Ephesians 6

Good Evening Brothers,

Welcome aboard Don Archuleta and Joel Barrett, both UP Engineers who I work with. As a quick note and a reminder to everyone else, this is an open Bible study.  The idea is to read one chapter per day, and study it.  I comment daily, and you are encouraged to email your comments as well.  With the aggregate knowledge among this group we all can profit from each others comments.  You are not required to respond by email though, we are happy to have you studying with us.  When I get email from others I will forward it to the group so everyone can profit from the wisdom that is shared.  If you disagree with me on any point, please don't hesitate to email!  The purpose of this study is to keep us all in the Word on a daily basis and to sharpen each other with the Word.   We are wrapping up Ephesians this evening, I am sorry to see the book go, but am anxious to go forward to the next one.  We are starting Philippians next then on to The Gospel of Luke.  Keep in the fight, keep diligent in the daily study of the Word.  The most important thing in keeping up with the study is the spiritual growth that is bound to happen by staying in the Word on a daily basis.  Paul is pressing the point of purity of heart through Ephesians, this is how we gain that pure heart.  Ephesians 5:26 Paul talks about Christ cleansing the Church through "the washing of water with the word".  The Water speaks of the Spirit of God and the Word speaks of the Bible.  As we daily spend time in the Word, God uses His Holy Spirit to cleanse us from all the filthy stuff that is stored in our minds and to mold us into the image of Jesus Christ.  So keep at it diligently.

Chapter 6 is a recap of everything that Paul has talked about so far in Ephesians.  First he gives instructions to children, parents, slaves, and finally to all believers in putting on the armor of God.

vs. 1-3  Children.  Children are instructed to Obey their "parents in the Lord".  At first I puzzled over the in the Lord part, until I ran down a cross reference to Deut. 5:16, which also adds "as the Lord your God commanded you".  Now in the New Testament, under grace we are no longer required to live by the law, we are to live by faith.  So children obeying parents in the Lord is the proper attitude to have.  If our children are in the Lord themselves, they are not commanded to obey their parents.  The last part of that verse is somewhat amusing.  It is kind of a tongue in cheek promise in the Old Testament, if a child was rebellious in the Old Testament times, they were to be thrown over the city wall and stoned to death.  Deut. 21:18-21; Leviticus 20:9  Their lives were severely cut short.  Paul says that the promise still stands without the threat of stoning.

vs. 4  Fathers.  As Fathers, do we bring up our children in the Lord, or are we allowing our children to raise themselves with their own rights as the world tells us to?  There is a serious and dangerous philosophy today in child-rearing.  Children do not have enough wisdom to guide themselves through life.  The world says that children should be allowed to be autonomous and allowed to pursue their own interest, that parents are to cater to every need that the child thinks he has.  They should be allowed to explore their world because it will soon be theirs.  This is all garbage,  there is no discipline here or instruction.  Satan has effectively lied to the world again.  Our children who are raised according to the modern thinking and pop psychology are in serious trouble in the future.  Not only is our nation in trouble, what is going to happen with employees when they try to tell the company how their rights over-ride the companies right to earn a profit.  Provoking our children to anger, I think that this is speaking of consistency, we are to be consistent in our discipline and our instruction.  We are to be consistent with our instruction, in that we are to practice what we preach.  If we tell our children not to drink alcohol for instance, yet for Monday night football we get drunk, this is a double standard.  What if we tell them that they need to be in Church and be in the Bible, yet we find excuses to miss Sundays or Wednesdays, and our Bibles collect dust between services, this is also a double standard.  By living double standards we provoke our children to wrath.  Paul points all through Ephesians at purity of heart, I do not think that his theme has changed for this one verse.

vs. 5-9  Employees and Employers  When we think of slaves, we miss the gist of what Paul is preaching.  In our day, we are slaves of our employers, so if you focus on this correctly, it would be employees be obedient to your employers.  We are in a master slave relationship with one exception, we are free to quit and go our own way.  Due to our current economic condition, most of us are unable to quit, so we are effectively slaves.  Now that we have cleared that up, look at the rest of these verses.  "Fear and trembling"  we are to respect our employers,  as if we are serving Christ.  We should treat our jobs as if Jesus Christ was our boss in authority over us.  If Jesus came to us personally and ask us to do our job for Him, personally, how would we change the way we perform our work?  That is how we should work all the time.  All the extra effort that we put into our jobs will be rewarded by God, that is His promise. We do our work as to the Lord and regardless whether our employer rewards us through wages or  not, God will compensate us many times over for the effort put forth.  This is it, here is one good reason for putting all of your effort into doing a great job for your employer.  If you are a boss, look seriously at verse 9, you are to have the same attitude toward your workers as the workers should have toward you.  In other words, it is in your best interest to make these people number one in your life, treat them as you would if you had Christ Jesus working directly for you.  The same promise applies, the more that you put into your employees, the more that God will reward your efforts.  I work for an extremely impersonable organization, the railroad.  It is so micro-managed that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.  But my God is greater than the railroad, I serve Him instead of the railroad, and as a result of this, I don't get angry any more on the job.  God is in control, so I run my train the best I can, if the railroad sees fit to stick me away somewhere, God is in control.  It is an attitude that you have to carry with you.

