Good morning to everyone, good to see you this morning, beautiful, beautiful fall weather we're having, I hope you're enjoying that, enjoying the leaves and seeing God's glory and all these things. We even got a little rain last night, so that was nice. 

We are continuing in the book of Colossians, and as Mark was reading that, I just noticed that it says in verse 20 of chapter 3, children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. That struck me as Mark was reading that, that this is, as we've been studying in the book of Colossians, who we are, this is what we desire, is to please the Lord. So with that mindset, we want to do those things that please the Lord, that are a benefit, that which is good for us, so we're going to see some of that in the message this morning. 

I'd like to begin by asking you to turn to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis 3 verse 1, it says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. 

Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 

When the eyes of both of them were opened, they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 

Then the Lord called to Adam and said to him, where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? 

Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. 

On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. 

Then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord made tunics of skin and clothed them. 

Well, here we see the fall of man and the creation subjected to the curse. Before this sin, this failure to trust and believe God and live according to the created order, there was innocence, there was fellowship, peace, joy, provision, and an order. Established roles and relationships that were good, that were given by God for our good and for our enjoyment. 

But in this sin, all of this was turned upside down. I grieve the situation with Adam and the creation for myself today. God created Adam in his own image, and God gave to Adam all of creation, abundant and magnificent provision for his needs, for his enjoyment. God's desire, his creative intent, was for Adam to rule over the creation, to steward it, to cause it to grow and to abound, and for him to enjoy. 

Turn over to Hebrews 2 with me, please. Hebrews 2, verse 5, it says, For he, God, has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels. Just stay there for a second. This world to come is oikumene, it means the inhabited earth, the inhabited earth yet to come. He's not put this world to come in subjection to angels, but one testified, verse 6, in a certain place, saying, What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him? 

You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, under man, he left nothing that is not put under him, but now we do not yet see all things put under him. 

God's creative intent will be fulfilled in the inhabited earth yet to come. But in Adam's fall, this intent of God was turned upside down. No longer was the creation subject to Adam, as he cared for and had dominion over all creation as God intended. But now this role was flipped upside down. Now Adam is subject to the cursed creation. 

He would now see thorns and thistles, pestilence, disease, drought, floods, and by the sweat of his brow, he would earn a living eating bread through toil and trouble. We see this curse manifest continually in our farm, in raising animals, making hay by the sweat of our brow. This year we see the drought, a lack of hay, struggling to gather enough feed for the winter. Just this Thursday evening, our well ran dry.

And that's a serious situation when you need four to five hundred gallons of water a day to keep your animals alive. And of course, winter's coming and the cold makes hauling water more complicated. It made me think about Adam and the curse and that the struggle in this world is real. But it also made me think in the context of our studies in Colossians 3 about the hope that we have in Him. That the time is coming when the curse will be lifted. There will be a revealing of the reality of who we are now. What the Bible calls the glorious revealing of the sons of God. When we come with Him and He sets up the inhabited earth to come and His kingdom and rules and reigns and righteousness as God's creative intent is fulfilled with His man Jesus ruling on this earth. 

Turn to Romans 8 with me, verse 18. Romans 8.18, Paul writing in light of all of this, he says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, the creation did not willfully sin against God, right? The creation got caught up in the sin of Adam. God subjected the creation to futility, but look at what it says, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 

And not only that, but we also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. We are saved in this hope, saved now from fear and doubt and worry. 

What we're going to see in our text again this morning is an application of the truths that we have been studying. John says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. Beloved, now we are children of God. It's not yet been revealed, right? It's hidden, but we now are children of God. The truth that we've been seeing throughout Colossians as well as our studies of Ephesians is that this is reality now for the one in Christ. It's hidden, our life is hidden with Christ and God. The world does not know us, but my brothers and sisters in Christ, this reality is now. We are children of God and there has been a restoration in us, in our spirits, on the inside, and it will be revealed when he comes. But it's true now. We have new life. 

And what our text is going to teach us today is that this new life must translate into new relationships. That is, a restoration to our roles to God's creative order in all relationships with men. Go back to Genesis 2, back to Genesis chapter 2 verse 15. It says, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. 

