Thank you for the good singing, some great hymns this morning about the glory of God all around us. And it's nice to worship and sing those songs together with such great truth. 

Good morning to everyone. Beautiful sunshine this morning, a little breeze, nice. We're getting back to our study of Ephesians this morning after a couple of weeks off for the communion service and then our conference last week in Romans 7. 

And we're in the midst of instruction from Paul concerning how to walk worthy of our calling. Back in 4.1, you'll remember, Paul started the application section of this epistle and exhorted us to walk worthy, literally, in equal weight outwardly with who we are inwardly because of salvation in Christ. 

At the end of chapter 5, Paul gives us this characterization of the Christian life. We read that earlier. He says, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. 

And it is verse 21 that sets the theme for the instruction in the next couple of chapters, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Paul is talking about relationships within the body, believers. He has ordained that we exist, that we live in the context of relationships, and he has intended these relationships to exist in an authority submission design. 

We spent some time in chapter 5 looking at the marriage relationship, submitting to one another in love. Wives, submit to your husbands. We saw that God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. And this is not about value or any kind of equality spiritually or anything like that. It's simply roles that God has designed in various relationships. 

And this is for our benefit, for our witness, for God's glory. In our text this morning, in the first nine verses of chapter 6, we're going to look at two more relationships. We're actually only going to get to parents and children, and then next time we'll look at employers and employees. 

The primary relationship in the home, in the family unit, is husband and wife, and then parents and children. And then we broaden out our scope to the relationships we have in the world. Peter also teaches us about how we should relate to our government, as Paul does in Romans 13. 

And here in our text, as well as in Peter, we'll look at our job situations, the relationships of employee to employer, boss to employee. These are very practical instructions, and they are based in who we are in Christ, and therefore, how we should live in the world. 

Let's look at our text, Ephesians 6, 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth. 

And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 

And you masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. 

We have five points on our outline: authority submission, grace teaches us, discipline teaches us, a Christian attitude for work, and a word to employers. 

Well, I want to just talk a little bit about how contrary the philosophies of the world, the thinking of men is to God's plan and will for us in this life on this earth. When we think about an attitude of submission, this is the greatest characterization of Christianity, of self-sacrificial love and trust in God for his will and his purposes in our lives. 

This week, we spent probably 150 man hours working on hay. We cut about 60 acres. We fixed equipment. We raked the hay, and then we fixed equipment. We baled the hay, and then we fixed some equipment. And we watched it rain on hay that we hadn't baled yet, all raked up and dry and ready to go. 

And the weatherman lied again. It was a trying week. We were persevering, trusting the Lord, praying without ceasing, and pressing on. And even when things didn't work out the way we wanted, the Lord is still good, and he sustains us. 

What was interesting to me, we were up at a young couple's house in North Ironwood. And Ashley comes from Bessemer driving the tractor with Hank on her lap and the cab there and the round baler in tow. And the woman who owned the field said, now look, there is a modern woman. And I turned to her, and I said, do modern women bale hay and take their babies in tow? 

And she looked at me and said, well, no. The call of the world is not self-sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance when the going gets tough. The call of the world is you deserve more. You are what matters most. Have it your way. Get all you can, and don't let anyone stand in your way. You need to love yourself more. 

My friends, the pressures, the influences all around us in advertising, entertainment, academia, and government, all around us, pounding in. And don't forget also within us, the sin that still dwells in us and to look out for ourselves, to take a second seat to no one. 

And what does God say? What does Jesus say about the way up, the highest honor? In Matthew 20, 25, this is where the disciples came and asked to sit on either side in his kingdom. And Jesus called them to himself, and he said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. 

But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Praise God that Jesus was submissive to the Father's will and gave his life a ransom. 

Turn over to Philippians 2. Let's look at another passage speaking of that. Philippians 2, 1. Paul writes, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. 

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

We've seen in previous studies that when we have an attitude of submission, when we put others before ourselves, when we seek to do our best at our work or serve within the family or the church, when we seek to glorify God in all that we do, we are not serving our boss. We're not serving our government. We're not even serving our husband or our mother. We are ultimately submitting ourselves to and serving our Lord. 

That's why we see in all of these instructions, as to Christ, unto the Lord, an attitude of submission is service, is love, is ultimately trusting in the Lord and his will and his care for us. And the world says, you are a fool. You need to look out for number one. 

The idea of submission to those in authority, ultimately to the God of this universe, is foolishness to the world. And the cross is the ultimate example of this, submission to God. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 with me, 1 Corinthians 1:18. Paul comments on this in his letter to the Corinthians. 

At verse 18, chapter 1, he says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 

For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, to the Greeks, foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

And yet 1 Peter 2 tells us that we should follow the example of Christ and walk in his steps. He says, this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond slaves of God. 

He says, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king, servants. Be submissive to your masters with all fear. Now listen to this. Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently? This is commendable before God. 

