Episode 317 - Everyday Living

Paul in this letter gives practical instructions on how to live with the people you see on a regular basis. Colossians 3:18 - 4:1

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

And welcome to the Two Brothers One Bible Podcast from New Psalm Baptist Church. We are so glad that you are listening. We would love to hear from you. There's a place that says, send us fan mail that you can actually send us a text. And you know how many people have actually done that? How many? Two. Two. Okay. In the history of this podcast. All right. I think I was one of them to test.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

You were one just to make sure it was work.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Maybe three. But send it. We would love to hear from people who actually listen to this podcast. We really do appreciate it. So uh be sure you do that. Uh let's see. Who else to mess? Oh, I gotta introduce ourselves. Okay, so I'll do that now. Me, me, me, me, me.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I'm Robert Swakefield. Oh, I like that. That's good. Yeah. I'm Peter Searson. I mean, I built this up to a huge thing, and you didn't even follow that lead. That's that was the charm.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Well, it certainly was charming. I thought so. Yeah. I don't know if it was exactly what I was thinking you would do. Oh, I know it wasn't. That's why I did it. My goodness. Yeah. Oh. Should we tell them the story about my haircut, what you did to me not too long ago? What if you if you feel the made sure? Well, maybe another podcast. We don't have to do that today. All right. So we are in Colossians chapter 3. We are going to uh we're shooting to end this up. We're going to start in verse 18. And we're going to, because it's so related, we're going to go ahead and go to verse 1 of chapter 4. So if you've got that in front of you, Peter, go ahead and start with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I do. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents and everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters and everything, and do it not only when their eye is on you to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not to human masters, since you know that you receive an inheritance from the Lord as reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. Master, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Alright, so that is the word of the Lord. So this little section here, Paul is applying this resurrection life that we've talked about in the earlier verses. And he's applying it to marriage, parenting, and work. I think it's really good here that he's doing that because these are three places where the old self seems to resurrect itself. That's true. I mean, in the relationships that we value the most, that's where we seem to resurrect the old dead that we put that we put away. Yeah. That he talked about in the earlier verses.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Well, you know, we we talked earlier, you know, when we get to church, we kind of fake it. You know, but at home, we're not faking it. So our our spouses and our kids, they see the real us. They do. And so if if we're not in Christ, they're going to throw a flag on the field every time.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yes, and and they'll see it right off. I mean, we're not hiding anything. So this word uh it starts off wives submit to your husbands as as fitting in the Lord. Uh it's this word submit is not inferiority. No. And we talked about that in our Ephesians section. Yes. And he's bringing it up again here. So uh question just off the top of my head. Sure. So not only did he write this to the Ephesians, but he's doing it to the Colossians. Was this a real issue in Paul's day?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Well, yeah, even more than ours, because women in the time of Paul were more of an object, a possession. Okay. And so he is really trying to elevate the status of the woman. And and so this is a self-submission. This is, you know, it's it's amazing how these words of Paul have been abused over the years. And and there's there's a lot of husbands that want to lord it over their wife and be demanding and controlling, and that is not what Paul is opening to at all.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Right, right. He grounds it in the the second half of that verse as it's fitting in the what is fitting in the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, and then he says, you know, we you know, we as husbands need to do what's right. It you don't mind, you know, whether it's a boss or a spouse, uh, a husband, you know, if if you're leading well, you don't mind following. Right. But if you question their integrity, if you question their judgment, if you question their decision making, I have a hard time following. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah. And I think the word submit uh is the word that makes us all stumble. Yes. Because we don't want to submit to anybody but ourselves. Right. Let's just be honest. Yeah. We don't even want to submit to Jesus. Yeah. We want to the flesh wants us to submit to ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Which is what all of chapter three has been about. It has. Is we need to die to self. So self is saying, oh no, no, you're not going to control me. Well, something's going to control you. Right. Right. Something. Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Whether you like it or not. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

It could be cheeseburgers, it's controlling me. But something's controlling me. Right. And so in this case, he's saying there needs to be harmony in the home. And so the husband has been saddled with the with the responsibility of being the spiritual head. And so the wife should be submissive if the husband's going in the right direction, which he talks about in 1990. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Someone leads. Yep. Someone follows, but both are essential to for the beauty of the dance. So it's it's not it's not one over the other. No. And that's verse 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Um in a world where husbands held all the legal m power, Paul is putting this weight of the responsibility on the husband's shoulders. He says, Love, don't dominate. Yeah. Is what he's saying.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

