Love, Life & Livelihood | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

I've been teaching a series. I believe I've shed and

taught a few from the series from the Book of Efficients.

Of course, our team this year is still that all

may know and we will continue with that. But I

don't know where I stop at. But I'm just going

to go to where I am right now. The Subang

plan is the one that probably gets to hear me

teach it a bit more systematically. But ephicients one, two, three, four, five, six,

know there are six chapters I've taught. I believe in

umpire at least one and two, Chapter one and chapter two.

I've arrived at chapter five, and I want to talk

about chapter five because I feel this is something that

is important for us to again go back to God's

word and understand what is it that He's teaching us.

And the start of chapter five was one whole sermon

on his own. It was basically teaching us how we

should walk our lives as individual believers. And if you

look at and if you have time, you can go

back to the scriptures. I'm not going to focus on

the first part because, like I said, that was something

that I shed about a month and a half ago.

But it's about how we walk as individuals. Basically, how

do we walk as individuals? From the start of chapter

five in the Book of Ephesians, you see Paul actually

exhorting and teaching and encouraging the people. Firstly, you got

to imitate Christ. That's the word that you will see.

The first eye that I taught is to imitate Christ.

The means follow after Jesus. This is again to do

with your own personal walk, your own personal journey. And

then the next thing that you will see is that

he talks about being a light of the world, allowing

the light of Jesus, the light of God, to be

upon your life so that you can shine in the

world in which you are living in. And so basically

the next eye that I thought the church was to

be to illuminate. So not only are we called to imitate,

but we're also called to illuminate, to shine. Okay, very important.

And then the third thing you see is this is

actually a word that sometimes have a different meaning in

today's world, is basically being intoxicated. Okay, this world is

always intoxicated with the spirit of this world. If you're

intoxicated with the spirit of this world, transistor, you want

to walk straight, you will walk life and rite. But

if you are intoxicated with the Holy Spirit, it's a

different thing. And this is where Paul is telling us,

be intoxicated with the Holy Spirit, be filled with the

Holy Spirit. And so the three eyes that you see

at the first part of chapter five is essentially talking

about look, imitate Christ, allow the light of God to

illuminate through your life, and always be fully intoxicated, feel

with the Holy Spirit as you walk this individual journey.

How we should walk in the spirit is very, very

important because all this now leads to the next part

of the scripture. The next part of the scripture is

basically talking about how we live with one another. Remember

I mentioned, I think I mentioned this time and time

again to the church that Efficiens is a very practical book.

That's the first part of the scriptures. The first three chapters,

which is very a lot of principles are being sad.

The next three, four, five, and six is basically more pragmatic.

So you have the teaching, the doctrine, and then now

you have the doing part. So this is a doing

how do we live our lives? So the first part

of chapter five is how do we live our individual lives?

And then now it's going into the next part, which

is I believe telling us how we're going to live

and co exists with one another. Okay. And so I'm

going to be starting from verse twenty one of chapter five,

and as we go through it, you'll be like thinking,

I'm going to a family pre marriage course with all

of you all because it talks about marriage, it talks

about children parenting, and then it goes on to talk

about employer employee relationship. But it all ties together, and

the basis of it is verse twenty one. It says

this and further submit to one another out of reverence

for Christ. Okay, so remember that verse twenty one of

chapter five sis and further, So this is moving on

from walking your individual life. Now it says, and further

submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Because

we don't live isolated lives. We don't live by ourselves.

We live amongst each other. And that's why I simply

just entitle the message love life and livelihood. Because marriage

is love. Then when you love one another, usually life

comes out, which is your kids and then after you

got the workler okay, livelihood Okay. So that's it. So

first question to ask yourself is this ever wondered, what

is the ideal form of government? I think it's an

important question because there are more and more people living

in this world, and that's the reality of it. It's

not always been the easiest trying to govern and trying

to coexist with one another. Because some people will tell

you that I believe we need greater control, more control

is needed as more people grow. And then there are

others who say, oh no, I think greater freedom is needed.

And so the question is how do you find that balance? Basically,

the balance of law and liberty, the balance of form

and freedom. I know today now meets different ones from

different countries, and not everyone lives in this kind of

environment that we have in Malaysia and Malaysia. I believe

it's fairly safe, it's fairly structured. But some of us

come from different kinds of governments and different kinds of systems.

But the world is basically divided into two kinds of

governance structure. One we call democracy, which is the one

that we live in. The other one, maybe you can

loosely call them dictatorships, which many others also under. And

so democracy basically just believes that every person has a

right to have a say in the government. Right, sounds familiar. Right,

that's what we all think we have every time we vote.

