Intro to Eph. 5:5-9

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/13/2019 9:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 6:5-9

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 6:5-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.”

 

            We have been talking about submission for a considerable length of time, and this section here will finish the discussion of submission.  When we go back to Ephesians 5:18 we learn that at the end of that verse it teaches us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to have the Holy Spirit fill us so that we are able to submit to those that are spoken of in this section, I mentioned earlier that it is my belief that Ephesians 6:1-9 should have been included in the fifth chapter because the subject is the same.  Be that as it may we still can read through this last section on submission and learn from it.  Again the key in doing this is to be filled with the Spirit.

 

            John MacArthur entitles this chapter “Spirit-Filled Labor Relations,” picking up on the theme of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

            After I graduated from High School in 1965 I went to work for the Ford Motor Company as a laborer and was in the United Auto Workers union, once I had my 90 days of work at the company.  In 1979 I became a supervisor at Ford and remained in that capacity for most of my remaining time at Ford only had a few months of going back to my job as a union worker for a few months because of a cut back.  I worked a total of 34 years at Ford, and then after my retirement from Ford I did come back as a part-time worker basically as a consultant doing pretty much doing the same job as before.  My point in telling this brief story of my employment is to say that I understand from both sides of labor and management what happens in the work force in today’s climate.  I had been through a couple of strikes, one very long, while working at Ford, and pretty much saw that the Union became too strong which did put some companies out of work because they could not pay the wages demanded by the companies they worked for.  The key to the problem is balance as each side is not to take advantage of the other side or things get out of balance and then both sides can lose everything.  This section talks about slaves and masters and so it is a bit different than the work environment that I was in, and yet there are similar things involved too.  Suppose in Paul’s day that both a master and a slave become believers, and suppose that the slave becomes a leader in the church that he and the master go to.  This could potentially make things difficult as in the church the master would be submissive to his own slave, yet at home the slave would be submissive to his master.  Same could be true in work places of union workers and supervisors in our day.  So the only way that any of this would work if all were filled with the Holy Spirit in order to follow what God has in His Word.

 

            John MacArthur writes towards the end of his introductory comments of this chapter the following:  “Paul’s instructions to masters and slaves continue in the setting of the household.  The vast majority of businesses in New Testament times were family operated, and therefore most servants were part of an extended household.  In agrarian situations the servants, or slaves, worked in the fields or tended the flocks.  If the master had a shop the servants worked as craftsmen or helpers.  If he was a merchant they would do whatever chores were required to help in the business.  In any case, the head of the household was also head of the business.  He was usually the employer and the servants were his employees.

 

            “In this passage Paul continues to deal with the practical effects of the Spirit-filled life (5:18), without which none of God’s righteous standards can be met, including those which regulate working relationships.  Verses 5-8 teach about the submission of slaves, or workers, and 9 teaches about the submission of masters, or employers.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Realize that the filling of the Holy Spirit is key to all relationships.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility is also a key to relationships.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”  “If the church of Jesus Christ is not a place where we can be who we are, where can we go?  If the church is not a place where we can be encouraged and motivated throughout the process of our growth and maturing in the Lord, then where can we go to find some encouragement?  If we are not known for our love for each other in the fellowship of the church, then what does that say about our status with God?”

 

9/13/2019 10:11 AM