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Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions and day five of our look through
Colossians chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 18 to 25 today, which is all
about the new relationships that result from the new life that we have in
Christ. We've been walking through this chapter, which is sort of a bullet point
look.

The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to give us a bullet point, to the point look at
what it means to live out the new life. And these last verses talk about the new
relationships that are a part of this new life. They're all about how to be
unselfish towards the people in our own household, how to be unselfish towards
the people in our own families.

And I just want to quickly walk through these relationships today and see what
God has to say about how these relationships work. Key words that he gives to
us. In verse 18, he talks about husbands and wives.

Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. The key word there for
wives, the key word for husbands and wives is the word submit. I know that's an
uncomfortable word for many of us because it brings up images of an unconscious
submission.

It brings up images of some kind of slavery in the home where the other person
commands you what to do and you have no opinion. But remember, the word
submission in the Bible is a different word than we sometimes give it the leeway
to be. The word submission has more of the idea of being unselfish, deciding in
the practical actions of everyday life to be unselfish.

And let me just quickly share with you four truths about submission as you study
through what it has to say in the Bible. Submission number one doesn't cancel
our equality. Jesus submitted to the father, but they're still equal.

Also for a wife to submit to a husband does not mean that they are not still
equal. In fact, the Bible tells us we're all to submit to one another. So the
idea of submission making one person above another an authority would be
ridiculous since we're supposed to all submit to one another.

In fact, that's the second point. Everyone must submit to other people. You go
through the Bible, we all must submit to governing authorities.

Believers have to submit to fellow believers. We have to submit to one another,
wives to husbands, Jesus to the father, believers to believers to spiritual
leaders, angels to Jesus, young men to older men. That's just a quick list of
who's supposed to submit to who in the Bible.

If you boil it all down, it's everyone has to submit in some way to somebody
else. Now the idea of submission in the Bible is not the idea of selfish
submission. The idea of submission is the idea of godly submission, unselfish
submission.

The idea of submission does not mean that if we are asked to submit in some way
to disobey God that we would do that. For instance, people say, well, wives
submit to your husbands. If a husband says, wife, I want you to, wife, that
sounds like a submissive way of saying it, doesn't it?

I want you to submit to me and I want you to commit this sin, do this immorality
in your life. She is not to do that. That is not submission.

That's disobedience to God. So the idea of submission is the idea of being
unselfish in your relationships. Submission, true submission cannot be imposed.

It is a choice. Wives submit to your husbands. This is addressed to wives.

Submission cannot be demanded. It doesn't say husbands cause your wives to
submit. This is talking about a family relationship.

And by the way, that's important. Some people read this and say, oh, this means
women are supposed to submit to men. Not at all.

The Bible says wives are to submit to husbands. The idea of wives submitting to
husbands is, for some of us, a little bit confusing. When you realize it's
talking about unselfishness, it's talking about respect for somebody's spiritual
leadership, talking about you as a wife, looking at your husband and having the
love to him to say, I'm going to be unselfish and instead of demanding my way in
this situation, I'm going to look to his heart, his thought, his wisdom so that
he can grow to be the man of God that God wants him to be, so that I can grow as
we talk with each other to be the woman of God that God wants me to be.

Now, when true submission is working within a household, it has no feeling of an
authoritative structure. It has every feeling of a loving structure because of
the next verse. Husbands, verse 19, love your wives and do not be harsh with
them.

For wives, the key word is submit. For husbands, the key word is love. Now
obviously, husbands are to submit to wives in some cases because we're all to
submit to each other.

There's many times I need to be unselfish towards my wife and wives are to love
their husbands, but the key word that Paul gives is wives be careful about
submitting to your husband, be unselfish, and husbands be careful about loving
your wife sacrificially. The key to a husband's role in a marriage is contained
in Paul's words, love your wife. Love your wife.

Someone has said that marriage is when you agree to spend the rest of your life
sleeping in a room that's too warm besides someone who's sleeping in a room
that's too cold. That's the practicality of love is you find ways to live
together in life. How do you express love?

Not with harsh words. Don't be harsh with them, but with kind words. That's the
danger of put downs in a marriage.

If you try to get your way by putting the other person down or get them to
become the person you hope they would be by putting them down, by ridiculing
them or embarrassing them, husbands love your wives and don't be harsh with
them. There's a key word for wives. It's the word submit.

There's a key word for husbands. It's the word love. There's also a key word for
children in these verses.

It's the word obey. Children in verse 20, obey your parents and everything for
this pleases the Lord. That word obey.

It comes from Greek words which mean to hear under someone, to hear under
someone. Listening is a key to obedience. Now we all intuitively know this.

We know as parents, if my children aren't listening to me, they're not obeying
me. "Did you hear me? " we say, so we're responsible to make sure that they
hear, but let me speak to those of you that are children, if you're listening to
this.

I don't know, you may be 10, you may be 18, you may be 21, you may be 35, but in
some way you always have a relationship with your parents. Now the obedience
factor changes when you leave the home. We leave and cleave, the Bible teaches
us, but there's still a respect.

