Children who belong to the Lord are to obey their parents and honor their father and mother. These are the right things to do. Too often in our world today, children have come to the idea that their parents are there to do whatever they want. It has often become distorted and children think that parents should obey them. For the Christian family, this is completely wrong. Children are to live lives that bring honor to their parents not disgrace and shame. Again, some children think they can do whatever they want. They say that it is their life to live and they pay the price if the mess up. In reality, parents and the entire family pays they price of a life lived wrongly. Parents, their joy and reputations, can be affected by a child's behavior. Parents ability to instruct and raise their children can even be criticized due to a rebellious child. God regards the idea of children honoring their parents so much that He even makes them a promise. He promises that if they honor their mother and father, things will go well for them and they will live long on the earth. The promise of God given to children who honor their parents is an incredibly better promise that what they get for being rebellious or caving in to peer pressure. We hope that they would realize that.
Fathers are not to provoke their children to anger by how they treat them. There seems to be some confusion on this at times. Children think that means that fathers should never do anything that makes them angry. That is not what provoke in this sense means. Fathers should not treat their children with the intent of making them angry. His treatment should not be such that he does things in an effort to bring them to anger. He should discipline them and instruct them as the Lord instructs. There are many verses in Scripture that give insight into discipline. Discipline is correcting and instructing with a heart that wants to better the child's life and future. God Himself gives that example in how He disciplines and corrects us. He does it not to make us angry or embarrass us but to make us better people so we can live wonderful lives.
Paul moves on to slaves and masters. However, every time I read this portion, it seems to me to that it can also speak to employers and employees. I use slaves and employees as the same but do not intend it to be that employees are slaves to their boss or jobs.
So, in light of us being children of God while slaves in Paul's time or employees in both his time and ours, we are to treat our masters/employers with deep respect and fear. We are to do our jobs with sincerity in the same manner which we would serve Christ. We should strive to please them at all times and in all that we do. We should not just appear to be trying to please them when they are near by. Remember, integrity is doing what we should do even when no one is looking.
Christ bought us by sacrificing His life for us. He paid for our sins and bought us. Paul recognizes that relationship and calls himself a slave of Christ many times. Having all our debts paid for by Christ we have become slaves to Him and as such we should work with enthusiasm and we should do the will of God with all our heart. We should work for man as if we were doing what we were doing for Christ. As believers, what we do and how we work reflects on Christ. If we cheat and are lazy at work, then people not only think of us that way but also of Christians as being that way. Such a situation impacts the world's view of Christ. Christ will reward us for working with the right heart and spirit for doing so glorifies Him in all the world.
Masters/employers should treat their slaves/employees the same way. They should not hurl threats at them. They should be aware that regardless of whether they are boss or slave, both have a Master, the same Master who is Christ the Lord. Christ does not favor a master over a slave nor an employer over and employee. He cares for them equally and expects the same of both.
We need to realize that we live in a world where there is a great battle going on. Bad and horrible things happen. Life often doesn't go the way we want. Life often seems so unfair. Please understand that this battle, this war, these tough times are not a fight against people but against evil rulers in unseen places. We are in a spiritual battle against spiritual powers and authorities and evil spirits in heavenly places. These evil forces want to rob God of those He loves and keep them from spending eternity with Him. We must understand that we have to battle, not as we would battle humans, but we must battle this war with spiritual weapons and defenses. If we think we can be strong and victorious in our human strengths we will not succed. Paul instructs us to be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Only by doing so can we hope for victory.
Understanding that, he instructs us to put on all the armor of God. God has given us tools, weapons and defenses to fight this fight with. Just as we get up every day to get ready for the day that is set before us, we must also get ready for the battle that is daily before us. The evil one attacks continually. He does not care about our jobs, families, responsibilities or committments. He is out do destroy us at any time or moment regardless of what we have "scheduled" for that day. We can be attacked and brought into to battle at any moment so we must be ready - at all times.
How can we be ready? How do we resist the enemy in times of evil? How do we stand our ground firmly in battle? Every day when we arise we get dressed in our suit or jeans or work clothes. We should also be aware that this day may bring a battle that we should be prepared for. So, we should also take time to dress for battle with the equipment God has graciously given each and every one of us. We should dress in the armor of God. Living when Paul did, he likens our spiritual armor to the armor of the Roman soldier. During his life, the Roman soldier was the bravest, most courageous, fiercest, most unbeatable and victorious soldier on earth. Put on this armor, the armor of God and when your battle is over, you will be found standing firm. You will be in a spiritual battle and only the spiritual armor of God will give you the victory you need. Determination, cleverness, self discipline, a tough guy attitude, power or strength may bring victory in fleshly battles but will not give you victory in spiritual battle.
So, Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. What is that armor?