We have the right of the vote. Okay, Sannia, I

can't remember the political suffrage? Is that what? The right

to vote? And people can choose to change their government

whenever they feel like doing it. Okay. Then you have

dictatorship where people are not free to choose. The government

in place decides what is going to happen. Okay, And

I can tell you this right from the start. Both

have got problems. But let's focus on the problem with

democracy since most of us live under this system, or

if we don't live under this system, we hope to

be able to live under this system. When everybody is

actually trying to have their say, and everybody is trying

to decide what is right, and then everybody is trying

to govern, there's going to be many conflicts of interests

and ideals, and sooner or later, even in democracy, it

can lead to problems. That is the reality, because we

are always fighting. I want my say, democracy is that right. No,

I want to have my say what we want. The

rights of the minorities, the rights of the majority is

the rights of every Everyone has got their own rights,

and so they're always fighting in this sense and Verse

twenty one is actually God's answer to the question what

is the ideal form of human government? It's actually a

combination of leadership and responsibility. Again, remember these towards leadership

and responsibility. See, God has a plan for human government.

Whenever more than one person has to live together, God

has a plan for the group, whether it's a big

group or a small group. May be as small as

husband and wife. It may be as small as parent

and children. It may be as small as employer employee.

Or it may be a group of millions in which

you need to govern, or even billions. Let's just say

if you're in China or India. The plan is that

some should be responsible for the leadership of the others,

and that both should be responsible to Christ. Does that

make sense again, I'll repeat that some should be responsible

for the leadership of the others and that both should

be responsible to Christ. It is neither a democracy, nor

is it a dictatorship. It is actually a combination of

the best of both. You see, democracy in which we

all live in does not like that one bit. It

doesn't like it because the word submit has become a

little bit of a bad word actually, because democracy is

like everyone must be said, free from submitting or from

being subject to something or someone. Yet God says, if

you're ever going to live together, somebody has got to

be submitted or be subject to someone else, otherwise you

will have chaos and a breakdown of human society. That

is the reality of it. But the submission must go

with reverence. The respect must be there as well as

the subordination. Very important for us to understand that only

then will you get that perfect balance. And he must not.

It's actually a reverence and not for the person to

him you are submitted to, but reverence for Christ who

has delegated his authority to that person. It's a big difference.

That's why sometimes when you read some scriptures, especially in Romans,

you see the reminder to submit to the government of

the day regardless. You know, sometimes we're liked is cruel

and white, corrupted, cruel, don't think about his people, very selfish.

But yet we're actually called to respect, submit to them

in respect of God who put them or allowed them

to be in place. There's a whole difference, and so

we must always be reminded it is reverence not for

the person that we are submitted to, but reverence to Christ,

who has delegated his authority. And you will see the

same pattern of governance in all relationships from the macro

level in how world governments are governed in that sense

all the way to the micro levels of your family

and your vocation. You'll see it, and I teach from it.

Even now as we move into verses twenty two to thirty,

how you've ben be like, huh now talking about marriage

and yeah, because that's how it goes. Verse twenty one says, further,

submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And

then verse twenty two goes on to say this something

that's very familiar to those who are married. Let's read it, okay.

Verse twenty two says, four, wives, this means submit to

your husband as to the Lord, for the husband is

the hate of his wife. As Christ is the head

of the church, he is the savior of his body,

the church, as the church submits to Christ. So you

wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands,

this means love your wives just as Christ love the Church.

He gave up his life for her to make her

holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's words.

He did this to present her to himself as a

glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead,

she will be holy and without fault. In the same way,

husbands ought to love their wives as they love their

own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually

shows love for himself. No one hates his own body,

but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares

for the Church, and we are members of his body.

And so here is when Paul applies this principle to marriage. Okay,

the principle that I just mentioned just now. The main

problem is always selfishness causes people to lose respect for

one another as soon as and soon after that, okay,

as soon as the selfishness, as soon as selfishness kicks in,

you will start talking about rights instead of talking about responsibilities. Okay,

I want us to remember these two words. So rights

and responsibilities. As soon as you use the word right

of yourself, you have essentially stepped out of God's plan.

As soon as you talk about responsibility of yourself, you

are essentially stepping into God's plan. And the Bible doesn't

speak anywhere of the rights of wives and the rights

of husbands. It doesn't, I assure you. It speaks of

the responsibilities of both to one another. It's a big difference,

and we are going to look at this pattern. First

of all, Paul takes the individual responsibility of the wife

and then the husband, and this is how it exists

as a unique and so I want you to notice

first that both have responsibilities, husbands and wife. Some of

you may be like, I'm not married, I'm not bothered. No,

be bothered, because if you are going to be married,

then you will understand this. I pray. If not, then

it will help you understand even how marriage should look

like for your own parents. Even Okay, so notice this

both have responsibilities. But I also want you to notice

this both have different responsibilities. Today there's always this confusion

about the varying roles of male and female, as if

difference of responsibility means difference of status and of value.

