completely different person that's how a lot

of people treat their Christian walk a lot of

people we come to church and we're really good

at being obedient on our Sundays Right? We come

to church, we go to Sunday school, we do gospel

groups, we know the right things to say, and

even when we're around our other church people,

maybe even outside of church, we're really good

at saying those things. But I don't want us to

be like this fake version of Rylan, where when

we leave here, it's like that need to obey and

that desire to be obedient to God's Word suddenly

vanishes, or at least diminishes because being

a Christian is much more than just going to church

and being obedient on Sundays. We're called as

Christians to be the light of the world every

single day. I can't just say that I'm a follower

of Jesus with my life looking like I'm just faking

it or my life looking completely different. We've

been talking about discipleship throughout this

series in Colossians. We're going to be focusing

on that a lot this year. And true discipleship,

like Paul is describing here in Colossians, goes

much deeper than one day a week. The point I

want us to focus on this morning, and this week

was a little crazy for the Masses, if anyone's

curious, so I did not get an insert for you,

but you can maybe use that blank space at the

front of your bulletins or... Find notes somewhere

if you want to write these notes down, but the

main point I want us to focus on this morning

is this true disciples are obedient in every

aspect of their lives true disciples are obedient

in every aspect of their lives and To help us

out and help us narrow this down particularly

in this passage Paul gives us three areas in

which we should obediently live out our faith

in marriage in parenting and the workplace. So

here's the question we're gonna tackle this morning.

How do we live obediently in marriage, parenting,

and the workplace? How do we actually do that?

And we're gonna see how Paul, through God's word,

lays that out for us to be obedient in those

three areas, marriage, parenting, and the workplace.

And so we'll start with the very first one of

marriage. So let's look at our passage again

starting in verse 18. It says, wives submit to

your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands,

love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

This is not a passage that a lot of people today

enjoy reading or talking about. right we can

probably understand that right there's a lot

of women out there that outside of the context

of this would not enjoy those words right um

because it seems like if you're just looking

outside the context the wives kind of get the

short end of the stick with that right but i

want to make sure we understand why that could

not be farther from the truth see during that

time historians write that wives were basically

treated as the property of their husbands Being

a wife in that time and that Roman controlled

part of the world, the wives had nothing and

the husband could do whatever he wanted with

them. The wives really had no rights outside

of their household and the wives could only do

what the husband permitted. They basically had

no freedom of their own outside of their husbands.

So Paul's command for wives to submit to their

husbands at first glance might sound troubling

to some modern readers, almost like he's playing

into that. But doing so forgets the context and

the crucial aspect of who Paul is actually talking

to when he wrote this letter, and this frames

everything that we're about to read from him.

Paul is talking specifically to Christian families.

Paul is writing to the church and Colossae, and

he's framing all of these ideas, all of these

things he's giving to Christian families, right?

And that that That delineation is very important

for us, especially considering the Christian

family is the crux of every society, or it should

be, right? Where the Christian family flourishes,

a nation will flourish. I truly believe that.

That marriage is the first institution that God

made. When He created humans, He created Adam

and Eve, and He created marriage. And for us

to treat our marriage as God intended is one

of the most important things that we can do.

as humans, and especially as followers of God.

See, as Christians, we are called to be different

than the rest of the world, so every aspect of

our lives, especially our marriages, should be

different. And this statement does assume that

the wife in mention here, in her section, is

a follower of Jesus. And in that framework, the

command for the wife to submit to her husband

is radically transformed from that negative view

that a lot of people today might think that that

means. In the same way, though, husbands were

called to be radically different than their current

culture. Instead of lording their power over

their wives, like many men would do and husbands

just did all the time in that culture, the husband

is called to love their wives and not be harsh

with them. And that goes much deeper than just

a romantic love. Yes, there should be a romantic

love for your wife, husbands, and wives for your

husbands, but it goes deeper than that because

the word that's used here is a verb version of

the word agape, which is the type of love that

God has for us. And especially used here, this

is what it means. It means for a husband to love

wish well to, take pleasure in, long for, and

esteem their wives. It's much more than just

a, oh well I love her I guess because she's pretty.

No, it's I love her because of who she is and

I want to lift her up because she is my wife.