vs. 10-17  Armor of God 

• Be strong  All through the Old Testament, God tells us to be strong and have good courage.  Deut 11:8; 31:6,7,23, Josh 1:6,7,9,18 (Over 30 times throughout the Old Testament this phrase is used.)  We are to be strong, not in our strength, but in the Lord, in His strength.  In the Old Testament, when Israel went to battle, God gave them strength and utter victory in battle, when they went in the flesh without seeking God's guidance, they were whipped unmercifully.  We should learn from the Old Testament on this, God is the provider of our strength. 
• Full Armor of God  We will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil if we have on the full armor of God.  Often we fail to acknowledge the reality of the devil in life.  The devil is a powerful force, one which we in our flesh cannot battle.  The only way to battle Satan is to have our armor on, the armor of God and to be ready for battle.  In a readiness for battle, we eliminate our places of vulnerability.   Notice also that we are not going to defeat the devil, we only resist the devil.  The reason we do not defeat the devil is because only Jesus defeated the devil on the cross.  Also, we are going to be in hand to hand combat, we are not going to be sitting back in a bunker calling for naval gunfire.  The spiritual realm is alive and well, and very powerful.  When we are fighting against the spiritual forces, we need to be ready with spiritual armor.  Be ready to stand firm.
• Gird up your loins with truth  Truth, Satan is the king of lies, Jesus is the Truth.  Those who are controlled by the truth will effectively resist Satan.  We need to be immersed into the truth in order to resist to the maximum.  Also translated girdle.  "The girdle holds the other parts of the armor together, and truth is the integrating force in the life of the victorious Christian. A man of integrity, with a clear conscience, can face the enemy without fear. The girdle also held the sword. Unless we practice the truth, we cannot use the Word of truth. Once a lie gets into the life of a believer, everything begins to fall apart. For over a year, King David lied about his sin with Bathsheba, and nothing went right. Psalms 32 and 51 tell of the price he paid"  Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Eph 6:13). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
• Breastplate of righteousness  The breastplate protects the chest and back.  It is a plate that covers the heart area, the area that is the most vulnerable to life and death.  How do we attain righteousness? Only through the blood of Jesus, we cannot attain righteousness with our works.  Ro 3:10  As Christians when the devil comes against us we can stand firm knowing that regardless of what he says about us, we are righteous in Christ Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross so that we can become righteous through Him.  Satan cannot stand that.
• Shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace  This is the daily work spent with God, in His Word and in Prayer preparing our hearts before Him.  This is the time that we are molded into His image and His likeness.  The roman soldiers has special shoes which had nails in them similar to cleats used in sports.  These sandals helped the soldiers gain superiority over their enemies on the battle field.  What does that have to do with us?  As we spend time in the Word and get a firm footing in it, we build an ability to stand firm regardless of how slippery the ground becomes.  We are able to stand against whatever the devil throws our way.  James 4:1-7; Isa 52:7; Ro 10:15; 2 Cor 5:18-21.
• Shield of Faith  Wiersbe said it better than I can, same reference as above, " The shield was large, usually about four feet by two feet, made of wood, and covered with tough leather. As the soldier held it before him, it protected him from spears, arrows, and “fiery darts.” The edges of these shields were so constructed that an entire line of soldiers could interlock shields and march into the enemy like a solid wall. This suggests that we Christians are not in the battle alone. The “faith” mentioned here is not saving faith, but rather living faith, a trust in the promises and the power of God. Faith is a defensive weapon which protects us from Satan’s fiery darts. In Paul’s day, arrows, dipped in some inflammable substance and ignited, were shot at the enemy. Satan shoots “fiery darts” at our hearts and minds: lies, blasphemous thoughts, hateful thoughts about others, doubts, and burning desires for sin. If we do not by faith quench these darts, they will light a fire within and we will disobey God. We never know when Satan will shoot a dart at us, so we must always walk by faith and use the shield of faith."  Remember that we discussed before that Faith is an action word in the Greek, it is a verb.  As we exercise our faith, it grows stronger and our shield becomes more effective.
• Helmet of Salvation  This is pretty self explanatory,  Satan wants to attack our minds, 2 Cor 11:1-3, we are protected when our minds are filled with God's Word.  Our minds are controlled by God, and if controlled by God, thereby focused intently upon His will then the devil cannot penetrate our helmet.  We build the thickness of the helmet by spending time in the Word, 2 Tim 2:2.  We enable others to stand firm by teaching them God's ways. 
• Sword of the Spirit  This is the Word of God,  Heb 4:12; Acts 2:37; 5:33.  See Revelation 1:16 where Jesus is described, "out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword".  In John 1:1-3 Jesus is identified as the Word of God.  Jesus is the one who defeated Satan on the cross.  By learning His Word, we can resist the devil completely and remind the devil effectively that he was defeated at Calvary.  This is our most effective weapon.  Let us learn the Word, and build the Bible indelibly into our minds.  Face it a warrior who goes into battle without a sword will not accomplish very much.  But a soldier who is properly equipped with sword and armor is a very strong adversary.