The Gospel, the Family, and Slavery

Father, we confess before you that we have standards that we think your word should meet,

and we, Father, have demands that your word should say things the way we want it to say these things.

And we confess that sometimes we're afraid of what you say in your word.

And we confess in all of this, Father, that we often aren't very conscious that these things go on in our lives,

that we stand in judgment, that we refuse to marvel, that we are troubled and think you've made mistakes,

that we think we can edit your word or improve upon it.

Father, we acknowledge that we do not often know that we do these things.

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would come with might and power and deep conviction,

that you would make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel.

And as we are gripped by the gospel, will you grip us, Father, with your word

and bring your word deep into the very center of who we are,

that we will live free, generous, and whole lives for the good of this city,

for the furtherance of your kingdom, and for your great glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, here's the problem with the text.

The text doesn't always begin with a problem, but sometimes it does.

And today, clearly, is one of those Sundays where the text is problematic.

For many of you, if you are listening to what Anna read about parents and children,

there's many, many people in our culture that say that teaching like that

is directly responsible for child abuse.

To tell children they have to obey their parents without any type of qualification

is to open the door to massive child abuse.

And so, the expectation would be that I would start to try to show how,

well, it doesn't mean this and doesn't mean this and doesn't mean this.

But the fact of the matter is, child abuse is a problem in our society.

It's a problem in every society.

And so, if, in fact, the Bible does do something which encourages child abuse,

that's a problem that we have to think about, we have to grapple with.

But more telling, a more common thing that comes to me in coffee shops

is that people will say to me,

George, I can't be a Christian or I can't believe the Bible.

Why would you trust the Bible when the Bible was so clearly complicit

in the institution of slavery?

The Bible was used to oppress slaves.

And that Christians had to learn from other places

that they should not support slavery.

That the Bible either encourages slavery or it's silent in the face of slavery.

And to be silent in the face of slavery is to be complicit in slavery.

And so, how on earth are you going to try to deal with that?

So, there's two big types of issues in the text before us.

So, as I said, we're going to walk towards it, not away from it.

So, if you have your Bibles, it's Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 to 9.

Ephesians 6:1–9

One, interestingly enough, that people don't often realize

when they make some of these complaints about the Bible

is people often don't realize that the person they're complaining about,

because Paul wrote this in about the year 60,

he wrote it while he was in jail.

He wrote it while he was in jail for following Jesus

and proclaiming that Jesus was Savior and Lord.

And there's other surprising things that follow from that

as we look through the rest of the text.

But let's just, well, just what I'm going to do,

we'll read the first couple of verses.

But I'm going to really begin with the slavery issue,

and then I'll come back and, excuse me,

talk about the children and parents issue.

So, let's just begin with that.

We won't spend a long time on these first four verses

to get right into the slavery bit.

But look, actually, there's something really important about slavery

that's right there in the very first verse,

but it doesn't jump out at us.

Look at what it begins.

Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.

Now, just pause there.

This is right is something which is actually quite significant for slavery.

I'll draw it out in a moment.

But if you come to the 8 o'clock service sometime,

where we do the old 1662 Book of Common Prayer service,

which is really from the 1500s, 1552,

I think they added the word amen or something between 1552 and 1662,

very little changes.

But one of the things that we say in the service is we talk about it being

our meet, right, and bounden duty that we would worship Jesus and serve him.

And what this idea of meet, right, and bounden is trying to get at

is it's trying to get at the idea that if, in fact, God has created all things,

and so he is our creator and we live in a created order,

there's certain things that just fit.

They're just right.

That's what the word meet means, M-E-E-T.

It's an old-fashioned word,

but it's trying to get this idea that it just fits.

It's proper.

It's proper.

Not proper in terms of some hoity-toity upper-class sense,

but it just is the way the world works.

It's just like it's right that we eat food that's not spoiled.

It's not right that we eat food that's rancid.

It's right to drink clean water.

It's not right to drink polluted water.

There's just something right, whole.

