Latest / Providence Baptist Church - Sermons / Colossians 3:18-21

Transcript

Colossians 3:18-21 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

0:00
Let us all praise God together for the mercy He has shown us in the person and work of Jesus Christ by opening up the Word of God to the book of Colossians chapter 3.
0:13
If you have been gone this summer, you probably not have known that we've been studying through the book of Colossians and we had every intention of finishing it up last week and starting something new this morning, but we just didn't quite get there.
0:26
There's probably another, oh, I'm going to guess five weeks out from finishing up the book in total.
0:33
And if you have been here, I hope it's been very rich and good to you for your praise of God and for your pursuit of holiness.
0:42
This morning's text is Colossians 3 verses 18 through 21.
0:47
And I read, Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord.
0:53
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
0:58
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
1:03
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
1:09
This is God's Word to us.
1:12
It was written for His glory and our good.
1:15
And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
1:24
Now, over the past four weeks, we've studied together general exhortations for the new self, for the one whom Christ is all.
1:35
You can see there in verse 11 of chapter 3.
1:38
And we did so from verses 5 through 17.
1:42
We talked extensively about what it means to put to death those things that are earthly in us.
1:49
And to put on then as God's chosen ones the proper things for those for whom Christ is all.
1:59
Today we're going to look at four specific exhortations to wives, to husbands, to children, and to parents.
2:07
And Paul gives them to us in a rather rapid fire manner.
2:12
They're kind of bang, bang, bang, bang, back to back to back with no prepositional transitions between them whatsoever.
2:18
And I believe he does so in this way because they're all connected to the previous exhortations.
2:26
Because of who we are now.
2:30
If we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ.
2:32
If he has sent his spirit into us and changed who we are.
2:38
The old has passed away.
2:40
The new has come.
2:41
Because of who we are now, we will live differently.
2:47
Specifically, we will live differently in the way we relate to one another as the church.
2:52
That's what 5-17 is really talking about.
2:56
About putting off these versions of perverted love and perverted hate.
3:03
And putting on these righteous acts and how it is that we live together.
3:09
And Paul now narrows that scope down from the broader sense to more specific relationships within the home.
3:18
He notes for the Colossian believers and for us.
3:23
Particular ways in which the old self manifests itself.
3:28
And the new ways in which we should walk.
3:33
Now some of you may already be asking the question.
3:35
Is this the most appropriate text for a Sunday morning when college students return?
3:40
I ask myself the very same question as we work through.
3:44
We don't want to dogmatically work verse by verse through a text.
3:47
Although this is our normal habit and pattern.
3:51
Certainly it could be said that we could have stopped today to talk at length about something that seems to more specifically relate to college students.
4:00
But through prayer and study.
4:02
I think this is incredibly applicable to where you guys are in your lives.
4:07
Because so many of you are so close to this next step.
4:11
You're looking right now.
4:13
I know I remember being in college for that mate that you'll marry and live out your life with.
4:20
It's applicable because you're going to find many of you college students that you are still children.
4:26
And so this text has a lot to say to you concerning that.
4:31
And so I think very timely for where we are and for this particular Sunday.
4:35
Four exhortations for the household of the new self are number one.
4:41
This will be the outline for our text.
4:43
An exhortation to wives.
4:45
Number two, an exhortation to husbands.
4:48
Number three, an exhortation to children.
4:50
And finally, number four, an exhortation to parents.
4:54
So firstly, an exhortation to wives.
4:56
Verse 18.
4:57
Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord.
5:01
This word, submit, means to place oneself under the leadership of another.
5:09
And I want to note this morning five things about the submission of the Christian wife.
5:14
So these are your five sub points to point number one.
5:18
If you like to outline, keep up.
5:20
Today it might be a little hard.
5:21
Firstly, it is a submission that is willful.
5:27
It is a submission that is willful.
5:30
Sub-translations render this verb, be subject to.
5:34
But the Greek literally means to subject oneself.
5:39
Wives, this is a submission that is given.
5:43
Men, this is not a submission that is taken.
5:47
It is a submission that is willful.
5:50
Wives submitting themselves to their husbands.
5:54
Secondly, it is a submission that does not relegate the value of the wife.
6:02
It does not devalue the wife.
6:06
Now this word submission seems to be a bad word in our day.
6:11
It doesn't even get uttered amongst us.
6:13
I had someone who I love dearly come and talk to me about the way in which I officiate weddings
6:17
and asked me if I thought it was appropriate to even include the word submit or submission in that ceremony
6:24
because the turn off it can be to some people to hear the gospel.
6:29
And I just simply said I don't know what other word to use.
6:33
It's a biblical word.
6:34
I will use it because the Bible uses it and I will labor to explain it well.
6:39
The word submission or submit even seems to be a bad word in some of our Christian churches.
6:48
And so let me ask you kindly, particularly ladies, if this word makes you uncomfortable to hear me out.
6:56
Hear what the Bible has to say about submission.
7:00
There's a movement in our world of what's called egalitarianism,
7:05
which seeks to find genders equal in all respects, in all manner,
7:11
versus the view that we hold as a church which is called complementarianism.
7:18
And that is that we see men and women as equal,
7:22
but that they play different roles.
7:26
The second point, it's a submission that does not relegate the value of the wife.
7:31
It in no way devalues a wife to submit to her husband,
7:36
but rather recognizes her God-ordained role as a wife.
7:42
Let me give you a wonderful example of this.
7:44
There's no higher example of anything that's right and proper than the example of Jesus Christ.
7:51
Jesus subjected Himself to the will of the Father.
7:57
He submitted to what the Father had for Him.
8:01
This does not make Him a lesser part of the Trinity.
8:04
Rather, and in fact, He has been highly exalted because of the way in which He served the Father.
8:11
And He will be for all eternity.
8:14
If we're to model this, ladies, there's a specific way in which you are to look Christ-like.
8:20
And this is one of those ways to submit willingly to your husband.
8:27
To understand a bit more of this, it's of great value for us to look at Genesis 1.
8:32
You can turn there if you'd like or listen carefully to my reading.
8:37
Women have great value in standing in God's eyes.
8:40
We see this first telling of the creation of man and woman where it records,
8:45
Then God said,
8:47
Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
8:52
The Trinitarian likeness.
8:54
The way in which the Trinity functions together in relationship.
8:58
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
9:00
and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock,
9:03
and over all of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
9:06
Verse 27.