And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helper comparable to him. Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. Every time I read that I think about my wedding day, when Bobby came out of the back of the church there and they brought her to me. Can you imagine this moment for Adam when Eve was created and God brought her to him? What a moment. He brought her to the man. 

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. God says, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper, a complement, a completer. And this was a gift to Adam and there was harmony according to God's creative intent and there was peace and fellowship and bliss in the garden. 

But again after the fall these rules were perverted. Satan questioned God's word. Eve added to God's word. There was doubt rather than faith and trust and the perfect rules of God in His created order and the blessing and union and fellowship with Him and trust that He always knows and does what is best for us was rejected in unbelief. And with the curse came the perversion of the roles and relationships that God gave for our good. 

Genesis 3.16, to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, that means you want to rule over him, but he shall rule over you. Notice not only are her circumstances changed, but her desires are changed. Adam and Eve's perfect relationship and roles were marred, damaged, diverted by sin. And now we see the result of this in our world, conflict, selfishness, wrong thinking, seeking wrong things, divorce, pain, sorrow, frustration, wrong desires, all of this coming from within in the form of indwelling sin and without from the system designed by and ruled over by Satan and all the forces of the ways and wisdom of the world pressing in. 

And here's the lesson. We have gone our own way. We have rejected God's way.

We have failed to believe and trust God and his created order and roles and relationships and what we have reaped from this is utter misery, malfunction, and malaise. And the world hates God. The sons of Satan fight against him. The nations rage and plot a vain thing and it is at this very root that Satan places so much effort in the foundational relationships and roles that God has created for our good, in the home, in marriage, in the relationship of parents and children, in the workplace, in every relationship of men and women to pervert and destroy. And we see it manifest all around us every day.

At this point, I would borrow Paul's words from Ephesians 4. He says, you, you, believer in Jesus, the one who's been born again by grace through faith, the one who was regenerated, recreated on the inside and now have a spirit no longer dead in sins but alive to God, and the Holy Spirit who lives in you and testifies with your spirit, you, you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walked, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. You have not so learned Christ.

If indeed you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, what is it that you have learned in Christ? What is the truth that is in Jesus? You have put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. You're being renewed in the spirit of your mind. You have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. You have new life, and there's been a restoration in your inner man. You have new life, therefore you must have new relationships. 

And the essence of this is to come back to believing God, to come back to thinking his thoughts, seeing things from his perspective in this most practical area of life, in our relationships where life is lived out. Let's look at our text, Colossians 3.18. Paul writes, wives submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Bondservants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 

And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of your inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. I've given you five points on your outline. First, thinking God's thoughts, second, a contrast with the world, third, who you are, fourth, new life, new relationships, and fifth, a glimpse of reality. 

We spent half the message on the introduction, but I hope that was helpful. And the verses before us are succinct and clear, so we'll move quickly through them. I want to remind you once more that these exhortations before us are based in the great truths that Paul has already laid down in this chapter. These are not just law, commands, or rules with no context, no foundation, rather they are a description of reality based in truth, and God's creative intent in that which brings life and fruit and abundance and peace and joy and purpose. 

In Colossians 3.1, I just want to remind you, it says, since you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Verse 9, do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. 

Part of the curse that came with Adam's sin is the condition of the man in Adam, and that is that he is dying and will die a physical death as this body, in fact, this whole creation is devolving under the law of entropy and spiraling downward in decay and destruction. And for the man in Adam, he's also dominated and controlled by the sin that dwells in him and his thinking is twisted. His perspective of himself, of God, of the world, of all things is marred, perverted by the fact that sin dominates and controls him. 

And the world system of Satan grasps this truth, this opportunity to work with the sin that dwells in man to cause him to live continually in sin and bondage with no peace, no hope without God in the world. This is man's condition. But God, God has reversed this condition, killed that old man and raised him to new life with a new heart and a new spirit and the imparting of the divine nature, the mind of Christ, the divine life for everyone who believes, for every man and woman who is in Christ. 

So on the inside, we are new. This is who we are. This is our new reality. And now by God's grace and power working in us, we can think new thoughts. We can have a new perspective. We can set our minds on things above and no longer in an earthly, Adamic way. And this is true for our relationships in particular. But we must think God's thoughts. We must do the opposite of Adam and Eve in the garden. You know, they had no curse. They had no indwelling sin. Mitch and I were talking about this the other day. They had no world and system set against them working with the sin that dwelled in them. 