It does not. In God's side, husbands and wife. Husband

and wife are of equal value equal status. They are

both sinners in need of grace. That's the truth, that's

the reality of it. But they are not of the

same function, and that is an entirely different thing different.

According to God's word, when two people get married, two

people are becoming one person. The word one is actually

very important in the marriage service. It is not too

going forward together. It is actually two becoming one together,

one unique. So before they are married, they have two

persons with two hates and two bodies. Okay, after their

marriage very important to reduce hit count and BodyCount because

if you have a two hatted marriage, it's scary. It's

not like a monster like that. But if you have

a two body and no hate, it's like a monster

with no direction. Are scary. So reduce hate count, reduce

body count. And therefore, when we get married, we are

no longer two people with our individual rights, but we

are one person with separate responsibilities within the marriage. Do

you see that now? So from now on there is

one hit and one body making one person. The husband

is to be the hate and the wife is to

be the body. In that kind of partnership, they will

be able to make one new person who of you

thinks sometimes or the heat is supreme, and therefore he

can say and do whatever he wants. Yeah. Like I said,

you try having a hit with no body, then there's

no body. Yeah. And if you try having a body

with no hate, it's yeah, heitless. So the varying response

stabilities are the wives treat your husband as your hate,

and then husbands treat your wives as your body. And

then you will discover together what God's will is for

the marriage. And here's the big challenge. The wives have

to imagine that they are married to Jesus and behave accordingly.

It's a tall order. Actually, it's not me that says

you know, it's actually the scriptures. It says wives be

subject or submit to your husband as to the Lord.

So basically a wife should imagine her that it was

Jesus who proposed to them. It's Jesus that they fell

in love with. How would you feel towards him? Now?

I know sometimes we may say my husband not Mary

christ like, but it is still your duty to behave

as if he were Christ. That is the right attitude

to have for a wife. You have even got another

standard actually to look upon, and the scriptures actually say

look at the church. How does the church behave towards

Christ is the question that we have to ask because

in that analogy of Church and Jesus is always the

same thing as a marriage. They always draw that picture. No,

Christ is the groom, the Church is the Brian. And

so there's another standard for us to actually refer to

and allude to. See. Christ's plan is always that the

leadership in the marriage should be in the husband, as

it is always Jesus' leadership over the Church, and not

the other way around. Not the Church leads Jesus, that

Jesus leads the Church. Amen, we can all agree. And

that's why sometimes when I do pre marriage counseling, I

will ask couples, I will ask the wife, are you

willing to live for your husband? Because the Church was

willing to live for Christ. And of course the husband's

got even a taller order, you know, basically, because I

will get to it, they will always be asked whether

are you willing to die for the Church? Are you

willing to die for your wife? Because I tell you what,

nothing spoils a marriage so quickly as a wife who

has come to look down on her husband instead of

learning to look up to her husband. Again, this has

nothing to do with status or value. This is responsibility.

So ladies, if you're searching for the right men in

your life, find a man that you can look up to,

not a man whom you think needs improving, Because I

tell you what, all men need improving, myself included. No

one is perfect. Every wife will say amen loudly. Sorry, Josh,

she stay quite loud. But a wife shouldn't start off

by saying I'm the one to do it. So as

we go into a relationship, I'm the one that's going

to improve this person, rather say I'm going to marry

this person because I look up to him, I respect him,

and I want him to lead me. That's why it's

so important, even prior to getting married, when you get

to know one another. That is the dynamics of the relationship.

This is for wives. And if we think all tough

on them and the men have got no other responsibilities.

Sometimes sometimes we think that way, you know, but I

want to tell you the teachings of Christ. And therefore

whatever Paul is saying here in the scriptures is it's

counterculture even for that time, because some people say, oh no, whyever,

Paul's teaching it maybe applies back then back then. No,

now this cannot now everyone equal equal in everything, responsibility

rights everything, or no. Back then, actually husbands in a

way got no responsibilities because sometimes wife will almost treat

like shattle or chattle. I don't know how you pronounce

that property. That's why when you talk about employer employee,

is the same thing. White slavery was so rampant back

in those days. It's the same thing because people are

treated as property. Is so basically, if I'm the boss,

I'm the leader. There's no responsibility on me. But Paul

is now saying, hey, husbands, you have responsibility. So I'm

telling you he is even counterculture even for those times.