I don't look at her as my property, I look at

her as the blessing that God gave me. and we

cherish her and we esteem her. In Ephesians,

Paul deepens this understanding saying that husbands

should love their wives as Christ loves the church

and gave himself up for her. Husbands are called

to cherish and esteem their wives and to love

them as themselves. When God created man and

wife and the institution of marriage in Genesis,

he said that a man would leave his father and

mother and joined with his wife and they would

become, who knows the words, one flesh. They

become one. And for wives, I always try to tell,

I get the question a lot, especially from teenagers

who I spend all of my time with. When they hear

these passages, a lot of teenage girls... also

struggle with that idea of wives submitting to

their husbands and I get that I understand that

but what I try to encourage them in is and this

is a challenge both for women in here anyone

especially when unmarried or Girls and for the

boys. Okay, that if a wife is truly married to

an obedient God -fearing Husband who is doing

his best to serve God and please him with his

leadership then the wife won't have a problem

submitting to that leadership. Or at least she

shouldn't, right? Obviously there's going to

be strife, we're going to butt heads, because

guess what? We're all sinful, right? Okay, there's

going to be strife there, but that's what we

are called to. But a beautiful part of marriage

is realizing that both the husband and wife in

our marriage get to be living examples of Jesus

both to each other and to the world. This is

what really makes these commands make so much

more sense to us and in fact Make them beautiful

for both the wife and the husband for what we

get to do So let's go in order that Paul said

the wife The call to submit to your husband is

not a call to be lesser than him I want to make

sure we we start with understanding that right?

In fact, the Bible says that Jesus, though He

was fully God, submitted Himself to the will

of the Father. Would we agree with that? That

that's what He did. Is Jesus any less than the

Father? No. Why? Scripture is calling you into

the beautiful role of being like Jesus through

the submission to your husband's spiritual leadership.

And then even by doing so, you will point your

husband and others to the Lord. And let me give

you a secret, okay? Most of the time, ladies,

your husband might not actually expect you to

just easily submit all the time. We might not

actually be expecting that, right? The fall in

Genesis 3 told us that there would be a power

struggle in marriage because of sin. We're not

going to be surprised or we shouldn't be surprised

about that. We knew that from the start that

the husband's desire would be to rule over his

wife and dominate the wife and the wife's desire

would be to rule over him. We know that that

struggle is going to come. And sometimes the

husband, when we are asking things or trying

to lead the family, sometimes it might actually

surprise us when our wife graciously, humbly

submits to that. So when your husband sees you

humbly submit to his spiritual leadership, he

will see you as a shining example of what a Christian

should be. And so will the world outside of your

marriage. There's a reason so many people get

their feathers ruffled by the term wives submit

to your husbands. It raises the hackles of a

lot of people because it doesn't make sense to

the world. But listen church, that's the point.

We are supposed to be different from the world.

And when they see a wife fulfilling that God

-given task and then picturing and imaging what

Jesus did in His time on earth, it becomes a

beautiful thing that the wife is called to do.

But husbands, we're also given an incredible

task, an incredible calling to love your wife

as Christ loves the church. And to be honest

again, Our lives are busy, right, husbands? Okay?

It's not that the wives' lives aren't busy. They're

just as busy as we are. But this is often the

argument I hear from the husbands. I'm busy.

I do all of these things. And it can be easy

to get caught up in what we are doing and not

love our wives as we should. For some men, that's

just the way things are. They come home, they

say hi to their wives, they veg out on the recliner

while the wife continues to work hard for the

household. And the husband just thinks, well,

that's how it's supposed to be. But how beautiful

is it when we as the husband step into the moment

of our wives come alongside them and love them

in service to help them and nurture them, right?

And I know that we're tired. I know we are busy,

but so was Jesus during his ministry. We all

remember the story of Jesus feeding the 5 ,000,

correct? Right? An incredible miracle that Jesus

did. He's surrounded by a crowd of much more

than 5 ,000 because that was just the men. That's

not counting the wives and children that were

there in that crowd. So thousands upon thousands

of people have found Jesus. They've literally...

like encapsulated him, okay, cut him off from

escaping so that he can preach to them and minister

to them, and then they're hungry. And so Jesus

performs this incredible miracle. But do we remember

the context of what happened right before that

incredible miracle? Right before that, Jesus

had just found out that his cousin and dear friend

John the Baptist, who had been arrested, had

been executed and beheaded. He had just heard

that news. And the Bible says Jesus wanted to

get away, that he wanted to be alone. And we

can understand why. He wanted to be alone, to

pray and to mourn and to prepare himself to continue

submitting to what the Father wanted him to do.

