Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 6:1-9

Ephesians 6 (NLT)

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.

“Honor your father and mother.”

This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.

Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.

Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.

Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you.

As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.

Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

Masters, treat your slaves in the same way.

Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Kyle asked to take Eph 5 household code :)

He set the stage

just like Paul subverted the very nature of men and womens relationships in chapter 5, in this passage Paul takes on the other 2 parts of household relationships and does the same thing.

The radical reframing of Eph 5 &6 should startle us even today.

16 “Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God commanded you.

Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Again, start with weaker party and their obligation…but stated as an invitation....to be blessed through kingdom relationship.

This is a rock solid promise that we see take root even today.

There is no transaction in parenting.

-It is a relationship

-They are humans with incredible dignity and worth

-they will be your brothers and sisters in Christ

-you have responsibilities to one another

-respect, Dignity, care, generosity,

-Generational connection and care is the center of God’s provision for his people:

-Poverty (kids and old age)

-fundamentally altered by lifelong care in loving family relationships

-When we follow the way of Jesus, when we use confession, humility, holiness, gentleness, long suffering, love and forgiveness....as the basis for our relationships, we see an unparalleled power to keep connected over a lifetime.

“In Ancient Rome, fathers were endowed with nearly limitless power over their family, especially their children.

This patria potestas, or "the father's power" gave him legal rights over his children until he died or his children were emancipated.[3]:

36  These powers included the right to arrange marriages or force divorce, expose a new born child if he did not want him/her, and even disown, sell, or kill his child.”

the father had limitless power....why is the mother not in this picture?

A woman in Ancient Rome was under the social expectation to become a wife and mother.

Despite the importance of the mother in the family structure as the bearer of the children, she had no legal control over her children.

3/10 babies died in childbirth

1/3rd of all women died in childbirth (1/50 births) 5-10 births

Men were the ones that were responsible for raising kids because they were around for so many

There are two sides to every relationship…and this is an interesting turn:

-start with the weaker party (covenant)

-See it as a gift of compliance rather than a duty

-challenge the stronger party to act like God.: generous, kind, long suffering, not power hungry.

Back to Gen 15: the suzerain treaty

-the strong takes on the penalty for the weak.

Now the harder passage

Slaves and Masters

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.

Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.

6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you.

As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.

7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way.

Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Slavery is an important thing to understand about the ancient world:

-different than chattel slavery of US (national not racial), intimate familial---why war was wrong then and is wrong now.

-whether Slave or free:

The Hebrew word for “bondservant,” ‘ebed, had a similar connotation.

However, the Mosaic Law allowed an indentured servant to become a bondservant voluntarily: “If the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges.

He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl.

Then he will be his servant for life” (Exodus 21:5–6).

-there were laws against releasing slaves

-from the beginning of Rome....but never a part of God’s purposes

household slaves:

-part of the family

-responsibilities in both directions

-debt slavery (children, self)

servus non habet personam (slave does not have a person)

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary (c.

Servants and Masters (6:5–9))

Then a very practical point is touched on.

Threatening came very easily to the lips of the master of slaves in the ancient world, and the slave could not answer back.

It involved their ‘trying to extort the last ounce of effort from their slaves by threat of punishment’ (Mitton, NCB).

The employer may still today speak and act as the one who has the ‘whip-hand’.

what an interesting thing we see here about our work and the work of the slave driver.

we live in a time of bondage to work…and our corporations demand more and more from us:

-hours

-engagement (24-7)

-unpaid work

-little time off

-maximum efficiency

-minimal resources

the economics of work have always had these same temptations:

-more work

-less pay

-more profit

-less work for owner

-faster ROI

God hates this mentality

-its about us not trusting him

-it is about us ignoring his commitments and commandments

-it is evil

-it is about inequality

-there will be no slavery in God’s kingdom

-there will be no capitalism in God’s kingdom

It means, moreover, the transformation of the Christian’s entire standards of work and service into something totally different from the standards of the world.