Sabbath School lesson is one of the worldwide lessons studied by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and we are in the third quarter of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this quarter was written by John K. McVay. We are currently studying the book of Ephesians, and the Sabbath School lesson for this week is titled “Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ” September 2-8. Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.

<p>Sabbath School lesson is one of the worldwide lessons studied by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and we are in the third quarter of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this quarter was written by John K. McVay. We are currently studying the book of Ephesians, and the Sabbath School lesson for this week is titled “Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ” September 2-8. Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

01 Paul and the Ephesians

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

04 How God Rescues Us

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

07 The Unified Body of Christ

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

09 Living Wisely

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

12 “The Call to Stand”

13 Waging Peace

14 Ephesians in the Heart


Welcome back to another study in the book of Ephesians. We're on lesson number 11, titled Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ. Have you noticed as we have studied the book of Ephesians that there are common themes throughout the book, the theme of adoption into the family of God. The theme of redemption, salvation in Christ alone. You have that classic statement in Ephesians chapter 2, for by grace are you saved through faith.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created unto Jesus for good works." Throughout the book of Ephesians, we find that very clear clarion call to unity as well. It's 1 of the things our Sabbath school lessons have been emphasizing that salvation in Christ, adoption into the family of God, the forgiveness that Christ has offered us, the power that Christ has offered us, all leads to unity. In our today's lesson, we're gonna be looking at how that unity is reflected in the family, in relationship, particularly between children and their parents. And we're also going to look at the last few days of this week's lesson at the relationship of slaves to their masters.

We'll raise some interesting questions. Why didn't Paul specifically condemn slavery? What criteria did he give to slaves in obedience to their masters and masters in their dealing with their slaves? So we'll look at all of that. But first we launch into a section on Monday's lesson or Sunday's lesson rather called advice to children.

And it's from Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 to 3. So if you have your Bible and your Sabbath school quarterly and you're studying along with me, Take it out and look at Ephesians chapter 6, verse 1 to 3. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. Well, the first thing that I noticed specifically about this text is when it says, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

That there's something that God has built in the heart of every child to be responsive and obedient to their parent. This indeed is part of God's divine order. Without this mutual obedience in the family, the family is in a chaotic state and it's in a state of disunity, unhappiness, and a state of anger and bitterness. But then the second thing I notice is it says, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Paul respected the commandments of God.

The commandments of God were not done away with at the cross. You find here Paul quoting specifically the commandment that says, honor your father and mother. It says, the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you, you may live long on the earth. In other words, if a child is obedient to their parent, that child is not filled with guilt, not filled with shame, not filled with condemnation, and the commandment promises that the family will be an oasis of health, a stress-free environment that creates wellness. When there's anger, bitterness, resentment, or high stress in the home, the brain deposits within the cell system or secretes within the cell system into the bloodline negative chemicals which help to destroy the very well-being of the body.

Now 1 might ask the question as we're looking here, Is mandatory obedience always necessary for a child to a parent? The answer is no. Why not? Adventist home, page 293 says, when the commandments of the parents, quote, contradict the requirements of Christ, then painful though it may be, they, the children, must obey God and trust the consequences with him." It's Adventist Home by Ellen White, page 293. In other words, the parents have limited authority.

By that we mean that their authority is limited under God. Their commands, if they are commanding a child to disobey God, then do not hold the weight with the child that a command to be obedient would have if it wasn't a command to obey God. I'll give you a good example of this. I was holding evangelistic meetings in Hanayara, which are the Solomon Islands. That was a unique series because we were holding our meetings in a marketplace and at 05:00, the market shut down.

We had rented the marketplace for the evening and we'd have to go there 5.30 and clean out the rotten vegetables that had been discarded or the leaves of the lettuce that had been thrown away. And it was stinky, I will tell you. They had the heads of fish, you had to sweep them up, and we had hoses, we'd hose everything off, and then we'd take the marketplace, put up benches, and I would preach there every night. It was just after a civil war between the Guatamalan, the Guatamalan people, rather, and the Malaitan people, and they had been fiercely fighting. There's tribal warfare there on somewhat of a more regular basis than we'd wish.

A young woman was coming to our meetings. She was most likely about 21 years old. I will call her Miriam, not her real name. And as she came, she accepted Jesus. She accepted the fact that Christ was coming again, accepted the Sabbath.

It came to baptism and she had a real struggle. She came the night of her baptism, and she said, Pastor, I don't know what to do. My father has said that if I get baptized and I come home, he's going to kill me. And if I don't come home, he's going to kill himself because it's such a shame on the family. Pastor, what should I do?

