Watch & listen to every sermon on your favorite podcast software:
Information about this sermon:
Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Colossians 3:17-4:1
The theme of the Superiority of Jesus Christ continues in Paul’s message to the Colossians as he turns his attention to the social order of the family. In these verses, Paul makes clear that the Godly order of family relationships is reflected in the nature of God Himself. Under the Superiority of Christ alone, family relationships are given equality and dignity in such a way that bears witness to the God of the universe. It is only in our sinful desires for superiority and control that we deform God’s intended order and promote selfish ambition and justification. The hope of the Gospel is that Jesus did not use His superiority for His own selfish ambition, but rather, out of love for us, He laid down His life for our salvation.
Transcript
[Music]
well welcome back to uh our series on the fullness of Christ that uh Paul proclaims uh to the people the Church of colosi uh Colossians is a is a is a book that is in incredibly encouraging uh it’s but it’s one that Paul wrote because he had gotten messages about the the church at ksai and he was concerned uh that there was an insecurity in them uh that they might be listening to a contrary gospel that was being proclaimed in their midst that’s often the case as Paul’s writing to different churches he’s gotten messages that they have been uh listening to some dissenting voices about the gospel that he proclaimed to them the good news of Jesus Christ that in in itself wasn’t enough that they needed to do more they needed to be more and that message was coming to the Colossians and Paul was worried about in their insecurity that they were going to be led astray uh only the the group that was coming in wasn’t the normal judaizers those uh Jewish uh Christians that believed that they needed to submit to all the Jewish laws in order to also have any Assurance of Salvation or place with God this was a different group uh that we’ve been talking about for a number of weeks now this group called the gnostics uh and the wordst the root word of Gnostic it means to know and so they one of the ways you can think of the gnostics they’re the know-it-alls uh the know-it-alls that have come in and are saying if you don’t know everything that I know uh then you are not a significant person you have a lesser Place uh in society you OB you have a lesser place in the uh with God and this was something that they were were preaching and it affected a whole bunch of areas that we’ve been talking about I encourage you if you’re interested in this uh to go back and uh listen to this C the sermons that have come before on the rest of uh these chapters uh but today we get to a place that Paul’s particularly concerned about for them uh that had where gnosticism had a a specific teaching that could lead them astray and that was into uh the order Godly order what God had intended in that household or the family relationships and so Paul directly addresses these things because they were being directly undermined by gnosticism and and actually is I’ll talk a little bit about gnosticism hopefully not as long as last week um but I reserve the right um that you know you’ll see there’s a lot of similarities to our culture today and what was happening in this idea of uh gnostics had of Enlightenment of how that they were with secret knowledge uh that they had risen above to a higher spiritual plane and were better than everyone else around them we can see some of that implication in views today in our culture of uh of our social structures and they’ve been because of it they’ve been brought into question they’ve been doubted uh in fact they’ve been maybe characterized as being evil uh but at the same time you know I think it’s incredibly misunderstood and so Paul here is is trying trying to reestablish them in a Godly uh view of what the family looks like but first of all before we get in again a little bit about this Gnostic view uh gnostics were dualist meaning they thought that the material world was was evil uh and that only the spiritual uh realm is What mattered so everything that was material was viewed with suspicion uh it was seen as being corrupt part of the Fallen uh world that had been created by these lesser deities that the one true deity had created uh and so it was all bad and so and this idea of the hierarchy of knowledge exists that I just alluded to they believed that uh the nosis that knowledge that secret knowledge where only a few could actually achieve enlightenment and this knowledge wasn’t about social roles at all uh but about understanding one’s spiritual origin and Destiny right right that you could rise above with this idea of spiritual uh Enlightenment and so because of that they looked at social order of any kind and they saw it as just being suspect this was just uh Man created uh it was created in this uh by the material world and therefore it didn’t matter at all and those who should uh the only order that should be recognized are those who had been specially touched with the secret knowledge that they alone possessed and so this is a big a big issue that Paul sees as he’s looking at how the church and colosi is being affected by these teachings and the disorder that it’s creating and what kind of witness that is to the world because the Christian worldview is is quite the opposite of that the material world is evil it’s that God created and it was good and it was good and he created in a good and orderly way and put all things into their place and they declared it to be good and here is a false gospel that’s being proclaimed that’s undermining it all and so Paul enters into this part of our section today to talk about this social order but not in not in the in society itself but specifically in the family unit in the household uh the way that Godly order was an incredible witness to Christ and to the gospel and good news which might be surprising right because this is one of those controversial uh uh passages that uh that can get me stoned or uh you know by some of you or others may like you know hoist me on your shoulders and uh you know cheer me on but uh but it’s it’s a controversial one because of the issue of our fallen world because of the issue of our Sinful Nature has messed it all up this wasn’t just their issue a gnostic issue or uh a Greek issue it continues to be our issue today even when we know a good and right Godly order the way God has revealed it to be and for what purposes he’s called us to in it our own selfish Ambitions our own desires for superiority have messed it all up and have abused the the social order of family so much that it’s given plenty of room for those enlightened ones in our world and in our culture to call it into question altogether so we’re not innocent in all of this but let’s look let’s dive a little deeper I encourage you to uh if you don’t have your Bibles with you you can uh open up your bulletin uh to Colossians 3 beginning with the 18th
