MR. D'S NOTES ON COLOSSIANS

COPYRIGHT 2002

Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

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CHAPTER SIX

6. CHRIST OUR MOTIVATOR

Christ our Motivator brings us to proper service (vs. 23).
Col. 3.18-4.1

Remember the context of the following text is doing all as unto the Lord! This is truly important stuff that we are going to cover in this section - this passage gives us other things we can do as unto the Lord. Family life as well as work life - our entire life actually should be lived as unto the Lord.

Vs. 18 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord."

Ah, got this one - easy verse - wives submit - the word submit comes from two different words - sub meaning under and mitt meaning hand - under the husband’s hand - NO! They are co-heirs - submitting to leadership, but not under his hand (thumb either).

The word indicates the wife is to be under the authority of, or subject to. This definitely goes against some of the current thinking of the world, but then we aren't subject to the worlds false teaching.

Not only in the home is she to submit but this seems to be a straightforward command to submit or be subject to, as well as a very definite command against adultery in my mind. You can't commit adultery and be submissive to only your OWN husband.

The term submit is used in Rom. 13.1 "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God.

Why? Because it is "fit in the Lord." One of the thoughts to this word "fit" is "to pertain to what is due, duty, as was fitting" according to Thayer. It is the wife's duty to be submissive to her husband and only her husband - it is her duty because she is in Christ.

The thought crossed my mind, can this "own husband" issue relate to more than adultery. I would assume that might be very possible. Example: In a church situation there might be times when the wife should be sure she follows her own husband’s desire rather than some other man in the church. Take some time and see if you can think of other situations that this verse might fit.

Robertson mentions "Wives have rights and privileges, but recognition of the husband's leadership is essential to a well-ordered home...."

Now, that I have made verbiage of the term "own" I might admit that not all translations include the term. Some of the manuscripts omit this word, though logic requires the thought of "own husband."

I might add that this word submission is not a female only term, it is used of male relationships to others as well. The Bible makes it clear that men are subject to Christ, to powers that be, to employees if they are working men etc. We all are called in Scripture to submit to others - government, teachers, employees, police, etc.

There is also a real point to be made. This verse is addressed to the wife and not the husband. She is the one that brings this to pass. It is not the husband’s job to force her into submission even though he might reeeaaalllly want to. It is not the pastor’s place either, though both the husband and then the pastor should teach this verse to the erring woman and encourage her before the Lord to make it a part of her life.

Vs. 19 "Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them."

The husband is required to love his wife, while the wife is to be taught to love their husband (Titus 2.4).

The husband is to love his wife. What in the world does that mean.

Does it mean that we go seek out some fuzzy feeling in our stomach and call it love?

Does it mean that we submit to their every desire and buy them the world and lay it at their feet? (If that one is true I'm in big trouble.)

Does it mean that we seek their benefit? Yes, this is certainly included.

Does it mean that we seek their peace/unity in the marriage? Yes, for sure this is a needed part of love.

Does it mean setting aside our own desires at times to minister to her needs? Yes, this is also needed.

If they have a physical, emotional or spiritual need we as husbands ought to seek to fill that need at the earliest point in time.

By the way, how can a husband do the afore mentioned and commit adultery? He can't.

"Bitter" can relate to the stomach - guess we as husbands are not to have indigestion because of their actions. Well, maybe more to the point that we should never be bitter over the loving, or the caring of the wife. It is not only our responsibility, but our fortune.

Vs. 20 "Children, obey [your] parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."

If you want to please God in your younger life, then follow your parents - the simplest way to please God that I can think of. Elsewhere in the New Testament the same thought is related to long life. I have never taken a widespread survey, but have talked to many older believers and asked them if they obeyed their parents and they said they did. In fact I have never asked one that had not obeyed their parents - may well prove the point - not that the Word needs to be proven true.

Let us consider for a moment this thought of obedience. Do most kids today obey their parents? Maybe on "three" of "one, two, three" but quite often not even on "four" - if they stop on "three" you can almost bet there will be a restart almost immediately.

What is the cost of the lack of obedience?

IN THE FAMILY:

Lack of peace in the home
Lack of unity in the family
Lack of unity within the couple quite often
Dissension between the siblings

IN THE SCHOOLS:

Lack of peace
Lack of learning
Lack of social interaction as it should be

IN THE NATION:

Lack of submission of workers to their employers
Lack of submission to the law
Lack of proper understanding of issues

I might meddle just a little at this point. It could be argued that Paul knew that children would be present in the gathering to hear the reading of this letter. If this is true there could well be direct application to churches today that herd their kids off to all sorts of programs rather than having them in the service.

There are some real things to gain by having children in the services.

1. They learn to be quiet and listen. They may not learn everything that is spoken, but they will pick up things that they will tuck away in their minds.

2. They see mom, dad, pastor, brother, sister, elders and everyone else worshiping God. They will be more responsive in later years knowing what the service is like. It is said that women in Asia bind their children on their backs when they go to pray. The mothers never have to teach the child the chants/prayers. They pick it up automatically.

We are missing some serious teaching time with our children today in the name of keeping the sanctuary quiet. Even small children can learn to be quiet - without a bag of toys or crayons to entertain them.

A child that can read and write can take notes and I know they can pick up on some of the major points of what is being said.

3. They learn of God, they learn of His desire for them, they learn of His love for them and that can't be bad!

Vs. 21 "Fathers, provoke not your children [to anger], lest they be discouraged."