It fits with how things are.

And that's what the word right means right there.

That's the idea that that word right means,

that there's something in the very nature of creation,

the very nature of how the world is designed and maintained by God

that makes it somehow right that children obey their parents.

It's going to be very important in terms of what we say about parenting in a moment,

but it's also very important in terms of slavery.

But let's just get through the rest of the text.

Look at verses the next.

Oh, sorry.

I jumped too quickly.

Continue reading.

Actually, I'll start with verse 1 again.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

And now Paul is going to quote the Ten Commandments,

one of the Ten Commandments.

Honor your father and mother.

And then he has a little bit of an editorial comment.

This is the first commandment with a promise.

End of editorial comment.

Back to the Ten Commandments.

The commandment that's part of the Ten Commandments.

That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

This is all part of children obeying your parents.

And then he goes, he has something to say to parents.

Just by the way, he says,

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,

but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Talk about this more in a moment.

Just the main thing to get out of this,

this doesn't give moms a pass.

The mom can provoke the kids because it just says

the dads aren't allowed to provoke the kids,

but the moms are.

That would be the wrong way to take the text.

But children, it would be both the mom and dad equally,

but there's a direct, specific thing said to fathers.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

Let's get to slavery.

And here's how it begins.

And some of you are reading the ESV.

You'll notice that my translation up here,

my version up here, just slightly different.

And I've changed just one word

to bring out the literal term in the Greek.

And here's how it goes.

Bond servants.

Some of your versions say slaves.

Some of your versions say servants.

Obey not your earthly masters.

That's a good translation,

but it's actually more literal to say

your masters according to the flesh

with fear and trembling,

with a sincere heart,

as you would Christ.

Now, just sort of pause here.

The reason I've brought out the original translation

is that the word flesh

usually is used in two different ways

in the New Testament.

And here it's being used in one of the two ways

to emphasize frailty

and finiteness.

In the ancient world,

the time that this was written,

for children that actually managed to be born,

okay,

that's not talking about all the children

who die through miscarriages

and all the children who die in childbirth,

often with the mom dying at the same time,

but for children that are actually able to be born,

only one out of two

will actually have their sixth birthday.

And in the time that Paul was writing this,

in the city of Ephesus,

most women will die before the age of 30.

And most men won't live much longer than that.

They might live till their 40s

or something like that.

But people don't live long lives

as a general rule.

And so one of the things in the ancient world

is they were very, very, very conscious

of how frail human beings are.

And there was a word for it,

this flesh, sarx.

And so what Paul is saying here,

it's actually,

if you look at it then,

you'll notice right away

there's a bit of an irony here.

There's a bit of a cutting down

of pretensions for slave masters.

And there's a bit of an irony

even with the fear and trembling.

But your fear and trembling

around an earthly master,

a master according to the flesh,

a master who is finite,

a master who is frail,

a master who is weak.

And that's how it describes masters.

Not that masters are like gods,

but that masters are of the earth.

They are temporary.

They are frail.

They are finite.

And then the Bible text continues.

Not by way,

verse 6,

not by way of eye service,

as people pleasers.

In other words,

so it said to slaves

to obey your earthly masters, right?

And then it goes on

to describe how the slave

is to do this.

It's the Christian slave

is not by way of,

verse 6,

of eye service,

as people pleasers,

but as bondservants

or slaves of Christ,

doing the will of God

from the heart,

rendering service

with a good will

as to the Lord

and not to a human being,

knowing that whatever good

anyone does,

this he will receive

back from the Lord,

whether he is a slave

or is free.

And then Paul addresses

the masters,

the Christians who own slaves,

and he says,

masters,

do the same to them,

to the slaves.

Not that the slaves,

the masters,

have to obey the slaves,

but that the masters

are to also

not be people pleasers,

that they are to do

the will of God

from the heart,

that they are to render

service with a good will

as to the Lord,

and they are to act

knowing that whatever good

they do,

they receive it back

from the Lord.

