Sermon Tone Analysis

The Pope

You might remember when the current Pope got poped, or i believe inaugurated is the correct term there was much pomp and ceremony.

But one story stood out.

He refused the red prada shoes, and after he was elected, he rode the train back to his hotel to pay the bills and sort himself out.

This stories stood out and garnered a great deal of good publicity because they were good examples of a leader exercising his power with humility.

And of course it resonates with us because it’s a picture of the kind of leadership Jesus calls his followers to, humbling ourselves, or as Paul said last week in Eph 5:21

Context

Remember last week I talked about the importance of context.

And so, we must make sure we come to this part of Ephesians as we come to any other part of scripture and seek to understand it in context.

And so our reading today about children and parents and slaves and masters is part 2 of this section from Ch 5:21 about submitting to one another, about wives submitting to their husbands and about husbands loving their wives sacrificially and in order to let them flourish.

As Paul sums it up in Eph 5:33 - it’s about love and respect.

And we know that Paul is concerned with these more intimate relationships because of his wider instruction for the Christian so far in Ephesians.

Chap 1-3 Outlining Paul’s big theological ideas - we are made alive in christ and made one in him.

In Chap 4, Paul begins outlining the new standards that God expects of those who have experienced his grace, who have been made alive in Christ and who are being joined together to form one new society.

We’ve seen so far it’s unity and purity.

Paul focuses on these more intimate personal relationships because you won’t live lives of unity and purity in the church community if it doesn’t flow out of your closest relationships.

Husband and wife last week - check podcast.

This week:

Parents and children

and

Slaves and Masters

Parents and Children (6:1-4)

Children

And the first thing to note here is the rather stunning fact that Paul now moves to address Children.

We know that children were often treated badly in the 1st century.

In the Roman Empire babies were often abandoned, weak and deformed ones were killed.

Children were seen as a nuisance.

Less than human.

And of course for the Christian they follow Jesus who turned this whole view upside down.

So Paul models how living out the faith has radically transformed these people.

Children are not only part of the meeting, but important enough for the Apostle to address them directly.

Two things to say here:

Anytime you catch yourself cursing the presence of children, particularly in church, remember that Jesus said its in the welcome of children that we welcome him!

It was and is expected that the church would be a place where children were taught the faith.

We have an obligation to do whatever we can to make that happen, and I praise God for the growth he has bought to our parish in that regard over the past 12 months and I pray for more.

I hope you do too!

So it’s amazing, but what does Paul ask of the children?

1. Obedience:

Why?

Because it is right.

That is it is obvious to Paul from nature that this how children and parents ought to relate.

And in fact this is not a particularly Christian idea, that is it is how God has ordered nature.

And so both Greek and Roman moralists taught that this was a good idea.

And we know other cultures too teach this idea.

For example, Confucius says so too.

So do you have to do everything your mum or dad says?

“In the Lord” are the key words.

Children are not to obey their parents in absolutely everything without exception, but in everything which is compatible with their primary loyalty, namely to their Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Honour:

That is you give them the respect they deserve, it’s I guess an internal attitude that works itself out in obedience.

That is if you give your parents due honour as a child, then you will do what they ask.

Why should we honour our parents?

Is Paul saying if you honour your parents you won’t die young?

No… rather it’s more general than that>

...what is promised is not so much long life to each child who obeys his parents, (But) … social stability to any community in which children honour their parents.

Stott, J. R. W. (1979).

God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p.

241).

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.But not just kids who get told what to do.

That is strong families build strong societies.

So should you expect your 60 year old son to obey you?

Or if you’re 15 when do you get to stop obeying?

The answer to this is cultural.

So there’s the 18 thing, but I personally think the moment you move out, and become financially independent you have come of age in our society.

And so we can’t expect our 60 old son to obey us, but we still would hope they continue to honour us including looking after us as we age.

So what about the responsibility of parents in all this.

Well just like the wife is told to submit and that kinda sounds bad until we see the husband is called to sacrificial love so too with the children they are called to obey their parents, but their parents are called to exercise their authority with restraint:

And in the day of gender inclusivity I think the instruction can be applied also to mothers.

But also given the instruction to children in verses 1-3 was concerning parents it is legitimate to see this command as applying to both mum and dad today.

However in Paul’s day, this command for the Father placed a particular counter cultural call on him.

For in the Roman family, the Father was the head of the family and he exercised authority over the whole family.

He had full rights over his children as a master did over a slave.

They could be hard task masters indeed.

Paul says Fathers’ don’t be like all the fathers you know and probably had, rather be like your heavenly father, who loves and cares for his children and helps them to grow.

Just as the husband should love his wife and allow her to flourish, he should father his children in a way that lets them flourish too.

10:30 only

So check your heart parents.

Are you misusing your authority?

making irritating or unreasonable demands which make no allowances for the inexperience and immaturity of children?

being harsh and/or cruel?

showing favouritism and over-indulgence?

So we have obedient children and loving parents… Paul then moves to

Slaves and Masters (6:5-9)

Once again, just as it was amazing that Paul the Apostle would address children directly, so too that he would speak directly to the slaves in the Christian community.

Again the gospel has radically transformed the way they do community.

Scholars like William Barclay tell us that there were heaps of slaves in the Roman Empire:

It has been computed that in the Roman Empire there were 60,000,000 slaves

They constituted the work force, and included not only domestic servants and manual labourers but educated people as well, like doctors, teachers and administrators.

Slaves could be inherited or purchased, or acquired in settlement of a bad debt, and prisoners of war commonly became slaves.

They were generally not well regarded:

Aristotle could not contemplate any friendship between slave and slave-owner, for, he said ‘A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave’, although he could at least concede that ‘a slave is a kind of possession with a soul’

They were like children in some ways.

Owned completely by the Father.

However in Paul’s day stoic Philosopher Seneca was urging kindness to slaves, and this made sense because if you treated your slave well, they lasted longer, worked better for you.

Kindness was like an economic investment in your property.

Paul’s instruction to the slave is to obey their masters because this relationships reflects something of their relationship with Jesus.

Who is their lord and master.

Paul is reminding the slave that instead of serving his master to please men, he is serving to please Jesus.

Stott:

Exactly the same principle can be applied by contemporary Christians to their work and employment.

Our great need is the clear-sightedness to see Jesus Christ and to set him before us.