EPHESIANS 6 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 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.

EPHESIANS 6 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” So children, what does God mean here by obey and honor? He means submit to the authority of your parents. This commandment to obey and submit is to be followed until you are grown up and on your own. He is clearly speaking with children who are still under the authority of their father and mother. Once a child becomes a man or woman living apart from dad and mom the commandment changes somewhat. The Lord tells us that once we marry we are to leave our father and mother and become one with our spouse (Gen 2:24). Married and unmarried children who are on their own are commanded to honor and respect their father and mother. This means that when each of us grows up we should still hold them in respect and care for them. (Read Matt 15:4-6, 1 Tim 5:4, Prov 1:8-9, 23:22-25).

EPHESIANS 6 Your parents love you more than anyone else in the world (besides God of course). All they do they do for your good. As with the Lord it may not seems good at the time, but it is. Have your parents ever told you not to play in the road. You loved the road – it is warm and flat and a great place to play (even a good place to collect bubble gum). Why did they tell you this? They say to eat your vegetables. They are not as good as a donut. Why would they make you suffer like this? They tell you to brush your teeth. Its so time consuming! Why do they make you do it?

EPHESIANS 6 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Some may ask: “But what if my parents are heathens; what if they try and make me do things contrary to God?” What does the scripture say? It does not restrict it to only Godly parents. Read Exod 20:12 … Also Col 3:20 – In 6:1 we are told that you should obey them “in the Lord”. Some say this means only obey when they are asking you to do things that are “in the Lord”. Some say this means that if you obey it is pleasing to the Lord (like in the Col. passage). I believe it means that you should obey “in the Lord”, like it says. So before He began these commands the Lord said to walk in the Spirit. Therefore, you can obey your parents through the power of the Spirit – that is: “in the Lord”.

EPHESIANS 6 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” So, children you are to obey and honor your parents through the power of the Lord. You should allow the Holy Spirit to give you strength, patience and understanding. If you are asked to do something contrary to Scripture, you should not do it. You are to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). But you should still honor your parents in the process. Why obey? Because “it is right” and “well pleasing to the Lord”. Also, there is a promise if you do: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

EPHESIANS 6 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Most of you are blessed with God fearing parents. You should have an easier time with this command of the Lord. But: Your flesh will rise up and you will want your own way – you will have something inside of you that will want to rebel. This is a fleshly urge that must be suppressed with the power of God. We all need to die to our fleshly desires so we can learn to honor and obey not only our parents - but who else? God The relationship with our parents teaches each of us how to follow and obey God in our walk through life. We will not always like what God is putting us through or asking us to do. But we must obey!

EPHESIANS 6 Examples of honor – dishonor: Samson – honor or dishonor? _________ What was the result of his dishonor? Was life well with him, did he live long and prosper? Read Jdg 14:3. Isaac – honor or dishonor? _________ What was the result? Did his life prosper and did he have a long life? (Offering, Rebekah, long life 180 years) Esau - honor or dishonor? _________ What was the result of his dishonor? Was life well with him, did he live long and prosper? Absalom - honor or dishonor? _________ What was the result of his dishonor? Was life well with him, did he live long and prosper? Solomon – honor or dishonor? _________ What was the result? Did his life prosper and did he have a long life? Dishonor Honor Dishonor Honor

EPHESIANS 6 As an aside: Some teach that if your father sins those sins will be passed down to the children. It gives a sense of hopelessness to the children. The verse this teaching is derived from is only read in part to lay out this premise. Exod 20: 4-6 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image-- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exod 20: 4-6 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image-- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Let’s look at Ezek 18, then Rom 2: 6-13

EPHESIANS 6 The following verses will give us insight of how a son or daughter should conduct themselves in order to be pleasing to the Lord and to their parents. Prov 3: 1-2, 5-12, 4: 14-19, and 6: If you are living a life pleasing to the Lord – you will be pleasing to your parents! If you do not want to be disciplined you need to examine your heart! Prov 12:1, 15:5, 15:10

EPHESIANS 6 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Who typically has the tendency in the family to ride the children - get onto them with little mercy? Read also Col 3:21 Also, the Lord places the responsibility for the family mainly on the father. He is usually portrayed as the one who is to discipline the children (I found no references that tell the moms to discipline}. How are you doing with that? Are we passing that off to our wives? Read Prov 13:24,19:18, 22:15 When we teach and discipline, we should not do it with anger – we should not demean or belittle while training – we should do it all in LOVE! If we approach this improperly – it will anger or discourage our children. They will get resentful towards us and pull away. Read Deut 6:4-7, 11:19 and Prov 22:6.

EPHESIANS 6 5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Slavery was common throughout Biblical times. We do not deal with that issue in this country anymore. Verses about slavery in the Bible do not condone the practice, they only deal with it. Slavery in the Bible is typically portrayed in a negative light (for example, punishment to Israel for their disobedience). How many of you work for someone else? Verses 5-8 apply well to the context of employees. Also read 1 Tim 6:1, Titus 2:6-10

EPHESIANS 6 9 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. Obviously Christians had slaves. The Lord is addressing believing masters. They are not told to turn the slaves loose. Instead they are admonished to treat them as the slaves are to treat their masters. Col 4:1 says to treat them fair and just. Are we treating workers who are under our authority fairly, justly and with respect? Do you know anyone who treats their workers like dirt?

EPHESIANS 6 9 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. Why are we told to treat them properly? There is no partiality with God. God does not look upon the poor with disdain. He is not impressed with the President or the Pope or Donald Trump. Are you? Deut 10:17, Gal 2:6 God will judge all. Whether we are rich or poor, strong or weak, or a CEO or a ditch digger. He will judge us for how we treat others and our obedience to Him (whether we have loved Him and loved our fellow believers, friends, and enemies).

So in conclusion: We are to live well pleasing to the Lord. How? By obeying and submitting to those in authority over us. By obeying and submitting to those in authority over us. By treating others with love - no matter what has happened between you and them. Are we to only love when others love and treat us right? NO! We are to love even when we have been hurt. Are we to hold a grudge and be bitter toward others (get even….)? By treating others with love - no matter what has happened between you and them. Are we to only love when others love and treat us right? NO! We are to love even when we have been hurt. Are we to hold a grudge and be bitter toward others (get even….)? Your parents WILL HURT YOU from time to time. Your bosses or employees WILL HURT YOU on occasion. Your family and friends WILL HURT YOU more often than you think possible. We are commanded to love anyway because our Father in heaven WILL judge us for our heart – and you will not be able to say – but God he or she did this and I had to … teach them a lesson … get even... well they never would forgive me! He will not listen…. Yield to the Lord – die to your rights. Let the Spirit allow you to submit to authority, and to forgive, and to love those around you. THE LORD WILL THEN BE WELL PLEASED WITH YOU!