So the first thing we ought to do is pray. And we prayed and prayed and prayed. And the Lord impressed me with this idea. Have a group of our Adventist ladies surround this girl, walk up the path to her hut, singing praises to God. And then I said to her, when your father comes out, run to him and throw your arms around him, kiss him on the cheek and tell him how much you love him.

Well, you know, that broke that old man's heart. And although there may have been some conflict in the future, that girl followed Jesus and Jesus took care of the results with her parents. This is why at the end of our lesson it says, the fifth commandment bears witness that honoring parents is part of God's design for human beings to thrive. And it is. As long as the commands of the parents don't violate the commandments of God.

Then I love the last sentence, respect for parents in perfect though they may be will help foster health and wellbeing. That's the first commandment with promise. Now, in addition to advice to children, our lesson gives advice to parents in Ephesians 6, verse 4. So if you have that, look at Ephesians 6, verse 4, Look at it in your quarterly and jot down a few notes regarding it. Ephesians 6 verse 4 says, and you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." So 3 things there.

Don't provoke your children for wrath, but do 2 things. Build, bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. What does it mean to provoke a child to wrath? How do you provoke a child to wrath? What does that mean?

Will you provoke a child to wrath with rashness, with quick-temperedness, with commands that are almost impossible to keep. If you become so perfectionistic that every time the child does some little thing wrong, you're yelling at that child, you're provoking the child to wrath. There's another way to provoke the child to wrath that we may not think of and that is being too lax. That is being permissive because if you're permissive the child develops attitudes of entitlement. If you're permissive the child develops attitudes of the fact that you owe me something.

And if you provoke the children to wrath by laxness, the child's going to become very, very selfish, and they're going to be what we would call petulant. That is to say, constantly expecting something and getting angry if they don't get it. So you have those 2 extremes. The one's extreme is Harshness on this hand, laxness on this hand. And there is a middle ground that is loving, kind, compassionate toward children, trying to complement them, trying to show them approval, trying to build them up without being lax or permissive and having certain boundaries for those children.

Here in our lesson, when Paul talks about harshness, when he says, children, obey your parents, and parents, don't provoke your children to wrath, Paul is not endorsing such power that was practiced in the ancient world where a parent had absolute power over a child. Paul's not doing that at all. He's boldly clarifying and reshaping family relationships in the context of a supreme loyalty to Christ. Paul invites Christian fathers to rethink their use of power since children who are provoked to anger will not be well positioned to accept discipline and instruction of the Lord." So parents function as intermediaries between God and their children. And often, children get their concept of God, whether he's a God of love or a God that's a vindictive judge and a wrathful tyrant.

They get their concept of God from their parents. This is why Ellen White says in Child Guidance, page 259, fathers and mothers in the home, you are to represent God's disposition. You are to require obedience, not with a storm of words, but in a kind and loving manner. That leads us to slavery. Now you might think this is rather strange.

Paul's talking about parents and their relationship with their children, children in the relationship with their parents. Then he jumps into this topic of slavery. Why so? Because there are certain principles, just as the father is to lovingly give commands to the child. So in the concept of slavery, Now the lesson brings it out very clearly that slavery is an evil, slavery is unjust, slavery is demeaning to individuals and destroys human worth.

But in the context of the New Testament, Paul talks about slave owners treating their slaves with kindness and compassion. It talks about slaves as not rising up in rebellion against their masters and destroying the social order that day. Why didn't Paul just come out and condemn slavery straight away? Because if he did, he would have created riots and revolution in that society and slaves would have been further oppressed and often beaten and flagellated in that society. So in the Roman world, Paul speaks not as a social reformer but as a pastor.

He's speaking about as a pastor to the slave owner, as a pastor to the slaves, so that it could be mutual responses of love. Think about it though. In those house churches in Ephesus, you'd have slaves and the slave owner in the same house. So Paul is trying to create a bond of unity and love and affection. He talks to those slave owners in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5 to 9.

Ephesians 6 verse 5 to 9, bond servants or slaves, verse 5, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye servant or men pleasers but as bond servants in Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever your good anyone does, he'll receive the same from the Lord, whether he is slave or free." So what is Paul saying? He's saying to the slaves, Look, in the work that you do, don't do it simply for your master, do it for the Lord. And let your life be a reflection of God's love in God's goodness, even to your slave master. He then, he there in these verses, and I think it's put well in Wednesday's lesson, he talks about as well to slave masters. And you find that in Ephesians 6 verse 9, where he says, and you masters do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master is also in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.