I love that word harsh. In the Greek it's picronio. And picorneo uh it means it translated often rude or bitter, but the essence of picorneo means it's when you get that stomach where you feel the bile, you're you're sick in your stomach. Right. That's what he says. Husbands, don't make your wife sick in the stomach.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Oh, wow. Yeah. That is that's that's powerful. Yeah. Um because that because what what he's saying is don't crush or don't don't uh make her spirit feel useless. Exactly. So that that's and that's a big thing, uh like you mentioned in in this culture that he's written it to, but it's still still valid today. Absolutely. It's still valid today. So that leads us to the next section. He's talked about wives, he's talked about husbands, and now he's talking to children again, just like he did in Ephesians. Yeah. Obey your parents and everything, for this pleases the Lord. So obedience is really uh it's a hard one to swallow sometimes. Yeah, it is. Obedience, we don't like to obey anything. Right. Um, but uh it's it's just listening uh under authority. I I think Paul is really talking to the children here uh by addressing them directly. That was kind of rare in in the ancient letters.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

You know, in verse 20, uh when you look at children who can't obey their parents, these are the children that aren't obeying teachers. They don't care about the authority of a policeman, they don't care about the authority of a boss. There's a real anarchy that happens because their spirit is not willing to be submissive to someone else. Right. And so that that is forged in the relationship in the home is take out the trash and do it with a grateful heart or mow the lawn or wash the dishes or whatever it is. And so we're we're trying to help, you know, children to be good citizens and and to be good spouses and to be good fathers and mothers, and and it's foundational. Uh it's just simply obeying what your parents tell you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

And and I think that's the training part that we put our children through because all these other things that you just mentioned aren't going to happen if they don't learn it young. Right. That's so true. That is so true. So uh he talks to the children, obey your parents and everything for this pleases the Lord. And then he gives more instructions to the dads. Yeah. Uh fathers, do not provoke your children uh lest they become discouraged. You know, this provoked is this needling them or nagging them or pushing them to the point of resentment. Yeah. Is what this guy wrote. And and I think that's really what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, in fact, the the word that you highlighted in verse 8, when we talked about rid, you talked about Athemio. This is the same word he uses for discourage. Okay. And so it it literally it's it's taking the spirit. It's you got the ah, and you got the theme of the spirit. And so you're you're the children are so lorded over, and and they're you're you're telling them that they're useless and you can't do anything right that you've just just siphoned all of who they are out of them. Right. Don't be that kind of dad.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Exactly. Yeah. If you're a Christian, there's no room for that. No. Uh at all. Um this discouragement, uh, losing heart, they stop trying. Uh this here's a great illustration. A child's heart is like wet cement. What a father impresses early will harden into shape. Yeah. And that's exactly right. So he's talking about fathers not provoking your children. Right. So that's really, really good. And then he changes to bondservants in verse 22. Bondservants obey. Uh, not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart for fearing the Lord. So, why do you think he's talking to bondservants all of a sudden?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Well, he's I mean, that's common in his day. Okay. There's there's more slaves in the Roman Empire than there are Roman citizens. So this is this is a common topic. And and like we talked in Ephesians when we got to this, uh, if if you instead of looking at slaves and masters, if you look at bosses and employees, employers, employees, then we we all answer to somebody. Right. And and how we're going to answer to them. And so he's really back to what he launched in in verse 17 of chapter three about how and whether in word or deed, how we act. And so what he's saying is, are you going to be men pleasers or God pleasers? Right. So in our human relationships in the work environment, if we're working like we're working unto the Lord, our employer is going to be pleased. If you're showing up early, you're you're you're not taking an excessive amount of breaks, uh, you're getting your job done, you're doing a little bit extra, you're you're you know, you're doing all these things, and you're just saying, I I just want to honor the Lord and how I do my work, right? Your employer's gonna be impressed and and pleased.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

That's exactly right. And what a what a change of attitude if we go to work and we know we're doing it for the Lord. Yeah. That that changes your attitude on everything as far as the job goes. I I was a postmaster uh for 15 years, yeah. And you know, I I had a lot of employees that work for me. Yeah, some of them were easy to love, yeah, some of them were not easy to love, and yet uh I always tried to treat them with dignity and respect, no matter what. Because I thought that was me serving the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

And that was how I had to approach it. Now, I didn't always feel that way about them. Right. Uh, because there was some that, well, they're not lovable. Right. That is a challenge. And so, but you know, it just reframes everything if you do it in the name of Jesus. I just think that's an important thing that that Paul is talking about here. He's he's actually reframing it for us.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yeah, I like where he talks about, you know, you don't just do it when they're eyes when they're looking. Right. You know, just just do it right. I read a book by Brant Hansen, who's who's a I I love his writing style. And he there was somebody he worked at at Walmart, and and one of the Walmart employees said, Come on, I gotta show you something. And so they went in the back, and this guy created through boxes and all that, this little place where they could hide. And so they're they're hiding, and and Brand says, Why are we doing this? And he goes, Well, so we don't have to work. And he says, But I want to work. Right. So he leaves this little hiding place. And that should be our attitude. I mean, we're being paid, you know, and so but we need to do the proper job.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

The honest day's wage for an honest day's work. That's what what that is. So, verse 23, whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for men. And there there it is. That hardly means it from the soul. Mean it from the soul that that's how you're doing your work. Yeah, I've had some pretty bad jobs in my life.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Have you? Have you? Oh, yeah. I've had some bad ones. You know, and it's really kind of hard to find joy in the world.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