For to this you were called. Can you believe that? What were you called to? To suffer. To suffer in this world. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Now listen, what did he do? He committed himself to him who judges righteously. 

He trusted the Lord in the midst of the worst of circumstances, where he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might now live for righteousness. 

So we must be aware of the sin in us, and our own selfish desires always working from within. And we also must be aware that there will be a constant onslaught from the world around us and the philosophies of men working against this attitude of submission and esteeming others higher than ourselves and being a servant. But the answer to fulfillment, to peace, to joy, and to bringing glory to God and good to ourselves and our family and our church and the cause of Christ is an attitude of submission in every relationship that God has ordained. 

And this is the very promise we find in our text for children who submit to and obey their parents. I keep having this vision when I think about children obey your parents and that attitude of submission of when I was in fourth grade in the Catholic school. And I like to talk a little bit, and they didn't appreciate that in class. 

And so they drug me out in the hall, and the woman says, you've got to keep your mouth shut. You've got to pay attention. And she says, stop rolling your eyes at me. I said, I'm not rolling my eyes. She said, stop rolling your eyes at me. She had the paddle in her hand, you know? And I shut my eyes. She said, open your eyes and look at me. 

And I opened my eyes, and she goes, don't look. Bend over and smack me with that paddle, all right? But I think about the heart or the spirit of a child is so often rebellion, right? I'll say, Sarah, go feed the chickens. She'll go, ugh. You know? There's that spirit in the child. 

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth. Now, here we find an imperative, a command. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 

And then we see the promise. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you. And you may live long on the earth. I'd like that to be true of my life, that it would be well with me, a nice, long life on the earth. I would like that promise, wouldn't you? 

Paul says, obey your parents. Or if you're beyond the years of obedience under their authority in their home, honor your parents all of your life. It's a simple command, and yet there is a powerful resistance in a child to rebel against parents rather than obey. 

I've raised three teenage girls, I know. The word translated obey here means to hearken to, to listen, to submit or obey. It means to hear under as a subordinate. I think this is very interesting because as I was studying this, I had a thought about the word back in 5:22 where it says, wives, submit to your husbands. 

This word means to arrange oneself under, to submit to one's control or yield to one's advice. The command to obey in 6:1 is different. It's a present active imperative. So it's calling for continual active obedience and it's a command to obey. Okay. No discussion. 

But the word for submit for the wives is present middle imperative, meaning that the subject is both an agent of the action and also somehow concerned with the action. And I find this fascinating because the idea of submission here is in both relationships. But the husband and wife relationship is much different than the parent-child relationship. 

The wife is part of this team, is concerned not only with yielding to her husband's final decision and his responsibility to the Lord in this, but also with how this concerns her and her family. The child is not in such a partnership, not in a helping position, but is to be continually and always subordinate to the decisions and commands of his parents. 

I think this has gotten a little mixed up in our modern world. I want to talk about this from a parental perspective in our next two points. Grace teaches us and discipline teaches us. Verse one again, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up. 

That's the key phrase there. Bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Now continuing with our analogy for our understanding, the husband and wife are a team. The wife is in a submissive role as a helper and completer to her husband, but they are in this together—teammates to encourage and love one another, to make a home and raise children and send them off. They are one flesh. 

They're united together, and they each have responsibilities in raising children and operating a household together. The parent-child relationship is much different. The children do not hold the same position, and they are subordinate to their parents and commanded to be obedient. 

For example, when my father would tell me when I was young to go cut the firewood or mow the grass or clean the pig pens, he wasn't interested in a lot of discussion in my opinions on why or how these things should be done. He wanted me to obey and carry out his wishes. 

There were times and there should be times when children are involved in decision making or given responsibilities, but this is always for training, for growth and preparation for life on their own, not that they have some sort of equal standing with mom and dad. 

You see, the primary purpose for the parent is to take a young child and train him up, bring him up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, to take him from point A to point B, to grow and mature him through grace and through discipline. 

Jordan Peterson has made this wise comment; he said, the main goal of parents is to raise a child that by the time he is four years old, people want to be around him. Our main goal is not to be their friends. It's not to give them a better material life than we had. It's not to exasperate them with impossible expectations of performance in whatever area. It's to train them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, to teach them to know and love the Lord, to be productive members of society and to glorify God in all that they do, to love and to have an attitude of submission in all relationships. 

There's not to be severity and injustice, inconsistency and constant irritation, but rather bringing them up. These words mean to nourish up to maturity, to nurture, to bring up, to rear up. The word is not confined to the nourishing of a child physically but includes his bringing up or rearing in the various dimensions of his life. 

The word for training or nurture is paideia, and it includes the whole training and education of children, which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose commands and admonitions, reproof and punishment. It also includes the training and care of the body. Commands and admonitions, reproof and punishment. 