First, know the truth and live in it. For with the spiritual armor of God, truth is the belt of the suit of armor. The belt in a suit of armor was the center piece of the suit. It gave support to a person's core and it was the thing that other parts of armor were tied to. The breastplate was tied to it to keep it secure, the sword hung from it and so on. Other parts of armor were held in place by being tied to truth. Next walk and live in righteousness. For armor, put on the body armor (breastplate) of righteousness. The breastplate protects the heart and all vital organs. So then righteousness protects the wearer from attacks to his/her heart or organs by the enemy. I have read an interesting thing about the Roman soldier. It seems that they had only the breastplate. They believed that a superior soldier had no need for covering on their back. They were dedicated to standing firm, always facing the enemy. If you ran, your back would be exposed and you deserved to die. The breastplate was there to protect those who faced their enemies ready to do battle. He next tells us to put on peace that is our shoes. We can battle in peace and stand firm in that peace as it comes from the Good News that Christ gave Himself for us sinners, that we who believe in Him will not perish but have life everlasting. Going into battle knowing that we can fight and that we have been promised life eternal will give us peace in battle. We can hold our ground and fight our fights with this knowledge. The Roman shoes had great spikes on the bottoms. They could have solid footing - no matter what the terrain. They could stand firm on grass, stones, clay, or mud. No matter where the battle took place, they could remain confident that they would never lose their footing. We also can stand firm trusting that we will never lose our footing in any battle because of the peace we have in the promise of the Good News to all who believe. Next hold firmly to your shield of faith. Our faith is mobile. It can be moved from right to left, it can be held over our heads. No matter where the attack comes from, no matter how the battle may change, we can always keep our faith before us to extinguish the flaming arrows sent our way by the evil one. I read that some battle shields were made of thick wood coated in a substance that put out fires. So if the enemy shot flaming arrows, they would not glance off or be deflected but get stuck in the wood where the flames would be snuffed out. Next, put on salvation as your helmet. Let the knowledge that you are saved protect your mind and thoughts from the lies of the devil. He is the father of lies, deceit and confusion. Always know you are saved and that no one can take your salvation away. Keeping the knowledge of your salvation on the top of your mind will protect your mind from confusion, lies and misleadings. Let salvation protect you from being led astray causing you to question or not believe the promise of God.
Let me pause here. Have you noticed that all the armor you have been given so far is defensive? You can stand there and take a beating and survive but you have nothing to fight back with. I don't know about you but surviving a battle in the spiritual manner is not what I want to do, Paul next tells us to take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. THE ONLY OFFENSIVE WEAPON IN OUR SUIT OF ARMOR IN THE TIME OF BATTLE IS THE WORD OF GOD. If we do not study, read, know and understand the word of God, the best we can hope to do is survive beating after beating. To be able to fight back and claim victory, we have to know the word of God. We have to read and study His word. Knowing the Bible has got to be our most important effort. God has given us one thing to fight back with. He has given us a sword that can cut through all that the devil sends our way. The words can send the forces of darkness running. If you do not want to go into battle without a weapon, if you want to be able to fight off your enemies, then study and read the word or God as if life depended on it.
Permit me to offer my vision of a man/woman in battle. I like to express it this way;
If your life walk and life focus is on God, you are face to face with Him. You look toward Him dressed for battle in the armor He has given you. Your courage and your strength and your armor come from Him. The devil hates it when we live our lives focused on God. He hates it when we live looking to God for all we have and can become. So he does what any good soldier who opposes us does. He tries to come between us and the person who gives us our strength and armor and promises us victory. He stands between God and us firing all the fiery arrows he can. He stands between us trying to confuse us and rob us of our knowledge of salvation. He tries to keep us out of the Word, but we are dressed for that battle. If we leave off any part of that armor, we open ourselves up and give the devil an opportunity to attack us through that unprotected area. Even worse, if we stopped being focussed on God, if we take a direction in life that leads us away from God, we are opening our unarmored backs to the devil and giving him a clean shot at killing us or severely wounding us. We must never turn our backs on God, we must always keep our eyes and hearts centered on Him if we are to be protected and victorious.
Paul tells us to pray for all believers everywhere. He asks the Ephesians to pray for him so he can boldly explain the Good News. Perhaps that should be our prayer for one another. Paul closes with bringing them up to date and giving them a beautiful blessing.
I love seeing his offering of a blessing to those he wrote to. I have made it part of my prayers often that I pray one of his blessings for people I pray for.
As we study Paul's letter to the Ephesians we can take all of it into our time and lives. We can reset priorities and live better lives being more devoted to God. We can be ready daily for the battle that is around us everywhere. We can stand tall, not grow faint, and be victorious. We can serve the Lord well as a soldier in the army of the Most High God. We can defend those around us who are weak and we can bring glory to God. We need not live as victims of a life and a world in which we have no choice but to take what is dealt us. We can be active and stand up against all atrocities of the current age. We can tell others the truth. We can make a difference.
I want to offer this devotional and prayer from Charles Stanley. I taped it inside my Bible at the end of Ephesians and pray it often, especially when I feel a battle around me. I thought you might appreciate it.
Ephesians 6:13-18
We have a very real Enemy who seeks to deceive and distract us from becoming who God wants us to be. So we must always be alert. Prepare for spiritual warfare by making today's passage part of your daily time with God. For example, "put on" the various armor pieces as you pray:
Lord, thank You for giving me everything I need for doing battle in Your name. In the power of Your Spirit, I put on my "armor"--
Protect my mind and imagination with the helmet of salvation. Focus my thoughts steadily on Your love and power.
- I claim Christ's righteousness as my breastplate, protecting heart and emotions.
- So that I won't be governed by feelings, wrap Your belt of truth around the core of my being to protect me from deception.
- Guide my steps in the sandals of peace. Set my feet firmly in the good news of Your redemption and love for the world, and empower me to stand firm against attack.
- I raise my shield of faith. Protect me from Satan's arrows as I stand shoulder to shoulder with Your army in a wall of opposition against his schemes.
- I take up the sword of the Spirit. Plant Your Word deep in my heart in a fresh, exciting way so I will always be ready to deflect and cut down lies with Your truth. I proclaim Your victory today!