(uplifting theme music)
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>>Welcome to "Sabbath School,"
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brought to you by It Is Written.
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We're glad that you
could join us again this week
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as we continue our journey
through the book of Ephesians.
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This week we are
on lesson number 11,
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getting close to the end,
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"Practicing
Supreme Loyalty to Christ."
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So we're gonna delve into
some interesting verses today,
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not a long passage
but a very important one.
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Let's begin with prayer.
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Father, we ask
that You'll be with us
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and guide our
study in this chapter
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of the book of Ephesians today.
We ask that You'll bless us
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and help us to understand
some significant relationships
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better than we did before.
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We ask that
You'll bless our time,
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and we thank You
in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Well, we're
happy to be back again
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with the author of this
quarter's Sabbath school lesson,
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Dr. John McVay.
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He's the president of
Walla Walla University.
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John, welcome back.
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>>Glad to be at the table, back
at the table with you, Eric.
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>>Back at the table.
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And this week,
it's not a long passage.
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>>No, it's nine whole verses.
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>>Nine whole
verses-- >>Mm-hmm, it is.
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>>...and yet a
significant nine verses.
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>>Significant for
a variety of reasons,
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the last part of this has
to do with the relationships
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between slave masters and slaves
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or slaves and slave masters,
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and that's a challenging
issue to think through.
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>>So this has the potential
to be very, very interesting.
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>>It does.
>>Well, why don't we begin
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by reading just a
few of the verses here
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and then
starting to unpack and see
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what some of these
themes are? >>Sure.
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>>We're looking at
Ephesians, chapter 6,
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and we're looking
together at verses 1-9.
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And Paul begins
with these words;
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he says, "Children, obey
your parents in the Lord,
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for this is right."
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Then he quotes one
of the commandments:
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"'Honor your father and mother,'
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"which is the first
commandment with promise:
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"'that it may be well with you
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and you may live
long on the earth.'"
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So if we wanted to
summarize this week's lesson,
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these nine whole verses,
how might we summarize it?
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And then I want to start digging
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into this
relationship or this element,
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this aspect that Paul
talks about here with children.
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What was it like to be a
child in the first century?
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And what would Paul
have expected his readers to
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understand living in that
day that maybe we're not getting
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today? So what's the
general thrust of this section?
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And then what about children?
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>>Wow. The general
thrust in the case of children
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is what you would expect. It's,
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Paul's advice to children is,
"Obey your parents." (laughs)
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There's a
biblical mandate to do so,
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and God will bless you
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through your
obedience to your parents.
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In the case of
slaves, of course,
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it gets nuanced
toward that relationship,
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and slaves are, as you can
see in verse five, are to obey.
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Children are to obey.
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Slaves are to obey
their earthly masters.
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But throughout the few
verses there on slavery,
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starting with slaves themselves
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and moving briefly
to the slave owners,
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Paul has some advanced ideas
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that he's wishing
to share with them.
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And he's trying to, as we
suggested in an earlier segment,
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fill in, infill the husks
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of the first
century relationships,
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including the one between
slaves and slave masters,
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with the values of the gospel.
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And so he sows the seed
of real transformation here
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in pondering how
the values of the gospel
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actually inform
these relationships.
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>>All right, so that gives
us an overview of this section.
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What about children?
What would that have been like
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back in Paul's day?
>>Well, with a little bit
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of a reading and study,
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we can begin to
figure out the contours
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of what it meant to be
a child back in that time.
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And part of it
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is that it's a
very different society
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than some of the societies
that people live in today.
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This is not an advanced place.
It's a sophisticated city,
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Ephesus is a sophisticated
place, and yet it has
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a kind of 97% to 3% split,
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judging from the remains and
documents that are left behind.
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So 3% live pretty well off.
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When you go to Ephesus, Eric--
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I don't think
you've been there yet.
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>>Not yet, it's
on my to-do list.
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>>We need to get you there.
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At least it needs to
be on your bucket list
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for the time
being. >>That's right.
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>>But when you go there,
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in recent years
they're excavating something
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called the terrace houses.
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And these are homes
that are on a hillside there,
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at least last time I was there,
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were covered
with some protection,
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and you go in under the cover,
and you look at these places,
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and these are quite large
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very beautiful,
well-decorated homes
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with all of the aura
of wealth about them.
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But that kind of thing
is 3% of the population;
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97% of the
population lived just at
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or mostly below the
level of sustenance,
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what we might
call the poverty line.