9:07
So, God created man in His own image.
9:11
In the image of God, He created him.
9:14
Male and female, He created them.
9:20
So, ladies, you have great value in the eyes of God,
9:23
and in the eyes of this church.
9:25
And a willing submission to your husband does not devalue you.
9:29
Thirdly, the submission of a Christian wife is a submission that is not contingent on the quality of the leadership it submits to.
9:42
It is not contingent.
9:43
It is not dependent on the quality of the leadership it submits to.
9:48
Notice the simplicity of the exhortation that Paul gives.
9:52
He doesn't say, not wives, submit to your husbands when they love you.
9:59
Or, wives, submit to your husbands when they lead you well.
10:04
Or, wives, submit to your husbands when you feel like it.
10:09
But simply, wives, submit to your husbands.
10:14
Now, certainly it is easier to submit to loving leadership.
10:20
And the next verse speaks to that.
10:22
We find often in Christian relationships and otherwise, both positive and negative feedback loops.
10:31
If a husband leads well, it's easy for his wife to submit well.
10:36
Which makes leading a joy.
10:39
It makes leading easier if the wife submits well to that.
10:42
And so there's this positive feedback.
10:44
One feeds the other and feeds the other.
10:47
So often in relationships, one of those proper roles comes to a screeching halt and reverses itself.
10:54
And ladies, it's very difficult to submit to a man who doesn't love you the way he should.
11:02
So many households are disrupted because men are lazy.
11:07
They're laid back.
11:08
They don't fulfill the role they're meant to fulfill.
11:10
And so women begin to.
11:12
And the loop heads off in the other direction.
11:14
Negative feedback.
11:15
Negative feedback.
11:17
Negative feedback.
11:19
Someone has to stop that rotation.
11:21
As a man, I will put the majority of the blame on men.
11:26
But wives, you have to recognize that you're not less responsible for your submission when your husband leads poorly.
11:34
You are 100% responsible for the command of God concerning your role.
11:40
You will be held accountable for the way in which you submit apart from how your husband leads.
11:47
So it's a submission that is not contingent on the quality of the leadership it submits to.
11:52
Fourthly, it is a submission that bears the fruit of respect.
11:58
It bears the fruit of respect.
12:00
I'll step us away from Colossians for a moment to the parallel text, a very similar text that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus chapter 5.
12:08
You may want to go there and put your finger there because we're going to reference it on numerous occasions this morning.
12:13
Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 through 24.
12:17
Paul writes,
12:18
Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.
12:23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its Savior.
12:30
Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
12:35
So here we see this pattern of exhortation.
12:37
Wives, submit to your husbands.
12:40
But then at the end of this passage and speaking of this, verse 33, Paul says,
12:47
However, each one of you love his wife as himself.
12:50
Exhortation to husbands.
12:52
And the last part of that, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
12:58
So submission, willing submission to a husband, bears the fruit of respect.
13:04
Respect, it respects his position as the husband.
13:09
Whether or not he does this well, it plays to that.
13:12
You are my husband and therefore I will submit to her.
13:18
This bears out in the way in which you talk about your husband, ladies.
13:23
Are you supportive?
13:24
Are you building up?
13:25
Do people see you and say, this is a woman that respects her husband?
13:30
Or are you a woman that merely tears down and tears down and tears down?
13:35
This can sometimes be the problem with women's Bible studies.
13:39
They become gripe fests about husbands.
13:43
This ought not be so amongst us.
13:45
It's a submission that bears the fruit of respect.
13:49
And then fifthly and finally, it's a submission that recognizes God's good created order.
13:58
The last part of verse 18 says,
14:01
As is fitting in the Lord.
14:05
As is right and proper for those who are found in Christ.
14:10
That's what he is saying.
14:10
It recognizes God's good created order.
14:15
This is the way that God intended things to be.
14:20
The leadership of a husband and the submission of a wife is not a result of the fall.
14:25
It was the way things were designed to be before the fall.
14:28
The fall disrupted it.
14:30
The fall made it hard.
14:31
But it was the good thing that God had created.
14:35
After the first telling of mankind's creation in Genesis 1, 26-28,
14:39
we see Genesis 1, 31,
14:42
And God saw everything that he had made.
14:45
And behold, it was very good.
14:48
And there was evening and there was morning.
14:50
The sixth day.
14:52
In chapter 2, we see a second telling of the creation story.
14:55
And we pick up some details about it.
14:58
Genesis 2, 15 says,
15:01
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.
15:07
He gives man a mandate that you are meant to produce and protect the garden.
15:14
And then in 2, 18, we read,
15:16
Then the Lord God said,
15:18
It is not good that the man should be alone.
15:22
So everything had been good up to this point in the creation,
15:26
but now we see something that is not good.
15:29
It wasn't good that man be alone.
15:31
And so God says,
15:32
I will make a helper fit for him.
15:36
A sidekick.
15:37
Someone to come alongside the man and help him in this work that's been given to him.
15:43
This was the created order.
15:46
And it was good.
15:49
It's good and proper, ladies, to pursue this.
15:52
To submit willfully to your husband.
15:55
If your husband doesn't lead you well to pray for him,
15:58
that he might.
15:59
To encourage him in that.
16:01
To help that negative feedback loop come to a halt and move back in the other direction.
16:08
Just willingly submit to your husband.
16:11
Recognize God as the creator of the universe.
16:15
And gives proper respect and worship to the way he intended things to be.
16:21
Number two.
16:26
You with me?
16:26
Back to main point number two.
16:30
It's not fair that I can see it and you can't.
16:32
An exhortation to husbands.
16:36
Men, we are most certainly not off the hook.
16:39
An exhortation to husbands.
16:41
Husbands, love your wives.
16:45
And do not be harsh with them.
16:48
We get two exhortations.
16:50
One stated in the positive and one in the negative.
16:53
Do live this way with your wives.
16:56
Do not live this way with your wives.
16:59
It seems to me that Paul feels the need to spell it out a little more clearly for us.
17:04
I mean this.
17:05
I don't mean this.
17:07
Fellas.
17:09
We're to love our wives.
17:11
And I want to note two things about the love of the Christian husband.
17:16
Number one.
17:17
It is a love that is willful.
17:19
The same way that submission is willful for the wife.
17:23
Love is willful for the husband.
17:25
This love.