But what happened? In the middle of his exhaustion,

in the middle of what he wanted to do, thousands

of people said, Jesus, we want you. We need your

help. We need you right now. And what does Jesus

do? Does Jesus look at them and go, no, I can't

do it right now. I need some me time. Does He

just escape to His ancient world man cave and

say, I'll get to it when I get to it? No. Instead,

Jesus showed compassion for His people and He

ministered to them. And husbands, that is what

it looks like to love your wives as Christ loved

His church. When Christian husbands and wives

truly live out these things in their marriage

the world around them will know and be impacted

by it I want you to write this down as another

note for us this morning healthy Christian marriages

Point people to Christ they point both the world

and each other to Christ a healthy Christian

marriage will point people to Christ. We should

look different as husbands and wives to the rest

of the world when they see the way we interact

with each other, when they see the way that we

love each other, and the way we disagree with

each other. Being a healthy Christian marriage

doesn't mean you're not going to get in arguments,

amen? It's going to happen, but we still love

each other even through those moments. We still

cherish each other. We lift each other up, and

both parties of that marriage will be pointed

to Christ when we fulfill those roles that we've

been tasked with. And so will the rest of the

world when they look in on your household and

they see the way that you love each other. So

let your marriage be the incredible witnessing

tool that it should be. Let your countercultural

submission and sacrificial love for each other

point others to faith in Jesus because that's

what He's called us to do. But it's not just

marriage, it's also in the area of parenting.

Let's read the next verses here together, verse

20 and 21. So let's start here, again, as Paul

does in order, with children. Look at what he

says. may have caught your attention. If not,

you might not be paying attention, okay? Because

you're still obey your parents in everything.

Well, surely we don't have to actually obey everything,

right? What if they ask us to do something wrong?

Is a question I hear a lot from teenagers. Well,

again, we need to remember again who Paul is

addressing this to. He's addressing this to Christian

families. And he's assuming, though it might

not always be correct, that these Christian parents

will tell their children to do things that are

in line with God's Word. We are always supposed

to obey God rather than man. God's Word comes

first. But Paul is assuming here, and that's

a challenge to us, right parents, that we're

always going to be asking our children to do

things that fall in line with God's Word. And

so for that, Kids are supposed to obey in everything

and that means that children don't get to pick

and choose what they want to obey God has placed

your parents over you as your first authority

in your life and we please God when we show honor

and obedience and respect to our parents and

Just as with wives children picture Christ and

being obedient to their parents kids or youth

in here, you do well to remind yourselves or

try to memorize this passage from Philippians

Philippians 2:5–8

chapter 2 verses 5 through 8. I don't think this

will be on the screen, so listen to this. Philippians

2 5 through 8 says, Have this mind among yourselves,

which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, listen to

this, though he was in the form of God, did not

count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men, and being

found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming

obedient to the point of death, even death on

a cross." See, this passage reminds us that Jesus

was a child at one point, too, and he was raised

in a family and had to obey his parents just

like we were supposed to. I want you to imagine

this. The Creator of all things had to come to

the dinner table when his mother called him.

You thought of it that way before, right? The

sustainer of the universe had to do the chores

that his earthly father Joseph told him to do.

Jesus is the one that holds all things together,

but when Joseph says, hey son, come help me with

this project, Jesus said, yes sir, the creator

of all things. obeyed his parents. But not only

did he obey his earthly parents, but he was incredibly

and perfectly obedient to his Heavenly Father

as well. That passage in Philippians says that

he was obedient to the point of death, even death

on the cross. So kids in here today, I think

we can be obedient with the things our parents

ask of us, huh? I don't think any of them are

asking you to go sacrifice yourself for the whole

world. Probably. I challenge you, in fact, to

challenge the way that you think about obedience

to your parents. Do you have to absolutely love

doing chores or whatever it is your parents tell

you to do? Not necessarily. Does it mean that

you're going to have to be in love with washing

dishes? No. However, I want you to realize that

by simply obeying your parents with a humble

spirit, You are identifying with Christ. Just

as the wife identifies by submitting to the spiritual

leadership of the husband, just by the husband

identifies with Jesus by loving his wife sacrificially

and giving himself for you. Kids, you identify

with Christ by humbling yourself and being obedient

to your parents. Then let's move to fathers.