The word translated to admonition here is nuthesia, maybe. Here's Vincent's comment on this word. It's a training by word, as distinct from acts. It's a training by word, by the word of encouragement, when that is sufficient, but also by that of reproof, of blame, where these may be required and set over and against the training by act and discipline, which is paideia. 

So you have paideia, which is an act or an example or a discipline, and you have nuthesia, which is this training by word, or encouragement, or reproof. So this command to fathers is to bring up, nurture their children by paideia, which is training by act and discipline, and also by word. 

But the goal is always training, always growing, moving to maturity, preparing for adulthood, and leaving the home. It is a discipline, which in its essence, training, as opposed to punishment for the sake of punishment. 

You understand the difference, right? You're not smacking them to make yourself feel better. You're not punishing them to just punish them. The word discipline has to do with training, so that's important to make that distinction. 

So I was considering this, and it reminded me that we have a father in heaven, a perfect father who disciplines, who trains us. And it is clear that he does this by acts, he does this by examples, he does this by experiences in our lives, some encouraging, some painful. 

And he certainly does this through his word, some encouraging, some correcting, some rebuking. And as I thought about the applicable scriptures, and also life experiences and sanctification, I realized that God gives us the example of a perfect parent who teaches us in two ways, by grace and by discipline. 

Paul says the most fascinating thing in Titus 2, he says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, that we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Grace teaches us. It is the grace of God, the gospel, the encouragement of His word, of His people in our lives, His grace that teaches us and brings us up and sanctifies us. And it's also His discipline. 

Turn to Hebrews 12 with me, please. Hebrews 12 at verse 5. Now you remember that the believers in this community of Hebrews, and even some who had just professed faith and were part of this fellowship, had been experiencing some tremendous persecution because of their faith from the Jewish community, and they were thinking about going back to Judaism, largely because of the persecution they'd experienced. 

In verse 5 he says, and you have forgotten, he's encouraging them to understand the suffering and not be discouraged. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives. 

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? That's quite a statement. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, He chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Look at verse 11, now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. 

Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. This says that our Father in heaven chastens, this is the word paideia again, He chastens every son, teaches, tutors, brings him along. And this can be by acts of encouragement, and it also includes acts of physical discipline or trouble, not for the purpose of punishment, but for the purpose of training, directing, and teaching. 

I often think about it this way, is it my greatest desire to be holy? Is it my greatest desire to be a witness, to love my wife, to teach my children, to be an example, to glorify God in all that I do? Is that my greatest desire? What does God's word say that's going to take? It's going to take trouble, and it's going to take pain, in order for me to learn to trust God, and to depend on Him. That's just how it is, and the scriptures are abundantly clear. 

Notice the words of verse 11, now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Here He speaks of pain as a tool, as a way of training. My father in all, he used to always tell me, some young men only understand pain. He says, I was one of those guys. 

It's clear from the scriptures that God does this as our Father. He allows trials and tribulations. Romans 5 speaks of an olive press, of a squeezing, that the trials and tribulations squeeze us and produce character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, right? Because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us, but it's a squeezing process to bring out the essence of who we are, holiness. 

James 1 speaks of a refining or purification, that you're going to be put in the hot, right? And to take off the dross, to bring forth the pure metal. Let it all joy, James says, when you fall into various trials. Why? Because we know that God's working. Let patience have its perfect work. 

We must learn, Paul said in Philippians 4, I have learned, he says, I have learned to be content in Christ regardless of my circumstances, whether I'm naked or clothed, or hungry, or filled. No matter what, I've learned to be content in Christ, but he had to learn it. 

We must learn to be content, and this is sanctification, this is purification, and production of character happens most effectively through pain and trouble. 

I was thinking about this a lot this week. We worked every day this week, literally 16, 17 hours a day between chores and milking and trying to make hay because it's been raining all summer and we haven't been able to make hay, and if I don't get this hay made, it's $25,000. So we're trying to get the hay made, and we had an endless list of trouble from the get-go. 

The hay bine kept breaking, rough fields, rocks. We broke five guards and two teeth, and I have to tell you, my grandfather was a mechanic. He opened a service station in 1936. My dad had it, then my brother had it, and I stayed as far from that place as I could. And I hate turning wrenches, especially on a hot day laying under a hay bine. 

We kept fixing it, and then the main chain broke, more trouble. And then we were baling, and we hit a dip, and the torque of the baler and the weight of the wagon tore the cast hitch plate on the tractor in two, and the PTO crashed into the dirt and broke the welds on the baler. 

Then there was the fully loaded hay wagon that was all done and ready to be put up in the barn at 7 o'clock Wednesday evening, the one that jumped the wheel chock and rolled down the hill and flipped on its side in the ditch—trouble, trouble, trouble. But I tell you what, I haven't prayed so much in a long time as I did this week, constantly talking to the Lord, asking Him to help me to persevere and to trust Him in His will. 