verse wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord and I want to go on to 19 husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them you know in fact this this whole passage there’s uh there’s groups that three different groups that that Paul’s addressing is being significant at that time uh in a typical household of uh of a Greek family you have the wives and husbands children and how they relate to their their fathers in particular Paul’s addressing and then you have the the bond servants or these the slave relationship with with their master that existed uh at the time and so Paul deals with each of these kind of couplets uh in in a very unique way and I know when you hear that word you know in our in our culture today I just said wives submit to your husbands and immediately there’s a lot of uh you you’ve jumped to certain conclusions there you’ve been you’ve experienced things that have been probably abusive and have been uh done in in a way that was less than charitable and you can hear that and shut down but I ask you just give me a moment as we work through this uh because I think you’ll see something really Godly and something beautiful and actually freeing uh in the gospel as it’s presented in these different ways uh because the truth is the relationship between wives and husbands and children and fathers and bonder servants and Masters uh in the ancient world was not good it wasn’t good there was a lot of abuse and there was a lot of misunderstanding about how these relationships should be ordered in fact Aristotle in his uh in his work work politics he said the male is by nature Superior and the female inferior and the one rules and the other is ruled this principle of necessity extends to all of mankind that was the Greek un understanding and that was reflected in a Roman World by the way in which colosi was was mostly a Greek Roman World there was maybe a few little Jewish Community there but it was mainly Greek and Roman and so they lived on under this idea that basically men are superior to everything and everyone and therefore they have complete and total authority over everything and everyone and this is actually far from being oppressive what Paul has to say here is radical and it’s radically equalizing I know it may not seem like it today when we subject it to uh to where we are today and where where our culture’s gone but this was incredibly radical you the Christian Home the relationship between a Christian and a husband and a wife um this wasn’t again speaking to men’s and women’s roles in society at large this was talking about he was talking about specifically within the home and how we experience the fullness of Christ and what he meant to be happening in these relationships and boy is it needed today right we need this I don’t think that anyone can argue that there’s been a disintegration and an undermining intentional undermining uh of the family and what it means and what God intended it to be and believe me this is incredibly purposeful this is uh this is the act of the evil one and you’ll see why because what God intended was that these relationships would actually be a reflection of the Gospel itself a a reflection of who God is to the world in a beautiful way and Satan has done everything he can do to undermine it and he’s of course used our own sinful nature quite successfully to do so so the scripture here that Paul is telling us it’s radically elevating actually it’s actually incredibly elevating to women especially when you understand what I just read by Aristotle under Jewish law when uh a woman was considered a possession of her husband no legal rights the example uh you know a man could divorce his wife for any cause we heard that in the in the gospel reading right and what did Jesus say he’s like yeah Moses gave you that because of your own hard Hearts it wasn’t what God wanted it’s not what God desired but he knew that you guys couldn’t handle it you know this what is what Jesus was saying so a woman couldn’t divorce her husband for any cause and then in Greek society uh you know respectable wives lived a life of of uh seclusion they didn’t weren’t allowed to peer on the streets alone and a husband could Flander in fact you know that was just fine right uh but women couldn’t do it there was an incredible inequality and so Paul addresses wives in this In this passage equally with husbands it may not seem it right because the way you probably think of the word submit we’ll get to that in just a minute but uh but he’s he’s actually putting them on equal footing this was a radically new this was because of the Gospel this had changed everything Paul’s already said there’s not Greek nor Jew there’s not slave nor free right he said it last week when we read that there’s an equality among people both husbands and wives have duties in God’s order they both are admonished in the Lord this is they’re being put on equal footing here and it’s all being captured within verse 17 that we with the end of last week whatever you do in word and deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus that in God’s right order when everything is done in the name of the Lord Jesus it’s beautiful and it’s right and it’s an incredible proclamation of who God is he’s a god of order he’s not a god of
