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Introduction - Things That Age Well
Introduction - Things That Age Well
Cheese
Wine
A mother’s wisdom
Harrison Ford
Not this text
How We Read
How We Read
Our perspective can alter how we interpret a situation or text
Prince William - not losing his mind
Our perspective can alter the way we read Paul
When we lose the context, we will attribute our own culture & ideas to the Bible & history
That’s not to say that we can’t read Scripture—we must! Be we must also read it carefully and thoughtfully
Lurking behind Paul’s thought here is a culture that was deeply influenced by Aristotle
So what am I supposed to do? Read Aristotle?
Always an option, but not necessary
Know that Paul may be saying something to his direct audience first
To get to our lesson, we need to do a little work
Our reaction to difficult texts in the Bible can often reveal our attitude(s) to our own faith
It remains that we can learn something about our own faith by our reaction
Do we approach the Scriptures expectantly, trusting that God has something for our good even if we don’t understand it yet?
Do we write it off as ancient bigotry, meaningless and dangerous?
Our response to difficult texts reveal the depth of our faith and our approach to our faith
If you find that you stand in judgment of Scripture more than you expect an encounter with God while reading, then a heart exam may be a good thing. We can be critical and thoughtful while still being expectant
So what is Paul saying, and what does it mean for us?
Simple with Big Implications
Simple with Big Implications
Paul wanted his hearers to do exactly what he said earlier in his letter: give up their “Gentile-ness”
Aristotle was in their understanding of family - are you saying everyone went around reading Aristotle?
Like us talking about the principle of separation of church and state; we might know of it, it affects our common life, but we also might not know exactly where it is and how it operates
This understanding of family had to do with who ruled whom
Instead, Paul wants the Ephesians to think about who submits to whom - and the answer is we submit to one another
If you remember nothing else, remember - submit to one another out of fear of Christ
Regardless of 5:22-6:9, we still have to figure out 5:21 for right now
Paul was fleshing it out in a Greco-Roman context still affected by Aristotle
We have to figure it out in a 2019 American context with all of its influences and quirks
As good Americans, we’re affected by the pursuit of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
We like our rights
We want to control our own lives
We protect our rights - privacy, self-determination, to do anything and everything
We are bent on fairness in some ways; we can’t stand when people actually use the left lane to zipper merge
Yet we protect our rights - privacy, self-determination, to do anything and everything; we’ve ceased to use turn signals - why should I tell anyone what I’m doing
We want our orders on time & correct or we want it free
Somehow with this and more going on, we have to learn how to submit to one another
Christ is equal to God, yet doesn’t insist on those rights
Submits and becomes obedient, even to death
How do we model this? It’s going to begin with having 5:21 in our hearts constantly and constantly seeking to live it out in our relationships with one another
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