17:26
This word here used for love is the present tense of the imperative verb agapate.
17:32
It's not referring to a love of passion or emotion.
17:36
It's not based in how you feel.
17:39
This is a love of choice.
17:42
It is a covenant love.
17:48
Husbands, you chose to marry your wives.
17:52
Therefore, you are to love them.
17:53
Without condition.
17:56
Now and in a continuous manner.
17:59
This is the exhortation Paul is giving to Christian husbands.
18:03
Husbands, love your wives.
18:06
And our culture is destroying the meaning of marriage.
18:09
And I'm not referring to homosexual marriage.
18:11
I'm referring to all the messed up marriages that we live in and around.
18:18
The church is not insulated from this.
18:22
This is happening within our churches.
18:24
Marriage is such a flippant thing.
18:26
It's just the next step in some process of feeling and emotion.
18:30
People ought not say, I love you very much, but rather, I lust you very much.
18:34
Let's get married.
18:35
They have trashed it up and thrown it out.
18:39
It is a sacred commitment before God.
18:42
It is a commitment to love that woman until death causes you to part.
18:48
The Christian man does not fall in and out of love.
18:53
These are not words that should come out of our mouths.
18:58
And some of you may need to man up by the grace that God provides and love.
19:05
Your wives.
19:07
When I officiate weddings, I always say this kind of as the close of the preaching component of the ceremony.
19:14
I say, remember this.
19:16
Your feelings do not sustain the covenant that you are making today.
19:21
But the covenant you are making today properly exercised will sustain your love.
19:27
And by that, I mean the passionate love for one another.
19:31
It is a love of volition.
19:34
We choose to love our wives.
19:39
Secondly, it is a love that is sacrificial.
19:44
Let's look again at the parallel text in Ephesians chapter 5.
19:48
Paul's a little tougher on the Ephesian church than he is on the Colossian church here.
19:52
We are going to look at verses 25-30 of Ephesians chapter 5.
20:00
Much of feminism in our day is a response to male chauvinism.
20:07
Men, you need to hear this.
20:08
The way in which you talk about and the way in which you treat women generally.
20:13
And those of us who are husbands, the way we treat our wives, often feminism is a response to this.
20:21
Many of you know I was a sociology major at University of North Georgia.
20:25
Then North Georgia College and State University.
20:27
I believe I was a sociology major in one of the darkest times in that degree program.
20:35
And I enjoyed that.
20:37
I liked going in and being light in a dark place.
20:40
I liked having my understanding of the truth challenged at every term.
20:45
My favorite professor in college was an atheist, an admitted atheist feminist,
20:52
who had both a husband, excuse me, a father.
20:55
I've said the word husband too many times.
20:56
A father and a brother who were Baptist preachers.
21:01
So he knew all of the typical arguments.
21:04
And he would get really mad if you made the typical argument.
21:08
He would cuss you out if you made the typical argument.
21:10
And so he forced, by God's grace, he was such a tool used by God,
21:16
he pushed my face into the scriptures because I knew there had to be absolute truth
21:21
and that his challenges needed to be answered.
21:25
And I had a sociology of religion class with him
21:28
where he basically took the entire semester to make the case that Christianity was horrible to women.
21:34
And he loosely quoted, didn't send anybody to any text,
21:39
but pulled out of context this idea of submission
21:43
and how horrible this was, the enslaving of women.
21:47
I think it's a response.
21:49
I think it's a response to things that he had seen.
21:52
And there were girls in the class that just applauded this.
21:57
And my heart broke for them.
21:58
I don't know the circumstances of their lives,
22:00
who their fathers were, what they had experienced and seen.
22:04
But one day he was particularly railing
22:06
and he actually referenced Ephesians chapter 5,
22:10
finally referenced something.
22:13
And so I simply took my Bible out of my bag
22:15
and I had it out on my desk and I was just looking at the text,
22:18
not saying a word.
22:21
And by God's providential hand,
22:23
we're getting close to the end of class
22:24
and boy, they were just going at it.
22:26
And I was just reading the text
22:27
and I was sad for what was going on in the room
22:30
because they weren't going on.
22:32
They weren't going on to verse 25.
22:34
And finally, he's no longer at the school.
22:37
His name was Dr. Luck.
22:39
He said,
22:39
Alright, Nathan.
22:41
What do you think?
22:42
In that tone.
22:45
I hadn't raised my hand.
22:47
I think I may have grinned at them a few times.
22:49
Maybe this was it.
22:50
Alright, Nathan.
22:52
What do you think?
22:53
I had the great pleasure of turning to the class
22:56
and saying,
22:57
you have to hear the rest of the text.
22:58
You can't stop there.
23:00
You can't just stop there.
23:01
You can't tear it apart
23:02
and do whatever you want with it.
23:04
You have to read the rest of the text.
23:06
And it reads, beginning in verse 25,
23:08
Husbands, love your wives.
23:10
And he goes on,
23:11
As Christ loved the church
23:13
and gave Himself up for her.
23:18
Jesus Christ died for the sake of the church.
23:22
This is the kind of love
23:24
that husbands are meant to show their wives.
23:27
Verse 26,
23:28
That He might sanctify her,
23:30
having cleansed her by the washing of water
23:32
with the Word,
23:34
so that He might present the church to Himself
23:36
in splendor,
23:37
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
23:40
that she might be holy and without blemish.
23:43
In the same way,
23:44
husbands should love their wives
23:45
as their own bodies.
23:47
He who loves his wife loves himself.
23:50
For no one ever hated his own flesh,
23:52
but nourishes and cherishes it
23:53
just as Christ does the church.
23:55
because we are members of His body.
23:58
So I read that and I just said,
23:59
I don't know what experiences you've had in life.
24:03
But if you find a man
24:04
that is willing to love you this way,
24:06
I believe that you will want
24:08
to submit to this man.
24:12
And the room fell silent.
24:14
And Dr. Luck said,
24:15
I think that's good for today.
24:19
And we left.
24:20
And I don't know what happened,
24:21
what came of that,
24:22
but I was thankful that God allowed me
24:23
to speak truth into this situation.
24:26
I think that so much feminism,
24:29
so much, not all of it,
24:30
but so much of it,
24:31
is a response to the way in which
24:34
men have loved their wives.
24:36
And this is meant to be
24:38
a sacrificial love.
24:41
We become servants of our wives.