And yet they doubted God and His Word. They lied to themselves and believed the serpent and rejected God and His grace and His love and His perfect plan for their good. We now live with indwelling sin in us. We now live in this cursed world, in these tents of dying flesh.

We now exist in a world run by Satan where all the forces of this world and its ways of thinking and its systems of understanding are designed by the evil one to work with the indwelling sin of man to produce fruit unto death, to foster destruction in the lives of men, and to destroy and pervert the roles and relationships God gave us in His grace for our good. 

In all of this, in all of this, God has given to you all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has recreated us. He has released us from the power and the penalty of sin, and He has given to us His very life and power to live for Him, to think His thoughts, to see things His way. 

But my brothers and my sisters in Christ, how contrary at this foundational level in the building blocks of our society, in the family, in our relationships, how contrary is the wisdom of the world to God's truth? Because you see, the world and its system is designed this way for this very purpose. The ways in thinking of the world of the man and Adam are by design according to the rule and system set up by Satan as he masquerades as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness. 

Listen to Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 10, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for what? For pulling down strongholds, systems of belief, right? For casting down arguments, and every high thing that does what? That exalts itself against the knowledge of God, so that we are bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 

Now listen, we stop there usually, right? Listen to the next verse. Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ, even so we are Christ. For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction. 

The strongholds, the arguments, are Satan's wisdom. The ideas and wisdom of the world lies, in their very essence lies against the truth. And our weapon is truth, truth according to the word of God. Paul says, do you look at things according to the outward appearance? This is not the way. We must look at the inward reality. We must know the truth. We must choose to trust and believe God, and this is worked out in this time, in this world, in this life, through relationships. 

And we must see how contrary the truth is to the lies of Satan in this world. Let me give you an example. Read verse 18 with me. Wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. As you read this verse, men and women, what thoughts come into your mind? What is your reaction in your heart, in your gut? Is there fear, trepidation, angst? Does it seem contrary somehow? Would you like to spend some time qualifying this statement by Paul? 

How does the world receive this statement? What about those churches who name the name of Christ but have the world's perspective? What about the psychologist or the college professor or the Christian counselor? There are strongholds and fortresses of thought and emotion at this most basic level of relationships of husbands and wives, and this is because of sin, the sins of women and men, the wrong thinking of churches and pastors and husbands, abuses, a lack of love, all these things. 

But this does not change the truth, the goodness and graciousness and beauty of God's creative order and roles and relationships and what will bring peace and joy and fruit and sanctification for his glory. What is true? What are God's thoughts on this subject of the central relationship of man, marriage, one man, one woman, one flesh? 

We must understand that Paul is asking us to think God's thoughts, to know and believe his word, his creative order, his plan, and his purpose to always do what is best for us. And we must understand that this is utterly contrary to the thinking of the world and the sin that still dwells in me, the selfishness, the self-preservation, the unwillingness to give up our power or control or desire and trust God. 

And this all comes back to a right understanding of who you are and who God is and what he has done in you, placing you into Christ. And now you can set your mind, you can know and believe the truth, and then you can trust and you can live out in relationships the truth. 

And my friends, the proof is in the pudding. Where do you find joy and peace and harmony and fruit and see God's glory in this world? In the relationships of the men and women and Adam in our world? Or in the relationships of those who are new creations in Christ, who are walking in the Spirit, walking by faith, trusting in and believing God and his word and depending on him? 

Let me ask you this, who would you rather spend your time with? Who would you rather have flying your plane, performing your surgery, leading your nation, or giving you counsel and wisdom in a time of need? Or how about this, who would you rather be married to, have for a father or mother or your boss or co-worker? 

God's way is truth. God's way is best. God's way is life and peace and abundance. God's way is glory. So never fear God's truth. Never fear God's way, but embrace it and believe it and trust him to work out the details in your life. 

Listen to these words, wives submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. 