Those are the different

commands to slaves,

and here Paul tells

the masters,

do the same to the slaves.

And then as well,

stop your threatening,

because in the ancient world,

masters literally had

the power of life

and death

over their slaves,

knowing that he

who is both their master

and yours is in heaven,

and that there is

no partiality with him.

So let's just think

about this a little bit.

The first thing

to understand is this.

When I was in university,

it was,

when I was in university,

I'd become a Christian

in grade 12,

and I had lots of challenges

to the Christian faith

in grade 12,

but I had a whole new

type of challenges

when I was in university,

because it was in university

that I met people

who challenged me.

Some of them

were anthroposophists,

some of them

were from the Baha'i,

some of them

were liberal Christians,

and they challenged me

and said that in the Bible,

the Bible doesn't teach

that Jesus is God,

and the Bible doesn't teach

the Trinity,

and they told me

that the word Trinity

isn't in the Bible.

Now maybe if I go back in time

and I replayed

all the sermons

that I'd heard

going through church

and youth group,

maybe somebody in church

told me that the word Trinity

was in the Bible,

but I couldn't remember

ever hearing it.

The first time I was told

that the word Trinity

doesn't appear in the Bible,

I was told it by a Baha'i,

and I thought they were wrong

because the Baha'is aren't right,

and so I went looking,

and to my shock,

the word Trinity

isn't in the Bible,

and to my shock,

I was expecting

that I could come up

with two or three or four

very, very simple,

easy verses

to show that Jesus is God

and that the Trinity is true,

and I couldn't find them,

and I realized afterwards,

and by the way,

I love saying this

to my Baptist friends,

the reason I didn't surrender

right away

is because of tradition,

that I knew

that Christians

had a tradition,

that the Trinity

is the right way

to describe God

and that Jesus

claimed to be God,

and so because I believed that,

I kept looking in the Bible,

and as I looked

and looked and looked,

and I'd look at Bible verses

that said that this taught

these different truths,

but when I looked at it,

it didn't seem to be saying that,

and I realized

what my problem was

after it took a bit of time.

What I was looking for

was this.

I was actually looking

for something like

the Creed in the Bible.

I was looking for

a passage in the Bible

that said,

you have to use the word

Trinity to talk of God.

Jesus is God,

the Father.

I was expecting

a Creed in the Bible,

and I didn't see

the Creed in the Bible,

and so at first

it caught me by surprise,

but then as I hunted

and hunted and hunted,

I started to understand

how the Bible

was communicating

both of these truths,

and in fact,

I could literally,

every sermon

in the book of Ephesians,

I could show

how this text

shows that Jesus is God.

I could do it

every sermon

in the book of Ephesians

and throughout

the New Testament

because it's actually

part of the deep

teaching of it,

and the same thing

happens when people

look at slavery

and the whole issue

of how the Bible

relates to slavery.

What they're looking for

is slavery

is terribly,

terribly,

terribly wrong,

and what you should

be practicing

is a type of

socialist,

democratic capitalism.

Now,

as soon as I add

that last bit,

you realize

there's a bit

of a problem

with that

because that wouldn't

have made any sense

to anybody

in the first century,

nor the fifth,

nor the eighth,

nor the twelfth,

and it doesn't make

a lot of sense

to a lot of people

in the world right now.

But what you expect

is you expect

one thing,

but actually,

if you realize,

okay,

maybe the Bible

is communicating

this in a bit

of a different way,

just as I realize

that it communicates

the truth of the Trinity

and the divinity

of Jesus

in a different way

than I was expecting,

and once you understand

how it communicates it,

you can see that it's there

all the way through

the New Testament.

It's part of the deep

structure of the New Testament

and the entire Old Testament

to understand

the truth of Trinity,

the triune God,

and the divinity of Jesus.

And so maybe the problem

is that we're expecting

it to say it in one way,

but it's actually

saying it in another one.

And the other thing,

and this I love to say

to my non-Christian friends

when they challenge me,

because we all agree

that slavery is wrong.