24:44
We lay down our lives
24:46
for the sake of theirs.
24:48
John Piper has a wonderful definition of love
24:52
that I'm going to give application to here.
24:55
He wrote,
24:56
Love is doing whatever you need to do
24:58
to help people,
24:59
insert your wife.
25:01
Love is doing whatever you need to do
25:02
to help your wife
25:03
see and savor the glory of God in Christ
25:08
forever and ever.
25:10
Love seeks the highest good
25:13
of the object of that love.
25:15
Husbands, we should love our wives in this way.
25:17
We should lead them to Christ
25:18
every single day.
25:22
And then there's the negative exhortation
25:24
to not be harsh with our wives.
25:27
Do not be harsh with them.
25:31
Different translations render this differently.
25:32
The NSB renders this.
25:34
Do not be embittered against them.
25:38
It could rightly be translated,
25:39
Do not have the habit of being embittered.
25:43
And what Paul means is,
25:45
Do not display a harshness of temper
25:47
or resentment toward your wife.
25:51
To state the same in the positive,
25:53
Appreciate your wife.
25:56
Rightly see her as a gift from God,
25:59
as a grace to you.
26:01
Men, even when they're not easy to see
26:04
in this light.
26:05
Our wives aren't perfect,
26:07
but yet still they're given to us as a gift.
26:10
They're sanctifying for us.
26:12
They're helpers to us.
26:14
They're a helper fit for us.
26:18
And we should love them accordingly.
26:21
And I can tell you this,
26:22
it has been my experience
26:23
in my short nine and a half years now
26:26
of marriage,
26:27
that when I love my wife properly,
26:29
she responds in kind.
26:31
She so gladly falls into that place
26:34
of submission and loves and serves
26:37
and supports me.
26:38
The more I lovingly lead her,
26:42
the more lovely she becomes
26:44
as she fulfills her role.
26:46
She seems to come to life in that place.
26:49
And when I don't love her well,
26:51
when she's conflicted on how she's supposed
26:53
to act in our home and with our children,
26:56
this is when she becomes a challenge to me.
26:59
You see that it's not her fault,
27:00
but it's mine.
27:02
Love your wives as you should.
27:04
As I previously stated,
27:07
your wife is responsible for 100%
27:09
of the command of God concerning her role.
27:12
However, if you want to see the quality
27:14
of a leader,
27:16
look to the quality of those
27:19
who are put under his leadership.
27:22
Men, this should cause you to quake.
27:26
We have a responsibility to our wives.
27:29
And many of us are too weak as leaders.
27:33
And I hope that this causes you
27:35
to run to the grace of God.
27:37
He has commanded that you would do this thing.
27:40
And He will provide for all that He commands.
27:45
Now, to wives and husbands,
27:46
your marriage matters.
27:49
It matters to you,
27:51
but it matters so much more than that.
27:54
Firstly, your marriage matters
27:56
because of what it is meant to display.
27:59
Back in Ephesians 5,
28:01
verses 31 and 32,
28:03
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother
28:06
and hold fast to his wife,
28:08
and the two shall become one flesh.
28:11
That's Genesis 2, 32, I believe.
28:14
And then Paul goes on to say,
28:15
this mystery,
28:16
the fact that they leave
28:18
and they cleave together,
28:19
that they become one flesh,
28:21
he says this mystery is profound.
28:22
And I'm saying that it refers to Christ
28:26
and the church.
28:29
Your marriage is not firstly and foremost about you.
28:35
Oh, do we reap the benefits of marriage.
28:37
There's so much that is good for us about marriage,
28:41
but it's not firstly about you.
28:42
It's firstly about Christ.
28:45
It's a shadow of a thing to come.
28:48
And it's meant to portray this
28:50
to the world around us.
28:53
Your marriage matters
28:55
because of what it's meant to display.
28:58
Your marriage also matters
28:59
because of who is meant to see it.
29:02
The world needs to see God's good creation
29:06
and praise Him for it.
29:08
They need to see that the way
29:10
in which God designs things to work, works.
29:14
They see that and they go,
29:15
this is an amazing thing.
29:17
These Christian marriages are astounding to us.
29:20
That they may turn and praise God
29:22
for the things that He has done.
29:25
This church needs to see your marriage
29:29
displayed in a healthy manner.
29:32
These young people,
29:34
so many of these young people,
29:35
married folks,
29:36
come from broken homes.
29:38
Homes that are disrupted.
29:39
I cannot believe the more we get to know
29:41
college students,
29:42
how few college students come from homes
29:45
that are healthy.
29:47
It's the exception and not the norm.
29:50
I hear of a young person
29:52
that has a family that's still intact
29:55
and I praise God for it.
29:57
Wait, you mean your mom and your dad
29:59
are still married?
30:01
Incredible!
30:02
And those that are together
30:03
and actually walking with the Lord
30:05
and leading in the household,
30:07
that are actively engaged
30:08
in the life of a church,
30:10
it's so slim.
30:13
You want to know a way
30:14
that you can serve the church?
30:15
If you're married, husbands, wives,
30:16
even those of you who are young in this,
30:19
brand new husbands and wives,
30:22
there is a ministry for you.
30:23
Wives, submit to your husbands.
30:26
Husbands, love your wives
30:28
and seek opportunities
30:29
to share your lives
30:30
with the young adults in our church.
30:34
Paul exhorts Titus to this ministry
30:37
that people often call Titus 2 ministry,
30:39
which is just this idea
30:40
that in the church,
30:41
there should be a passing along
30:43
of skill set,
30:44
that older women
30:45
should be teaching younger women
30:46
how it is they're meant to live.
30:48
And the same for older men
30:49
to younger men.
30:51
I encourage you to go read Titus 2
30:53
and I won't for the sake of time
30:54
this morning.
30:57
Submit to your husbands.
30:59
Love your wives.
31:00
It has deep and meaningful impact
31:02
for you and beyond.
31:05
Now a quick aside
31:06
concerning dating.
31:08
You ready?
31:08
The Bible does not speak to us
31:14
about dating.
31:17
There's no instruction
31:18
in the Scriptures
31:19
concerning dating.
31:20
We believe that this book
31:22
is timely,
31:24
that it's inerrant,
31:26
that it's sufficient.
31:27
That means it contains
31:27
everything in it
31:28
that we need to know
31:30
for godly living.
31:32
How curious that it excludes
31:34
dating.
