Sunday Morning, May 4, 2025
What a privilege we have to study God’s Word together. The Bible is the revelation of God because it is God Himself whom it reveals. All the truth we know about God’s nature, His love and His grace are discovered in His Word. We know the truth about the great salvation He offers and the glory that awaits those who trust in Jesus Christ from His Word. According to the Lord Jesus, we are sanctified, that is, made holy, by the Word of God. He said, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
The Word of God calls each true believer to have a servant’s heart and then to serve in the ordinary places of life. There are some Christians who long to serve in the spotlight, brightly illuminated with their golden halos sparkling with the glow of glory and inspiration. They seek the lofty places and mountain top experiences and try to keep away difficulties and discouragements brought on by normal life. For example, in the gospels, the Lord Jesus took three disciples, John, James, and Peter, up to the Mount of Transfiguration, where they saw Him in His amazing glory. But He would not allow them to linger in that experience. When they descended, immediately they had to deal with a poor, demon-possessed child. The Lord sent them back to real ministry in this fallen world.
True Holy Spirit led ministry happens in the common, ordinary parts of life. As men and women who are born from above, we do the ordinary work in this fallen world system. Our task is to bring God’s grace into the commonness of our lives in the places where we are because that is where our Sovereign God has placed us. It is here, among those who know us best, and who know our strengths and weaknesses, that we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. Walking by faith means walking in obedience to our Savior’s commandments and desires. He challenges us to prove our faith by obeying His commands even when they go against this world and its ungodly designs.
The Apostle Paul’s consistent theme throughout the book of Colossians is the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is exalted as God’s beloved Son, the image of the invisible God and the Creator of all things. He is superior because He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He has authority because He reconciled all things to Himself through the blood of His cross. The Lord Jesus is the head of the church, the entire church, past, present, and future, and He is its sovereign ruler wherever it exists in the world.
The supreme Savior has chosen to be in, that is, to actually take up residence in every person who chooses to come to Him and receive Him by faith. Since in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the Lord continuously strives to make every true believer in Him absolutely complete in every way. All of that sounds amazing to us; except for one detail: He has chosen to bring His people to spiritual maturity within the normal confines of this life, in typical places, and within the ordinary relationships in which we find ourselves. Those relationships include those between wife and husband, children and fathers, and slaves and masters.
In the verses before us today, through this biblical text inspired by the Holy Spirit, the blazing light of the supremacy of Christ will shine on these three areas of relationship in order to graciously grant to us divine wisdom to guide us. We begin by looking at the supremacy of Christ seen in the relationship between wives and husbands.
ORDINARY WIVES AND HUSBANDS. Colossians 3:18-19
Transformed Relationships. The New Testament reveals to us that receiving Jesus Christ as Savior was not intended to lead simply to a list of religious exercises that should be performed on specific occasions. Living by faith in the Lord Jesus is designed to be a life transforming experience that affects every aspect of the believer’s life. According to Romans 12:2, Christians are “not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of” our minds. This transformation is a complete and radical change of our thinking. It moves us away from the mold the world is trying to press us into and changes us ultimately into the image of Jesus Christ. That is God’s plan for our lives.
Why is this transformation necessary? The human race, in its present fallen state, faces significant social problems because, put simply, we cannot get along with each other. There are three basic words that can help us identify this enormous difficulty we face in this sinful world system. First, people are immoral, that is there is no absolute moral or ethical standard to which all agree and which all follow. Second, we live in an impersonal world where we do not know who we are and why we are here. Third, we are isolated. When the human race fell, it was alienated and isolated from God, from each other and even from ourselves. These problems provide the necessary friction to ruin and destroy all of our earthly relationships. Many people face consistent emptiness and loneliness caused by these problems and live with the burdens they cause.
The solutions to these problems are found in Jesus Christ and His Word. His Word contains an absolute moral standard rooted in His nature. When we grow in Christ, we grow in His holiness and moral purity. From the moment of salvation, the believer is made a child of God and a fellow heir of Jesus and enters into a deep and abiding relationship with Him. And every believer is forever joined to God in a loving relationship that can never be broken. These were God’s promises to the Christians at Colossae, and they are still His promises to us today.