But I like to challenge them.

I like to mess with them a bit.

And I like to say,

you do realize

that the most recent examples

of,

these are especially

my atheist friends,

you do realize

that half of all

of the slavery

that goes on in the world

right now

is from atheists.

Now that gets

an interesting reaction.

And they deny it.

And I said,

no, Soviet Union,

Communist China,

they all practice slavery.

They're all atheist states.

And they did it

very recently.

China might still

be doing it.

And I said,

what about Islam?

And if you look at it historically,

Hinduism,

Buddhism,

all practice slavery.

It's a human problem.

So the question is,

not just whether this is somehow

just a Christian problem,

and somehow if you're a Muslim

or a Buddhist

or a Hindu

or an atheist,

you get a pass.

No, no,

this is a far deeper

human problem.

And so the question is,

does the Bible,

is it the matter,

the fact of the matter,

and I don't deny

that Christians

throughout time have,

if you go up

and you look up the name,

I can't remember his first name,

his last name is Dabney.

His books are still in print.

He was considered

a very, very, very

deeply Orthodox Christian

in the mid part

of the 1800s

in the United States.

And the horrific thing

is he wrote books

defending slavery

as biblical

and it's abhorrent,

and he was wrong.

The question is,

does Christianity

need to bring in

other ideas

from outside

for Christians

to understand

that slavery is wrong

or is it actually

something which is taught

in the Bible

that slavery is wrong?

I mean,

there's a bit of a question

as to whether atheists

need to bring in ideas

from somewhere else

to understand

that slavery is wrong.

Does Islam have to bring in

ideas from somewhere else

that slavery is wrong?

Does Hinduism have to bring in

ideas from somewhere else

to understand

that slavery is wrong?

Does Christianity have to

or is in fact

a Christian teaching

that slavery is wrong?

That's an interesting question

even with a text like this.

So,

what does the Bible

actually teach?

Here's my summary

of what the Bible teaches.

And I use the gospel

but it could also be

the whole counsel of God

because I think you can see

the same thing

in the Old Testament

but you can see it

in this text

which I'll try to show you.

The gospel ennobles

the slave,

humbles the master,

and dissolves slavery.

The gospel ennobles

the slave,

humbles the master,

and dissolves slavery.

You see,

slavery wasn't just

sort of a bit of an addition.

It wasn't like an accessory

to the ancient world.

And usually when slavery exists

it becomes

not just an accessory

but it becomes

an integral part

of a set of beliefs

and a worldview.

A bit more,

maybe not as much

the case nowadays

but definitely

in the ancient world

there's a whole worldview,

a set of core beliefs

that allow slavery

to be seen

as either reasonable

or good.

People will say

that in fact

slaves deserve it.

In the ancient world

you would become a slave

because your parents

had abandoned you

when you were born.

They would put you out

and expose you

to the elements

so that you would die

and a slave trader

would go looking

at the regular places

where babies

would be abandoned

to die

and they would

take those babies

they'd raise them

and sell them as slaves

and they would say

well obviously

the child deserves

to be a slave

the parents didn't

even want him.

You became a slave

by getting into debt

and selling yourself

into slavery

to pay off the debt.

Surely the slave

deserves to be a slave

because they got into debt.

Slaves,

people would become slaves

because they

lost in battle.

So they lost in battle

surely they deserve

to be my slave.

I won,

they lost,

surely they deserve.

I have other types

of private property

why isn't it right

that I should be able

to own a human being?

If I can own a dog

if I can own a cat

if I can own a horse

if I can own a house

why shouldn't I be able

to own another human being?

There's nothing in nature.

In fact,

they would say

that nature itself

shows that some people

are superior

and other people

are inferior.

That some people

are meant to have

more property rights

or more power

than other types of people

and that nature itself

shows that there's nothing

in particular human beings

which mean

that you shouldn't be able

to own them as a slave.

That there are in fact

that we call them human

and they look human

but they are in fact lower.

