Grace Messages

This morning we are going to begin a series on one of the most important relationships in the home and how it impacts society, and the Church. The parent-child relationship, more than any other relationship in life, reflects our role as disciple-makers. Disciple-making must start in the home, and this morning we want to look at God’s original design for that! We also want to consider some “obstacles” for executing God’s original design and what His solutions are for those obstacles in Biblical Parenting.

This morning we conclude the epistle to the Ephesians with Paul’s final greetings. Additionally, we take a 30K overview of the book of Ephesians to conclude our study.

As we closed last week, we considered the last two pieces of our spiritual armor (the helmet of salvation and sword of Spirit). In the wake of an always present and potential imminent spiritual attack, believers are to take up the last two pieces of armor. Today’s passage goes on to describe the MANNER by which this is to be done…in a CONSTANT STATE of prayer and alertness. Why is this necessary? Because the battle is superhuman and it needs to be fought with supernatural means and power. We must stay connected to headquarters!

Last week, Paul described our REAL EXTERNAL enemies – it is Satan, his minions, and the world system he is swaying. The Christian life is a battleground and not a playground, because the enemy we have is strong, aggressive, and downright mean. Because of this, God has provided a way to protect us from this enemy in this spiritual warfare and to stand in His victory. We will consider God’s spiritual attire in more illustrative detail this morning…

A “battle royal” is a battle involving at least two parties where the person left standing is the winner. The good news for the believer is that the ONE with whom we are unified with is the last one standing, Jesus Christ! However, there is a spiritual battle waging, and His enemies and our enemies have not been completely destroyed and they await their future day of final reckoning. Because of that, and because these enemies are evil, strong, and relentless, God has provided us with means of protection so that we can STAND and maintain our high ground of victory.

Having considered the marriage relationship and the parent-child relationship, we now move into another inter-personal relationship where the Spirit of God desires to make an impact – vocational relationships. As we will see, the working class of the 1st-century Roman empire was organized and regulated much differently than our day – most of the working class were slaves and/or indentured servants (paying of a debt). Thus, the most appropriate and direct application we can make in our day is to the employer/employee relationship.

Having considered the marriage relationship the past few Sundays, we now move into another inter-personal relationship where the Spirit of God desires to make an impact – the parent-child relationship. It is interesting to note that in this section (5:22-6:9), two out of the three inter-personal relationships that Paul addresses happen within the four walls of private family life! WHY is that? Because if these are addressed and handled “by means of the Spirit” everything else in life will function according to its design, including the Church.

This morning, we continue to look at Paul’s teaching on some very specific inter-personal relationships which require each person to be Spirit-filled for any hope of divine success. Paul started with marriage the marriage relationship, which is designed to be a MUTUALLY beneficial symbiotic relationship! Each person (husband and wife) fulfilling their God-ordained duties as they are empowered by the Spirit of God for the success of the whole operation. The command for husbands, based upon their understanding of the resources available to them by the filling of the Spirit, is to love their wives, as Christ loved the Church. As with the command to the wives, the husbands only hope to fulfill this command consistently and acceptably to the Lord is to be occupied with the Lord and be Spirit-filled.

This morning, we continue to look at Paul’s teaching on some very specific inter-personal relationships which require each person to be Spirit-filled for any hope of divine success. Paul started with marriage the marriage relationship, which is designed to be a MUTUALLY beneficial symbiotic relationship! Each person (husband and wife) fulfilling their God-ordained duties as they are empowered by the Spirit of God for the success of the whole operation. The command this morning for husbands, based upon their understanding of the resources available to them by the filling of the Spirit, is to love their wives, as Christ loved the Church. As with the command to the wives, the husbands only hope to fulfill this command consistently and acceptably to the Lord is to be occupied with the Lord and be Spirit-filled.

This morning, Paul begins to discuss some very specific inter-personal relationships which require each person to be Spirit-filled for any hope of divine success. Paul starts first with marriage, which is designed to be a MUTUALLY beneficial symbiotic relationship! Each person (husband and wife) fulfilling their God-ordained duties as they are empowered by the Spirit of God for the success of the whole operation. The command this morning for wives, based upon the understanding of the resources available to her by the filling of the Spirit, is to submit to her own husband, as unto the Lord. Even in this command, the Lord is WHO she is to be occupied with, and this should be all the motivation a wife needs to fulfill her primary duty or role in marriage.