Obedience and Honour.
 

Ephesians 6:1-9

6: 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 
2 “Honour your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 
3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 
6 not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 
8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

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In the last chapter, Ch5 we looked at the responsibility of wives and husbands in relationship to Christ and the church.
There is a vast difference between the world’s views and the teachings of scripture.
We are told that as born again believers, we are in the world but not of the world.

John 17:16 15 I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. 
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

We live in this world but our citizenship is in heaven.

Phil 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,

We are representatives, ambassadors of Christ and so we should be different to those who are of the world.
God expects a different way of living from His people. He expects obedience to His precepts and that is why He has given us the wherewithal to do it.
 

6: 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 

God is the one who blesses us with children and with that blessing come responsibility.
We are told in scripture, to bring our children up in a godly way. Teaching them manners and respect and obedience to authority.

The wise Solomon said it like this:

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

There is a saying attributed to both Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
The Roman Catholic church used it, “Give me a child till he is seven and I will give you the man”.

There is one thing that we know for certain. We don’t have to teach our children how to do wrong.
This is what we inherited from Adam. The natural tendency for every child and man or woman is to do what is wrong.
Just like the biased lawn bowl. You send it in a straight line and it will always follow the bias, the side that is weighted.
Man has a natural weighted side and that is to sin.
One of the first words of a child, besides mama or papa, is No.
Obedience must be taught it does not come naturally.

I come from the era that taught children to speak when spoken to. Not to be “lippy” to grownups.
To always use your manners, to respect women and elders.

You will hear many an elderly person say, “I was disciplined as a child and it never did me any harm”.

I am one of those, one that was often punished at home and school for misbehaviour and in those days it was sometimes corporal punishment.
I don’t resent this. I very likely deserved all that I got.

I thank God to this day that this was applied in my house with my children. Many have been the times when I have chastised my girls, sometimes with a smack and then cried behind the door.

But I believe it paid off and they have grown up respecting the law, they never got involved with crime or drugs and  have become decent citizens and good parents.

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes said:

Pro 22:15  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. 
 

Even though this is not the acceptable way of chastisement today, there still needs to be a way of correction.
It may not be a smack on the legs or a cane in the school. However a worse thing for some kids today is to take away their mobile phone or laptop.
Some of them if given the choice would rather have the cane.
It is only when one becomes an adult and has children of their own that the reality really hits home.

2 “Honour your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 
3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

Paul, the one who was brought up in a strict Judaist fashion and knew the Old Testament scripture, is remembering the teachings of Proverbs.

Pro 3:1  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Pro 3:2  For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

I think it would be right to say, that any logical thinking, right minded parent wants what is good for their children.
Any young person who is smart enough to realize that the Lord has given them a mom and dad in their life for a reason, will very likely escape many of life's trials and hardships!

If, as youngsters, they could listen to advice from those who have lived longer than them, those that have experienced the knocks in life, then they wouldn’t have to experience them themselves.
If only they could learn this lesson early, then life would be far easier.
 

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

This verse tells us that it is a two way street. Parenting is hard work and needs a lot of wisdom.
It is so easy to be unfair in our handling of our children. We come home from work tired and stressed. Our child does something or says something wrong and the lid blows off.
Instead of being calm about the matter, we react and make matters worse.

I remember once, one of my daughters acting up in a communion service in the church. I dragged her out of the pew and marched her home. I gave her what was called a good hiding and sent her to bed.
I know that I acted in the heat of the moment and my reaction was over the top.
The question was, why did I act like that? Was it because I was embarrassed? Was I so bothered about what other people would think of me and my parenting, that I reacted so?

Looking back, I think there is some truth in that.

My daughter is now grown up with children and grandchildren of her own and still remembers that event.
Obviously she never forgot it. She never did it again but the question remains, did it do more harm than good?

Our discipline must be fair and done in a calm loving manner for it to be effective in a productive way.
 

5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 
6 not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

In the early days of Christianity, bondservants NKJV, servants KJV, were slaves. The word in the original text is Greek, Doulos. a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.

Obviously, we are not debating the rights or wrongs of slavery. Neither was the Apostle Paul. We are looking at what God is expecting of anyone who is a Christian, slave or free and how as a Christian, we are to behave in a way that honours God.

Today, this verse could be relevant to employees and employers. Soldiers and officers, or teachers and pupils.

Whatever our position, God wants us to be the best that we can be.
Christ is our master but in the world we may have those are over us. those who are your masters according to the flesh.
The lesson is, do everything as though we are doing it for Christ.

Colossians 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

V6.  not with eye service, as men-pleasers.

Not doing it under sufferance, doing it just to please men but because, really we are servants of Christ first. All our actions should be from a pure heart, so as to be pleasing to God.
 

7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 

If we are an employee, be a good one. Again this is a two way street. If you are the employer, be a good one.
Remember we are doing it for the Lord, not man.

8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
 

God is not a respecter of persons. He is just and whether slave or free He has no partiality.
This is what Jesus taught us.

Matt 7:12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Martin Luther quote:
Obedience is the crown and honour of all virtue.

By this we fulfil the two greatest commandments.

Matthew 22: 37 Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 
39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’