SPIRIRUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2019
9:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Submission of Children”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:1-3
Message of the verses: “1 Children, obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which
is the first commandment with a promise), 3 SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU,
AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.”
Today
we begin looking at the first main point from John MacArthur’s commentary, as
we look at the submission of children which will probably take a number of days
to complete.
The
word that is translated children is “Tekna”
and it speaks of not only young children, but all children who live under the
parent’s roof, as all of the children are to obey and honor the parents. The word obey has to do with action, and the
word honor has to do with attitude. We
have already learned that men and women who leave the house are no longer under
the authority of their parents once they themselves marry as seen in 5:31 “31
FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO
HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” Those who leave the family home are to have
special respect for their parents. In
the nation of Israel during the time when this letter was written and even
before when the son gets married most of the time the house of his parents was
added onto so that he and his wife would actually live in the addition to the parent’s
home. This would actually be good for
the young couple along with when the parents got older the couple could then
care for the parent’s. Now one of the
things that this section shows us is that the child who is brought up to obey
and honor his parents will always be sensitive to their wisdom, counsel, and
welfare.
Let’s
look at the word obey, as it is translated from the word hupakouo. This word means “to
hear under,” that is, to listen with attentiveness and also to respond
positively to what is heard. The
children are to put themselves under the words and also the authority of their
parents.
As
we look at the words “in the Lord” we see this refers to the sphere of pleasing
the Lord, to obeying parents for the sake of the Lord. Children obey their parents as reflective of
their obedience to the Lord. The context
makes it very clear that “in the Lord” applies to honor as well as to
obey. The parent’s are to be obeyed and
honored because to do so is to obey and honor the Lord.
John
MacArthur writes “Parents stand in the gap, so to speak, between children and
God while the children are too young to have a full and mature relationship
with Him themselves. Parents are God’s
stewards, His proxy authority, for their children, who are simply loaned to
them in trust by their own heavenly Father.
That is why children are commanded, ‘Be obedient to your parents in all
things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord’ (Col. 3:20). The only exception to that obedience is in
the matter of doing God’s will as taught in Scripture. He should say with Peter and John, ‘Whether
it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be
the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard’ (Acts
4:19-20). Otherwise, however, a child is
to obey his parents ‘in all things.’
“The
basic reason for children to obey and honor their parents is simply that it is
right. The rightness is not based on
psychological case studies or other human evidence or theory, but on God’s
standard of right. God’s declaration
makes it right.”
Lord
willing we will begin our next SD on this subject by looking at some more Greek
words that should help us better understand this section better.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to
say that I am thankful to the Lord for giving me two children who were very
easy to raise and for the most part we had little problems with them. They pretty much obeyed my wife and me and so
now as they are married they have had a good background in order to raise their
children in a similar way that they have been raised. Praise the Lord for this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility has been on my mind since the
beginning of this year, to which the Lord has taught me much about it and
continues to do so even though at times I feel like I have been out in the
wilderness learning from the Lord, as there have been some great trials in
learning more on this subject, but I believe in the end that the Lord will make
me better off in going through these trials.
Quotation from “Love in Action” “Paul
reminded his readers that Jesus Christ is also, at the very core of His
ministry, and encourager.” Now I suppose
that most everyone who reads these Spiritual Diaries has figured out that in
this section there is one day given a Scripture verse or verses and then the
next day gives some application from that verse or verses.
9/5/2019 10:25 AM
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