31:36
Some process by which
31:38
we're supposed to sort through
31:39
all of the people
31:40
that we interact with
31:41
and find the one.
31:45
I grew up at a church,
31:47
a large, large church,
31:49
where I was actually taught
31:51
this was the normal
31:52
and healthy process,
31:53
that I built my good quality list
31:55
and my bad quality list
31:57
by getting to know people
31:57
of the opposite sex.
32:00
Horrible, horrible theology
32:03
concerning that.
32:04
Christian dating,
32:06
we can call it something else.
32:08
Some people like to call it courtship.
32:09
Some people have a real aversion
32:11
to that term.
32:12
I don't really care,
32:13
so I'm going to call it
32:14
Christian dating,
32:15
should look much different
32:17
than that of the world.
32:19
It should look dramatically different
32:21
than that of the world.
32:23
So much dating today
32:25
is just glorified divorce practice.
32:28
Now, an aside to my aside.
32:35
Most of you,
32:37
and I don't know a lot of you,
32:38
but I know where you're at
32:39
in your stage of life,
32:41
most of you do not possess
32:42
the maturity to date
32:43
as a Christian should.
32:46
Your desire for a girlfriend
32:48
or boyfriend
32:48
is in so many cases
32:51
an idol for you.
32:53
You worship yourself
32:54
or you worship somebody else
32:56
or you worship some idea
32:58
before God.
32:59
If you cannot be satisfied
33:01
in Christ,
33:02
then you are not ready
33:03
to date.
33:05
If you look to anyone
33:06
other than God
33:07
for your approval,
33:08
then you are not ready
33:10
to date.
33:12
If your identity
33:13
is solidified
33:15
or shattered
33:16
based on whether or not
33:17
you were in a relationship,
33:19
then you are not ready
33:20
to date.
33:22
If you do not know
33:24
if you're ready to date,
33:25
then you're probably not.
33:27
And let me encourage you,
33:30
even if you believe
33:30
that you are,
33:31
to ask for godly counsel
33:33
from someone
33:34
who is married,
33:35
who's on the other side
33:37
of all of the silly feelings
33:39
that accompany
33:39
single life
33:41
and dating.
33:42
Ask someone
33:43
who's stepped beyond that
33:45
and has a little more
33:45
clarity of head
33:47
to help you
33:49
and to examine you
33:50
and to see if you're
33:51
actually ready
33:51
to enter into
33:52
a godly relationship
33:54
that ends
33:55
in marriage.
33:58
Enough about that.
34:00
Number three,
34:00
main point number three,
34:02
an exhortation
34:03
to children.
34:06
Verse 20,
34:06
children,
34:07
obey your parents
34:08
in everything
34:09
for this
34:10
pleases
34:11
the Lord.
34:13
Now,
34:13
how do we define
34:14
a child?
34:15
Right?
34:15
A little bit of a difficult
34:16
thing to do.
34:17
We get into some
34:17
cultural issues.
34:20
Think in the Scriptures,
34:21
you saw this rite
34:22
of passage
34:23
for the Jewish people
34:25
around the age
34:26
of 12 or 13.
34:27
It was called
34:27
the Bar Mitzvah.
34:28
It was a passage
34:29
into manhood.
34:31
Many more things
34:32
were expected.
34:33
In our culture,
34:34
we've created
34:35
a whole category
34:37
of person
34:37
that we don't find
34:38
in the Scriptures
34:38
anywhere,
34:39
and that is teenager.
34:41
It seems in so many ways
34:42
to be the result
34:43
of young people worship.
34:45
We worship youth
34:46
in this country
34:46
to such a high degree.
34:48
We want to prolong youth,
34:50
prolong youth,
34:50
prolong.
34:51
Many of your parents
34:52
wanted to absolve you
34:53
of all responsibility
34:55
throughout high school
34:56
because they just wanted
34:57
you to have a great time
34:58
because those are
34:59
the good old days
35:00
and you've got to soak
35:01
everything up out of it
35:02
that you possibly can.
35:04
And so many of you
35:05
enter into college
35:06
having no clue
35:07
how to live life
35:08
as an adult.
35:11
That's kind of an aside.
35:13
I think,
35:14
if we're going to take
35:15
what we look at
35:16
both biblically
35:18
and for our culture,
35:20
this is the way
35:21
I would define a child.
35:23
I think that while
35:24
you're under
35:25
the provision
35:26
of your parent,
35:27
the primary provision,
35:29
your livelihood comes,
35:30
your ability to survive
35:32
as a human being
35:33
comes from your parent,
35:35
then you're a child.
35:38
This includes many of you
35:39
in the room today.
35:41
And I don't mean that
35:42
as an insult at all.
35:43
I just mean to say to you,
35:45
how does this exhortation
35:46
apply to you?
35:47
How do you function
35:48
at your age
35:49
in this world
35:50
in your particular context?
35:52
Let's note two things
35:53
about the proper obedience
35:55
of Christian children.
35:58
I have,
35:59
you'll note I said
36:00
Christian children here.
36:01
I think this is the exhortation
36:03
that Paul means.
36:04
It's been writing to believers
36:04
and writing to believers
36:05
and writing to believers.
36:06
I don't think he means
36:07
to turn aside.
36:08
So I think that these things
36:09
are meant to be exhortations
36:11
to Christian children,
36:12
obey your parents
36:13
in everything.
36:15
I have a five-year-old
36:17
and a three-year-old,
36:19
Cade and Judah,
36:20
and they cannot obey everything
36:21
Sam and I ask of them.
36:23
They're absolutely sinful.
36:24
They prove it every single day.
36:27
We try and we try
36:28
and we try.
36:29
And they are bound
36:30
to be deceptive.
36:31
They're bound
36:32
to go around.
36:33
I asked Judah the other day
36:34
why he did something
36:35
and he said,
36:36
I was just being sneaky.
36:37
Exactly.
36:40
Exactly.
36:42
So I don't think that Paul,
36:44
while we should exhort
36:45
our children to obey,
36:46
we certainly should,
36:47
I think Paul means this,
36:48
to be a command
36:49
that can be kept
36:50
by the power of Christ
36:52
in these young people.
36:54
So firstly,
36:55
it is an obedience
36:55
that is not contingent
36:57
on the quality
36:57
of the leadership
36:58
it submits to.