Paul says, look to slave masters, don't be threatening your slaves. Don't be beating your slaves. Treat them with kindness and compassion. You see, if Paul would have attacked slavery directly, not only would it overthrow the social order, not only would the Romans and even their armies put pressure on the slaves and beat them further. But if those slaves were turned out into that society, they would have been poverty stricken.

So Paul is saying to slave masters, provide for your slaves. Don't cause these riots, but provide kindly for them. In fact, in Paul's day, some slaves could have worked for their master faithfully, say 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and would have had enough to purchase their freedom. And there were instances where slaves did purchase their freedom or slaves were granted their freedom. In fact, not far from the Celsus Library in Ephesus there's what's called the Arch of the Freemen.

And it's an arch that 2 slaves built who were freed by their master in token of appreciation to their master. Now here in Wednesday's lesson, we read about 5 points that Paul makes regarding slavery. First, their slave masters are diminished by Paul as earthly masters, pointing toward the real and heavenly master. So he's not exalting slave masters, he's diminishing their authority, saying, look, you're under the authority of Jesus Christ. Secondly, slaves are to serve with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ.

Thirdly, slaves are to offer genuine service as slaves, not of their masters, but as slaves of Christ. 4, in performing their service, they are to do the will of God from the heart, offering heartfelt service to God. So he's changing the paradigm completely here. And then fifth, Paul invites positively motivated service offered as to the Lord and not to men. A slave might feel unappreciated or worse by an earthly master if he's beaten, of course.

The believing slave, though, has a master, Christ in heaven, who is attentive, noticing whatever good thing he does and offering sure reward." Paul then really kind of changes the whole attitude here. He talks about slave masters who are themselves slaves. And I really like the way he puts it in Ephesians 6 verse 9 where he says, and you masters do the same things to them, that's be kind to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own capital and master also is in heaven." So in other words, you may think you're the master of your slaves, but you're a real slave of the real master in heaven, which is Jesus Christ. Recognize in every way that you treat human beings that you are a slave of Jesus. Third paragraph down in Thursday's lesson, Paul supports his commands with 2 motivations that call slave masters to look beyond the social structures of the Greco-Roman world.

They and their presumed slaves are co-slaves of a single master, knowing he who is both their master and yours is in heaven. And secondly, the heavenly master judges all without partiality, since their own master treats those who regarded as slaves on an equal footing with others, so they should again treat 1 another kindly." But think of what Paul's message in Ephesians would have done for a slave. If you're in some house church and you're hearing Ephesians read, what do you hear read? You hear about the fact that your adoption is sons of God. I mean, your heart thrills with that.

You hear about the fact that you're redeemed by Christ. He purchased you when you're a slave, but Jesus purchased you. I mean, your heart thrills with that. You have an inheritance in heaven. You may live in a small hovel or shack as the slave masters provided, but your true inheritance is in heaven.

You're enthroned with Jesus. You're fellow citizens with the saints. You're a citizen. I mean, to be a citizen in Roman society was really something. And this letter of Ephesians is a tremendous encouragement to all of us.

Now, how do we apply all this today? I think there's a number of ways we can apply this to our day today. Sometimes it's hard to take these principles, particularly of slavery, now principles of child obedience and so forth, you can take. Parents are to be kind and loving to their children. Children respond with loving obedience.

That's going to produce happiness in the home, reduce stress, and increase long life. That's not too difficult to apply, but how do you apply masters in their slaves? I think you apply it this way. This is a call to treat every human being with respect and dignity, recognizing that all of us have a true master. Our master is in heaven, and all of us are adopted into the family of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, changed by the power of Christ, and our true master in heaven leads us to be respectful and kind and compassionate toward others.

We're never to lord it over others, never to treat others as subjects, never to treat others as below us, but there is an equality in the Church of God that brings men and women of every background, of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people into a supreme unity in Christ. Let's strive for that, to treat everybody in our sphere of influence with dignity and respect. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for the book of Ephesians. We thank you for the love of Jesus that binds us together as families, both our immediate family and the family of God within the church.

Help these lessons to inspire our hearts, to encourage us, and to be more like Jesus. We pray in Christ's name, Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about AudioVerse, or if You

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3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

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Other Teachings in Series

01 Paul and the Ephesians

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

04 How God Rescues Us

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

07 The Unified Body of Christ

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

09 Living Wisely

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

12 “The Call to Stand”

13 Waging Peace

14 Ephesians in the Heart

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