If we think that, oh, it cannot be applied today, no,

I'm telling you it can be applied. It should be

applied today as it was also applicable back then. And

he's now saying, Okay, I'm going to tell the husbands

what they knew, what they need to do, because it's

not only those who follow who have responsibilities, those who

lead have responsibilities as well. Actually, a lot more is

actually said to the husband. If you read more words

were recorded to the husbands than to the wives, because

husbands have a greater responsibility because they are called to lead.

And everywhere in scripture, whenever there is a leadership calling

upon a person, there's a heavier responsibility more things. I see.

That's why, sonless, you'll find yourself braying for double portion. Right, God,

give me double portion of your annoying thing. What does

that mean? No, that's that's that's basically what's given to

the first bond, two portions. Not so that they can

amass extra for themselves and keep it for themselves and

so that, oh, this is nice to have extra. No,

it's basically one portion for you, one portion to take

care of all the other people around you. That is

the responsibility of the first bond, the oldest child. And

so when we seek for a double portion, basically you

are saying, God, I need help to fulfill the bigger responsibility,

the bigger leadership role that you have given to me. So, husbands,

this is your responsibility. This is these are your duties.

If your wives are going to imagine that they are

married to Christ, then you got to help make their

imagination not so difficult. Right, It's the truth. Sound the

wise laughing, I mean Joe's. In other words, they are going.

If they are going to submit to you, it must

be because you, yourself, are first submitted to Christ. If

the church should model herself on the if the wife,

sorry should model herself on the church's attitude to Christ,

the husband should model himself on Christ's attitude to the Church.

That means, in one word, love, Because a wife doesn't

mind submitting to one who loves her deeply. That is

the reality of it. And it must be the kind

of love that Christ has for all of us. And

I will tell you what kind of love that is,

because it's actually listed in the scriptures. The first kind

of love is basically a love that's prepared to make sacrifices,

even the ultimate one. That is why the question is asked,

are you willing to die for your wife? Just as

Christ was willing to die for the Church. If a

wife feels that her husband loves her that much, I

assure you she will submit to your leadership. The second

thing is this about Jesus's love is known as a

cleansing love. Basically, it's a kind of love when you

love the person, you leave the person better off than

she was before. That is the kind of love that

Jesus has for us. It left us better after his

love was introduced into our lives, a cleansing love. And

then the third thing you realize is is a kind

of love that nourishes and cherish. That's why the analogy

of the body is used. Of course, sometimes in today's

world when we talk about the body, we abuse it

alf the time, life whever we want, and drink whatever

we want. Don't don't do that, think of it. That's

why it says love your wife as you love your

own body. Some people will be like, I don't love

my own body, and I want no, but yeah, come back,

come back, come back to how we should be caring

for our bodies, because really we are given stewardship over

our own bodies. And trust me, someone who feels and

knows that his body is something that is it has

to be taken care of, then you will naturally nourish

and cherish it. You'll feed it well, and you will

take good care of it. That's the reality. That's the

kind of love that is mentioned, and that is the

responsibility of the husband to love their wives. Sometimes we think, okay,

love Jessey, I love you enough no, trust me. Love

must always be in action. It's not just in words.

It's in both words and deeds. And your wives will know,

and you will know whether you love your wives in

whether they submit to you or not. That's the reality

of it. But this is God's pattern for society, whether

it is in a large group of nations, or in communities,

or even in a compact. You need, such as marriage,

be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Make sense. Let's move on. Let's move on to the family. Okay,

And it's actually Ephesients chapter six. So we have done

you chapter five. Now we are moving on to chapter six.

I think I got it wrong on the slights, but

I'm gonna read chapter six versus one to four, and

it says this. It automatically moves on to this children.

Now it's talking about family life. Okay, children, obey your

parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is

the right thing to do. Honor your father and mother.

This is the first commandment with the promise. If you

honor your father and mother, things will go well for

you and you will have a long life on the earth. Fathers,

do not provoke your children to anger by the way

you treat them, rather bring them up with the discipline

and instruction that comes from the lawd Okay, I'm not

making this up. Go back reading really, so, we're going

to look at what God's pattern is now for family,

and the same principles apply. You will see leadership and

you will see loyalty. Same thing when you submit to

one another out of reverence for Christ. It is essentially

talking about leadership and loyalty. You see, you cannot run

a family as a democracy in which everybody in the

family has got equal vote and equal say. Okay, parents

in the house, you try doing that. No, let your

one year old to your Actually, society has allowed that

to happen nowadays. Let the little kids decide what they want. Ah,

how four year old five year olds? No? When I

was living in the UK, Really, a five year old

can decide today, I want to wake up and I

don't think I want to be a boy. I want

to be a girl. And parents are saying, sure, if

my five year old decides that he wants now to

be a girl, then we will identify her as a girl.