36:59
Obedience is an outflow
37:00
of submission
37:01
and it's not contingent
37:02
on the quality
37:03
of the leadership.
37:04
I know that some
37:05
of your parents
37:06
don't lead you well.
37:07
I know that some
37:08
of the things
37:09
they ask and require
37:10
of you don't make sense.
37:12
But it's not contingent
37:13
on that.
37:14
Obey your parents
37:15
in everything.
37:17
You ought to obey them.
37:19
Disobedience to parents
37:20
marks the ungodly.
37:23
Paul writes
37:23
in 2 Timothy 3, 2,
37:25
for people will be
37:26
lovers of self,
37:27
lovers of money,
37:28
proud,
37:29
arrogant,
37:30
abusive,
37:31
disobedient
37:32
to their parents,
37:33
ungrateful,
37:34
unholy.
37:35
He goes on
37:36
in the next
37:37
verse.
37:39
Provided
37:40
that their desires
37:41
do not contradict
37:43
the expressed
37:45
commands
37:45
of God.
37:48
Young people
37:48
in this room,
37:49
obey your parents
37:50
in everything,
37:52
provided their desires
37:53
do not contradict
37:54
the expressed
37:55
commands
37:56
of God.
37:57
Jesus anticipated
37:59
there would be
37:59
people that would
38:00
come to faith
38:00
in Christ
38:01
and their family
38:02
would not be
38:03
okay with it.
38:04
He says in Luke 12,
38:06
51-53,
38:07
do you think
38:08
that I have come
38:09
to give peace
38:10
on earth?
38:11
No, I tell you,
38:12
but rather division.
38:14
For from now on
38:15
in one house
38:16
there will be
38:16
five divided,
38:17
three against two
38:18
and two against three.
38:20
They will be divided
38:20
father against son
38:21
and son against father,
38:23
mother against daughter
38:24
and daughter against mother,
38:25
mother-in-law
38:26
against her daughter-in-law
38:27
and daughter-in-law
38:27
against her mother-in-law.
38:30
We know as a church
38:32
this is real.
38:33
We deal with this
38:34
type of thing,
38:34
pursuing the Lord
38:35
and having parents
38:37
who don't,
38:38
who want us to live
38:39
in contradiction
38:40
to the expressed
38:42
commands of God.
38:44
And I'm using that phrase
38:45
very carefully
38:46
because a common question
38:47
asked with young people,
38:50
young people want to
38:51
go on a particular trip.
38:53
Typically,
38:53
it's a mission trip.
38:54
They want to go someplace
38:55
with their summer
38:55
and their parents
38:56
just aren't comfortable
38:57
with it.
38:58
Unbelieving parents
38:58
say,
38:59
I don't want you to go.
39:00
That could be dangerous.
39:01
I'm not comfortable
39:02
with you traveling.
39:03
I don't want to spend money
39:04
in that way.
39:06
And students get so
39:07
wrecked over that.
39:08
But God wants me to go.
39:09
God has called me to go.
39:11
Has He?
39:14
He's called you
39:15
to obey your parents.
39:16
That's clear.
39:18
Your feeling,
39:20
your desire
39:20
to go someplace
39:21
does not trump
39:22
the expressed command
39:23
of God
39:24
in the Scriptures.
39:25
your parents
39:27
forbid you
39:28
to have faith
39:29
in Jesus Christ.
39:31
Your parents
39:31
forbid you
39:33
to meet,
39:33
to congregate
39:34
with other Christians.
39:36
Your parents
39:36
forbid you
39:37
to share your faith
39:38
with your roommate
39:39
or your co-worker.
39:41
Then you have
39:41
God's permission
39:42
to go around
39:44
their command.
39:45
Because you feel
39:46
like you want
39:46
to do something
39:47
is not
39:49
a permission
39:50
to ignore
39:52
the expressed command
39:53
of God
39:53
to obey
39:54
your parents.
39:56
I hope that clears
39:57
up some frustration
39:58
for some of you
39:59
this year.
40:01
Secondly,
40:02
it is an obedience
40:02
that seeks
40:03
to please God.
40:05
And the last part
40:05
of that verse,
40:06
for this
40:06
pleases
40:07
the Lord.
40:09
Again,
40:10
part of His
40:10
good created
40:11
order.
40:12
There's many
40:12
strict instructions
40:14
in the Old Testament
40:15
in the civil law
40:16
for those children
40:17
who didn't obey
40:18
their parents
40:19
to be put to death.
40:20
Civil law,
40:21
it's passed away.
40:22
Parents can't do
40:23
that under
40:24
our nation's laws.
40:26
But this is how
40:27
seriously
40:28
God takes this.
40:29
Why?
40:30
Because He loves
40:31
His creation.
40:32
Exodus 20.12
40:33
in the Ten Commandments
40:34
says,
40:35
Honor your father
40:36
and mother
40:36
that your days
40:37
may be long
40:38
in the land
40:38
that the Lord
40:39
your God
40:40
is giving you.
40:41
There goes
40:42
discipline right now.
40:43
Right, Liz?
40:45
Honor your father
40:46
and mother
40:47
that your days
40:47
may be long
40:48
in the land
40:49
that the Lord
40:49
your God
40:50
is giving you.
40:51
It will go
40:52
good for you
40:53
if you obey
40:55
your parents.
40:57
Ephesians 6.1
40:58
Children,
40:59
you should know
40:59
this one with me.
41:00
We've memorized it.
41:01
Children,
41:02
obey your parents
41:02
and the Lord
41:03
for this
41:04
is
41:05
right.
41:09
Obedience
41:09
to your parents
41:10
even at your age,
41:12
many of you,
41:13
is good
41:14
and pleasing
41:15
to God.
41:16
One other note
41:19
before we move on
41:20
to the fourth exhortation.
41:21
I know I'm running
41:22
long on time.
41:25
Notice that the children,
41:27
at least those
41:28
old enough
41:28
to understand
41:29
the reading
41:29
of Paul's letter,
41:31
were there.
41:33
He doesn't say,
41:35
be sure to tell
41:35
the children
41:36
to obey their parents.
41:38
The letter itself,
41:39
Paul specifically
41:40
addresses the children.
41:42
Now, I don't know
41:42
what that means.
41:43
I can't draw a line
41:44
anywhere in the sand,
41:45
but I'm just saying
41:46
to you,
41:46
it's an interesting
41:47
place to note
41:47
that children
41:49
were part of
41:49
church gathering.
