[:en]SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 6
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Ephesians 6″1-3)
“Fathers, do no exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4)
“Stand firm with the belt of truth, buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righeousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:14-18)
To obey your parents “in the Lord” means that children are not commanded to disobey God in obeying their parents, but they should honor their parents even if their parents are demanding and unfair. They must obey while under parents care but they must honor them for life.
Parents are not to be domineering to their adult children. They should take care of their children gently even they are disobedient and unpleasant. Prental discipline must be done in love and patience, not to exasperate and caused them anger or discouragement.
During the Roman Empire, there were problems on master-slave relations. After many slaves and master had become Christians, Paul taught them how to live together in a harmonious and Christian way.
Today we have the employer-employee relationship. Employees must do their job wholeheartedly as if they were serving the Lord. On the other hand, Christian employers must treat their empolyees fairly and with respect.
In the final section, Paul taught us how to walk in victory against our enemy – Satan. To fight the battle against the rulers and authorities, we must depend on God’s strength and use every piece of His armor.
Full Armor of God
- Belt of rtuth around the waist
- Breatplate of Righteousness covering the chest
- Gospel of peace on your feet as shoes
- Shield of faith covering your whole body
- Helmet of salvation protecting your head
- Sword of the Spirit on your hand
- Prayer in the Spirit in all ocassions
We are to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. We must put on the full armor of God, to stand firm, and use the armor to fight against the power of the dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Lesson: Children must obey and honor their parents in the Lord. Parents must train up their children in love and patience with the instruction of the Lord. Employees must do their job responsibly as if Christ is their supervisor. Employers must treat their employees with respect and compensate them fairly.
We must wear the full armor of God to fight against our enemy. God has equipped us with truth, righteousnes, peace, faith, salvation, spirit, prayer and His Word to conquer the devil. Paul wrote this powerful letter of encouragement while in prison. He continued to speak for Christ inspite of his difficult circumstances. We should also pray that God will accomplish His plan through us even in our difficult situation.[:]