How is that possible that you allow a child who

is a child to make choices like that without giving guidance, discipline,

and instruction. So you can't You can't run a family

as a democracy, but neither can you run it as

a dictatorship where you treat children like as do their

machines and robots. That's not the way. You see. The

pattern is again leadership and loyalty, and we are going

to look at the kind of loyalty that children should

have and the kind of leadership that parents should exercise.

It's important because the Bible does not talk about rights

of children and rights of parents. Again, this is a reminder.

It talks about the responsibilities of the child and the

responsibilities of the parents. Then you build a happy family

for God. Someone words may be saying, oh, I don't

have kids, so it doesn't really apply to me. It

doesn't matter. You are all a child of someone, and

you are all children of God, and so we still

have our responsibilities as children. And so within the biblical framework,

children will have one thing that many of them missed,

and that is security. If children do not feel safe

and secure within a framework, you will have what is

chaos anarchy. There's no order, there's no pattern, and that's

why a lot of things in bahasa they call it.

It's everywhere because it's not structured. But there is a

biblical framework. And let's begin with the framework of the

family as seen from the children's side. Okay, this is

the kind of loyalty the children have towards their parents.

That is their responsibility. And they are told too things. Okay,

two things are told to them. One is concerned with

their actions and the other one is concerned with their attitude. Again,

this applies to all of us because we are all children.

Your action and your attitude basically obedience and reverence. You

can have one without the other, but God's will is

for the child to have both. I will explain. Okay,

I don't know whether you remember this story and made

twenty one. There was an owner of a vignyard and

he had two sons. Okay, So he went to the

first son and said, hello, son, can you please go

and work the vinyard today? And the jokers say, I

will not. But then after that he went to work.

And then he had another son who he approached and said, son,

will you pace go and work the vinyard today? And

he's like, okay, sure, think I will go that uh,

And then he did not go. And really this was

a simple story that Jesus told, and the simple lesson

of the story is obedience, obedience. But the amazing thing

is that Jesus actually was the perfect example of what

obedience looks like. When should the parent child stop being

obedient to parents? Son, as we always ask, no, Hey,

we also already don't need to be obedient to our

parents at one age. Okay. For the Jewish culture, at

twelve is where you reach the age of maturity, and

so from then on, actually you are supposed to be

an adult already and do your own thing up until

the point twelve years old. If something, if the child

does something, usually the parents have to bear responsibility. That's

how it is. Okay, it still is today in that sense,

but after twelve, the child has to bear responsibility. It's

the thing about Jesus is he was twelve and he

was found. Parents were looking for him. Remember the story,

parents were looking for he? Where did the flogo? He

was in a synagogue, having a conversation, teaching, doing all

sorts of amazing things. But he went back and submitted

himself to his parents, Mary and Joseph. He could have said,

I'm all grown up, now I mean he did tell

them I am doing my father's business line I mean

the synagogue, but he went back to be submitted to them.

I believe Jesus gave us a profound example to every

child today. He was subject to his parents. Not a

very popular teaching, but it's something that we need to

know and we need to understand. And so why should

you obey your parents? God says, obey your parents because

it is the right thing to do. No other reasons

are given. So you can go and decide what the

right thing to do really means. All I can say

is is the right thing to do? Just do it.

And you notice that one of the sons in the

parable was obedient, but not very happily. That was better

than the other one who say I'll do it and

didn't do it at all. But better still is the

child who said I will and does it. For to

obedience has been added, now reverence to the action of

doing it. Now it has been added the right attitude.

It's very important for children to understand it. It is

God's will for children, not only that they should obey,

but that they should willingly and honorably obey. God thought

this commandment was so important that it's the first and

the only commandment in the whole list of ten commandments.

Actually that comes with a promise attached to it is

a promise. Basically, the promise is that your health and

your wealth will be improved by honoring your parents. No, really,

it says you will live well and you will live long.