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And so that 97%,
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those people in the 97%,
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lived very different lives.
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And some of the
features about the first century
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that are traumatic,
from a child's point of view,
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is that infant
mortality was very high.
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And then the child
death rates were extreme, too.
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It was somewhat unusual
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to live beyond 5
years of age and so on.
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So, the children felt, I'm sure,
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at risk. Life was tenuous.
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And when you add some of
the customs of the age to that,
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it becomes really challenging.
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A father had the legal
right to expose a newborn.
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And children are expensive,
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and they often
exercised that right,
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especially if it
was a female child.
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And they would
expose them to the elements,
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and the infant would
either die out in the open
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or be adopted by
someone, usually a slave trader,
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who would raise that child
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until a point when
they could be sold.
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So that's a fairly grim context
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for being a child, and
it was a daunting assignment
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to be a child in ancient
Ephesus and any ancient city.
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>>So not exactly something
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that you would
desire for yourself.
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I mean, everybody gets
to be a child at some point,
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but if we could choose a time
period in which to be a child
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and a place in which to be
a child, it doesn't sound like
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this would be a
preferred time or place.
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>>No, and of course a
significant portion of the
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population would be slaves,
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and slave children
were especially vulnerable
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because adding to
all those other things,
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which they would've had
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more than a lion's
share of the risk in,
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they also faced the
threat that their owner,
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the owner, so-called owner,
could sell them at any time.
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They could be separated from
their nuclear family and so on.
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And that's, again,
really, really tough
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set of societal circumstances
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and context for
children in the time.
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>>And with that
context, Paul kind of,
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he talks about the
responsibilities here
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of parents to
children. >>Yes, he does.
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>>Maybe there's a
little bit of hope
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in the biblical
perspective on these things.
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>>Yeah, so in verse 4,
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when he turns from
talking to children
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and he turns to fathers,
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now he actually
refers to parents,
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which would include
mother and father in verse 1,
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but the second half is
addressed only to fathers.
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And it's
interesting how he begins:
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"Do not provoke
your children to anger"--
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which is suggestive
that that was probably
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what some
Christian fathers were doing.
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They were provoking their sons
or their daughters to anger.
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And Paul says, "Don't
do that. Don't do that."
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Fathers had
unbridled, unbounded authority.
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They could do most
anything they wanted
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with their own child.
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Now, in Paul's day,
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those
prerogatives were being bounded
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a bit by public opinion,
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but still in terms of
their legal rights and so on,
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they could pretty
much do what they wished
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with their son
or their daughter.
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And Paul is,
again, trying to restrict
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this patriarchal
authority and bound it.
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"Don't provoke
your children to anger."
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And the alternative that
he gives is to "bring them up
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in the discipline and
instruction of the Lord."
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Now, "Lord" in Ephesians
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seems to always refer to the
Lord Jesus, so this is Jesus.
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So, "Bring them up in the [fear]
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and instruction of the Lord."
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So is this the instruction
that comes from the Lord,
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from the Lord Jesus?
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They're to train them up, to
raise them in Christian faith.
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The most
significant overarching figure
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in these relationships
is the Lord, is Jesus.
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>>And it speaks here of raising
them up or bringing them up
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"in the training and
[the] admonition of the Lord."
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You used a moment
ago the word "fear,"
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but I'm sensing
that "fear" is more of
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a reverence of the
Lord rather than what we
00:10:02.33\00:10:07.20
typically today
consider fear. >>Sure, yeah.
00:10:07.20\00:10:09.27
Yeah, we can, we sometimes
translate that term, "awe."
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>>Yes, yeah, I think
"awe" is a much better
00:10:11.91\00:10:15.58
or more easily
understood word for us.
00:10:15.58\00:10:18.65
In verse 5, we
make a transition here
00:10:18.65\00:10:21.82
from the relationship
between fathers and children
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or parents and children
00:10:24.52\00:10:25.82
to bondservants. >>Mm-hmm. Sure.
00:10:25.82\00:10:27.92
>>What do we see happening now
00:10:27.92\00:10:29.79
as Paul makes
this transition? >>Yep.
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Some of the translations do
use the term "bondservants."
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If you look at
this issue closely,
00:10:36.80\00:10:39.30
this is the
standard word for "slave."