How would this change the workplace in our world right here? Bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 

I remember when I was a kid where my grandfather opened a service station in 1936, full service. Full service when I was a kid. My dad couldn't understand this self-service thing and bank cards and all that stuff that was foreign and new to him.

But I remember being in that service station and invariably I would be working my butt off all day long and as soon as I'd sit down with one of those old men to have a cup of coffee with a little sugar cube in it on one of those benches that we had in the waiting area, he'd walk in the door. And he'd say, boy, what are you doing? Get you a rag, go over there, put some parts cleaner on it and clean them curbs out there. Sweep the drive because there's thousands of cigarettes in front of the grass pumps, right? Because people all smoked when I was a kid and they'd even take their ashtray and dump it out on the drive so I'd be with that broom, sweeping that drive. 

But I was a man pleaser, right? I wanted to be working when dad came around. This says, not with eye service, not as men pleasers at your work, at your job, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, whatever you do, do it heartily. As to the Lord, not to men. That verse, for whatever reason, makes me think when Ron and I went up to Ontario to set up a bear hunt for this guy. And he gave us these totes of bear bait. And we were in the end of the roads up in northern Ontario in the wilderness, and going back in on four-wheelers, and chainsaws, and cutting shooting lanes, and setting up bear stands. 

And the first day, Ron says, we'll just empty this tub. This big, I don't know, fills up the back of a truck. So we went out and set it all up. Second day, got another tub. Went out, set up all the stands where he told us, had GPS coordinates. About the third day, the guy that owns the place there, he comes to me, he goes, because he had a couple of his buddies there doing this too, and they weren't emptying totes. And he says, where did you learn to work like this? He said, I've never seen anybody work like you two. 

Whatever you do, whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. Would that work out better on the job site? Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there's no partiality. 

I want you to notice something about the various relationships that Paul mentions here, as Peter also does in his letters. Concerning parents and children, it says, children are to obey in all things. Bond servants, slaves in the home, they were in the home in this time. They were members of the family, these bond slaves. They weren't like slaves like we think of. But now it's more related to our job, employee-employer relations. Employees are to obey in all things. They're bosses, those in authority over them. 

All of these relationships and the roles we've been having them in our everyday life are set up by God in an authority-submission relationship. And this is true in marriage as well, but not in the same way. Notice it does not say, wives, obey your husbands in all things. There's the meaning in the word translated obey concerning children and household slaves that connotes a subservient position. You hear that? A subservient position. Happens in Baptist churches in marriage sometimes, but in the word submit, given to wives in their relation to their husbands, there is the idea of placing oneself under. OK? 

This is not a role of listening or heeding or obeying as a subordinate, but rather fulfilling a role as an equal in a complementary relationship. Jesus was submissive to the Father, but that does not mean he wasn't equal to the Father. God gave Eve to Adam for his good and one who completed him and made him whole. This is a much more intimate and intricate relationship. The two shall become one flesh. The husband and wife are a team. They're two parts to a whole. 

And there's submission on the part of the wife in that she serves a role and help her and encourage her. It's quite wonderful for the wife to live in this role, particularly when the husband is also looking to the Lord and trusting and believing him and experiencing his life and power in this relationship, loving his wife. Listen to Weiss' comments on the instruction to the husbands. He says, the husbands are exhorted to love their wives. The word here is not phileo in a non-ethical fondness or affection. They all did that. That was the type of love which was exercised when they fell in love with them. 

It is agape, the love that was shown at Calvary, the love produced in the heart of the yielded saint by the Holy Spirit, the love that will cause the husband to sacrifice himself and his own wishes in the interest of the well-being of the wife. Love your wives. Do not be bitter. Don't exasperate, irritate. Lightfoot translates, show no bitterness. Behave not harshly. 

God's perfect plan for marriage and the home is this one of fulfilling our God-given roles in creation that we might see the peace and joy and harmony and fruit of the divine life in and through our relationships. And how wonderful it is to see husband and wife in tune with Jesus and thus in tune with one another. I would point out, however, that this is not always the case, even in a Christian home, as we all could testify, right? 

But the failure of either husband or wife to walk in the spirit and trust God in these roles does not absolve the other from their role, right? It's not my job to make my wife submit. It's not her job to make me love her. Peter gives us some helpful comments on this. Let's go to 1 Peter 3 at verse 1. 1 Peter 3, 1, he says, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. 