It is. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

I remember one of the early ones I had was my my uncle had a trailer, and apparently the the pipe fell off uh his from the bathroom. Oh, okay. And so all this bathroom stuff was going under the trailer, and so I'm I'm like 10, 12 years old. Okay. So he sends me over there with a with a bucket, and and then I gotta clean it all out and then spread lime underneath the the trailer, and it's like, that was just that is miserable.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Some some jobs are not fun. And and how do you find joy or honor the Lord in that? It well, it's it's a lot about your attitude. It is. You know, sometimes my son, I'd say, take out the trash, and he'd drag the bag down the driveway, and it's got a hole ripped in it, and there's a trail of trash. And it's like, that's not what I meant.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

No, that's not that's not what you asked for. No. Yeah. So whatever you do, uh work hardly as for the Lord and not for me. And that just again, it's another reframing that that Paul has given these uh Colossians and to us to do everything within our power for the Lord. Right. No matter what it is, if you reframe it that way, it it makes all the difference in our lives. Right. So, verse 24, he tells us that's exactly where we're doing. We're serving the Lord Christ. Uh the power structure has been shifted. We're not working necessarily for that boss, we're working for the Lord. And I love the way he shifted that.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Because I just think that's a really important thing to remember.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Well, when he says the word since you know, that in the in the Greek, it's since you fully know. Right. It's not like you're clueless here. You fully know this, and and there's no room for doubt. So this is a certainty. You know this. You know, and there's there's stuff, you know, when when someone says to you, Well, why did you do this? It's like you you knew what the right thing would do. So how can you claim ignorance or well anything? Exactly. You knew.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

You knew, and that's what Paul's saying. You you know, this guy wrote this, it was really good. The lowest status person in a Roman household is actually serving the highest king in Christ Jesus. Wow. That's pretty good. Yeah, it is good. That's pretty good. So, you know, he he r also reminds him in this verse that your your your inheritance, you know, something that slaves they could never legally receive. Right. And the reward God sees and honors our faithful work.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah, it comes back, you know, the employer-employee thing. We we understand work equals pay. And so uh that's really what he's talking about in verses 24 and 25, is is we're going to live a life and we've got a promise inheritance as reward. So how how's this going to work out for you? Right. And so that's that's what he's talking about in verse 24. Uh, and then in in 25, he says, anyone who does wrong will be repaid for the wrongs, for there is no favoritism. Here, here's the problem with our heart. We want to cry out for justice. I want fairness. And so we start, you know, I want what's entitled to me, I want what's mine, I want my fair share. When we stand before God and we start chanting this stuff, he says, You want me to give you justice?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

I don't think so. Well, we want grace, we want grace because what we get is what we deserve. Yeah. If we ask for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

So we need to change our tone. So, you know, if if if we keep up with this entitlement, it doesn't work in the spiritual.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

It does not. Uh not at all. Uh that's good. Um Paul Paul is just again on verse 25, he's just assuring that justice is going to be served. Right. Okay. Uh then going into chapter four, uh, it says, Masters treat your bond service justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So again, he's uh addressing all these groups where we talked about earlier where it's easy to resurrect that old life, quote unquote. Right. And now he's confronting the most powerful of all, uh the masters of his day. Yeah. And he is just simply saying, treat them justly and fairly.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah. You know, if we think about Jesus as being our ultimate master, that redefines how we how we act, what we do, our our deeds and our and what we say, what we do, how we behave, how we react, all of that shapes in a different format. Because we're trying to please our master.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

And uh boy, it it just one day we're gonna stand before him.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

We are, and you have to give an account. Yeah. And thank goodness we have Jesus to say, Father, I died for that.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Yeah, yeah. That's I mean, that's that's the great part. But I do think there's gonna be some some tears in heaven where we're gonna say, I'm sorry I disappointed you. Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't relinquish that. I'm sorry I didn't let that go. I'm sorry I didn't do more.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Sorry I didn't forgive the person like I should have forgiven them. Uh yeah, there's a I think there's a judgment day, it's gonna be a tough day for everybody. No question about it. That is why it's called that, isn't it? Yeah. Oh my goodness. Well, uh, your takeaways on chapter three?

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I just love chapter three. I mean, he he talks about the the doctrinal stuff, and then he gets, you know, very practical in what to take off. You know, don't don't be these people, what to put on, and then how it looks in our our everyday relationship as as a spouse, as a as a parent, and then as an employee.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

So that's so good. All right, well, that's gonna wrap up chapter three, and that's gonna wrap up this episode of Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. I'm Robert Twakefield. I'm Peter Searsville. And thank you so much for listening, and God bless, and we are going to start chapter four. And our bed, Robert. Well, we we did, didn't we? We're gonna continue that when we come back next time. Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.