00:10:39.30\00:10:41.80
It's just "douloi"--slaves--
00:10:41.80\00:10:45.67
and it's probably
better to stick with that.
00:10:45.67\00:10:48.58
Some of the translation
teams use "bondservants."
00:10:48.58\00:10:52.58
The ESV, when it
came out, had "slaves,"
00:10:52.58\00:10:56.08
and now they've
switched to "bondservants,"
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and they do that in attempt
00:10:58.12\00:10:59.62
to think about a specific
set of servants, house slaves.
00:10:59.62\00:11:03.99
House slaves could be
treated relatively well,
00:11:03.99\00:11:07.76
and so some argue that
the term "bondservants"
00:11:07.76\00:11:12.10
is more accurate in
that context than "slaves."
00:11:12.10\00:11:15.50
However, if you
look at the whole arena
00:11:15.50\00:11:18.94
of slaves and slavery
in the Greco-Roman world
00:11:18.94\00:11:22.18
and in a city
like Ephesus and so on,
00:11:22.18\00:11:24.48
it had a lot of very,
very grim realities to it.
00:11:24.48\00:11:28.48
Even if they could save up,
00:11:29.55\00:11:31.55
as slaves could
actually own things--
00:11:31.55\00:11:34.62
there's records of
slaves owning other slaves,
00:11:34.62\00:11:36.99
oddly enough--
00:11:36.99\00:11:38.06
if they could save up the
wherewithal, the finances,
00:11:39.46\00:11:43.37
perhaps placing it in trust
00:11:43.37\00:11:46.80
at Artemis' Temple,
00:11:46.80\00:11:49.67
which was also a banking center,
00:11:49.67\00:11:51.81
they'd save their money
up, they'd keep it there,
00:11:51.81\00:11:53.94
and finally they'd
get the amount of money
00:11:53.94\00:11:56.21
that they needed
to buy their freedom
00:11:56.21\00:11:57.98
so that they could be
manumitted, or freed, from
00:11:57.98\00:12:02.05
slavery. Now, most of us, when
we think about that process,
00:12:02.05\00:12:04.72
think, "Hooray! It's
done. They've won their freedom.
00:12:04.72\00:12:08.42
Now they're free people."
00:12:08.42\00:12:10.83
But it's a little
different than that
00:12:10.83\00:12:12.36
in the first century context.
00:12:12.36\00:12:13.83
First of all, for men and women,
00:12:13.83\00:12:17.90
the life
expectancy was very short,
00:12:17.90\00:12:21.50
about 40 for men,
about 30 for women.
00:12:21.50\00:12:24.74
And most manumissions occurred
00:12:24.74\00:12:27.58
about the time someone
was 30. And that sounds like,
00:12:27.58\00:12:29.68
"Well, they've got
lots of life left,"
00:12:29.68\00:12:31.21
but not in that context. That's
kind of end-of-life stuff.
00:12:31.21\00:12:35.32
The other thing is,
00:12:35.32\00:12:36.72
is even if they were manumitted,
they didn't gain freedom
00:12:36.72\00:12:40.12
as you and I
understand freedom to be.
00:12:40.12\00:12:42.99
They become a freed person,
00:12:42.99\00:12:46.46
which is an
interesting status, a freedman,
00:12:46.46\00:12:50.10
which isn't quite a slave,
00:12:50.10\00:12:52.17
but it's a long
way from being free.
00:12:52.17\00:12:54.37
The slave owner
actually had the right
00:12:54.37\00:12:56.24
to continue to ask
them to do certain things.
00:12:56.24\00:12:59.41
They still had a
relationship of obedience
00:12:59.41\00:13:02.58
to the former slave master.
00:13:02.58\00:13:04.75
And if the slave master wished,
00:13:04.75\00:13:06.38
he could simply
cancel the manumission
00:13:06.38\00:13:09.22
and recall the
slave into service.
00:13:09.22\00:13:12.29
So, you know, it's a
complex, difficult setting.
00:13:12.29\00:13:16.79
>>That's not
exactly what you and I
00:13:16.79\00:13:18.73
might consider to be free,
00:13:18.73\00:13:20.86
as it were.
>>No, and all of this
00:13:20.86\00:13:23.37
that we're talking about here,
00:13:23.37\00:13:24.63
in terms of the first
century context, Eric,
00:13:24.63\00:13:26.90
makes us a little
nervous about some of the uses
00:13:26.90\00:13:30.01
we make of this set of passages.
