How God's Economy Works (2)
Colossians 3:18-4:6 • Sermon • Submitted
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How God's Economy Works
How God's Economy Works
God Word gives us a practical set of Godly laws for living in this world. When we ignore God’s laws and make up our own laws the result a messed up world.
I really like how Pastor Tony Evans explains our messed up world. There is no way I can do justice to what he says so we will just watch the video.
Show Tony Evans video - messed up world
When we live by God’s Words and Ways we inherit His blessings. As Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” If we want to have and to promote a life of abundance in joy, in peace, in love, in hope, we must conform our lives, our households to follow God’s Words and Ways. In our final sermon in the book of Colossians the Apostle Paul is going to teach us the basics of God’s laws for ordering our lives. I titled this sermon “How God’s Economy works.” Here’s why:
In modern times the word “economy” is used mainly to describe large scale financial matters. However, that is not the primary meaning of the word historically. The roots of the word come from the Greek words oikos which means “household” and nomos which means “laws or order.” Economy in its most basic usage means “household order.”
Economy means household order.
So today we are going to get an overview of God’s design for the order, the management of our households.
For any group of people to live together in peace and prosperity, they must have an agreed upon authority that everyone submits to. For example:
Before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the 13 colonies submitted to the authority of the King of England. Then the authority of the crown became oppressive and unjust. To quote the Declaration of Independence: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government”
When the American forefathers declared independence from England they did not simply say, “now we won’t have any laws or authorities.” Or “Everyone can just do what every they want.” They immediately began the process of setting up a new government with authority. They then all agreed to submit to this new authority described in the U.S. constitution.
The point I’m making here is that we often think the words “authority” and “submission” in negative terms. But, in truth, we all want and need them in our society and in our families. If there is not an agreed upon authority and submission by the people living together, to that authority, then there can be no society. Likewise, in our homes if there is not an agreed upon authority and submission to that authority our homes will be chaotic and unhealthy.
Let’s take a few minutes to define clearly the BIBLICAL views on both
Submission and Authority
Jesus spoke about submission in Luke 20:25. Some religious lawyers tried to trap Jesus while he was teaching in public. At that time in history, the Jewish people were subjects under the pagan Roman Empire. The Jewish people had to submit to the Roman authorities and pay taxes. If anyone publicly taught that Jews should not pay taxes they would be arrested for rebellion by the Roman government.
In hopes of having Jesus arrested the religious lawyers publicly asked Jesus if Jews should pay taxes to the pagan Roman government. In response Jesus asked for a Roman coin. The he held up the coin and asked, “Whose image is engraved on this coin?” The people answered, “Caesar.” Then Jesus gave us this instruction on how to live as Christians in an ungodly society:
Luke 20:25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus clearly instructed that we should submit to national governments, pay taxes, and be good citizens. Even if the leaders are godless people. In addition, he reminds us that people are made in God’s image, so we submit ultimately to God’s authority on our lives.
This does not mean that we submit to earthy authorities no matter what. There might be a time when we must disobey earthly authority if it contradicts God’s authority. You will remember what Peter said to the authorities when they told him to stop preaching about Jesus. Peter said, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge (Acts 4:19, ESV).
Peter did not submit to the worldly authorities when they contradicted God’s commands. So, to summarize:
The Biblical view on submission: Christians are to be good neighbors and good citizens of our society, except when those earthly authorities come into direct conflict with the Law of God.
Now let’s look at what the Bible has to say about authority.
Again, Jesus spoke very clearly about how Christians are to act when they are the person in authority over someone else. James and John were arguing over who was the most important and who should have the most authority. In reply Jesus said this:
TYPO ON HANDOUT
Matthew 20:25–28 ESV
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
God will give each of us a measure of authority over other people in our lifetimes. So it is important to understand the-
Biblical view of Authority: When we find ourselves in authority, we are to use our authority to serve the people under our authority, knowing we are ultimately under God’s authority.
We are to never abuse our authority for selfish gain. And when God puts you and I in a position of authority, God holds us to a higher level of responsibility.