I keep you not, I really believe in this. I've

seen how some people have lived their lives honoring their parents,

and really they live well and they live long. So children,

you have a double duty to your parents. Basically, it

is obedience and reverence. Makes sense. Okay, let's turn to

the other side. Parents, And if you've got to expect

the kind of loyalty from your children, then you must

give the right kind of leadership to them as well,

because really, how can a child honor parents who are

well not honorable? And you know verse four, actually, if

you read it, it's addressed to fathers in a way,

maybe mothers can take a chill pill for the time being,

but shouldn't because in today's dynamics, yeah, sometimes we understand

that you might have to take on the father role

as well. But why is it addressed to fathers? Because

fathers are the head of the household. Ultimately, the responsibility

is given to the father, and therefore standards of discipline

and behavior is actually in the father's hands. And so

first of all, we are told, we are told, I'm

speaking on behalf of all the fathers here as well,

not to prick your child. Basically, don't piss them off,

don't provoke or anger them or irritate them, because Paul

goes on to say actually in collosions that if you

do this, they will be discouraged. And so ultimately a

father shouldn't or a parent shouldn't discourage the children. Instead,

they should always encourage them. Can we sometimes discourage and

how can we put them? Well, I believe sometimes when

you're very strict, you're over strict, it can be very

discouraging to a child. Sometimes if you're constantly criticizing the child,

it's also going to be very very discouraging. It builds

up resentment in a child, and so not later that

balloon is going to explode. That That is why sometimes

we have shouting matches at home because no, I actually

I do it all the time. I'm going to to them,

but but I don't know whether I do it in

jests or yeah, but but I'm reminded. I'm reminded telling

me you don't want to pass your kids off. Okay, yeah,

but there are two words that Paul uses in what

we are supposed to do, and it's basically translated in

the Bible discipline and instruction. Very important. You see, discipline

in the Bible simply just means training and punishment. The

word discipline means to cause pain of I'm kind to

a child because you love them. When you think discipline science,

we have to think of I don't know, think of

a soldier, think of a think of an athlete. Soldiers, athletes,

they need to lead a life that is discipline. They

train so that they are able to last and endal

and last long. That is the reality of it. They

continue to train and do they get punished. Yeah, they

get punished when they don't do it right. And so

you know that's this phrase sometimes we always as parents

use it. You know, this hurts me more than it

hurts you when I discipline you. And now of course

the children like, no, heck no it doesn't ah, But

it's the true because in Hebrews twelve, this is what

God says, actually, it actually hurts him when he disciplines us,

his children, because really he doesn't want to see us

suffer in that sense. But it's done out of love.

It is done out of a cleansing love that wants

to leave us better than we were before. But discipline

must very importantly always be accompanied by instruction as to

why you did it. And that is very, very very vital,

because if you punish without instruction, it becomes inadequate. The

discipline becomes inadequate. And I learned this the hard way,

because I think I've shared this and I share this

with all the couples that I counsel. Part of parenting.

You know, when I was a young, first time parent,

I believe in disciplining my children because that was how

I was taught. But most of the time I disciplined

them out of anger. And I find myself because you know,

it's so easily frustrated as a parent. They are not

really communicating. I'm getting angry, I'm getting frustrated, and then

whenever I'm angry and frustrated, that's when I start to

punish my children. It's not that they didn't do anything wrong.

They did something wrong, but when they start hitting me.

That was when I realized something is not right. So

my kid, my oldest girl started hitting me. Uh, and

I'm like, of course, one part of me is getting

more and more angry when she starts to hit and

I'm like, maybe I should really show you who who

is the boss of the family. And then the Lord

had to stop me and say, she's hitting you because

of what she see you do to her. It's a

it's a very normal common thing monkey see monkey do.

And she associates when I'm angry, I hit her. So

when she's angry, she hits me. It's a it's a

it's a normal thing. I mean, it's what we show,

what we do. And if you don't explain and instruct

and trust me, you can never explain and instruct when

you're angry. And because you are just angry, la okay,

you are unreasonable usually when you're angry. And so that's

why discipline and instruction goes hand in hand, it goes together.

You must always explain and I have to learn, and

I have to seek repentance, not just from God, I

mean God. It's like, no, you seek repentance from your

child because you did not discipline her in accordance to

my ways, and so I learn. I learned, and we

all have to learn. It's important because many times, if

we discipline our children when we are annoyed, it's not

going to be good for them. But sometimes we fail

to fulfill our responsibilities because you know, we shrink back

when it comes to disciplining. I know all of us know, like,

because we are also not perfect, and so when we

feel our responsibilities, we look at them feeling their responsibilities

as like you, maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on

the kid. And then sometimes we are also still sinning.

We're all we're all sinners, and because we are still

doing something that's not very right, we think that or

maybe we should just overlook that. No, the responsibility is

still for us to discipline our chure, and there is

the responsibility in how we live our lives with one another.