When they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear, do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Even if some do not obey the word, Peter says. Now, we often relegate this to unbelieving husbands, and this is applicable for sure, but it's also a possibility, no matter how spiritually irrational in our new life and thinking God's thoughts and setting our minds, that I, as a believing husband, would play the hypocrite, not obeying the word in consistency with who I now am in Christ.

And the answer for such a situation that the wife may find herself in is not to be bitter, not to chasten her husband, not to exercise self-preservation in the ways of manipulation or coercion, not to badger or force with many words, but to trust the Lord and fulfill her role and win him back to obedience, love, without a word, Peter says, by her manner of life, her hard attitude, and faith in God. In other words, her focus is to be on her role. My focus should be on my role, not on hers. I get that wrong so often. 

These exhortations before us are not complicated in concept. Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting, as is right, as according to truth of God's word and created order. Husbands, love your wives, agape, self-sacrificial love. Do what's best for her. Lift her up. Cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word. Children, obey your parents in all things. Is that hard, Sarah? This is the way this rebellion, this attitude of fighting against, of sin, that's the way the Gentiles walk. It should not be so for Christian children. 

And employees, obey your bosses in all things. Respect their authority. Work as under their authority. Do what's best for them. Do what's best for you. Do what's best for them. Do what's best for you. Do what's best for you. Do what's best for you. Do what's best for you. Work as under the Lord and not to men. Your boss isn't super interested in your opinion, right? 

Jerry Clower told a story about going to this factory. And he said he went in there, and he noticed when he went in the bathroom, there was a little sign there that said when you're done in the bathroom, shut off the light. And he said they were having a meeting there, and it's kind of a break area. And he said one of the employees there come up, and he said, I've done the calculations. With the number of men working in this place, the number of times they go in the bathroom, it would be more energy efficient if we would leave the light on all day, rather than me shutting it off and turning it on. 

And Jerry said, well, who's the boss? The boss is so-and-so. What'd the boss say? He said, well, he says turn off the light. And he said, well, if I was you, I'd be practicing up with the zipper, down with the light. Because that's what the boss said, right? Do what the boss said. He's not interested in your opinion. 

On the converse, bosses should be respecting and treating their employees well, with dignity, not harshly, right? Caring for their good as well. But how convoluted is the workplace, labor relations, corporations, welfare, government intervention, labor unions, all the worldly wisdom we have now in our workplace? And here you are, a Christian, living in that environment. Will you believe God and trust him? Or will you succumb to the ways of the world? 

Paul says the believing employee should work as unto the Lord. Give it your all. Work to the best of your ability as serving the Lord. And bosses are to treat employees well, looking out for their interests as well as the interests of their business. Whatever you do in this life and all these relationships, have a heart attitude of submission, of obedience to those who are in authority over you. 

And do all things as unto the Lord, as if the Lord were your boss, your parent, your wife, your husband. You are living as unto the Lord according to the new life you have in him. You have new life. Therefore, you have the great and wonderful opportunity to have new relationships, to enjoy them, to see these new relationships shine as a light in this world, and to have these new relationships lived out by the grace and power of God as we trust and believe in him. 

Bring him glory. Show the power and grace of God in the transformed life. And listen, give a glimpse of the reality of who you are and what is to come, a foreshadowing of what is to be made manifest, fully revealed it is coming, when we are transformed and glorified together with him and we shed these dying bodies and see the very presence of sin removed from us forever. New life, new relationships. 

This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the glory of God is revealed in this life, in this world. Paul gives us the same instructions in Ephesians 5 with a little more detail. And I just want to close by reading you those words in Ephesians 5. 

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, his flesh, and his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you that you tell us the truth. We thank you that your intent and purpose for us is for our good and for your glory. We just pray that you would help us in this most practical way to trust you, believe you, obey you, and to see this fruit by your grace and power to become consistent in our lives, in our relationships, that we might be a witness in this world, that we might enjoy now our relationships and show the peace that Jesus is. 

We have him. We are in him. He is in us. He is our peace. Let our relationships reflect that truth. And all for your glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.