disorder and so Paul’s teaching on the fullness of marriage in Christ brought vast dignity to both men and women uh they’re both under the lordship of Christ equally as equals at the same time within the the marital relationship Paul does recognize that in God’s created intention there is a a definite hierarchy of what God had intended as it reflects God and who he is and for Paul there’s a Divine uh instituted hierarchy in the order of creation and in the order of the place that the wife comes next after her husband when you look at creation itself uh this does not imply natural or spiritual inferiority or superiority because that’s where we go wrong don’t we we all want to be superior and we don’t want anyone to tell us we’re inferior and this doesn’t say either one of those this actually is a proclamation of equality but just an idea of of God has created a good order for his intention that that reflects the Holy Trinity itself the Father the Son and the Holy holy spirit all working together and we’ll keep talking about the son Jesus is equal to the father and yet he’s submissive to him isn’t he that’s what the gospels Proclaim that’s what Jesus himself proclaimed likewise equally and and submissiveness cannot can coexist in relationships including marriage the world doesn’t want us to believe that maybe our own sinful Natures don’t want to believe that right because because we all want to be superior that’s what we want now to submit it means to be under order uh to be arranged under to be subordinate uh in a way a vol but it’s but this is what the the word means it’s the a voluntary attitude of giving in cooperating assuming responsibility and carrying a burden in the Christian view the gospel implications of is absolutely transformative to the view of submission because what it and what it emphasizes and what the gospel demands is mutual respect and love as is exemplified by Christ in his own submission to the father that’s what it demands can you see how this turned the the Roman idea upside down this was huge this gave rights and duties to both and were governed both under the superiority of Christ for God’s Great purpose in fact uh hear these words that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chap 11 verse 3 the head of every man is Christ the head of a wife is her husband and the head of Christ is God you see how God’s intended order of what he what he meant to be a reflection of him and who he is in his order and then in 19 husbands are not given the cart blanch Authority that the Romans treated it as it says husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them uh that love isn’t the romantic love I know we just came off of uh we just came off of Valentine’s Day right and I’m sure about maybe half of you husbands out there did a good job and the other half failed miserably I won’t tell you which one I was but you know the but in uh the Greek language and biblical Greek there’s four different words for love if youve ever read CS Lewis’s book the four loves he he goes into great detail about them but there’s Aeros which is that romantic love right that’s what Hallmark sells us for Valentine’s Day like that’s what it’s all about um and uh that passionate love physical affection and desire it’s where the word erotic comes from there’s the filia love that’s the the Brotherly Love A Love That siblings have for or that’s the love of friendship uh that’s what the that’s what Philadelphia comes from uh the the City of Brotherly Love there’s stor which is family love parents to children uh children to their siblings which might be in doubt a lot of the time but uh but they do they really do but then there’s the fourth love and that’s the agape love and that’s the highest form of love agape love is the selfless sacrificial unconditional love you used for God’s love for Humanity character characterized by commitment to the well-being of others regardless of the personal cost or whether it’s
reciprocated that’s what husbands are charged with which is
harder even if it’s not reciprocated it’s an unconditional love love that husbands are called to love their wives because that is the reflection of the Gospel that God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son into the world to save us under Godly order it’s beautiful it’s pointing back to him the supremacy of Christ and who God is and it’s an example to the world around us and do not be harsh with her Paul says do not be embittered against her there was a literal translation that word you know poisons were uh tasted bitter and so that’s where they got this this uh this word from for to be harsh in the ancient Greek it was poisonous it would kill harsh words Angry Words they slowly kill our wives but we can go beyond wives in this I mean it’s in relationships in general they put us to death little by little killing what is good and beautiful in our lives I could go on a long time with this but I know uh but there’s two more relationships that at least need to speak to and that is children verse 20 got a couple in here children obey your parents and everything for this pleases the
Lord these are my two for those who don’t know so I can uh and my other two are back there so you you all heard that right but then again it’s not by itself right it’s not by itself at all then there goes fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged lest they become discouraged now this word to be obedient is to listen attentively to heed to obey to to hear it’s used in the scriptures as Believers to God we’re to obey God of children to parents of servants to Masters uh but this gets all mixed up in our our culture today like this is the right order of things and yes through through human abuse and sinful nature we have far too many abusive
fathers and so it’s given plenty of ground to those who would say this idea that that fathers should have authority and that children should obey them should be called into question and this isn’t advocating abuse or saying that it should be ignored uh in any way but it goes even the correction goes even further in that in our culture have you heard of Adultism this is what’s being thrown out there today about parents who tell their children uh that they that know that you are not allowed at this time in your life to to make this decision about uh transitioning your gender uh that it’s not you haven’t grown and you’re not an adult yet can make that decision for yourself that’s it’s called Adultism it’s a way over creaction but it’s the same thing uh same thing as what Paul was worried about this idea of the enlightened people around us telling us what’s really good and right not and what God has declared as being good and right the right order of things is that children obey your parents listen to