41:51
We're glad for that.
41:52
If you're a total guest
41:53
and you've never
41:53
been here before,
41:54
we love kids.
41:55
We don't see them
41:56
as a burden,
41:57
but rather as a blessing
41:58
to our church.
41:59
We're glad to have them
42:00
in our meetings with us.
42:03
Okay, fourth,
42:04
an exhortation
42:05
to parents.
42:06
Verse 21,
42:07
fathers,
42:07
do not provoke
42:08
your children
42:08
lest they become
42:10
discouraged.
42:11
You've heard me
42:11
a couple of times
42:12
now say
42:12
there's an exhortation
42:13
here to parents
42:15
and this is why.
42:16
The Greek word
42:17
for fathers
42:18
is used specifically
42:20
for father,
42:21
but it's used
42:22
generally for parent.
42:24
It's used in a broader
42:25
sense for parent.
42:27
So, translators
42:28
get into a spot here.
42:29
Well, which way
42:30
do we go?
42:31
Who is Paul specifically?
42:32
Is he talking about
42:33
the general parent
42:33
or is he talking
42:34
about the specific
42:35
father?
42:36
And many have gone
42:36
the father route
42:37
and I respect translators.
42:39
They are much more
42:40
intelligent than I,
42:41
but I also respect
42:43
commentators who
42:43
tend to disagree
42:44
with the translators
42:45
so very often.
42:48
So, let me kind of
42:48
break this down.
42:49
The primary responsibility,
42:51
the primary responsibility
42:51
of the raising of children
42:52
falls to the husband.
42:55
The raising of our kids,
42:56
our boys,
42:57
in the fear and admonition
42:58
of the Lord,
42:59
rests on my shoulders.
43:02
But praise God,
43:04
I've been given a helper
43:05
suitable to me,
43:07
right?
43:07
A good helper.
43:09
Someone who I can
43:09
task out with things
43:11
that can help
43:12
in this process
43:13
as I go off to work
43:14
and she is at home
43:16
with the children.
43:18
I believe it's more
43:19
proper to understand
43:20
Paul to be addressing
43:21
both parents
43:22
because of this.
43:24
Even if,
43:25
rightly it should say,
43:26
fathers,
43:26
fathers still have
43:27
partners in this process
43:28
and so I like to say
43:30
parents.
43:32
As children have
43:33
a responsibility
43:33
to their parents,
43:35
so parents
43:35
have a responsibility
43:37
to their children
43:38
and it is a higher
43:40
responsibility.
43:41
Children just simply
43:42
get to obey.
43:44
Parents have the responsibility
43:44
of raising up.
43:46
Ephesians 6.4 says,
43:47
fathers,
43:48
do not provoke
43:48
your children to anger
43:49
but bring them up
43:50
in the discipline
43:51
and instruction
43:52
of the Lord.
43:54
This means that
43:55
we are to bring
43:55
our children up
43:56
in a way
43:57
in which they
43:58
fear God,
43:59
they understand God,
44:01
that they get
44:01
the Gospel.
44:03
And this is a challenge
44:05
in the raising
44:06
of children.
44:06
How to speak
44:07
to their hearts
44:08
and not just
44:09
their minds.
44:10
How to help
44:11
them to understand
44:12
that their disobedience
44:13
is ultimately
44:14
an offense against
44:15
God and not just
44:17
mommy or daddy.
44:19
It's a work
44:20
in our home.
44:20
We're always trying
44:21
to find ways
44:22
in which we can
44:22
do this well.
44:24
I love now
44:25
that Kay and my
44:25
five-year-old's
44:26
little wheels
44:26
are turning
44:27
and the things
44:28
that I've been
44:28
saying to him
44:29
since he was
44:29
a little guy,
44:30
one-year-old,
44:31
I'm already trying
44:32
to use the right
44:32
language with him,
44:34
are starting to
44:34
click into gear.
44:35
He's starting
44:36
to get the concept
44:37
of sin
44:38
and what obedience
44:39
to God looks like.
44:40
He's starting
44:41
to see that I'm
44:42
an agent of the
44:43
Lord to help him
44:44
walk in the way
44:45
of the Lord
44:46
and therefore
44:46
it's right and
44:47
proper for him
44:49
to obey.
44:50
We desperately
44:50
want this to bear
44:52
fruit in their
44:53
lives.
44:54
We want our
44:54
children to be
44:55
regenerate.
44:56
We want them
44:56
to belong to
44:57
the Lord and
44:58
honor them with
44:59
their lives.
45:00
And this is the
45:00
great call for
45:01
parents to
45:03
children.
45:03
He says in
45:05
this negative
45:06
exhortation,
45:07
do not provoke
45:08
your children
45:09
lest they become
45:12
discouraged.
45:13
This idea of
45:14
not provoking
45:14
your children
45:15
means to stir
45:16
up or to
45:17
irritate or
45:19
to exasperate.
45:21
Failure to
45:22
not provoke
45:23
them can cause
45:24
them to become
45:25
discouraged.
45:27
NASB renders
45:27
that to lose
45:29
heart or to
45:30
be without
45:31
courage.
45:33
And the
45:33
picture there
45:34
I think is
45:34
this constant
45:35
nagging,
45:37
nitpicking,
45:38
beating down.
45:39
You can never
45:39
do anything
45:40
right in the
45:41
sight of your
45:41
parents.
45:42
Your parents
45:42
are on top
45:43
of you all
45:44
the time.
45:44
Always hard.
45:46
Always hard.
45:47
Always hard.
45:49
Never encouraging.
45:50
Never helping
45:51
the children see
45:52
that they have
45:53
value and that
45:54
they know that
45:55
they're trying
45:56
and they're
45:56
working at it.
45:57
Never saying
45:57
to the children,
45:58
I'm proud of
45:59
you.
46:01
We could get
46:01
into this for
46:02
the longest
46:03
of time,
46:03
but it's
46:03
10 till
46:04
12,
46:04
so I'm
46:04
going to
46:05
skip a
46:05
bit down
46:06
in this.
46:07
Parents,
46:08
we are not
46:08
to provoke
46:09
our children
46:09
unless they
46:10
become discouraged.
46:12
We don't
46:12
want our
46:12
kids feeling
46:13
like they
46:13
can never
46:13
do anything
46:15
right in
46:16
our eyes.