And there, of course there is the individual responsibility that

we need to work on as well. That's why I

started up by saying that the first part was talking

about how we walk our individual lives. We got to

always imitate Christ, allow his light to shine brightly in

our lives, and be filled with the spirit very very important,

and I thank God that he gave us a plan

for family life. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Parents,

discipline your children with the counsel of the Lord Jesus.

That is the right way to conduct family life. Amen,

and let's move on to the last part. Okay, very quickly,

very quickly, I'll speak even faster now Verses five to nine. Okay,

I'm just going in sequence now, he says, slaves, obey

your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them

sincerely as you would serve Christ. Try to please them

all the time, not just when they are watching you

as slaves of Christ. Do the will of God with

all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were

working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that

the Lord will reward each one of us for the

good we do, whether we are slaves or free. Masters.

Treat your slaves in the same way. Don't threaten them.

Remember you both have the same master in heaven. He

has no favorites. You see. Our vocation is not what

job should we be doing, but how should we be

doing the job that we have. It's a whole different thing,

you know. So your work is a vocation not because

of what you do, but because of how you do it.

Every time people come and talk to me about all

I want to look for new career, they're always asking

me what should I do. I'm not really concerned about

what you do. I'm more concerned about how you do

what the Lord has put in your life to do.

Because you could be you could be someone who is

sweeping the streets, someone who's collecting garbage. Does that mean

that or just because you're a blue collar there's no

dignity in the work that you do as compared to

a white collar. What can know? Because really, I believe

all of us. That's why I say I don't like

to segregate sacred and circular jobs. Sometimes they think, oh,

just because this so and so is working for the church,

his job is more sacred and the ones working in

the world are all secular and worldly. Know, I don't

think we must ever segregate it that way. Ultimately, we

are all called to be full time workers for the

Lord is how we do what we are doing. What

we do is not the most important thing. What we

do really, as the Lord calls you and as he

has let you do it? Right? Amen? So christ is

more interested in how we do our job than what

we do. Okay, so let's record the context underlying love

life and now livelihood. Verse twenty one says, be subject

to one another or submit to one another. It is

that team that Paul applies to marriage, to parents, to children,

and then now to employer and employee. Same team. And

Paul is going to say, there must be leadership and

there must be loyalty. This will only will in both

sides think of their responsibilities rather than their rights. And

here Paul is showing us that it is not the

work you do, it is the way you do it. Amen.

And so he speaks first to the employees. Okay, not

very nice term. Okay, he calls them slaves. Okay, but okay,

that's just translation. You'll know, don't go around calling your

staff slaves. Here can you do trouble to them? He says,

he doesn't talk about time, he doesn't talk about money,

as if to say, that's not your first concern as

Christian workers, But that's always our first concern as Christian

as any workers, Nor time, nor why my work hours?

Know how much am I getting paid? But you see,

he emphasizes certain behaviors to some questions that I'm now

going to ask. Basically, these are the things that he's

looking for. What should an employee do at work? Well,

they are to be obedient and this means doing what

you are told to do and doing it with the

heart and not just the hands. Oh that's why I

say attitude very important together with the actions. This means

that you really believe that the person who told you,

who gave you instructions, actually do know better. It means

you believe that your boss actually does know better, and

then know when you complete something the scripture says, do

it with fear and trembling. It doesn't mean that you're

scared of your boss cause he's going to behold your

pay or he's going to make you work longer. It

means that there is a fear that if you do

something wrongly, really it will actually show that you get

less concern. Basically, it's being more concern, showing more care

in what you are doing. That is how we should

what we should be doing at work? How should they

be behaving well? To be conscientiously loyal? And this means

you don't just work when the boss is around looking.

Because remember someone else is watching. And even if nobody

is watching me, there will always be someone else who

is watching. That's God. So loyalty is actually something that

it's hard. It's hard to come by. Actually, loyalty in

every facet of our society is almost non existent, let

alone prevailing. Okay, what is their attitude? Well, they are

actually called to be cheerful workers, serve cheerfully. The scripture

actually says that. So do you notice how Paul uses

the word hard? Is your heart in it? In the

work that you're doing. He talks about doing it with intent,

with will, and with purpose. You know, work is is

an integral part of our lives. A lot of times

we think it's not important, but we are actually made

to work. We are created to work. We're not created

to do absolutely nothing. But it's very important for us

to understand a few things when it comes to work.

I always understand my work as a duty. It is

my duty. It's not something that I feel like it

I do it. No, it's our duty to work for

the law. And if you understand it as your duty,

then you will understand there is dignity in what you do.