They don't have

the full dignity of rights

as a human being

and nature itself shows that

and the gods teach this.

Religion teaches this.

Reason teaches this.

And it's just obvious

to anybody

that in fact

it's right for one person

to have a control

over the other person

because the other person

is not a full person

and does not have

full rights

and the gods

and nature shows

that it favors the strong

and it favors the powerful

and that's just right.

Now by the way

it's the same way

they talk about abortion.

It's the same way

they talk about abortion.

Abortion is the ugly

slavery secret

of the secular mind.

And I don't say

I don't mean to wound you

if you are here

and you've had an abortion.

Jesus loves you.

Come and speak to me.

But the fact of the matter is

you could take

what I just said

and you could look

at abortion arguments

and secular people

the Supreme Court of Canada

and all of the political parties

accept the logic of slavery.

There's a very interesting video online.

Many of you have probably seen it.

It's by a former atheist

by the name of David Wood.

He now runs something

called Acts 17 Ministries.

I encourage you

to Google his conversion.

If you can't remember it

come and speak to me afterwards.

And there's a very,

very interesting part

in that video.

That's about 25 minutes in.

20 minutes in

as he's described his atheism

and everything like that.

And he describes

how he's lying

in a hospital bed

in a prison.

And he describes

that as he's lying there

sort of beat up

physically and mentally

and all of a sudden

he starts to look at things

in a bit of a different way.

And he describes

three core beliefs

of atheism.

And as he describes

these three core beliefs

of atheism,

he starts to describe

how he's lying there

and one day

he begins to doubt

these three,

each of these three

core beliefs

of atheism.

And he comes to the time

when to his horror

he realizes

that he no longer believes

or accepts as reasonable

each of these

core beliefs

of atheism.

And he has this very powerful

way of describing it.

He said that when you

have to understand

that these are core beliefs

and it means the entire

superstructure of my thought,

the whole superstructure

of my thought

and all my arguments

lies upon this

super,

upon this foundation.

And when all of a sudden

the foundation is gone

the whole thing collapses.

Mindful

of the core beliefs

of slavery.

If you go back

and you read,

I'm not going to talk

about it now

but if you want to hear

how I talked about

husbands and wives

you can listen to

last week's sermon.

If you go back

and look at how Paul

talks about husbands

and wives,

what does he do?

He connects marriage

to the doctrine

of creation.

That there's something

about the marriage

of one man

to one woman

which is part

of the very way

that God created

the entire world

to be.

And he connects

the institution

of marriage

to what Jesus

does on the cross.

And he connects

the institution

of marriage

to what the new heaven

and the new earth

is going to look like.

That there's something

about the marriage

of one man

to one woman

that just fits

this level

of creation,

redemption

and the future.

And then if you look

at how he talks

about children

and parents

he uses this word

right.

That there's something

just right.

It just fits

that it's natural

that parents

have the first

and primary

overarching

responsibility

for their own

children.

It's more important

than the state's

claim to the children

that the parents

have a direct

God-given

right connection

to their children

and that the children

to obey their parents

there's something

right about that.

It just fits

with the created order

and now you come

to slavery

and if you're

in the ancient world

you want to say

that there's now

just something right

and fitting

about slavery

and it is

not there.

a huge

foundation

of the slavery

mindset

and it's

not there.

It's nowhere

in the Bible.

Nowhere

in the Bible.

In fact

what does Paul

do?

He talks

about masters

not as if

they're somehow

standing in the

place of God

he calls them

masters according

to the flesh

that they're weak

that they're finite

that they're temporary

the complete

opposite of an idea

of something being natural

masters are temporary

they're fragile

and it talks

about the fact

that the slave

is obviously

a Christian.

What does this mean?