46:17
We are to
46:18
lovingly train
46:20
our children.
46:22
The opposite
46:23
of this would
46:23
be to lovingly
46:24
train and
46:25
encourage our
46:26
children in
46:26
the right way.
46:28
To correct
46:28
them in the
46:29
same way that
46:30
God corrects
46:31
us.
46:32
His children.
46:33
Children need
46:34
to learn that
46:35
there are
46:35
consistent
46:36
consequences
46:37
for their
46:38
actions.
46:39
Consistent
46:39
consequences.
46:40
Like rules
46:41
need to be
46:41
made and
46:42
consequences for
46:43
breaking those
46:44
rules and
46:44
those things
46:45
need to be
46:46
followed through.
46:48
The writer of
46:49
Hebrews says
46:49
in chapter 12
46:50
verse 6,
46:51
for the Lord
46:51
disciplines the
46:53
one he loves
46:54
and chastises
46:55
every son
46:56
whom he receives.
46:57
It is good
46:58
and right
46:58
and proper
46:59
that we
46:59
discipline
47:00
our children.
47:04
Children need
47:04
to properly
47:05
understand
47:06
grace.
47:09
We should
47:09
not dismiss
47:10
their disobedience
47:11
but give
47:12
loving
47:13
discipline.
47:14
I hear this
47:15
a lot in
47:16
the talk of
47:17
Christian
47:17
parents.
47:19
I'll tell you
47:19
now that it's
47:20
laziness.
47:21
It's not well
47:22
motivated.
47:22
It's just
47:23
laziness.
47:23
But the
47:24
passing over,
47:25
the sometimes
47:25
punishing and
47:26
the sometimes
47:27
not intending
47:28
to display
47:29
the character
47:29
of God,
47:31
God did
47:32
not pass
47:32
over our
47:33
sins in a
47:34
dismissive way
47:35
like,
47:35
well,
47:36
I'm just
47:36
going to
47:37
look at
47:37
Nathan and
47:37
I'm just
47:38
not going
47:38
to discipline
47:39
Nathan for
47:40
all of his
47:40
sin.
47:41
No,
47:42
God fully,
47:43
in a way I
47:44
can never
47:44
do with my
47:44
children,
47:45
God fully
47:46
punished my
47:47
sin in
47:49
Christ.
47:50
The punishment
47:51
had to be
47:52
dealt out.
47:53
That was the
47:53
just thing for
47:54
God to do.
47:55
He took all
47:56
of my
47:56
sin and
47:57
he laid
47:58
it on
47:58
Christ.
47:59
The perfect,
48:00
the spotless,
48:01
the one who
48:01
had lived a
48:02
sinless life.
48:03
He gave it
48:04
to him and
48:05
then he gave
48:06
me his
48:07
righteousness.
48:09
This double
48:09
imputation that
48:11
occurred in
48:11
that way.
48:12
So now I
48:13
can stand
48:14
justified before
48:15
God having
48:16
to have all
48:16
my sins
48:17
forgiven because
48:18
they were
48:18
punished in
48:19
Christ.
48:20
And I can
48:20
now be an
48:21
adopted son
48:23
in right
48:24
standing with
48:26
the Lord.
48:27
By just
48:28
ignoring some
48:29
of the things
48:29
our children
48:30
do, we
48:30
don't accomplish
48:31
this.
48:31
We don't
48:32
teach them
48:32
the gospel.
48:34
The way you
48:34
teach your
48:34
children the
48:35
gospel is
48:36
that you
48:36
punish them
48:37
when they
48:37
sin and
48:38
then you
48:39
talk to
48:39
them about
48:40
sin and
48:41
the ultimate
48:41
punishment for
48:43
sin and
48:43
you tell them
48:44
that you
48:44
love them and
48:45
that they're
48:46
yours and
48:46
they'll never
48:47
not be
48:48
yours.
48:50
We always
48:51
reconcile after
48:51
punishment in
48:52
our house.
48:53
Right?
48:54
After I wear
48:55
Cade's rear end
48:56
out and he's
48:58
done thinking
48:58
about what he
48:59
did, we go
49:00
have a conversation
49:01
about why he
49:02
was punished,
49:02
that he sees
49:03
it's the
49:03
consequence for
49:04
what he
49:04
did.
49:05
It's not
49:05
because dad's
49:05
mean, it's
49:06
because he
49:07
broke my
49:08
law and
49:09
therefore a
49:10
punishment was
49:11
necessary for
49:12
that.
49:13
And I always
49:14
tell him that
49:14
he's my son
49:15
and I love
49:17
him and that's
49:18
why his
49:18
obedience is so
49:19
important to
49:20
me because I
49:21
want what's
49:22
good and
49:23
what's right
49:23
for him.
49:24
That's grace.
49:26
This is the
49:27
way that God
49:27
deals with us.
49:29
That when Cade
49:30
is disobedient to
49:31
me that I
49:31
don't kick him
49:32
out on the
49:32
street and
49:33
say you're
49:34
not my son
49:35
anymore.
49:35
I want
49:36
nothing to do
49:37
with you.
49:37
Good luck,
49:38
five-year-old.
49:43
The fact that I
49:44
don't do that
49:45
is grace.
49:46
That I love
49:47
him in this
49:48
way.
49:49
Children need
49:49
to properly
49:50
understand grace.
49:54
And so do
49:54
we.
49:56
We need to see
49:57
that relationship
49:57
with God and
49:58
children are so
49:58
very helpful for
50:00
us in this.
50:03
And so there's
50:03
four exhortations
50:04
for the
50:05
household of
50:07
the new
50:07
self.
50:08
One to
50:09
wives, one to
50:10
husbands, one to
50:11
children, and
50:12
one to parents.
50:14
The one for
50:15
whom Christ is
50:16
all, the one
50:18
who treasures
50:19
Christ above all
50:20
else, will live
50:21
differently than
50:22
they once did and
50:22
will live
50:23
differently than
50:24
the world that
50:24
surrounds them.
50:26
We shouldn't
50:26
take these
50:27
exhortations lightly
50:28
this morning because
50:29
Christ Family
50:30
Church exists to
50:32
glorify God by
50:33
experiencing,
50:34
proclaiming, and
50:35
displaying the
50:36
supremacy of Jesus
50:37
Christ in all
50:38
things to all
50:39
peoples.
50:40
Let's pray
50:40
together.