00:13:30.01\00:13:33.61
We, as Christian
believers reading our Bibles,
00:13:33.61\00:13:36.18
tend to read the part
00:13:36.18\00:13:38.91
about wives and husbands
00:13:38.91\00:13:42.82
and the part about
children and parents
00:13:42.82\00:13:44.79
and read it
quite straightforwardly
00:13:44.79\00:13:47.72
as applying today
just as it did back then.
00:13:47.72\00:13:51.83
But part of what
we have to remember
00:13:51.83\00:13:53.29
is we have to
develop a way of interpreting
00:13:53.29\00:13:56.00
the whole set of rules
of the Christian household.
00:13:56.00\00:13:59.30
And we can't
treat one part one way
00:13:59.30\00:14:01.14
and then the part about
slavery a different way,
00:14:01.14\00:14:04.51
especially when
the autocratic powers
00:14:04.51\00:14:08.91
that were accorded to the
husband, father, and slave
00:14:08.91\00:14:13.92
master colored these
other relationships as well.
00:14:13.92\00:14:16.89
The slave
master who was a father
00:14:16.89\00:14:19.42
could have almost a
slave-like relationship
00:14:19.42\00:14:23.09
with his children,
00:14:23.09\00:14:24.43
could dominate his
wife in a similar fashion.
00:14:24.43\00:14:27.66
And so we have
to be very careful
00:14:27.66\00:14:29.83
that we tease out Paul's efforts
00:14:29.83\00:14:33.70
to breathe life and grace and
hope into these relationships.
00:14:33.70\00:14:38.24
>>And that's what
we're going to be doing
00:14:38.24\00:14:39.71
in the second half
of our program today,
00:14:39.71\00:14:42.81
digging more deeply
into the relationship
00:14:42.81\00:14:44.95
between parents and
children and also slaves.
00:14:44.95\00:14:47.92
So this is an
interesting subject this week.
00:14:47.92\00:14:50.39
I wanna encourage you:
Make sure that you pick up
00:14:50.39\00:14:53.25
the companion book to this
quarter's Sabbath school lesson.
00:14:53.25\00:14:55.89
If you want to understand
a little bit more deeply
00:14:55.89\00:14:58.83
these relationships that
we're talking about today,
00:14:58.83\00:15:01.03
this is the
resource that you need.
00:15:01.03\00:15:03.47
You wanna pick this
up at itiswritten.shop,
00:15:03.47\00:15:06.30
itiswritten.shop.
00:15:06.30\00:15:08.30
It's the companion book
00:15:08.30\00:15:09.84
to this quarter's Sabbath
school lesson on Ephesians
00:15:09.84\00:15:12.41
by John McVay.
00:15:12.41\00:15:13.98
We are going to be
coming back in just a moment
00:15:13.98\00:15:16.31
as we continue looking at
this very interesting subject.
00:15:16.31\00:15:19.28
We'll be right back.
00:15:19.28\00:15:20.35
(uplifting
music swells and ends)
00:15:20.35\00:15:23.08
>>[John Bradshaw] "I know
your works and where you dwell."
00:15:24.99\00:15:28.76
These are some of
Christ's first words
00:15:28.76\00:15:30.83
to the ancient
church of Pergamos.
00:15:30.83\00:15:32.99
(suspenseful music)
00:15:32.99\00:15:34.23
Pergamos was
filled with pagan temples,
00:15:34.23\00:15:36.40
one of which was
dedicated to a god
00:15:36.40\00:15:38.47
whose symbol was a serpent.
00:15:38.47\00:15:41.10
So what did Jesus have to say
00:15:41.10\00:15:42.60
to early Christians in Pergamos?
00:15:42.60\00:15:45.67
"You hold fast to my
name, and did not deny my faith,
00:15:45.67\00:15:49.61
"even in the days in which
00:15:49.61\00:15:50.85
"Antipas was my
faithful martyr....
00:15:50.85\00:15:53.42
But I have a few
things against you."
00:15:53.42\00:15:56.22
What pitfalls could a church
00:15:57.22\00:15:58.75
that had been so recently
delivered from persecution
00:15:58.75\00:16:01.22
stumble into?
00:16:01.22\00:16:03.26
And what does Christ
promise to those who overcome?
00:16:03.26\00:16:07.10
Find out by watching
00:16:07.10\00:16:08.33
"The Seven Churches
of Revelation: Pergamos"
00:16:08.33\00:16:12.17
and learn how you can
be among the overcomers.