With this in mind we are ready to read today’s passage. This is not a seminar of each of these relationships, but instead a bullet-point reminder with important principles.
On the front of your sermon handout you will see that I have broken today’s passage up into five parts that we will take one at a time.
LET’S PRAY AND BEGIN READING.
Colossians 3:18-19
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
The first relationship in God’s Economy for our lives addressed by is:
The Marriage Relationship.
The Marriage Relationship.
God’s law for marriage is one man and one woman committed to each other and their family for life. And God’s ideal for this relationship is based on love and submission.
Wives should submit to their husband’s leadership in the home because of their respect for God and His ordained Economy in the household.
Here are some things the “submit” does not mean in the context of marriage:
• Submission does not mean slavery or servitude.
• Submission does not mean blind obedience. If the husband is off the tracks spiritually the wife should call him on it using Matthew 18 as a guideline. Just as Peter did not submit to the Jewish authorities when they commanded him to stop preaching, women do not need to submit to their husbands when their husband is doing something in contrary to God’s authority. If the husband says to his wife, “ I think we should quit our jobs and start robbing banks.” The wife then should not “submit” and go out and start buying ski masks. If a husband leads his family in a way that is contrary to the authority of God the woman should call him on it privately and involve brothers and sisters in the church to confront him. Again, see Matthew 18 for Jesus’ specific instructions on confronting sin.
• Submission does not mean intellectually inferior. In about 10 seconds we can all think of a marriage where the wife is smarter than the husband. But even if the wife is a PhD and husband did not graduate from high school it does not change the God ordained Economy for the home. The husband is still commanded to lovingly lead his family and the wife is commanded to respect and submit so long as the husband is not in blatant rebellion against God’s authority over him. Any husband would be a fool not to seek counsel from his wife.
A wife submits to her husband because she recognizes God’s designed economy for the family and respects the authority and responsibility that God has given her husband. YOUNG LADIES LISTEN UP! This is why you should not date or consider marriage to a man who is not living in submission to God’s ways. And now LISTEN UP YOUNG MEN! If you want to be spiritually attractive to the kind of woman that will be committed to you and your leadership, then show them that you are submitted to the ways and words of God.
Now to the men:
Husbands love your wives.
in other places it says to love your wife as your on flesh and to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.
Show chart on leadership and freedom
I want to show you another illustration I drew based a chart from a leadership book by John Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell used this chart to show how a person who grows in leadership responsibility must give us their personal freedom. The same idea applies to God’s economy for manhood.
As a single man has you have little responsibility and lots of freedom. You spend your time and money and energy on what you want. When you get married your time, money, and energy are no longer your own. You share them with your wife. Then you have kids and your freedom to use your time, money, and energy dramatically decline.
God calls husband to love their wives and joyfully sacrifice their personal freedoms for the good of the family. This is Gods Economy for the Family.
The truth is, this chart is applicable to womanhood as well. The point I’m trying to drive home is that authority and submission are important and necessary parts of God’s plan for marriage. If we shirk or dismiss our calls to submit and to lead we will breakdown the integrity of our household. And that breakdown will reverberate throughout our community, our nation, and the world.
Now to the next relationship in God’s Economy:
Parents and Children
Parents and Children
Lets read Colossians 3:20–21:
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
For children it’s pretty simple but it’s not easy.
Children obey your parents.
Obey and honor your parents is not always easy. Because by nature we are all lazy and selfish and and think we know everything. And, not only that, our parents are not perfect. But children are to obey their parents because they are honoring the Lord. And as we have said before, even a parents authority is not above God’s authority. So kids, if your parents are acting in ungodly ways or asking your kids to do ungodly things, then you have a God given right to respectfully tell them. If your parents call you into the living room and announce the the family is going work together to rob banks for a living - you can use Matthew 18 and appeal to God’s authority. But if what your parents ask is not sinful or ungodly then God wants you to obey.
Parents, don’t provoke your kids.
up, I knew kids whose parents had very few boundaries for their children and their children did not respect their parents on bit. I knew other parents who were tyrannically strict and their kids, either sneaked around behind their back, or simple went wild the moment they left the house. These are the extremes that discourage your kids. It means to not treat your children in a way that they “lose heart.”