It means that

Jesus loved the slave

so much

that Jesus died

for the slave

and when the slave

puts his or her

faith and trust

in Jesus

that slave

becomes

if you go back

and you read

the rest of Ephesians

and you talk about

how everybody

who gives their life

to Jesus

takes this new status

it's as if God

the heavenly father

adopts this person

and gives them

it's as if God

adopts them

as a son

with the full right

of inheritance

and that part

of Ephesians

we now discover

all those things

in Ephesians

all these glories

it talks about

for a redeemed person

it applies

to slaves

and the entire text

is talking about

how a slave

can serve Jesus

and the entire talk

is about how

slaves and masters

have a

common

lord

and the text

very clearly

says of masters

that God shows

no partiality

none

between the master

and the slave

all of the

intellectual

foundations

the foundations

of slavery

are removed

all of them

the slave

is ennobled

the master

is humbled

and the foundations

that support

slavery

are dissolved

but it has

something more

here's a question

I have to look

at my time

but here's the

question

if you had to

choose between

inner freedom

and outer freedom

which would you

choose

we'd all choose

inner freedom

wouldn't we

now obviously

we'd rather have

both

we'd rather have

freedom to be able

to assemble

and speak what we

want

and we'd like to

have that

and inner freedom

at the same time

but if you think

about it for a second

like you know

we're downtown

and you look at

look at the street

people

and you look at

so many of them

it's heartbreaking

you know

they have outer freedom

through the gazoo

the wazoo

you know

but the fact

of the matter is

there's a chemical

imbalance in the heads

of some of them

which means that

they have no

inner freedom

they're controlled

by their chemistry

and you look at others

it's not that

all street people

fall in these three

categories

I'm not saying that

but a large number

of them do

but there's another

significant amount

of them

they've lost

their inner freedom

because of a drug

addiction

or they've lost

their inner freedom

because of an

alcohol addiction

or that there's

some other type

of chemical imbalance

within the body

which means that

they have a problem

with controlling

impulses

and you look at

these people

and they can walk

wherever they want

and I'm not saying

these people

as if I'm

it's not deriding

them at all

I'm just looking at

it and we all know

we look at

we look at what

happens with

dementia

and Alzheimer's

that there can be

things that go on

within us

and inside of us

that take away

our inner freedom

and every single

one of us would say

if I had to choose

between outer freedom

and inner freedom

I want inner freedom

and you know

the other thing

is if you value

inner freedom

structures externally

which remove freedom

are problematic

they're problematic

you look at this text

and what does this text

do

what this text does

is it talks about

the inner freedom

of the slave

it talks about

the fact

that

the slave

can't control

the fact that

they're bound

can't control

the fact that

the master

will give them

certain orders

they can't control

the fact that

they belong

to somebody else

they can't control

that

and you know what

Paul writing something

wouldn't change that

but they can choose

their reaction

they can choose

to see that

they can live a life

that brings glory

to God

they can choose

a life

that pursues

that which is good

knowing that

they're ultimately

serving the Lord

and you see

what the Bible text

is all

the gospel

is all about this

the fact of the matter

is

is that we human beings

are enslaved

and are not as free

as we think we are

you know it's very interesting

in our culture

there's this double way

of looking at evil

on one hand

often being able to get drunk

is a sign of freedom

but it's very very funny

that in one part of a novel

or one part of a movie

we're being able to get drunk

or sleep with lots of different people

as a sign of freedom

at the same time

later on in the book

or in the next book

getting drunk

is a sign of the fact

that you're bound

or being able to

not being able to actually

keep your marriage vows

is a sign that you're bound

that there's something

problematic with you

and the Bible

doesn't describe freedom

as the ability to do evil

although obviously

you are free to do evil

but the fact of the matter is

is for you and I

if you cannot do what is good

if you cannot do what is true

if you cannot do what is just

if you cannot do what is merciful