00:16:12.17\00:16:15.40
"The Seven Churches
of Revelation: Pergamos,"
00:16:15.40\00:16:18.44
brought to you
by It Is Written TV.
00:16:18.44\00:16:20.81
(music ends)
00:16:22.21\00:16:23.35
Thank you for remembering
00:16:24.25\00:16:25.35
that It Is Written exists
00:16:25.35\00:16:26.88
because of the kindness
of people just like you.
00:16:26.88\00:16:29.68
To support this international
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00:16:29.68\00:16:32.92
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00:16:32.92\00:16:37.13
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00:16:38.66\00:16:40.13
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00:16:40.13\00:16:43.93
Thank you for your prayers
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00:16:43.93\00:16:46.74
Our number
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00:16:46.74\00:16:51.04
or you could visit us
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00:16:51.04\00:16:54.31
(uplifting theme music)
00:16:54.31\00:16:56.71
>>[Eric Flickinger] Welcome
back to "Sabbath School,"
00:16:58.61\00:17:00.48
brought to you by It Is Written.
00:17:00.48\00:17:02.32
We're continuing looking at
00:17:02.32\00:17:03.75
"Practicing Supreme
Loyalty to Christ" this week.
00:17:03.75\00:17:07.82
This is lesson number 11.
00:17:07.82\00:17:09.29
We're talking about children
and parents, slaves and owners.
00:17:09.29\00:17:14.03
John, I wanna
come back to something.
00:17:14.03\00:17:15.56
We've been talking about slaves,
00:17:15.56\00:17:16.80
but I wanna bring us
back to something here
00:17:16.80\00:17:18.50
for just a moment and
then back to slaves again
00:17:18.50\00:17:20.77
because it is
rather interesting.
00:17:20.77\00:17:22.60
But when we talk
about relationships
00:17:22.60\00:17:25.71
between parents and children,
00:17:25.71\00:17:28.34
Paul is doing a
masterful job in this book
00:17:28.34\00:17:31.28
of helping us to see
the relationship that
00:17:31.28\00:17:33.11
we need to have
with Christ. >>Mm-hmm.
00:17:33.11\00:17:35.42
>>What do we learn
about relationships
00:17:35.42\00:17:38.99
based on what
he's talking about here
00:17:38.99\00:17:40.26
between parents and children
00:17:40.26\00:17:41.76
and how we ought to have
a relationship with Jesus?
00:17:41.76\00:17:44.63
>>You know, I think the simple,
00:17:44.63\00:17:47.13
straightforward
instructions that Paul gives
00:17:47.13\00:17:49.46
harbor some
profound, a profound principle.
00:17:49.46\00:17:54.20
So, Paul says to children,
00:17:54.20\00:17:56.74
"Children, obey your parents."
00:17:56.74\00:17:59.47
And you might have
expected full stop, period.
00:17:59.47\00:18:02.91
But he says "in the
Lord," again signaling,
00:18:02.91\00:18:07.65
much as we saw in Paul's counsel
00:18:07.65\00:18:11.69
to Christian wives, the
relationship with your parents
00:18:11.69\00:18:16.56
is crucial and
important if you're a child,
00:18:16.56\00:18:18.96
and you need to honor
and respect and obey them.
00:18:18.96\00:18:21.63
But that's to be
done in the Lord.
00:18:21.63\00:18:24.27
In other words,
there is a relationship
00:18:24.27\00:18:27.30
that is yet higher on the scale,
00:18:27.30\00:18:31.21
and that's the child's
relationship with the Lord.
00:18:31.21\00:18:36.18
And what I see Paul doing
00:18:36.18\00:18:39.15
in that little
phrase, "in the Lord,"
00:18:39.15\00:18:40.98
is drawing these children
in, as themselves believers,
00:18:40.98\00:18:45.95
honoring their
relationship with the Lord,
00:18:45.95\00:18:49.22
cultivating that
relationship, respecting it,
00:18:50.43\00:18:52.93
respecting them as
members of the church community.
00:18:52.93\00:18:57.53
And we don't know
precisely what the ages
00:18:57.53\00:19:00.07
of the group is
that Paul's referring to.
00:19:00.07\00:19:03.77
The term "child" could
stretch over some time,
00:19:03.77\00:19:08.58
even until the
father's death, you know?