All kids are different. And the only way you can know how to deal with unique children is to have a unique relationship with each of them. You have sit down with each child one on one and get to know them. If a child feels unloved, unwelcome, and unheard they will be discouraged. And they will find someone else who will make them feel like they belong and are listened to.
Now let’s move to the next relationship described by :
Bond servants and Masters
Bond servants and Masters
Let’s read the next verses:
Colossians 3:22-24
22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
When Paul wrote this letter around 35 to 40% of the entire population were bond servants or slaves. People were made into bond servants after being conquered in war or commited a crime or because their incurred debts they could not repay or because they were born into bond servants families or they were a sort of bonded share croppers. They were people who owed their livelihood to another person.
Though we don’ t have these sorts of bond servants today, we can still apply the principles to our professional lives.
Simply put, if we are under the authority of an employer we are to honor the Lord in how we work. Our work ethic and integrity should be based on God’s standards and not the standards of our non-Christian co-workers. This is part of our Christian witness to the world. The simply principle is:
Employees obey the employer.
As with all of these roles of submission that each of us have, there are limits. It you feel your job is treating people unfairly, or you are being asked to do something in violation of your conscience, you should speak up in a respectful way.
Likewise, if we are a position of employer or supervisor we are to treat employees with fairness and dignity knowing that God is watching. As an employer or supervisor it is your Christian duty to make sure that people are treated with respect and dignity. Again Paul keeps it simple:
Employers be fair and just.
Colossians 4:1
1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
When we are in the position of authority over people it is a great responsibility. Of course, we should treat our Christian employees with respect, but it is equally important with our non-Christians. If you are a Christian manager or employer, you most likely have employees who have never had a godly authority in their life. We should use the opportunity of having non-believers as employees to be a Godly witness through our leadership.
Next we see God’s Economy between:
Christians and other Christians.
Christians and other Christians.
Colossians 4:2-4
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
In these verses Paul focuses on praying for each other as Christians. He doesn’t spend much time this relationship here because he spent the first 17 verses of chapter 3 talking about this relationship. These principle for how a Christian relates to a Christian can be summarized from verses 13 and 14:
Bearing with one another and, . . . above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Bear with one another in love.
If you are going to have strong friendships in the body of Christ you will have to learn to forgive other people. And we do it in the Lord because of what he has forgiven us.
Now we come to our final relationship in God’s Economy :
Christian to Non-Christians
Christian to Non-Christians
Colossians 4:5-6
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
There is a wonderful opportunity for Christians in today’s rude and vindictive country. It has never been easier to stick out as a Christian. All you have to do is what Paul instructs in these verses:
Be wise and gracious.
To be wise means to keep your focus on the most important things in life. Don’t damage your relationships with lost people over petty things. Following God’s ways is the wise thing to do and they who live wisely will reap a harvest in season. He who walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
To be gracious means to give people respect, courtesy, and help that they don’t deserve. Jesus said that even criminals are good to people who are good to them. Christians are to return good for evil. If someone insults or slanders you, or cheats you then you know what it is like for God to deal with all of your betrayals towards him. He forgave you, so you are to forgive others who wrong you. Blessed are the peacemaker and the humble at heart.
These are the five relationship principles that Christians are instructed to follow in God’s Economy. The choice we have to make each day is whether we are going to submit to God’s Economy for managing the relationships in our lives or whether we will reject God’s order for our lives.
So, as we come to our time of meditation and invitation:
If you are a Christian examine these relationships in your life. Are you submitting to the authority of God in your relationships. Are you submitting to the earthy authority that God has put you under. And in the relationships where people are under you authority, are you treating people with justice and fairness?
Likewise if you are here this morning and have never submitted to God’s authority over you life you can to that this morning. You do this by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that you will give God complete authority over you life. And secondly by believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead as a payment for all of your sins.
Whatever the Holy Spirit is calling you to do this morning - Hear God’s Word and respond in faithful obedience. Let’s pray.