Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians 3:18-4:1

 

! Introduction

Carla’s nephew in BC does a lot of work for the huge green houses that are all over the place.

He installs and maintains the furnaces that keep the temperature up in the winter.

They have acres and acres of greenhouse under one roof.

Plants grown in these green houses are grown in absolutely perfect conditions.

The light, moisture, fertilization, pruning and all conditions for growth are controlled so that these plants have every opportunity to produce as much as possible.

Sometimes as Christians we have the opportunity to live in situations that are like a “green house” situation.

At Bible School, when we attend a retreat or go on a mission trip, we are surrounded by committed Christian people, and are able to focus on the things of God with intensity.

It is often a good time of growth and very important at certain times and stages in life, but it is not where most of our Christian life will be lived.

Christian living is done most intensely in the matters of everyday life.

It is done in a context where you wake up in the morning and your hair looks like you stuck your finger in a light socket.

It is lived where you have to wake up at 3 in the morning to clean up a messy diaper.

It is lived in a world where your spouse comes home from work grouchy and demanding.

How many of us have been or have had to deal with a moody teenager or an unreasonable boss.

How many of us have been tempted to do less than our best at our job because the work is so unfulfilling?

These are the places where the Christian life must be lived.

What does it mean to be a Christian in the ordinary of day to day?

If God has entered our life in salvation, then it must make a difference not only when we go to church or when we have a spiritual high but in the most ordinary circumstances of life.

Our text for this morning is Colossians 3:18-4:1.

Please follow along as I read this passage.

!

I. Relationships “In The Lord”

            This text addresses 6 roles - wives, husbands, children, parent, worker and masters.

All of us fall into one or perhaps even several of these roles.

It is in these ordinary daily roles of life that our Christian life must be lived.

The passage we are studying is written in the context of what precedes.

You will recall that two weeks ago when we examined Colossians 3:1-17, we established that we do not live our Christian life by a set of rules that bind us, rather, our faith life is lived when we understand who we are and how Christ has set us apart as His children.

Because of the huge change that has occurred through the blood of Jesus on the cross, we live in a completely new way.

You will remember 3:1 in which we are encouraged, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

The concluding part of that section, verse 17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” It is in this context that the writer now encourages us that these truths - setting our hearts on things above and doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus - call us to live in these ways in the most ordinary matters of life - the place where we spend most of our time, the relationships in which we are closest.

That this is uppermost in the mind of the writer is revealed in the text itself.

If you examine the verses, you will notice that the word “Lord” appears 7 times in just nine verses.

Whenever a word is repeated that often, it is worthy of note.

The noteworthy thing in this passage is that all of these relationships are to be lived “in the Lord.”

Notice that wives are to submit “as is fitting in the Lord.”

Children are to obey “for this pleases the Lord.”

Slaves are reminded of this theme four times “reverence for the Lord,” “working for the Lord,” “inheritance from the Lord” and “it is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Masters are reminded that they have a “Lord in heaven.”

Each time the word “Lord” is the same Greek word.

The impression is strong and clear that these day to day relationships are to be holy relationships, that our faith must be lived out most clearly and intensely in these relationships.

It is easy to put on a good show for the people in the church.

I know people who have gone to church for years and everyone thought they were getting along just fine and that their life was exemplary, but that was not the reality.

Eventually, of course, the truth comes out.

The TV evangelists who have been caught in adulterous relationships are evidence that an outward appearance of holy living does not mean that holiness is really being lived.

If we could talk to your co-workers, your boss, your wife or husband, your children, we would know if holy relationships are truly being lived.

Norman Wright says, “Putting the life of the new age into practice begins at home.”

He also indicates that this life must be lived in the place where, “for better or for worse, one is truly oneself.”

!

II.

Specific Relationships

            Although 6 roles are mentioned, they are set in pairs and must be looked at in pairs.

There is the husband~/wife pair, the child~/parent pair and the slave~/master pair.

In the relationship, each one of the pair has a part which is necessary to live in a way which fits with who we are in Christ.

The wonderful thing is that when we live in this way, a win~/win situation is created.

Let us look carefully at each of these pairs and examine how the life above is lived in the street where you live.

!! A. Wife~/Husband

One of the most intense places we live our lives is in our marriage relationships.

It is pretty hard to fool your spouse about what is really going on in your life.

The love spoken of in Colossians 3:12, 14 must first of all be lived in the marriage relationship.

“In December 1999, George Barna published the results of a survey which found that…27 percent of born-again Christians have experienced divorce compared to 24 percent for the rest of Americans.”

Many have questioned the accuracy of his research for various reasons, but no matter how accurate they are, we all know that divorce is happening among Christians more than it used to.

Most of us know at least some Christians who have experienced divorce.

My intention is not to condemn those who have been divorced, but simply to say that the degree to which it is happening suggests that there is something wrong with many marriages today.

Even among those who do not divorce, however, that does not mean that their marriages are all wonderful.

A researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Mary Ann Fitzpatrick, says that nearly half the married men in America are "emotionally divorced" from their wives.

I know of marriages where the couple is together and will not separate, but it is clear that warmth, intimacy and a holy relationship which is lived with the recognition that we have been raised up with Christ is far from evident.

What does it mean to “do all things to the glory of God” in marriages?

I believe the answer lies in what we expect our marriages to be.

Many marriages today are self centred marriages.

People enter the marriage with the hope that this will be the source of joy and fulfillment for them.

They expect that their marriage partner will fulfill them.

We need to recognize that people find ways of making such marriages work.

Other marriages develop into 50~/50 marriages.

Each partner knows that they need to give a little and then they will receive a little.

Such marriages also can work.

But in each of these marriages the premise is faulty and so the stability of the marriage is in great danger.

If you are in a relationship because you are hoping to find fulfillment in that relationship, what happens when you realize that you are no longer finding fulfillment?

What happens when it isn’t satisfying any more?

You may decide to keep the relationship going for the sake of appearances, for the sake of the children or because there are no better alternatives, but what kind of a relationship is that?

What happens when a better alternative comes along?

In a 50~/50 marriage, the relationship will work as long as the accounting system does not fail, but what happens when it begins to be a 40~/60 relationship?

Soon the partner who is not getting his or her 50% begins to look for other ways to find that satisfaction.

Paul’s advice for a holy relationship, one that recognizes that we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to have a relationship which is 100~/100.

Each partner gives him or herself fully to the other partner.

So the wife is called upon to submit to her husband.

This is not a very popular point of view.

I read this story, “One evening my husband, Mark, and our preschooler, Krystal, were on the couch chatting.

"Daddy, you're the boss of the house, right?"

I overheard her ask sweetly.

My husband proudly replied, "Yes, I'm the boss of the house."

But Krystal quickly burst his bubble when she added, "Cause Mommy put you in charge, huh Daddy?"

What does it mean for a wife to submit?

Unfortunately many men have read this verse when they have no right to read it, it isn’t written to them.

It doesn’t say, “husbands, make your wife submit.”

The results are a world in which spousal abuse, usually men against women is far too common.

Marlin Vis in "Battered into Submission," writes, “One out of every three women who seeks emergency medical treatment at a doctor's office or hospital is the victim of domestic violence, and so is one out of every four women seeking prenatal care.

Constance Duran, a Christian psychologist, says, "Typically the violence pattern begins with the wife's first pregnancy and is really directed toward the fetus.

There's going to be another sibling in the family, and the husband is jealous."

For women between the ages of 15 and 44, domestic violence is the most common cause of injury.”

Wives, I, as a man, am reluctant to tell you this.

You must read this for yourself.