The command to fathers could easily be applied

to mothers as well, but Paul is addressing fathers

here as the head of the household, and as such,

they should parent their children well. And Paul

says that fathers should not provoke their children

so that they do not become discouraged. Now,

please hear me. We should properly discipline

our kids when they misbehave. Yes, the Bible

is also very clear on that, but there is a big

difference in godly discipline and harsh, overly

strict controlling. parenting fathers before

your children truly knows what it means to obey

you and everything they should already know just

how much you love them and want to be with them

that needs to come first i had a friend growing

up whose parents were christians and they they

were um very godly people and i mean that with

all my heart i knew them for most of my life

i spent a lot of time with them but they were

extremely strict and harsh with my friend to

the point where he was not allowed to like understand

the mistakes that he had made and they would

often put him down and be harsh with him instead

of teaching him how to learn from those mistakes

and sadly that friend did not draw closer to

God and to the church because of the way that

he was parented instead he walked away from that.

And he has a relationship with his parents now,

but for many years he didn't. And to this day,

he still does not consider himself a Christian

and is completely removed from the church. And

I'm not fully blaming his parents. He makes choices

in his own life, yes. But what could have been

different if those parents had treated those

rules and the obedience as a loving opportunity

instead of being harsh with their son? as they're

called to. See, growing up I love and I cherish

my parents and they had plenty of rules for me

to follow and obey and there were consequences

if I didn't. But I, for the most part, had no

problem accepting those rules because I knew

first and foremost how deeply they loved me.

I knew how deeply my father especially loved

me for who I was. I hear Jessica talk about all

the time about how close I am with my father

and the really funny relationship. If any of

you ever get to spend time with Ted Massey, you'll

see just how similar to me he is in a lot of

ways. But father's... Get to know your kids.

Get interested in what they're interested in.

Get on your knees and play with their toys with

them. Go exploring with them. Take them shopping.

Read a book that they want to read to them. Listen

when they want to tell you about their day. Encourage

them to follow Jesus. Do these things and you'll

create an environment and a relationship with

your kids that will make them want to obey you

as God tells them to do. And more importantly,

it'll show your children why obeying God and

following Jesus is worth it because they see

that example in you. Take note of this or write

this down. Godly parenting is the best tool for

exposing your children to the gospel. Godly parenting

is the best tool for exposing your kids to the

gospel. Bringing your kids to church and youth

group are great things. Please do. I want to

be the youth pastor for your kids. But there

is no substitute for the influence of godly parents

in the lives of their kids. I am not the first

line of defense for your kids' spiritual lives.

Ashley and the other children's teachers are

not the first line of defense. Alex, if you just

want to shove them in his office and be like,

hey, fix my kids, it doesn't work that way. Parents,

God placed them in your lives and you in their

lives to be that first line of defense. So parent

your kids in ways that draw them to Jesus. Now

we move to what many would consider to be the

Controversial part of the message and we're going

to do the intro of this very quickly Okay, because

we move here to the ESV says bond servants most

English translations just go ahead and use the

word slaves and so I want to make sure we understand

something slaves were a much different thing

for the most part in this ancient world and the

Roman culture here that when we think of American

slavery and the horrors that that is, right?

The word bond servant there is much more what

he is focusing on. A lot of scholars and historians

have found that in this time, over 50 % of the

population in the Roman Empire were slaves. And

this idea of bond servant, indentured servitude,

where they were paying off a debt. Some people

were born into this, but many of them would become

free. In fact, most different people, most jobs,

including positions like shop owners, politicians,

even doctors, were slaves in this ancient Roman

world. Okay? And so if you want a more deep dive

on the biblical version or the biblical idea

on slavery and why, yes, it is wrong and Paul

is not saying it is okay here in any way, then

that is something we can address. It would take

a whole other sermon or a really cool podcast

episode, so send that in to Alex so we can talk

about that another time. But I want to make sure

we focus on the purpose here, because in this

part of the passage, Paul isn't writing to try

to abolish this practice. Remember, he's writing

a letter to a church. And this church included

both freed people and it included slaves. And

so, yes, the Bible talks in plenty of other places

what we should do with the practice of slavery.