Very important because a lot of people sonis they can

do their work, but to them, my job is so undignified. No,

make sure you find the sense of responsibility, the duty

of doing what you are called to do. Find the

dignity in what you are doing. Then you will learn

how to delight in your work, because a lot of

us don't delight in our work. But I believe work

can be delighted in. Really, I believe it all my

hend beauty, dignity, delight. This is why we are purpose

to work. And this is the behavior that God wants

us to have as employees. And it says, great is

your reward in heaven. It's not just having wages here

on earth. It's more importantly what we are storing up

in heaven. What you will get eventually makes sense. Okay,

now let's move to employers. In Roman and Greek. The

Roman and the Greek world when this was all written,

slave had no rights. Basically, therefore the owner had no responsibilities.

This is why I was mentioning just now. Just like

husbands sometimes have got no responsibilities because the wives are

treated like property, it's the same concept here. The slave

is like a tool. No, and when the tool becomes

sick or become useless, you can destroy the way that

is how it used to be. But Paul is teaching this. No,

he's now telling the slave owners, you have a responsibility

for your You must treat them in the same way

that I have said. They must treat you basically as people,

as persons, no longer as things, and therefore you must

not exploit them. And so Paul reminds first and foremost

that even an employer is employed as well. You may

be at the top, you may be the CEO, you

may be a business owner, but remember that you have

a master. Remember the Roman centurion who said, I also

am a man under authority, even though I'm in command

of a thousand. Do this, and he does it. Basically,

to be under authority is to be in authority. So

employers masters remember that. And the other thing that the

boss needs to remember is the judgment of the Lord,

because one day, at the end of the day, the

employer and the employer are all going to stand before

the judgment. See all absolutely equal, no difference of status,

because God has got no favorites. The scripture tells us that,

and so no distinctions, no partiality. So poly saying you

are all together in this The Church actually has no

distinctions of employer and employee, no distinctions between the wealthy

and the poor. The church brings everybody down to the

same level basically as sinners before God. That then, is

Paul's way of doing it. He took the eyes of

the master the employee, and he turned the eyes of

the master to the Lord. He took the eyes of

the slaves, and he turns the eyes of the slaves

to the Lord. Both are looking at Jesus. And because

he did that, they look at each other with new eyes,

and a new relationship was born. And that is why

our calling and our vocation is something that's so integral

and so important for us to have that outlook. I

tell you this and I keep you no. If you

study history, you will notice that the abolition of slavery

was actually by Christian men and women because they understood this.

Go back and I think British history there was a

lot Wilberforce, a Bible believing Christian man, and he want

was one of the pioneers to really go about abolishing

slave because again people were treated as chattele as things,

as items, and that is not how it is. We

are responsible towards each other as persons first and foremost. Amen,

I'm done, John can come up. It's teaching. I totally

it is teaching. But I want to draw this conclusion.

It's important that we understand this. Scriptures tell us how

we are to relate to one another. But before that,

remember I say, it also tells us how to walk

in our individual faith. Very important. If you read the

whole chapter five, it says again, start off by imitating Christ.

We are all followers of Jesus first and foremost. Walk

in accordance to how Jesus walk his life. We have

the best example of justice and mercy. Jesus really did

something so amazing that I don't know. There's no human

words in our vocabulary that can ever extend how grateful

we are to what He has done for us. So

follow him. Allow our lives to shine for Jesus, illuminate

his love through how we behave, how we act, and

what we do. And I know none of us can

do this by ourselves. It's not easy, and that's why

we need to be intoxicated with the Holy Spirit. We

need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God.

I mean, you know, that's the beauty of our faith.

God accepts us first and foremost for who we are,

and then he transforms us into who we ought to be.

That's the difference between what we believe in any other

religion in this world. Any other religion in this world

will tell you that you are to first become acceptable.

Do do, do, do, do, and become acceptable. But God says,

I accept you for who you are, but now I

have a plan for you. Basically the plan is go

and sin no more. Go and live your life in

accordance to how I am showing you. And how do

we live with one another world? We submit to one

another out of reverence for Christ. Remember it is all

about our responsibilities, not our rife. Don't go into any

relationship demanding rights, because when you do that, you will

spoil the relationship. Go into it thinking what is my

responsibility in this relationship? What can I do? Remember I

always say this, When everyone gives, everyone gets. But when

we go and demand, basically are we become a society

that takes. And that's not how it should be. Leadership

and loyalty has always been the pattern of God for

people to coexist in his kingdom, whether it's in the church,

whether it's in how We govern people, whether it's in

our family units husband and wife, parents and children, or

whether it's in our workplaces, our vocations, employers and employers.

And I thank God that He not only gave us

a plan and a pattern, he says he will help

us as long as we carry on walking in His spirit.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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hit for you.

God bless