Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-9
This psalm famously says, in verse 10, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”
Anna lives this psalm out. She is like that sparrow or swallow that builds its nest near the holy places of the Temple… because she wants to be as close to the Lord as she possibly can be. Because she knows that no one lives by bread alone, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”1; because she has “tasted and seen that the Lord is good” 2; because she has “delighted herself in the Lord” and found that he has “given her the desires of her heart”3; because, like Martha’s sister, Mary, she has found in the Lord alone her “good portion”—her greatest treasure—“which will not be taken away from her.”4
So here’s my question: Even though Anna was poor… even though she was a widow… even though she was childless… Was she missing out on anything?
No… she was completely satisfied.
Anna proves that old adage, “You’ll never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have.” Because for this particular prophet, Christ was at the center of her life—spiritually speaking—for at least 63 years of her life… before, finally, she was able to meet Christ her Messiah and Lord in person!
Christ was at the center of everything for her!
And Paul says that Christ should be at the center of our lives, too…if we are “filled with the Spirit,” at least…
Notice this: between chapter 5, verse 22, when he begins talking about marriage, until chapter 6, verse 9, when he finishes discussing the workplace, Paul describes at least six ways that Christ should be at the center of our lives. Chapter 5, verse 22: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Chapter 5, verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Chapter 6, verse 1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord”—or as the NLT puts it, “because you belong to the Lord.” Chapter 6, verse 4: Parents, bring up your children in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Chapter 6, verse 5, “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters… as you would Christ.” Chapter 6, verse 9: Paul says in so many words, Masters, remember that you, too, are like a bondservant to a Master, except your Master, Christ Jesus, is in heaven.
Christ is at the center of everything that Spirit-filled people do! In our homes… in our marriages… in our families… and in our workplaces.
We can’t compartmentalize our faith. Like, “Here’s this little Jesus compartment of my life. I’ll squeeze him in there on Sunday morning when it’s convenient.” When I was growing up, my own parents, for example, had an Atlanta Falcons compartment of their lives on Sunday mornings, and when the Falcons were playing at home on Sundays, that compartment took over the Jesus compartment entirely for that week! We did not go to church in the fall when the Falcons played at home.
But for us Spirit-filled people, it should never be this way: Christ is at the center. He’s everything to us. And that’s Point Number One…
For Point Number Two, let’s talk about how he’s at the center of our homes, specifically, how he’s at the center of the relationship between parents and children.
After giving instructions to children, Paul addresses parents… fathers, specifically… But it’s safe to say that what’s true for a father, of course, will also be true for mothers as well. So Paul tells Christian parents,“do not provoke your children to anger.”
Why is “anger” mentioned? I think this is insightful… Remember, after all, what Jacob did to ten of his twelve sons—not counting Benjamin, who was too young to understand what was going on. But Jacob inadvertently provoked ten of his twelve sons to anger… so much so that at first they plotted to kill Joseph before deciding “merely” to sell him into slavery. And they lied to their father, Jacob, about it, telling him that a wild animal killed Joseph… Which in turn hurt their father far worse than death! How evil!
But why were the brothers so angry at their brother and their father? Because Jacob played favorites with his son Joseph. He showed favoritism.
Some of you remember the Smothers Brothers… What was Tom Smothers’s frequent complaint about his little brother, Dick? “Mom always did like you best!”
Favoritism isn’t the only way for parents to provoke anger—we can easily think of others—but it’s an unusually effective way.
Years ago, I had a friend named Michael… an entrepreneur who, back in the ’90s, got in on the ground floor of “internet banking”—when we all used dial-up, and the World Wide Web was a brand new thing. Michael made millions. And he went on to get a Ph.D. and became a professor at an Atlanta area college. A very successful man… by any measure. But he had a brother who wasn’t nearly as successful. And shortly before his mom died, she broke the news to Michael that she had recently changed her will. Instead of splitting her estate 50-50 between her two sons, as originally planned, she was giving two-thirds of her estate to his brother. “After all,” she said, “You don’t need the money as much as your brother does.”
And how did Michael take this news? He was angry… in spite of himself. He told me at the time, “I would gladly take care of my brother, financially… if he needed anything… Mom knows I would. But by changing her will—I’m sorry—it feels like Mom is saying, ‘I love your brother twice as much as I love you.’”