00:19:08.58\00:19:10.91
So if you had a
long-lived father,
00:19:10.91\00:19:12.51
you could be a
child for a while.
00:19:12.51\00:19:15.35
In this context,
because of Paul's remarks
00:19:15.35\00:19:17.72
about the instruction
that is needed to them,
00:19:17.72\00:19:20.32
these are younger children
00:19:20.32\00:19:21.69
who need careful
instruction and teaching,
00:19:21.69\00:19:26.03
so they're probably children
00:19:26.03\00:19:26.96
much as we would think of today.
00:19:26.96\00:19:29.90
And yet Paul kind of
draws them into the circle
00:19:29.90\00:19:32.67
of respected members
of the Christian family
00:19:32.67\00:19:36.24
and honors their
relationship with the Lord.
00:19:36.24\00:19:39.14
And I think that that's
wondrous and that's tender,
00:19:39.14\00:19:43.28
and it reminds me of a
narrative in the Old Testament
00:19:43.28\00:19:45.85
that I see a
similar thing happening.
00:19:45.85\00:19:48.32
First Samuel,
chapter 3, verses 1-21,
00:19:48.32\00:19:52.92
you'll remember the
story of Samuel as a lad,
00:19:52.92\00:19:57.19
as a boy in the tent,
00:19:57.19\00:20:01.40
in the tabernacle, right?
00:20:01.40\00:20:02.93
In the worship space
that they had at that point.
00:20:02.93\00:20:07.94
And he's serving under
a priest named Eli, right?
00:20:07.94\00:20:12.07
And one night,
Samuel is awakened
00:20:12.07\00:20:15.94
by his name being called,
00:20:15.94\00:20:17.91
and he rushes to Eli and he
says, "I'm here. You called me."
00:20:17.91\00:20:22.82
You remember the story? >>Yes.
00:20:22.82\00:20:24.25
>>And this happens repeatedly.
00:20:24.25\00:20:26.62
And finally, Eli gets it.
00:20:26.62\00:20:30.29
Finally, Eli gets it:
"Then Eli perceived"--
00:20:30.29\00:20:35.36
1 Samuel, chapter 3, verse 8--
00:20:35.36\00:20:39.23
"Then Eli
perceived that the Lord"--
00:20:39.23\00:20:41.40
and you'll notice
that's in small caps,
00:20:41.40\00:20:44.11
it's all in capital
letters, so it's Yahweh.
00:20:44.11\00:20:47.48
So Eli comes to the realization
00:20:47.48\00:20:51.65
that Yahweh is calling the boy.
00:20:51.65\00:20:56.55
Now, it's curious because Eli
00:20:56.55\00:20:58.52
is serving in the
tabernacle, in the tent.
00:20:58.52\00:21:02.89
He's serving there.
00:21:02.89\00:21:04.56
It's says in verse 1, "Samuel
was ministering to the Lord
00:21:04.56\00:21:08.83
in the presence of Eli."
00:21:08.83\00:21:11.53
And it also says that
"Samuel was lying down
00:21:11.53\00:21:14.24
in the temple of
the Lord"--verse 3.
00:21:14.24\00:21:15.90
So, he knows about the Lord,
00:21:15.90\00:21:19.04
but it gives us the sense here
00:21:19.04\00:21:21.51
that he did not
yet know the Lord.
00:21:21.51\00:21:25.41
And yet the Lord speaks to him.
00:21:25.41\00:21:27.52
And there comes that
holy moment when Eli perceives
00:21:27.52\00:21:32.19
Yahweh is calling the boy.
00:21:32.19\00:21:35.79
And Eli acts on that and
honors that and respects that,
00:21:35.79\00:21:39.89
even when God
eventually connects with Samuel,
00:21:39.89\00:21:44.13
shares a judgment
message on Eli and his house,
00:21:44.13\00:21:48.60
and Samuel shares
that message with Eli.
00:21:48.60\00:21:51.47
And Eli says, "It is the Lord.
00:21:51.47\00:21:54.01
Let Him do what
seems good to Him."
00:21:54.01\00:21:56.68
This is a story about
someone, Eli in this case,
00:21:56.68\00:22:01.45
who comes to
recognize that moment
00:22:01.45\00:22:04.42
when Yahweh speaks to a boy.
