Ephesians 11
We are still thinking about this exciting letter to the Ephesians. Last time we saw how Paul was very practical and very searching in his dealings with the Ephesian Christians. He dealt in detail with he kind of character they should have and the kind of life they should live. He continues along this practical line but changes his approach a little. We start this time at chapter 5 and verse 15.
Paul begins by telling them to be careful how they walk. Our Christian walk is the way we live our lives. The times are evil, he says, and so we must make the most of all the time we have, finding out continually what the will of the Lord is for us. Then he warns them not to misuse strong drink. He says there is something far better. So we read in verse 18: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.” We could read this as “go on being filled with the Holy Spirit.” While there must be a first time when we are filled with the Spirit, we must continually allow Him to control our lives. That is what is means to be filled - to be completely moved and controlled by God himself by his Spirit in us. If He is always in control, then our lives will be different and our relationships in church, family and business life will be pleasing to Him and on the right foundation.
He first speaks of the change in their own lives. Lives filled with the Spirit will be filled with praise. There is an old hymn that says, “In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody, with heavenly harmony.” When we know the Lord’s presence and the filling of his Spirit, there is a song in our hearts. This does not mean that we are always singing aloud, but praise is there. So Paul says the Ephesians are to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. He says to them, “Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord.” Then he goes on to speak of thankfulness - in verse 20. We cannot always thank god for everything, but we can have an attitude of thankfulness for all that God is and for all that He does for us. With the holy Spirit in control we can have this attitude however difficult things are and however dark the clouds. How much better this is than a grumbling, complaining spirit that can find nothing to be thankful about. People like this are certainly not the kind that God is looking for in his church.
Now Paul turns to the matter of relationships and how being filled with the Spirit can keep these right. Notice how the idea of subjection comes all through the passage, beginning at verse 21. But note, too, that he makes it clear at the start that it is not the subjection required by a tyrant or dictator. It is subjection to one another. This will mean in practice that we listen to each other’s point of view and are not always stubbornly fighting for our own. We are willing to give way sometimes so that God’s work may prosper. We work together and come to a decision, where one is necessary, after deep thought, thorough discussion and after listening carefully to each other.
This mutual submission is to be true even in the marriage relationship. There are many today who find the teaching in verses 22 to 24 difficult to accept. Here is what they say: “Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which He is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” This is the God-given order for Christian marriage. There has to be one to take the lead, but this is not to be in an unloving, overbearing manner. Husband and wife should listen to each other and submit their thoughts together to the Lord in true humility to find his will. Note that Paul immediately goes on to say, “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her …” If husbands really have this sacrificial love for their wives, the wives will not have much difficulty in submitting to them and respecting them. He says in verses 28 and 29 that “husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. After all, no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.” Paul is making it very clear in these verses that the marriage relationship is a very sacred one. It is to be a relationship of mutual love, care and respect. Marriage is true oneness between man and wife. This relationship can be kept right by always living together in the conscious presence of the Lord, by always being ready to say we are sorry when we have acted wrongly, and by always being willing to admit when we are wrong. Some find it very hard to say “I’m sorry” or “I was wrong”, but this is one of the most important secrets of any good relationship.
Notice how Paul uses this marriage relationship to give some teaching of what Christ has done and wants to do for us. He says that Christ gave Himself up for the church not only to wash away the guilty past but to sanctify her. He wants to make her holy, without blemish and blameless. What wonderful love that was! As we have discovered more than once in these talks, Christ died not merely to pardon us, but to make us one with Himself. He wants us all for Himself and He wants us to be like Himself.
Paul now turns, at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 6, to right relationships within the family. He urges children to obey their parents. Children are to love and respect their parents. This makes for warmth and care in the home. It is worth noting that Paul quotes one of the Ten Commandments as a basis for what he is saying. These commandments were important to him, they were his guidelines to show him how to live. But it is not good enough to talk only to the children. If the atmosphere of the home is to be kept right and love to be there, then the fathers have their part to play. They must not provoke or exasperate their children. It is easily done, isn’t it? Being impatient and chastising unnecessarily. Asking them to do things that seem to them to be quite useless without explaining why they are necessary. So, in verse 4 Paul says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Fathers should also teach their children, in the most interesting way possible, all that is in the Bible and all that the Lord Jesus has done for them.
Paul deals next, in verses 5 to 9, with another important relationship, that between slaves and masters. Of course slavery was common in Paul’s time and there were good and bad masters. What the Bible teaches in these verses is still appropriate to today when we think of the relationship between employees and employers; between workers and bosses. Paul has something to say to both. We need to apply what he says to our own circumstances. The Christian employee is to do the best work he can for his employer, and to do it as if he is working for the Lord Himself. What a difference it would make if we approached our work in this way. The Christian employer is to be caring, understanding, impartial and fair in his dealings with his workers. And Paul adds this warning: “Do not threaten them, since you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and their is no favouritism with Him.”
So, we have discovered some very practical teaching in these verses from Ephesians chapters 5 and 6. May we seek to apply these things to our own lives with the help of the Holy Spirit.