But here, Paul is encouraging the Christians

in whatever walk of life you're in to be an obedient

disciple. So he points out for those who are

bond servants or slaves currently, How do you

be an obedient Christian in that? So let's talk

about that. Look there in verse 22. You are serving

the Lord Christ, for the wrongdoer will be paid

back for the wrong he has done, and there is

no partiality. Masters, treat your bond servants

justly and fairly, knowing that you also have

a master in heaven. So what we're going to focus

on, considering that most of these bond servants

fulfilled the jobs of the time, the best way

to apply this is as employees and employers.

for our modern times, for those who are working

and those who are bosses over other people. So

let's start with those bond servants or workers.

Just as with the rest of the Christian family

that he was talking to, this is talking to Christian

servants, okay? And all Christians are called

to live their lives in ways that really baffle

the lost. Therefore, Christian slaves were not

called to rebellion here, but humble servitude

in the name of Christ. It's interesting, isn't

it? Paul doesn't tell these servants, hey, rise

up in the face of your masters and say, no, you're

evil, wicked people. No, he says, hey, in this

place where you're in right now, you can still

be a servant of Christ. And in fact, you can

be a representative of Christ. So in our jobs,

Christians are expected to be respectful, obedient

employee. And that's regardless of the faith

of our employers. See, the same language here

is used as for children. Obey in everything those

who are your earthly masters. Obviously, as I

said before, if we're told to do something against

God's Word, we are to obey God rather than man.

But in every normal day -to -day thing, we are

to obey those people who are over us in our jobs.

And Paul even focuses on that obedience there

saying, not just with eye service as people pleasers,

but with sincerity of heart. Christian employees

should be the most hardworking employees on the

planet. Amen? That's what we're supposed to be.

And not just when the boss is watching, not just

on the day we're having our employee review.

No, we're supposed to be the hardest workers.

at all times, because we do this as if God was

our master, because ultimately He is. He is the

one that we are trying to serve. The passage

that Christian read that Alex is going to cover

next week ended saying, and whatever you do in

word or deed, do everything in the name of your

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through

Him. We might ask, but what if our boss isn't

a Christian? Well, then our hard work and integrity

can do the job of pointing them to Jesus. My

favorite example, there's many examples of people

that did this like Joseph or Daniel in their

service. My favorite example of this was someone,

we do not have her name, and boy I wish we did.

I really can't wait to find out one day. All

we know is that she was a little slave girl that

was owned by a Syrian general named Naaman. Naaman

was the enemy of God's people and he had raided

this little girl's village and probably had her

parents killed, or at least his soldiers did.

And then he took her as a little slave girl,

a little Jewish girl. And Naaman had a big problem

because he was dying from leprosy. And the Bible

says, we don't get any more context with this,

all we know is his little slave girl, instead

of hating him, reaches out to Naaman's wife and

says, hey, don't want Naaman to die. There is

a prophet in Israel who can heal him of his leprosy.

And because of that little slave girl caring

for her master, Naaman goes and meets the prophet

Elisha, and through God's power he's healed.

And not only is he healed physically, but he

actually begins worshiping Yahweh, the God of

Israel, because of that little slave girl. That's

what we are supposed to be in our jobs. So Paul

reminds workers to obey because it is ultimately

God whom they're serving. But I love this, he

also reminds them that God will reward them for

their faithfulness. Sometimes it can feel like

we're just trying our best to serve God, especially

if we're not serving him in a Christian culture.

And it might seem like we're just wasting our

time. I'm trying to serve God, but I get in trouble

because my boss wants me to work on Sundays and

I'm saying I can't. Right? My boss doesn't like

Christians, so maybe he gave the promotion to

someone else who didn't deserve it instead of

me because he just doesn't like Christians. Is

this worth it? and especially for slaves in this

time, because Roman slaves were not permitted

to inherit anything from their masters as they

were not an official part of their family. And

since many slaves were born into that life, it

left them without hope of any inheritance, even

if they were one day freed from being a bondservant.

