By: Dale Weckbacher
Colossians 3:23-24
23 Whatever
you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You
are serving the Lord Christ.
(ESV)
No person lives in total isolation for we all interact with
other people. As Christians with a
mission to spread the good news of the Gospel (Mark
16:15; Matthew 28:19-20), these interactions must bring glory to God. Unfortunately, this is often not the case,
evidenced by equally high divorce rates for Christians when compared to the
world, child abuse by professing Christians, and employers hesitating to hire
Christians believing they are unmotivated and lazy.
The previous section introduced us to the new spiritual
wardrobe those that believe in Christ have.
It also provided encouragement to wear this new wardrobe as we function
in the world as well as how we are to wear each part of the wardrobe. In this section, Scripture provides practical
application of each implement of the wardrobe in our relationships with others in
marriage, parenting, and employment.
1)
Godly relationships between spouses (Colossians
3:18-19) – This passage is the second mention of submission by wives to
their husbands in scripture (Ephesians
5:22; Colossians 3:18). Some may
interpret this dual mention of submission as emphasis on its importance but there
also must be an understanding the definition of submission in both passages to provide
proper interpretation and application of these passages. A culture abhorring inequality views
submission as one holding another in bondage.
The bloodiest war in the history of the United States was over the
practice of slavery further illustrating a desire to end the abhorrent practice
of one holding another in subservient bondage.
However, scripture is not calling for wives to willingly submit to evil
or sinful behavior from their husbands for no person should endure such evil
from another. Instead this is a willing
submission and when viewing Colossians 3:18 in its entirety, a mutual
dedication to one another. The wife is
to submit to her husband’s leadership while the husband is to submit to loving
his wife over any other woman in his life.
Both husbands and wives are to submit to God with the relationship
functioning under the umbrella of submission to God and His Word with each
person fulfilling their godly role in the marriage.
2)
Godly parenting (Colossians
3:20-21) – Similar to the instructions for spousal relationships, the
relationship interaction between parents and children works both ways. While Scripture commands children to obey
parents in the ten commandments (Exodus
20:12), Proverbs
13:24 also commands parents to discipline their children. However, in Colossians
3:21, Fathers are urged not to provoke their children with their
discipline. This emulates the grace of
our heavenly Father who could have provoked us by leaving us to die in our sins
but instead offered His grace, and His Son as a substitute for us on the
cross. Parents must exercise the same
grace towards their children by disciplining them but also insuring that the
purpose of their discipline is a loving desire for them to grow up having a
strong relationship with God.
3)
Godly employment (Colossians
3:44-4:1) – We are to serve those we work for understanding that they are human
and have flaws in their character. However,
this is often difficult especially when working for someone that does not know
the Lord as his or her savior, but Colossians
3:22 does not provide any exceptions for obedience only to Godly bosses. However, no one should carry obedience to the
point of doing something immoral or illegal for that would compromise our
relationship with God. Our motivation
for serving our bosses must go beyond eye-service or a surface appearance of
compliance with an underlying attitude of disservice. It also must go beyond serving to please people. Instead our service to our bosses must have
the motivation of working for them as if we are serving God. If these bosses wrong us it is not our place
to enact revenge for that belongs to the lord (Romans
12:19).
God took on fleshly form in Jesus so He could interact with
humanity. In doing so, Jesus provides
the perfect example of how people are to interact with each other. Jesus was firm with the religious leaders of
His time who knew Scripture and as such, should have recognized who He
was. He showed mercy and grace to the
sick and those possessed and oppressed by Satan by healing them and casting out
demons. Jesus’ greatest interaction,
however, was taking our place on the cross by dying for our sins. If you have not done so, I urge you to pray
with me now and accept God’s free gift of salvation from your sins,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my
sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, was
buried, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.
Romans
10:9-10 commands everyone accepting Jesus as their savior to go public with
their profession of faith. I urge those
that just prayed to accept Jesus as their savior to find a church teaching the
Bible and make a profession of their faith to the pastor or some leader in that
church. If that is not possible, you can
also comment to this post with your public profession of faith. May God bless everyone reading this.
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