them have be ready to comply with the commands or instructions reflecting a heart and attitude of of respect for your parents now now let’s turn to fathers you know what the Roman uh the Roman principle of fatherhood was it was known as a Patria potestas that was the law uh that was the law that that governed fatherhood and it gave fathers absolute power over their children absolute uh punishments could be uh beatings obviously disinheritance uh they were there was a legal right to even sell your own child into slavery uh you could Exile your child from the household uh disowning them without support and protection and even now there’s uh this you know even you could put them to death under this there’s we don’t have a lot of records that suggest this was you know something that was running rampant but they the fathers had that kind of uh legal record to do
official rights for children didn’t come until the sixth Century under just Justinian who was a Christian who had been transformed by these words of Paul fathers do not provoke your children so that they won’t be discouraged provoke meaning to stir up to incite to anger an incitement that leads to an action a reaction actions that lead others to anger or frustration or discouragement you know kind of like beating someone into submission just because they’ve lost all heart you see what Paul’s doing here Paul’s giving incredible rights to children in a world that didn’t give them any as Jesus had said don’t hinder these little ones from coming to
me you know provoking your child it comes from a heart that needs to be recognized as Superior we’ve been talking about the superiority of Christ throughout the Colossians and that how our sinful Natures want to be superior in everything and recognized as such fathers if we’re moved so much as to provoke our children to the point that they become discouraged it’s because your interest is more in being Superior than seeing them come to a good and godly place in their own lives in their relationship with the
Lord and then in verses 22 through 41 uh Paul talks about bonder servants and Masters and this is slaves this is an uncomfortable one right uh because I would love to be able to say Paul recognized the evils of it now and he called for the total abolition of it but that’s not what Paul was speaking into uh Paul was seing into this the the as they existed at that time uh and how all of these relationships if they’re pointed back to Christ can be can be lived in in such a way that is good and and glorifying and pointing to the gospel itself under Roman law slaves were considered property no surprise there they could be bought sold inherited or used as collateral with owners having nearly absolute right over them their for their treatment there were no laws uh it was totally up to the Master’s Authority and yet Paul Paul gives an incredible amount of dignity to slaves and rights that had never been afforded them before because of the gospel Paul said in fact there’s no partiality God doesn’t have partiality between you and in fact he brings Masters uh he says that there’s no superiority between master and slave or slave or Master Masters therefore treat your bond servants justly and fairly knowing that you have a master in heaven Paul what he’s concerned about is that all of us living our lives in under the superiority and the supremacy of Christ and how that brings everything into good and right order and points ultimately in our witness to Christ himself and to the godhead the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit it draws people to them when it’s done when it’s lived rightly and not for our own selfish Ambitions and our needs need to be superior over everyone else I think Paul describes this in a beautiful way uh to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 2: 3 to 11 this is what Paul wrote he goes do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant
Superior more significant than yourselves Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interests of others having this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who 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 become obedient to the point of death even death on the cross friends the message of the Gospel is that Jesus is superior over all Paul’s been proclaiming this to uh the Colossians that we’ve been reading over and over and over again but that he used that superiority to Humble himself for you and me because he loves you and in the course of our relationships of husband husbands to wives wives to husbands fathers to our children it’s a reflection of that gospel message of Christ’s love for
us so I want to pray for us as we pray the Lord would give us the humility to not have the need to be superior but in humility to to love one another and to reflect God himself self to a world that so desperately needs him heavenly father thank you that you are a god of order and yet we are a fallen and a sinful people we’ve taken what’s good and what’s right and we’ve used it for our own selfish Ambitions we’ve abused
it we’ve seen it as a way to gain our own advantage over
others Lord forgive us you’ve given us this beautiful institution of marriage and family as a reflection of your gospel will you help us to humbly repent of the ways that we in our own insatiable need to be
superior sin against you first and foremost and against our spouses and our children Lord would you cleanse us as we come to repentance thank you for your promise that you forgive us and that we are New Creations under you that the old is gone and the new has come will you come by the power of your Holy Spirit renew us that our lives our relationships our families might be an incredible Witness to this world that is living in darkness of who you are of your love your Mutual
submission and your
grace in Jesus we pray this in your mighty name amen
[Music]