But Paul says that God offers them the inheritance

of Christ. Their service might feel unrewarded

in this life, but they will receive the perfect

reward for all eternity. So Christian worker,

hear me. God sees your efforts. He knows what

you are doing. And if you don't feel like you're

being rewarded for that now, trust in that promise.

That you have the inheritance of Jesus that goes

beyond any earthly inheritance that we could

ever possibly receive. That salvation and eternal

life through Jesus. is offered to all of us.

But then Paul moves to masters. Paul ends the

section by addressing what I guess we could apply

as our employers for us today. And he tells them

to treat their servants justly and fairly. If

you have employees that work under your authority

today, what kind of boss are you? Because as

Christian employers, we should treat every employee

with respect, care, and fairness. We should not

lord our position over them. We should take care

of them. Paul reminds masters that the real reason

they should do this and care for them is because

every earthly master also has a master in heaven.

And who are we to think that we are any better

than anyone else? Just because we have pastoral

interns that I make print things for me. Thank

you, Christian, by the way. But just because

we have like people like that, does that mean

that Alex and I, because we have reverend and

actual, quote unquote, pastor before our name,

are any better of a Christian than these two

incredible men? Does it? It's not a trick question,

I promise you. No. Okay. As much as Alex and

I want to and to teach them to, we have things

that we learn about the ministry from these two

men. Because we're no different from them. And

if you are an employee or an employer, know that

there's nothing about you that is any better

than them. Don't identify yourself in that way.

Identify yourself as equal but in a position

of authority that God has given you. And when

you view it that way, you'll see your employees

as someone to reach out to. So the family unit

is our first priority in living as disciples

of Jesus, but the workplace is where we really

tend to spend most of the rest of our time. So

I want you to take note of this, right down this

last point for us today. The workplace is the

mission field God has called you to today. Maybe

if you've wondered how you can find opportunities

to share Jesus with others, look no further than

where you work. Whether you're the boss or employee

God has placed you right where you are Because

he wants to use you and you can be his disciple

right there at work. Let me use my own father

again I know he's gonna be listening to this

so he's gonna be embarrassed But my father has

worked for Honda a Honda dealership since mr.

Honda was alive probably It's been a long time

and he works in the parts department and he while

he has some Christian co -workers Most of the

environment that he's working under is not, right?

But what I love about my dad is he, I know that

he listens to every single time that I preach

and he listens to many of Alex's sermons as well

whenever he's kind of on a break at work. But

what I love about my dad and his coworker, I

know his coworker friend does this too, when

they're listening to the sermons, they don't

put their headphones on, they turn their speakers

on so that other people can hear it. the people

there I guess because my dad's worked there so

long that they probably think like well we can't

tell Ted to turn it down because he's Ted right

but he just lets it Blair and then people come

ask questions and I remember back when I preached

my um my very first sermon back in North Carolina

he had a co -worker who I don't even know if

he is a Christian but wanted to come here because

he'd heard my dad talk about me and what God

was doing in my life my dad is using a Honda

dealership to be a mission field. So wherever

God has you, He put you there for a purpose.

If you're an employee or an employer, use that

as the mission field He called you to. The Christian

life is an incredible calling, and we're given

the task of imaging God to the rest of the world.

So when the lost look at us, they should see

what God looks like. And Paul writes for us here

that the best places to do that are in the home

and in the workplace. And listen, I've said a

lot this morning, but in case you missed it,

here's the easiest summary of how to do all of

the things that Paul wrote about here, and all

the things that I said. Be imitators of Jesus

Christ. Wives, look to how Jesus submitted himself

to the will of the Father, though he was equal

with him. Husbands? Look to how deeply Jesus

loves his church and was willing to sacrifice

his life for her. Children, look to Jesus and

how he humbled himself to be obedient to the

very creatures he created. Fathers, look to Jesus

to see the grace that he offers us while we are

still in our sins. Workers, look to Jesus to

see how he humbly served as many people as he

could. And employers, look to Jesus to see how

he lovingly cared for the people that came to

him. May we all look to Jesus as that perfect

example for us to follow. Amen Let's pray together

Father we thank you so much