This is not to say that the kids aren't going to get upset with you from time to time, but the attempt not to bring them to real anger is to be the father’s goal - mom's too, if they are in on the discipline/training.

If they do get angry it isn't the end of the world as they will only be discouraged. If you do bring them to anger then it is high time that you ENCOURAGE THEM on the spot so that they do not wallow in discouragement. This is what leads to depression and oft times other troubles.

Provoke seems to relate to nagging rather than the one time incident when you ask them to do something.

Stedman lists three areas where fathers can irritate their child. He has gleaned this list from observing many families in his fairly large church over many years.

1. Ignoring the child
2. Indulging the child
3. Insulting the child

I think a little thinking on these items by most any father would bring them to agree with his listing.

Vs. 22 "Servants, obey in all things [your] masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:"

We might take a moment to consider slavery at the time of the writing of this book. It has been suggested that approximately half the Roman empire was
slaves to the other half of the Roman empire.

Now, place this passage in that context. Couple of items. Paul did not rant and rave about the wrongness of slavery - he acknowledged that it existed and taught the Christians how to live within this system.

We might also submit that not all slaves in the Roman empire had Sunday off to go to two services. They attended the services when they could. You can apply that feature yourself to the thought of having to work on Sunday.

Since we have no slavery in most of the world, we would want to apply this passage to the work world - the relationship between the employee and employer.

It seems to me that the order of rank in the work area is Christ, boss, company, and you. Keeping this standard as best, you can is important to your testimony.

Can you keep this ranking if you join a union? Maybe, maybe not, but usually the union becomes the top dog rather than Christ - they can tell you what you are going to do.

We might ask, should you ask for promotions? If that is the norm for the job then go for it.

Should you ask for raises? I never have and have always had what the Lord wanted to provide.

Should you do things you know are wrong because you are told to? No, your Christian standards should not be compromised - you may lose your job, but you will have done right.

You are to do your work as unto the Lord, not to please the boss. Please the Lord and all will be well with your job.

Vs. 23 "And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"

This must be our frame of mind in all of life. Anything less is less than what God wants of our lives.

My job as maintenance man/supervisor was not the glory job of my life, but every morning as I walked the three blocks to work I would ask that the Lord would allow me to have a good attitude and that I would honor Him in my job and behavior.

Vs. 24 "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ."

I know this verse is there, but until recent years I did not labor for the Lord due to its existence - still don't for that matter. Christ died for my sin in my place, thus there is nothing in this life that He can ask me to do that would measure up to his work for me - why in the world would the thought of reward enter into the mix - yet, He in his grace has decided to reward me for doing what I ought to do anyway.

When working, our company had the very nice custom of taking all employees that had perfect attendance to a free lunch at a nice restaurant. As we were getting up to leave I turned to the manager and said thanks for the lunch and remarked that it was nice for the company to do something nice for us when we did what we ought to do.

Vs. 25 "But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons."

Well, on the other hand we have a down side to all this. If you don't do the do's you will find that God will do for your don'ts! No matter whether a master, a husband, a child, a wife or an employee - do wrong and you will receive.

What will you receive? First of all the grammar lets us know that this will certainly happen and it is yet future. We are to assume that it relates to our future reward since that is the direct context, but I assume the thought of chastisement could enter into it if the fault was grievous enough.

Let it be said, that I desire to walk worthy of the Lord so I don't need to find out what all the verse might mean.

4:1 "Masters, give unto [your] servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."

Wow, the implications of that verse. The implications are that we are to treat our slaves/employees as Christ treats us.

Let's think about that one for a moment or two. How does Christ treat us?

WITH LOVE
WITH RESPECT
WITH KINDNESS
WITH GRACE
WITH

How many of us would like to work for an employer like that? Most I would imagine.

If you are an employer, be sure to keep this in mind for your future reference - both future in this life and future in the next.

Now, if you are an employee don't expect this sort of treatment as you most likely won't get it unless you work for a believer that has read and understood this passage.

It seems to me that all of the people addressed in this passage are called to obey. The wife is to submit to her husband, the children are to obey their parents, the servants are to obey their masters, the masters are to obey their master in heaven - AND ALL THESE ARE TO DO IT AS UNTO THE LORD!

Unless you are an adult single person, whose parents have died and who is independently wealthy with no children there is something here for you. We should do all as unto the Lord.

Obey. Such a small word - it is a four-letter word to many in our society today, but it is a word that relates heavily to our relationship to God.

Adam and Eve didn't function all that well with the word did they? Man has a serious problem in being obedient to God - the Bible is quite effective in documenting this problem.

It seems that walking with God is the only way that we can assure ourselves of obedience to all those we relate to. It is not so that we can look good to others, but so that we are good for the Lord.

We might just remind ourselves that there are consequences to disobedience and rewards for obedience in this life as well.

COST REWARD

Disobedient Israelites Two were allowed into the land
died in the wilderness

Lot/daughters made it out of Sodom Lot's wife became salt

Cain was rejected Able was accepted

Flood generation was lost Noah and family were saved

It might be appropriate to remind ourselves that the one we are to pattern our lives after is the perfect example of obeying. Christ was obedient even unto the cross.

Our lives should always revolve around pleasing the Lord and all our labors should be in His name, not our own efforts and desires. If we do all as unto the Lord then our service to Him will be proper.