if you cannot do what is generous

if you cannot do what is right

if you cannot do what is whole

if you cannot forgive

you are not free

I am not free

I need freedom

it is for freedom

that Christ has set us free

his presence within us

the gift of the Holy Spirit

the fruit

the singular fruit

of the Holy Spirit

what is the singular fruit

of the Holy Spirit

love

joy

peace

patience

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness

and self-control

as the gospel grips us

it moves us

to be free

and we know we are free

when we can speak the truth

and know the truth

not speak lies

and know lies

we know we are free

we are generous

there is a thing in the paper

on Saturday

they are nameless

I always read this thing

in the paper

about these financial things

and all that

and retirement readiness

just so you know

I am on the Freedom 75 plan

but I like to plan

long in advance

and there is this couple

in the paper

their take home income

is $200,000 a year

$200,000 a year

and they can't live

within their means

and guess how much

and they travel

all over the world

guess how much money

they give in gifts

or charity

to other people

zero

zero

who is more free

a person who can't live

on $200,000 a year

travels all over the world

but can't even live

within $200,000

or somebody making

a lot less money

who gives money away

who is more free

who is more free

the generous person

right

generous person

and you know what else

in this text

which is so amazing

and it's not just

in this text

if you go back

and look throughout

the entire Bible

so here

how does Paul

present the gospel

time and time

and time

and time

and time

and time again

he presents the gospel

that God

the Son of God

sets aside

his glory

and divine prerogatives

and his divine splendor

and takes into himself

all the limits

of being born

in human flesh

and he ends up

bound

dying

a slave's

death

on the cross

and why

is he bound

dying a slave's

death

on a cross

so you and I

can be redeemed

and be free

and we don't get

what redeemed means

but every person

in the ancient world

knows what redeemed

means

redeemed

is when somebody

pays the price

so a slave

is no longer

a slave

that's what

redeemed

means

how does the gospel

dissolve slavery

God

the Son of God

is bound

and dies

a slave's death

so that you and I

who are not

truly free

because we are

enslaved to sin

can begin

to lose

the bonds

of sin

in our lives

because Jesus

has redeemed us

out of slavery

and called us

to be

his child

that is the gospel

that is the gospel

I need to wind it up

let's look back

at children

and parents

and I'll just

give us a couple

of sort of

exhortations

children

obey your parents

verse 1

children obey your

parents and the

Lord for this is

right

honor your father

and mother

this is the first

commandment with a

promise that it

may go well with

you and that you

may live long

in the land

basically

and then verse 4

fathers do not

provoke your children

to anger

but bring them up

in the discipline

and instruction

of the Lord

the gospel

ennobles children

and humbles parents

while giving parents

an important mission

remember in the

ancient world

it wasn't thought

of as wrong

to leave your

newborn out

to the elements

to die

how could anybody

reading

Ephesians

leave their child

out to die

the child

is given

this ennobling

task

of being able

to live in a way

that pleases God

the child

is part

of the covenant

community

under the Lord's

authority

and care

and as the gospel

forms a child

the child

will be formed

to obey

and because

the Lord

is the Lord

and we are not

parents

who abuse

their children

are in defiance

of the Lord

are in defiance

of the Lord

and parents

it humbles us

we are not

allowed to just

provoke our kids

for the sake

of provoking them

well how do you

provoke your kid

here is the thing

one of the things

I said to all

of my kids

when they were young

once they got

to a certain age

but very very

very young age

I said to them

you are not allowed

to hit your mom

or dad in anger

now you know what

an 18 month

knows what that means

see I didn't want

my I didn't want

to stop my son

Jacob my son Jacob

and other ones

of my kids

I'd come home

and he'd run at me

and start punching me

but it was how

he welcomed me

okay he was having fun

we get to wrestle

but Jacob knew

when he was

punching me in fun

and when he was

punching me in anger

you know that

at a very young age

moms and dads

you know when you

provoke your kids

right

I mean maybe not

when you say it

but afterwards