In these verses, Paul turns his attention from the spiritual family to the physical family. The categories of wife and husband, children and fathers, and slaves and masters were established much earlier under Aristotle and were common themes in the Greek and Roman world. In applying these verses to our world today, we should exercise a profile of suspicion on our personal interpretive tendencies: it is too easy to impose on the New Testament our own modern preoccupation with certain definitions of liberation that does not reflect the balance of the New Testament teaching on these issues. These instructions to Christian households by the Apostle Paul are not simply reflections of the culture of his day. They must be heard as an authentic New Testament voice. God designed these verses to give guidance for the way Christians are to bring all of life under the Lordship of their Savior, Jesus Christ.
For the Wives. While I would prefer to begin with the husbands, we must begin where Paul does and that is with wives. I am sure some of you may have reacted to the words “be subject.” Please allow me to say a few words. First, the word in the original is “hupotasso,” which means to order under. It was typically a military word and spoke to arranging an army according to its ranks. It was also used to define how a person recognized himself in relationship to another person. This very word is used about the Lord Jesus and is found in Luke 2:51, “And He [Jesus] went down with them [His parents] and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them…” Clearly, even as a child, the Lord Jesus was superior in every way, but He willingly placed Himself under His parents’ authority. So for a wife to subject herself to her husband reveals a choice she has made to impose God’s order in her household.
Let me also say, wives are not required to submit to some impersonal or external authority but to the man with whom she has entered into the bonds of marriage. Notice, the wife is not directed to submit to all men, only to their own husbands. And, this subjection does not imply inferiority in any respect. It is not based on intelligence, morality, spirituality, worth, integrity, or any other quality. It is based on the wife’s willingness to be obedient to Christ and refers only to authority. The submission of the wife to the husband is not a popular viewpoint and it probably was not popular in Paul’s day either which is why Paul discussed it. It is here and it is relevant today because it is God’s sovereign design for marriage.
There is another phrase: “as is fitting in the Lord.” The phrase “in the Lord” reminds us of the centrality of the Lordship of Christ in every aspect of the Christian life. It speaks of a sense of propriety, that is, be subject in a manner that is appropriate for those who are in the Lord and who walk in the Spirit. It also points to the truth that Jesus shows the pattern of humility and subjection through His life and death. Let me remind you, the principle of the wife’s willing submission to her husband lasts only until the marriage bond is broken by death. In heaven, we are told, there will be no marriage, and therefore, no requirement for this earthly principle of authority and submission in marriage.
For the Husbands. In marriages of Greek and Roman world of the first century were preoccupied with the rights of the male heads of households. Instead of addressing the husband’s rights, Paul focused on the duties of the Christian husband toward his wife. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that husbands have the innate right to exercise marital authority since the male is naturally fitter to command than the female. Paul does not even enter into this discussion, even though it was the typical viewpoint of the first century. Rather he tells the Christian husband that he must love his wife. The issue of husbands loving their wives is largely absent from Greco-Roman and Jewish discussions of marital relationships. To Paul, however, love is the distinctly Christian virtue that highlights the newness of life in Christ and brought into the marriage relationship.
This tells us that husbands who were believers were not to treat their wives as subjects but to love them. This genuine love goes beyond affection and always seeks what is best for the wife. It is sacrificial and unselfish. The husband must choose to love his wife and to keep on loving her. A husband who truly loves his wife would never force her to submit to something humiliating, degrading, or that violates her conscience. I think the Apostle Peter concurred with Paul by saying that husbands should live with their wives in an understanding way and to show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life. The husband is warned to not be embittered against their wives. The word means angry, indignant, and irritated. Clearly the husband becomes angry, indignant and irritated because he is focused on his own selfish needs rather than those of his wife. God’s purpose in the Christian marriage is for the wife and husband to grow in a mature marriage where the husband exercises compassionate care and his wife responds in willing submission to this loving leadership.
TYPICAL CHILDREN AND FATHERS. Colossians 3:20-21
A Word to Children. Children are to obey their parents in everything. Disobedience to parents is designated in the Old Testament as rebellion against God and was severely punished. I must point out that the word “parents” is plural. The direction and discipline in the home should not be left to one parent. Both parents are responsible to give guidance to the children and the children are obligated to obey mother as well as father. In fact, obedience is applied to all things–no exceptions are indicated. We are reminded of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother…” I remind you that Paul is here writing about children who are born into the home of Christian parents. Much is said today about the rights of children, and children do have rights. One of them is that children have a right to be born; a right our culture seems to have conveniently set aside. Another is a right to be born into a devoted Christian home where they will be raised in “the discipline and instruction of the Lord”. They have the right to have godly parents who will teach them the Word of God and correct them, when necessary, in love.