And even in the midst of frustration and trouble and heat and sweat and exhaustion, I just kept trusting Him and taking what He would give me. We were up baling on a field in North Ironwood yesterday, and several other farmers had hay ready to bale in Bessemer. Now we all have cell phones, right? So what's the weather? When's it going to rain? What's it going to do? Is your hay dry yet? No, the hay won't dry. It's too thick. 

And so we had to rake it and get it ready yesterday morning, and there's going to be no rain till 4 o'clock. That's what the weatherman said. The rain came up before 1 o'clock, and all the farmers south lost their hay, and we lost some hay there too. After all that work and getting it ready to bale, and it's dry, and then a pop-up thunderstorm just ruins it. 

But on the field in North Ironwood, you could see the lake pushing back the storm. Blue's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. The storm was still out to the north, black to the south—literally on the edges of the field I was standing in. 

And I kept praying. We had a lot of hay down on that field, and we'd already lost the other field. And I made 54 round bales on that field yesterday. Ashley was driving that tractor like it was Memorial Day weekend in Indianapolis and pushing that round baler to the max. And it just kept not raining. 

All the other farmers were texting me, oh, poor drain. We lost our hay. And we were able to get 39 out of 54 round bales done before the rain finally came. And it only lasted a short time. And then the sun and the wind came out, and I was able to bale up the rest of that hay yesterday evening. 

But it was something to stand in that field, right on the battle line between sun and the storm, praying. And after it rained on our hay, I called my buddy who lost his whole field in Vesper, and I said, the Lord is still good. Cost him thousands of dollars. Because God is what matters, not some silly hay or whatever you have going on in your life. 

Because I know you got troubles. In this world, you will have trouble. Don't fear. Jesus has overcome the world. He's what really matters. But God used all these trials, allowed all these things—painful things—as he does so often in whatever the circumstances of our lives. And in this, he teaches us. 

He teaches us through trouble and trial and pain to trust him. And we are to follow this example with our children by sometimes rebuking, correcting, as the word paideia indicates. I had a farmer call me this morning, and he had some hay down. He needs me to bale it this afternoon, and he's a lost guy, religious guy. 

And he said, I saw you got that hay baled up on the farm over there on Vanderhegge. And I said, yeah, by the grace of God. And he said, okay. He doesn't see it. We sang those hymns this morning. And all around us, what do we see? It's like 2 Corinthians 5. All things are of God. All things are of God. And we praise him. 

We sing psalms and hymns and make melody in our heart if it's good or if it's bad. Because we know he's working. We know he's teaching us. We're also to follow the example of God's grace in raising our children. Because it is his goodness that leads us to repentance. 

It is his grace found in the person and work of his son that teaches us so much. We died with him so that those who live might live not for themselves, but for him who died for them. His grace teaches us to deny ungodliness, that we should live righteously. 

It's a very word used in our text when it says children should obey their parents, for this is right. This is righteous. This is the right thing to do. It's holy for the child to have an attitude of submission towards his parents and to obey what he is told. 

And it's right for the parents to see their role as training, teaching, chastening by word and by action, in encouragement and rebuke and correction by grace and by discipline. This is the biblical admonition before us concerning parents and children, concerning an attitude of submission. 

God is so good, the perfect father. And his grace and his correction are precious to us, to sanctify us, and to make us like Christ, to teach us, to need him, to trust him. It may not mean much to you, and it's a trivial thing, I know. But when I was standing in that hayfield yesterday, looking at the radar on my phone, and it was red, and it was yellow, and it was from Lake Superior down to wherever, Wausau, and people are texting me, you got 10 minutes. 

When I would stand in that hayfield and watch the blue skies push against the blackness, literally on either side of the field, and it didn't rain, and it didn't rain, and Ashley just going. That was God's grace on display just for me, just for me. In the midst of threats and trials, he teaches us. 

And so we are to teach our children as we lie down, and rise up, and walk in the way. In all the circumstances, pain, and trouble, and discipline, and victory, and encouragements of life, we use all these to teach, and train, and serve as an example to our children. This is the privilege of the parent, the important role of the mother and the father. And you know what, children? 

It's also your privilege to obey, to have an attitude of submission. I think we'll cut it off right here, and next week we'll consider the workplace. And one more message on an attitude of submission in every relationship. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful. We're thankful as we continue to understand more and more your goodness, your love for us. And we're thankful for your grace, and we're thankful for your discipline, as well, and for the troubles that we have in this life, and how they teach us to trust you. Help us, Lord, to have a right perspective. Help us to take it patiently, and know that what you're doing is so much more important than anything that we might suffer in this world, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. 

Help that glory to push through in our lives so that the world might see, that we might be a witness, and help us to love one another and submit ourselves to one another, for this is right. In Jesus' name.