you go yeah

that was just

provoking them

I shouldn't

that's just poking

the kid to get

them going

shouldn't have

done it

so it limits

parents

it reminds parents

that they have

to answer to the

Lord

but here's the

mission

by the way

these

these instructions

it works in

an agrarian society

and it works

in a rich society

in a capitalist society

it's a very very

different

a very very

simple mission

and the Bible

understands

God understands

that kids are

different

some kids

have like

Tourette's

syndrome

some kids

are on

spectrums

some kids

have

they're just

wired to move

constantly

some kids

like to sit

still

but the bottom

line is

the mission

isn't that

you give your

kids as many

piano lessons

and hockey

lessons

and every

other lesson

in the world

the mission

is that you

raise children

who will obey

and who will

love Jesus

that's your

first commission

that's your

first mission

what does it

profit a parent

whose kid

knows how to

play the piano

knows how to

play the viola

can speak 53

languages

gets an A plus

and plays hockey

and plays soccer

and plays basketball

and plays everything

else and doesn't

know Jesus

than a kid

who just has fun

but knows Jesus

the mission's clear

and just to

wind up the

whole thing

none of us

have slaves

but every

single one of

us is in

positions where

sometimes we

have to obey

and sometimes

we're in

positions of

authority

and there's a

very direct

call out to

you

for those of

you who

have authority

whether it's

over a kid

or whether it's

over an

employee

remember that

one day you

will give

account to

how you've

acted to

Jesus

and how

you treat

the weak

is a deep

reflection

of the

state of

your soul

how you

treat the

person in

your workplace

that nobody

likes

and if you

join in

with them

in calling

them names

or putting

down or

making fun

of them

shame on

you

it is

revealing

what you

would do

with power

and we

have to

sometimes

in our

organizations

and in

life take

orders

and then

you can

read this

text and

meditate upon

it

there might

be very

little you

can do

in the

short run

around a

cruel and

oppressive

boss

in the

long run

in Canada

you can

quit

get another

job

but in the

short run

there might

be very

little you

can do

but you

can control

how you

react

and you

can seek

to act

out of

a good

will

remembering

that you're

serving

Jesus

first and

foremost

and he

sees

everything

that goes

on

and he

ennobles

your labor

and your

sacrifice

please stand

just you know

once again

if you're here

today and

you've never

given your

life to

Jesus

the gospel

wants to

ennoble

you

the gospel

will make

you free

it might

not give

you instant

victory

in fact it

won't give

you instant

victory over

all of the

things that

bind you

but the

presence of

the gospel

the presence

of Jesus

in your

life will

move you

towards

freedom

and if

you are

saying no

to the

gospel

and no

to Jesus

it is those

sources of

slavery

within you

because they

know the

sources of

slavery within

you and

around you

know that

if you

come to

Jesus

he will

dethrone

them

and so

there is no

better time

now than to

shut your

ears

to that

which wants

to keep you

from Jesus

and call out

to him

and say

Jesus be my

redeemer

I give myself

to you

there's no

better time

than now to

call out

for that

and for

the rest

of us

we know

those things

in our

lives

where we

are not

free

and this

is a good

time to

do some

work with

Jesus

calling out

to him

to bring

his healing

authority

to bear

in those

parts of

our lives

where we

are not

free

that the

gospel will

be more

real to

our hearts

and that

as the

gospel is

more real

to our

hearts

the

outflow

of

obedience

will

come

let's

pray

father

ask that

the

holy

spirit

would

come

with

might

and

power

and

deep

conviction

amongst

us

we

thank

you

father

for

your

word

we

thank

you

that

Jesus

became

a

slave

and

was

bound

that

people

like

me

and

those

of

us

here

and

our

friends

and

our

neighbors

and

people

to

the

ends

of

the

earth

that

as

Jesus

was

bound

and

died

a

be

delivered

from

slavery

and

be

made

free

in

Jesus

to

be

free

in

deed

to

be

free

to

be

generous

to

be

free

to

forgive

to

be

free

to

be

kind

to

be

free

to

love

to

be

free

to

know

the

truth

to

be

free

to

be

merciful

to

be

free

to

be

just

to

be

free

to

seek

the

benefit

of

others

and

the

benefit

of

our

city

and

the

benefit

Jesus