Sermon Script: How is Biblical Community Different? 9. Humility in a rights-driven world Ephesians 5:21-6:9 Slave & Master labels Copies of Chris Marshall s Was Paul a sexist at welcome desk Enews blurb: You re taking the Bible out of context! When people say this, do they mean: i. You need to read the whole chapter, not just pick out the verse ii. You need to weigh that verse up against other similar verses in Scripture iii. You need to understand that biblical author better iii. You need to understand what the passage meant to the people who first heard it (= the cultural context) In truth, all of these are helpful, and it takes time and some humility, to study and weigh up difficult passages in these ways. I hear that Richard Dawkins is in town. His arrival on the back of the Israel Folau/Michael Jones debate points to the importance of Christians investing time to learn about biblical context. If you ve been with us for our journey through Ephesians you ll know well by now that Paul is constantly on about equality. Oneness is arguably his favourite theme throughout all of his writing. No one is more important than anyone else, and within the church we need to drop worldly hierarchies and treat each other as equals. So when we suddenly arrive at Ephesians 5:22 which says, Wives submit to your husbands, there s a massive contextual question: How can Paul be putting one gender above the other when all through his writing he s championing equality? It s been interesting talking with Christians about this over the years. Some couples are comfortable with the idea of the male in a household having final authority when there are key issues at stake; others view the passage quite differently. There s little question that Jesus was a revolutionary champion of the rights of women in a highly patriarchal society. But what about Paul? Join us on Sunday for Ephesians 5:21-6:9! I hear that this lady (Jacinda) is going to be just up the road... for the official opening of the newlook Mt Albert shopping area this Saturday As a relative newcomer to Mt Albert, I knew little about Jacinda prior to her becoming Prime Minister It seems to me now, that regardless of who you voted for, you d have to concede that she s: articulate, clever in how she comes across in the media (perhaps her degree in Communications 1
& PR helps that!) capable as a leader - if she weren t the coalition would ve fallen apart by now and surprisingly streetwise for someone of her age in the country s top job Some years ago a number of churches did sermon series on: What would Jesus say to...... and they d fill the gap with the name of a celebrity Like What would Jesus say to Madonna?, or What would Jesus say to Michael Jackson? So as I stared at this week s Bible passage...... I found myself asking a question I reckon you could spend all night on in a Life Group What would Jesus say to an unwed, pregnant, female, Prime Minister? The important thing if you are discussing that question... is to not be too definitive... because of course none of us are Jesus! But from what we know of Jesus - and his interactions with women - what might he have said? I guess he understood what it was to have an unwed pregnant mother! But admittedly - that was a little different Jesus constantly fought for the dignity of women...... like the woman who washes his hair with her feet who gets criticised by Judas... but Jesus says Leave her alone And he s not judgmental when you might expect him to be Like with the woman caught in adultery And the Samaritan woman And he honoured women with his time 2
... and caring words But Jesus also championed the value of marriage And said things about not coming to abolish the Law... and he kept many laws himself How might he view Jacinda Ardern? More to the point...... seeing the book we re in is written by the Apostle Paul What would Paul say to Jacinda Ardern? Might he say - as per Ephesians 5:22 that she should submit to her - actually not - husband? What I ve done right there...... is applied a Bible verse directly to today, without any discussion of context This question highlights how incredibly different Paul s world was to ours In Paul s patriarchal first century Jewish society it would be impossible for a woman to rise to a position like Prime Minister Yet if Paul said those words to the Ephesians, maybe he would say the same to her?? While you re thinking that through...... let me remind you where we re at in our series In Ephesians the church is described as...... a radical community that models the opposite to what is commonly found in society. While there s brokenness in our society we re called to model oneness While there s corruption in our society, we re called to model hope 3
And so on all the way down It s pretty simple really Before I read today s passage...... for those of you who have followed this series... has there been any sexism so far in the book of Ephesians? As you look at words like Oneness and Inclusion... isn t it fair to say that equality in the Christian community is something Paul has been all about so far in Ephesians? We ll return to that question Let s read Ephesians 5 from verse 21... to ch 6 verse 9 Ephesians 5:21-6:9 New Living Translation (NLT) 21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God s word.[a] 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body. 31 As the Scriptures say, A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. [b] 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 6 Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord,[c] for this is the right thing to do. 2 Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise: 3 If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth. [d] 4 Fathers,[e] do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them 4