Children do have rights, but they also have responsibilities; and their primary responsibility is to obey their parents. Children are to obey in all things and not simply in those things that please them. Will their parents ever ask them to do something that is wrong? Not if the parents are submitted to the Lord and to one another, and not if they love each other and their children. The child who does not learn to obey his parents is not likely to grow up obeying any authority. He will defy his teachers, the police, his employers, and anyone else who tries to exercise authority over him. The breakdown in authority in our society reflects the breakdown of authority in the home. We notice Paul directs our attention back to the Lord Jesus, whom, he says, is well-pleased by children who are obedient.
A Word to Fathers. Fathers and mothers; should not presume on this obedience and embitter (provoke or irritate) their children by continual agitation and unreasonable demands. This will only make them become discouraged. Praise for well-doing rather than constant criticism will, along with loving discipline, help raise children to live godly lives. Life is not easy for children, especially Christian children. Their problems might seem small to us, but they are quite large to them! Christian parents must listen carefully, share the feelings and frustrations of their children, pray with them, and seek to encourage them. Home ought to be the happiest and best place in all the world!
EVERYDAY SLAVES AND MASTERS. Colossians 3:22, 25-4:1
Paul’s Word to Slaves. Slaves are exhorted to obey (the same word is directed to children in verse 20) their earthly masters. “On earth” is literally “according to the flesh”; only Christ is master of the spirits and souls of believing slaves. This obedience is to be with sincerity of heart, not simply when their masters are watching them or to win their favor. Also slaves are to work with reverence for the Lord. Working with an awareness of God’s character and presence enhances the dignity of the labor of even slaves. In fact, whatever slaves do should be done “heartily” and for the Lord, not for men.
While slavery was certainly undesirable, Paul’s goals did not include restructuring social institutions. Principles in Colossians 3:22-25 for Christian slaves may be applied today to Christian employees. If more Christian employees today served their employers with genuine concern and as though they were serving God, quality and productivity would increase dramatically! It is the Lord Christ whom all Christians are serving. After all, the final “payday” (an inheritance–as a reward) is coming from the Lord. He will judge without favoritism, that is, in full justice, repaying wrongdoers and rewarding those who serve Him. In these verses Paul made numerous points about the motives, attitudes, and conduct of Christian slaves. Such instruction was remarkable in a master-slave society of the Greek-Roman world.
Paul’s Word to Masters. Masters were to provide for their slaves with what is right and fair. After all, masters themselves are responsible to the Lord, their Master in heaven, who treats them fairly. If employers of non-slaves today manifested this kind of compassionate and impartial care for their employees, certainly their employees’ motivation to work would radically improve. The message of the gospel did not immediately destroy slavery, but it did gradually change the relationship between slaves and masters. Social standards and pressures disagreed with Christian ideals, but the Christian master was to practice those ideals just the same. He was to treat his slave like a person and like a brother in Christ. He was not to mistreat him; he was to deal with his slave justly and fairly. After all, the Christian slave was a free man in the Lord, and the master was a slave to Christ. In the same way, our social and physical relationships must always be governed by our spiritual relationships.
EXTRAORDINARY PRINCIPLES. Colossians 3:23-24
Do Your Work for the Lord. Never seen, but always present, our Lord is always present in our marriages, our families, and our jobs. Some people do well only when their authority is watching, but as Christians, we know the Lord is always watching. He is there to help and to encourage. Because of God’s presence, we should do our work heartily. This calls for honest, whole-hearted effort.
The Lord Jesus Will Reward Faithfulness. The Lord will give a reward for faithful service. While we may seek raises and promotions, we should remember that the Lord promises to reward faithful work and labor when we stand before Him. While you and I may or may not have a wealthy relative, all Christians will receive an inheritance for faithfulness. The Bible tells us that we are fellow heirs with Jesus.
All Believers Serve the Lord. The spiritual reality is that each of us serves the Lord Jesus. This is our spiritual job description.
We have seen that the Lord Jesus has supremacy in our marriages, our families, and our occupations. I urge you to consider how you will apply these principles to your life. You and I may be the only Christian life some people will ever see. What do people see in your life? As we prepare to partake of the Lord’s Table, please follow God’s Word and examine yourself to see if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. As we celebrate His new covenant, have you received Jesus into your life so that you are part of His new covenant? If not, right now, ask the Lord Jesus to save you and grant you His gift of everlasting life.
