Page 163 - Ephesians

suggest a little outline for those who like logical connections. God
made this one easy. He outlined it for us. The four words in
chapter 6:1-9, that divide the section for us: 6:1 “Children”, 6:4,
“Fathers”, 6:5, “Slaves”, 6:9, “Masters”. It’s already
divided up. So we’ll talk about children, fathers, slaves and
masters. We’ll try to look at how the Holy Spirit develops each
one of those, and then we’ll come back and see the sweeping
principle of submission. “Please read chapter 6:1-9 before
you continue”.

Let me give four observations from chapter 6:1-3. The first
observation is that the Holy Spirit addresses children. What that
means practically, is that children were in attendance at the
Christian fellowships. You see, whatever position you take about
the local church. Whether you say they met in special buildings,
or in the temple, or in homes or caves. God’s people met
together, and the children were there. These letters were passed
around to the local assemblies and the children were present.

The second expression is the words “In the Lord”. “Children,
obey your parents in the Lord.” I believe, by that expression,
the Spirit of God is limiting the boundaries of obedience. There
are times when children will honor the Lord more, by disobeying
their parents. Exactly right. “Children, obey your parents in
the Lord.” See, when Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are
God’s”, He was showing the difference between absolute
authority, and delegated authority. Of course knowing that there
are limits to obedience, may give us some kind of an excuse to be
rebellious, but there is a time to obey God, rather than man.

I know Daniel used it. He obeyed God, rather than man.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego used it. Peter used it. But
the burden to prove that Caesar overstepped his bounds, always
falls on the one who disobeys. There is great abuse of this
principle. It’s easy to say, “That doesn’t honor God”, and use that
as an excuse to just do our own thing. So before we take on
worldly authority, we need to walk very softly and respectfully,
before the Lord.