But while you're in the home, there's this strong obedience. That means to hear
under someone. So that means I am responsible to listen to my parents.

I'm responsible to pick up on what they're saying. And even though I don't want
to do it, I hear under them. I know I'm going to resist sometimes what they're
telling me to do.

When I hear it, my first impulse is going to be resistance. But I choose instead
to obey. That's a godly way of doing things and God will bless that.

In fact, even more, the Bible says here, this pleases the Lord. It brings joy to
God's heart. Now does the Bible have anything to say to parents?

Yes, and it especially speaks to fathers here. And the key word for fathers is
the word, it's the word don't. Verse 21, fathers do not embitter your children
or they will become discouraged.

Dads, here's three things to watch out for. Don't insult your kids. Don't ignore
your kids.

Don't indulge your kids. Don't. Do not embitter your children.

Don't insult your kids. Don't ignore your children. Don't indulge your children.

Those are all ways of embittering your children. And if you and I do those
things, they will become discouraged. So don't.

Now when talking through family life, we're just taking the bullet points here.
The Bible also has something to say for the family relationship of master and
slave because there were slaves that lived in households in that day. Now what
is that about?

I want to talk about that in a moment. The key word, though, for slaves he gives
here is the word Lord. Let me read these verses, talk about what does the Bible
mean about slavery here, and then about what it means for us today.

Verses 22 to 25. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything. And do it not
only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of
heart and reverence for the Lord.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for
men. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a
reward, it is the Lord Christ that you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will
be repaid for his wrong, for there is no favoritism.

Now, first of all, what is this about slavery? Why would the Bible even
recognize that there was slavery? Well, it recognizes it because there was
slavery.

In the Roman Empire at that time, about half of the population were slaves and
about half were not. So this relationship with slave and master, it was a
constant part of every day of life. So in recognizing this relationship, is the
Bible saying that it's right, that it should go on?

Of course not. Absolutely not. We just read a few verses back that in Christ
there is neither slave nor free.

And it is the power of the scripture that has broken slavery apart any time that
it's applied. So the Bible does not recognize that slavery is a good thing or a
right thing. In fact, in opposition to that, it recognizes that slavery is wrong
and sinful.

But just as, well, there's another wrong and sinful thing that the Bible talks
about called divorce. God hates divorce, but God also gives directions for what
should happen if there is a divorce. God hates slavery, but he also gives
directions for what should happen when there is slavery.

And it's interesting, the directions that God gives for when there is slavery
will eventually break down slavery if they're applied, because they'll go to the
heart and they'll change the relationship. So what is the key word for someone
who is a slave? It is the word Lord.

You look to the Lord instead. How do we apply these verses in our lives today?
Well, we apply them as workers, and we realize that although I'm not enslaved, I
do have work to do, and I sometimes don't want to do that work.

So how do I do it? I focus on the Lord. I work for him.

It's the Lord Christ I am serving. Don't ever work for anyone else. Do not ever
step down to work for anyone else as your ultimate boss than Jesus Christ,
because he is the boss.

Now, one more thing about slavery before we leave this point. I want you to
notice in verse 25, "Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong. " There
is no favoritism.

God does not see slave and free or slave and master. There's no favoritism with
God. And if there is injustice that is being done because of slavery-- there are
many Bible verses about this, including this one, verse 25-- that injustice will
one day be repaid.

How will God repay it? I don't know. I'm not God, but I know that he will,
because he assures me that he will.

And I trust him with that. What seems to be unjust in this world will be made
just one day. God doesn't only talk to slaves.

He also talks to masters. And he says the key word in chapter 4, verse 1, is the
word "provide. " Masters provide your slaves with what is right and fair,
because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Paul says that knowing that if we really focus on our master in heaven, Jesus
Christ, one day, what he talked about early in this chapter, will happen. There
will be no more slave or free. We'll all see that we're one in Jesus Christ.

And we've talked about relationships very quickly today. Maybe left you with
more questions than answers about the concepts here. But the reality of how to
live it out, that's not confusing.

There's a single word that we've talked about today that governs all our
relationships, and it's the word "unselfishness. " Whatever the relationship,
husband and wife, dad and kids, mom and kids, worker and boss, whatever the
relationship, I'm to be unselfish. Whatever place I take in any of those
relationships, my choice is to be unselfish.

That is the power that makes relationships work. So let's pray for that power
today. Jesus, help me to be unselfish.

It's so easy for me to focus on myself and what I need and getting what I want.
That's the easy road to take. And I need your strength to take a different road,
to be unselfish.

Because God, I know in the end, that gets to where you want. Deeper
relationships, true growth in my life, and impact on the world around me. And
also, a deeper sense of your love in my daily life.

God, you are unselfish towards me. Unselfish in your daily love for me,
unselfish in dying on the cross for me, unselfish in giving your gifts to me.
You are unselfish in your patience for me.

God, I pray that I would learn from your love to be unselfish in my
relationships today, especially with those people that are closest to me. And I
pray this, Jesus, in your name. Amen.

Well, be sure to join us next week. We're going to be looking at Colossians chapter
four, finishing together our study of the book of Colossians.