up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. 9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites. Now you might ask: Why is Paul even tackling this stuff?... it not only seems contrary, but seems a diversion from talking about the church - as per the rest of the book As mentioned last time...... the last part of Ephesians is about practical matters If you re trying to create a community called the church, that s counter cultural... then they have to be counter cultural also, in how they relate to each other home You can t be super christian...... when you go to your first century house church... but then live by completely different values at home... so it s important that Paul talks with them about how they relate at home And interestingly, in people s homes... there were not only husbands and wives and kids, but also slaves So what we come up against here is a massive problem of context My commentary says this is one of the most misunderstood passages in the whole Bible 5
What I ve got right here...... is an article called, Was Paul a sexist? It shows how Paul really was a champion of the rights of women And how he actually gave leadership roles to women... and constantly encouraged them And his favourite saying really is that we are all one in Christ - whether Jew or Greek,, Slave or Free, Male or Female... so how can we possibly put that champion of equality, together with what he writes in this passage here? What I want to do today...... is probe in to the context of this passage Sometimes the context of a passage changes everything about how we interpret it Sometimes it changes nothing But if you know how to examine the context, it s really helpful when you come up against hard questions of the Bible So firstly I want to look at the literary context...... then by means of a role play we ll look at the historical context Why does verse 22 say: Wives submit to your husbands? Actually is doesn t The Greek literally translated in verse 22 says: Wives to your husbands as to the Lord There is no word submit there Did you get that? The Bible doesn t say Wives submit to your husbands! Ahh... what a relief! 6
So what on earth does that sentence mean It has no verb in it... and why would it be translated into English with that word submit in there Easy - it s because of the sentence before it, which reads: Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ So actually - every one of us in the church, is supposed to submit to one another This isn t just a thing for women, or just a thing for wives It s everybody We are to act as servants to each other So his talk about wives is just the first example - out of six - of how we should all submit to each other So if you bristle at that word submission...... then this is a stroke of bad luck... because submission is something for every believer - male or female... and in fact, submission to Christ is what we do when we become Christians But let s go even further back in the literary context Back in verse 18, Paul was talking about being filled with the Spirit... and he lists things that result from being filled with the Spirit: A desire to sing out psalms, hymns etc to God A desire to Give thanks to God And a desire to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ So this heart attitude...... of being willing to submit to others... is one of the indicators that the Spirit is at work in our lives 7
Here s another fascinating thing in the literary context: People think about this as the passage that s all about wives... but that s not where the weight of the passage lies at all Here s what s in the passage: Address to wives: 5:22-23a, 24b and 33b [2.5 vs] Address to husbands: 5:25a, 28-29a, (31) and 33a [3.5 vs] Relation of Christ and the church: 5:23b-24a, 25b-27, 29b-32 [7 vs] This section has more to say about how husbands should behave...... than how wives should behave... and then it has twice as much as that to say about the church... there we go again - the church is the constant focus, throughout Ephesians If I m right the two phrases that bug people the most here...... are wives submit to your husbands - and as we ve seen that s just the first example of how we are all to submit to each other... and the other phrase is verse 23 that says, a husband is head of the wife... so let s think about that The Greek word used for head is kephale So let s not say the husband is the head of the wife Let s say the husband is the kephale of the wife What does that mean? Some scholars say it means the husband is the source of the wife - just like how Eve was formed from Adam But more likely if means responsible for 8
Just as the head in a body has responsibility to serve, care for and nurture the rest of the body so a husband has responsibility to serve, care for and nurture the wife But to take any such guesswork out of it the passage illustrates what kephale means It means to love your wife as much as Christ loves the church - v25 It means to give yourself up for her as Christ did the church - v25-26 It means to protect her as you would protect your own body - v28-30 It means to help her become everything she could ever be as wonderful and radiant as the church at the end of time - v27 Are there any women here today who would like to be loved the way Christ loves? The word for love here is agape... which means to give yourself up for the other... it s sacrificial, self giving love So here s where some scholars come to... Submission and agape love - are basically synonyms If anything, the stronger language is used of the husband s responsibility My wife and I need to submit to eachother Selfishness won t make a marriage That s what the passage is saying Summary... 9
! So if that s the literary context...... now let s think about the historical context I want you to imagine that we are living in the first century So we re living at the time Paul first wrote this In Greece and Rome, as many as one third of the population were slaves So if you look under your chair or pew - every third one is a slave So when Paul writes to slaves, he s addressing a huge number of people Hands up slaves Some of you will have been born into slavery Some of you may have been abandoned or sold by your parents 10