00:22:04.42\00:22:07.12
And it strikes me that
particularly those of us
00:22:07.12\00:22:09.92
working with children
and young adults and so on,
00:22:09.92\00:22:12.79
we ought to be
attentive to the relationship
00:22:12.79\00:22:17.40
between God and that
young person or that child.
00:22:17.40\00:22:21.54
We ought to be ever
watchful for that moment
00:22:21.54\00:22:24.07
when Yahweh speaks to that
one. That's a sacred moment.
00:22:24.07\00:22:28.28
We ought to honor
it and respect it,
00:22:28.28\00:22:30.38
much as Paul
suggests in Ephesians
00:22:30.38\00:22:32.18
and as is reflected in
the story of Samuel and Eli.
00:22:32.18\00:22:36.28
>>So Paul talks
about that relationship,
00:22:36.28\00:22:38.32
and we almost wish that
he had spent more verses
00:22:38.32\00:22:42.92
talking about that. >>Yes, yes.
00:22:42.92\00:22:44.16
>>But he does make
some profound observations
00:22:44.16\00:22:47.03
and give some great
counsel in those few verses.
00:22:47.03\00:22:49.96
But then as
we've mentioned before,
00:22:49.96\00:22:51.67
he talks about these
bondservants, or slaves, as it
00:22:51.67\00:22:55.14
were. What kind of
advice, what kind of counsel
00:22:56.37\00:23:00.28
does Paul give to slave masters?
00:23:00.28\00:23:03.01
And again, how do we take
that from the first century
00:23:03.01\00:23:07.38
and bring it down here-- >>Sure.
00:23:07.38\00:23:08.88
>>...much further down the line?
00:23:08.88\00:23:11.22
>>So here would be my summary
of what he says to slaves.
00:23:11.22\00:23:14.62
And he says it to them over
and over again in various ways.
00:23:14.62\00:23:19.69
He says to them,
make a grand substitution.
00:23:20.93\00:23:24.57
Substitute Christ
for your slave master.
00:23:25.63\00:23:29.50
Serve your real master, Christ.
00:23:30.54\00:23:33.88
In a sense, he says, forget
about the master in the flesh.
00:23:35.84\00:23:40.05
Put Jesus in that place
and serve Him with full heart
00:23:40.05\00:23:45.05
and do great work.
00:23:45.05\00:23:47.59
But it doesn't have to be
directed to the slave master,
00:23:47.59\00:23:51.06
the earthly slave master.
00:23:51.06\00:23:53.03
Direct it to Jesus.
Make a great substitution.
00:23:53.03\00:23:56.43
Put Jesus in the
place of your slave master.
00:23:56.43\00:24:00.37
Fascinating strategy, isn't it,
00:24:00.37\00:24:02.70
for working in this environment
00:24:02.70\00:24:05.54
and infusing these
difficult, challenging,
00:24:05.54\00:24:09.91
what from our perspective
we would certainly call
00:24:09.91\00:24:12.08
immoral relationships,
someone owning another one.
00:24:12.08\00:24:16.05
He's trying to infill the
husks of those relationships
00:24:16.05\00:24:19.75
with the values of the gospel.
00:24:19.75\00:24:21.96
>>There are
certainly slaves today.
00:24:21.96\00:24:23.93
Many of us may not interact
with them on a daily basis
00:24:23.93\00:24:28.03
or at least
recognize that we are,
00:24:28.03\00:24:30.23
but there are
employer-employee relationships.
00:24:30.23\00:24:33.34
>>Yes. >>Do we take those
00:24:33.34\00:24:35.87
and just kind of bring
the same concepts over?
00:24:35.87\00:24:38.84
How does that all work?
00:24:38.84\00:24:40.11
>>Well, I think there's
some danger in doing so,
00:24:40.11\00:24:43.41
or maybe I would say we have
to be very careful in doing so
00:24:43.41\00:24:46.95
because as Christians,
00:24:46.95\00:24:49.72
we have a long history
with these words about slavery,
00:24:49.72\00:24:54.32
and we want to be careful.
00:24:54.32\00:24:57.83
There's a whole
history of Christians
00:24:57.83\00:25:01.23
being engaged in
helping to create
00:25:01.23\00:25:04.27
a better atmosphere
for employees or workers
00:25:04.27\00:25:07.04
to do their work,
00:25:07.04\00:25:08.90
to have rights and work
days of a reasonable length
00:25:08.90\00:25:13.91
and all the rest,
child labor laws, and so on.