Rightly or wrongly, that feeling that Michael felt was anger. It hurt him badly.
And I suspect that anger directed toward parents is the ultimate reason so many adults seek psychological counseling and therapy. I’ve heard that even depression can often be a manifestation of anger.
“[Parents], do not provoke your children to anger.” And look what Paul says next: “but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
What does “the discipline and instruction of the Lord” look like?
Well… remember… This is the same Lord who tells us, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”5
This is the same Lord who refused to play favorites—who loved lepers, prostitutes, terrorists, and tax collectors as much as he loved rich young rulers, military leaders, clergy, and politicians. Who loved all of them equally and to the fullest extent possible—who “stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace.”6
This is the same Lord whose love, patience, mercy, and grace are without limits—who teaches us to forgive not seven times but seventy times seven times.7
The same Lord who says, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” 8
The same Lord who performs the lowliest, most humble act of service to his friends—washing their feet—and says, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” 9
The same Lord who said, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 10
This is the same Lord who tells the story of a father whose younger son’s foolishness cost this father so much. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him… ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’”11
To say the least, this kind of love will never provoke children to anger!
So… do you expect me to say, “Parents, love your children like that—love like Jesus—and you’ll be okay.” If I said that, you’d probably wonder how on earth you would be able do it!
So let me say this instead: This kind of love starts with a heart that’s already been transformed and is in the process of being transformed more and more by the love of Jesus Christ—the One who taught us, “He who has been forgiven much loves much, and he who has been forgiven little, loves little.” 12
This love grows as you yourself nurture your relationship with Christ; it grows as you fall more deeply in love with the him; it grows as you’re filled more and more with his Spirit.
Our children and grandchildren need to see us treasure Christ above all. Our children and grandchildren need to see the treasure that we ourselves have found in Christ!
[Talk about the recent weddings of Townshend and Elisa. Anxious young couples asking, “What do we do to ensure that our children grow up loving Jesus like your kids.” It’s not so much what you do; it’s who you are.]
And that’s Point Number Two… Christ must be at the center of our homes…
And Point Number Three… Christ must be at the center of our work…
I’m going to make three quick sub-points on this topic. Are you ready?
Point 3A, About Slavery… Paul begins in verse 5, “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.”
Our English Standard Version is alone among the modern translations in translating the Greek word “doulos” as “bondservant”—all the other modern translations use the word “slave.” But I actually like “bondservant,” because it reminds us how very different slavery in the first century was, in general, from American slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was not race-based or even class-based… Slaves could sometimes be well-educated professionals—like doctors and accountants… Slavery was ubiquitous: something like 25 to 40 percent of the Roman population were slaves. First century slavery in most cases was not a life sentence: it was for a limited time until the slave could pay off a debt that he or she owed; and, unless you were an enemy soldier captured in a war, it was usually voluntary. You agreed to be a slave to pay off a debt; and in turn you’d get free room and board while you did so. Slavery was sometimes chosen to avoid starvation or prison.
So slavery was often more like what we’d call “indentured servitude”—there were Englishmen and -women, for example, who came to the American colonies as indentured servants.
But… Let’s not kid ourselves. Slaves were often badly mistreated. And Paul sees the great harm in it. In 1 Corinthians 7, he urges Christian slaves, if they have the opportunity, to become free. In 1 Timothy 1:10, he includes “enslavers” or “slave traders,” alongside murderers and the sexually immoral, in his list of “ungodly and sinful”13 people. And even in today’s scripture—after telling slaves how to behave toward their masters—he says, in verse 9, “Masters, do the same to them,” i.e., treat them with this same kind of sacrificial, mutually submissive Christ-like love. And then Paul says, “stop your threatening.” What does that mean? Stop threatening violence against your slaves. It’s out of bounds.
But without the threat of violence, what kind of slavery are we talking about?
If Paul’s readers lived by these words, slavery would be transformed from within and undermined… it would become something else entirely… something much, much better.
Regardless, Paul’s words are directed to slaves and masters, but his principle of sacrificial, mutually submissive Christ-like love applies equally to employers and employees… and to the workplace in general. That’s Point 3A.
