Relations in society- Ephesians 6:1-9
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise: 3 “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; 6 not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, 8 knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.
9 And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.
What does the passage say?
V. 1-3 When parents hear this verse, they might shout out ‘Hallelujah!’ But we need to understand why obeying the parents are so important. It is not for the sake of the parents so that they will be in full control of their child. It is more for the child. Since we live in the world, where obeying is not a norm to follow, anymore, it is more crucial to learn obedience. Obedience to whom? Our ultimate goal, as parents, should be teaching our child full obedience to our Lord.
V. 4 Therefore, the father’s (parent’s) is advised not to provoke their children, but rather help them to follow the way of the Lord.
V5-8 We can imagine there might have been some questioning among the slaves, regarding Paul’s teaching. If we are all the same and in unity, wouldn’t we have to be the same? This might have led to disobedience of the slave to their master. The slave must have been practicing his/her right, but culturally the master might not except it. This might have led to some problems. Paul says, remember that your real purpose is to serve others, whether or not he / she is your master.
V. 9 In a smae way, Paul tells the masters to serve their slave. They had no obligation, besides being a child of Christ to serve them.
What does this mean to me/us
Are we striving for unity? If God is asking us to have unity with each other, how much are we making the effort to become one?
For us to be united, we need to give up our understanding. Even though I say that I do that, I have to confess, sometimes my own knowledge precedes God’s understanding.
There was an incident that happened today, which I do not have the liberty to share. I still don’t think I didn’t do wrong. However, this thought hit me. How much did I strive to pursue unity?
Can I still pursue unity, by giving up my own understanding?
It is a hard to live in such way, but what if that is what God wants from me?
What does this MEAN to you?
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