00:25:13.91\00:25:18.91
Most all of that
stream of legislation
00:25:18.91\00:25:22.58
and societal change
00:25:22.58\00:25:24.52
is rooted in
people who believed in God
00:25:24.52\00:25:28.86
and believed in the
immorality of slavery and so on.
00:25:28.86\00:25:33.86
So we wanna be careful,
then, that we honor that history
00:25:33.86\00:25:37.63
and that we don't
just port over these words
00:25:37.63\00:25:40.14
about slaves and
slave masters into our time,
00:25:40.14\00:25:43.81
and potentially port
over some assumptions
00:25:43.81\00:25:47.11
about employers
and how they can behave
00:25:47.11\00:25:50.41
that Paul would not really
have agreed with in his time,
00:25:50.41\00:25:54.62
and given this stream of
00:25:54.62\00:25:57.39
legislative societal work
based on Christian principles
00:25:57.39\00:26:01.66
we would
certainly not agree with.
00:26:01.66\00:26:03.83
So you have to be a
little bit careful about it.
00:26:03.83\00:26:05.43
But having said that,
00:26:05.43\00:26:07.13
I think there's
something to be heard here.
00:26:07.13\00:26:10.03
We all probably have
some nagging, egotistical,
00:26:10.03\00:26:13.40
overbearing people in our lives.
00:26:13.40\00:26:15.84
And I think Paul's good
counsel to these slaves,
00:26:15.84\00:26:19.71
substitute Jesus
for the slave master,
00:26:19.71\00:26:22.84
probably fits in those contexts.
00:26:22.84\00:26:25.18
In other words, you
put Jesus in that place
00:26:25.18\00:26:28.12
and do what you
need to do for Jesus
00:26:28.12\00:26:30.82
and see how that impacts
that egotistical, overbearing,
00:26:30.82\00:26:35.56
dominating person in your life.
00:26:35.56\00:26:37.73
>>It sounds like
Paul has good advice
00:26:37.73\00:26:39.56
not just for first century folk
00:26:39.56\00:26:41.06
but for us today as well.
00:26:41.06\00:26:42.80
>>I think it does
take us a little extra work
00:26:42.80\00:26:44.73
with passages like these,
00:26:44.73\00:26:47.17
but it's there;
the truth is there.
00:26:47.17\00:26:50.24
The word for our time is there.
00:26:50.24\00:26:52.04
>>Absolutely.
00:26:52.04\00:26:53.48
And we trust that
you have been blessed
00:26:53.48\00:26:55.24
by our study this week as well.
00:26:55.24\00:26:58.78
We've looked at the relationship
00:26:58.78\00:27:00.18
between parents and children,
00:27:00.18\00:27:02.22
we've looked at
the relationships
00:27:02.22\00:27:03.69
between slaves and masters,
00:27:03.69\00:27:06.12
and ultimately,
what we're looking at
00:27:06.12\00:27:07.69
is the relationship
that Jesus wants to have
00:27:07.69\00:27:10.33
with each and every one of us.
00:27:10.33\00:27:13.29
And that only comes to pass
00:27:13.29\00:27:14.73
as we choose to have
that relationship with Him.
00:27:14.73\00:27:17.37
He wants to have it with
us, but we have to choose
00:27:17.37\00:27:20.17
to have that
relationship with Him as well.
00:27:20.17\00:27:23.37
And as we continue looking
at the book of Ephesians,
00:27:23.37\00:27:25.47
we will continue to see how
we can have that relationship
00:27:25.47\00:27:29.88
by the choices that we make,
00:27:29.88\00:27:31.78
and that all comes
from a better understanding
00:27:31.78\00:27:33.95
of Christ and His character.
00:27:33.95\00:27:37.12
We're looking at the book
of Ephesians this quarter,
00:27:37.12\00:27:39.05
Paul's incredible story-letter
00:27:39.05\00:27:42.69
to help us
understand the Lord better.
00:27:42.69\00:27:45.23
God bless you,
have a wonderful week,
00:27:45.23\00:27:46.73
and we'll look
forward to seeing you again
00:27:46.73\00:27:48.06
next time on "Sabbath School,"
00:27:48.06\00:27:49.80
brought to you by It Is Written.
00:27:49.80\00:27:52.13
(uplifting theme music)
00:27:52.13\00:27:54.47
(music ends)
00:28:26.84\00:28:28.97