Point 3B, All Good Work Is the Lord’s Work…
Remember Adam and Eve before the Fall? God gave them work to do… They were literally gardeners… or farmers. After sin entered the world, their work became much harder—that’s true—but in the Garden of Eden they still worked.
And why wouldn’t they? Work—which uses the unique set of gifts that God gives us—can often be incredibly satisfying. I hope we all know what that feels like… if not in our daily jobs then maybe in our hobbies. I like to program 8-bit video games on a vintage 1982 computer. It takes hours and hours of work, but I enjoy it!
And as far as working a job for which I get paid, being a pastor is by far the most satisfying work I’ve done!
But even if you’re doing work that doesn’t satisfy you—you would prefer to do something else if only you could—I want us to consider that even the work you do, no matter how small and seemingly unimportant—assuming it’s good and honest work… the work you do is always answering someone’s prayer.
What do I mean by that? Consider the Lord’s Prayer. We say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” When we pray this, we understand that God isn’t dropping bread out of the sky onto our table.
So how does God give us this gift of bread? Obviously through the gifts of wheat and milk and oil and yeast and all that good stuff that God made. But also through farmers, factory workers, engineers, mechanics, bakers, forklift operators, janitors, salespeople, truck drivers, retailers, website and app developers. And think of all the people involved in supporting this effort of giving us our daily bread: teachers, IT professionals, lawyers, inspectors, police officers, daycare workers, medical professionals, construction workers, architects, even diplomats. It boggles the mind to consider how many people God uses to give us our daily bread! So when we pray for our daily bread, we’re really asking God to enable all these people to do their good work, so that God can answer our prayer.
Therefore, all of these people—whether they know it or not—are working on God’s behalf to answer our prayer for our “daily bread.” Your good work, however insignificant you think it is, is God’s good work through you and for others.
It’s no exaggeration to say that you—yes, you—are doing the “Lord’s work.” That’s Point 3B.
Point 3C, Your Boss Is Always Jesus…
It doesn’t matter whether people work for you, and you’re “in charge,” or whether you work for others… the old bumper sticker got it right: “My boss is a Jewish carpenter.” It’s true! Ultimately we work for Christ. Ultimately we will answer only to him. As Paul says in verse 7, you are “rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.”
In our jobs, the Lord is the only One we need to please… He’s the only One whose opinion of us matters.
I personally struggle with this… Do you?
One of my all-time favorite movies is Chariots of Fire, which tells the real-life story of two Olympic runners, from Britain, in the 1924 Paris Olympics. One of them is a Cambridge University student named Harold Abrahams. Near the end of the film, Abrahams has raced in several races already. He has won nothing. His last race, the 100-meter, is next, in just one hour’s time. It’s his last shot at gold. In the locker room, before the race, he tells his friend Aubrey, a fellow Olympian: “And now in one hour’s time, I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with ten lonely seconds to justify my existence. But will I?”
How depressing! How sad to feel that way! There’s a better way to live!
None of us needs to work to justify our existence. We don’t need success in our career to make us feel good about ourselves. We don’t need recognition, or money, or fame, or worldly power to prove to the world that we really are valuable people.
I think men do this more than women… but both men and women do try to “justify their existence” through someone or something other than Christ alone!
So maybe you always felt like you had to prove yourself to your human father. Guess what? You have nothing prove to your heavenly Father. He couldn’t love you more! He couldn’t be more on your side… more in your corner… more interested in your success and happiness and wellbeing!
You can do nothing to change how much your Father loves you! And I get it… None of us had a human father that loved us anywhere near as much as that… and many of us had fathers whose love fell far short of even human standards.
Many of us always felt like we had something to prove.
But the good news is that our heavenly Father, instead, proved something to us: Romans 5:8: “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 14
And maybe you feel like you always have to “justify your existence” to your boss or employer or shareholders or customers or clients through the work that you do…
Good news! You don’t need to justify yourself to your Lord Jesus, your true Master, your true boss, the One for whom you ultimately work.
You don’t need to justify yourself. In fact, he justified you—not through anything that you could do, but through what he did, on the cross, to bring you into a right relationship with God.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1.
Do you know that peace? [Invitation]