Some of you may have been unable to pay your debts Life for you folk is pretty harsh Your owners have free reign to treat you however they like Your master could have you tortured or killed - even crucified The main thing that limits that is the fact your value is in the work you do And round the home you don t just do the menial work, you do all the work! If you have a Jewish master you ll be a bit better off than with a Gentile master You may be able to earn your freedom over time Aristotle, writing about slaves described them as living tools, saying that they have no faculties of their own He said it s innapropriate to talk about justice for slaves There are some laws that aim to limit abuse done to you slaves But honestly, who really knows what s done under the roof of your home? No one s going to listen to you And no one s campaigning to get rid of slavery - quite the opposite Everyone considers slavery to be an economic and practical necessity It s just part of life - that s how everyone thinks So - slaves - how do you feel about all this? Masters - how do you feel? Now let s talk about fathers and their kids It s a good thing our kids are out in Sunday school 11
You who are fathers - your power over your children is virtually unlimited You get to decide whether your newborn baby has the right to live or die Many baby girls are actually abandoned to die You can sell your kids into slavery if you want You can punish them as harshly as you like, even put them to death The book of Ecclesiasticus - which DIDN T make it into the Bible - says: A father should not pamper his son, play with him, or share in his laughter So Dads - are you feeling powerful? It really is a man s world, here in the first century Now let s think about wives and women generally It does depend on which social strata you are from and exactly where you live as to how you are treated But in general you women are treated very poorly One writer says, Women are the worst plague Zeus ever made Another said, The two best days of a woman s life are when she gets married and when her dead body is carried to the grave You are considered ritually unclean during menstruation You re viewed as inferior and given little freedom You can only get a minimal education at best You can t adopt children, can t make a contract, can t own or inherit properity You can t be witnesses in a court of law You re considered less intelligent and less moral than men In many cases men and women ate in different parts of the house When you marry you are expected to take on the religion of your husband You are under the authority of men through your entire life 12
THIS is the world Paul is writing in to Can you get an idea of how incredibly different their world was to ours Now, stay in character - you re still in the first century These people over here, just became Christians The rest of you view them very suspiciously What is this new sect of people that follow Jesus? It seems weird; it seems dangerous Christians would say it s a revolutionary new way of life But many of you view it as dangerous Any movement in the ancient world that threatened the social order, was viewed as dangerous Have you heard, that these Christians...... do this thing called Communion... where they eat a meal together - not only men and women - when the women should be in the other part of the house... but with their slaves as well!... that s so inappropriate! And did you know, these Christian women are being educated! Who do they think they are! And some of them get given positions of authority - unbelievable! Everyone knows that women must take the religion of their husband - but these women are being taught that they can leave their husband if he s not a Christian! Woah! Apparently their guru - Jesus - taught that people should love him more than their wife or husband! Family units are going to fall apart with that mentality 13
If men can no longer keep order in the household, because women put them second to Jesus, there ll be chaos They have this thing called Christian freedom - so now they live as if society s rules don t even matter anymore Basically these Christians are anarchists! Did you hear that their slaves...... believe they have been freed by Christ!? So what - they aren t slaves anymore? If we let this kind of thing carry on, society will fall apart Slaves are part of the fabric of society These Christians are so dangerous! This guy Jesus had no boundaries at all He said, Let little children come to me, and pushed adults out of the way That s going to make all our kids presumptuous... where does this kind of thinking lead? So when Paul writes to the Christians...... he s got to walk a very fine line... he s needs to instruct Christians on how to live with equality... but he also has to reign in any Christians who are flaunting their Christian freedom... so that Christians don t look like anarchists to the outside world So walking this fine line...... it s brilliant how he tackles slavery He has no power of course to abolish slavery 14
He says: You slaves and master - you all actually have the same master in heaven [a revolutionary idea!]... and He doesn t see masters as better than slaves So treat your slaves like human beings - stop threatening them... and you slaves - stop slacking off at your jobs... do your work as if you re working for Jesus He s saying...... I want you Masters to submit to your slaves, just as they submit to you And walking this fine line Paul says to Fathers...... who have all the power in the world over their kids He says effectively, I want you to give up some of that power - don t treat your kids poorly and provoke them to anger Effectively, show some submission towards your children, just as they submit to you (Honour your father and mother) To wives Paul is saying...... it s true - in the church community you are equal... there is no make or female - you are both one in Christ... and your first loyalty is to Christ, not your husband... you have dignity now, that you didn t have before But now that you have this dignity, this Christian freedom, don t be all about yourself... don t be disrespectful to your husband or flaunt society s rules Be prepared to submit to your husbands And husbands you need to also... 15
... submit to your wives, by preferring her needs to your own I know it s a man s world here in the first century... and you could divorce her for burning the toast Instead, I want you to show her agape love - self giving, sacrificial love - the kind of love Jesus showed on the cross You see, all of these parties...... wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves and masters... are to submit to eachother - just as it says in verse 21 The church is to become a place of selflessness, not of lording it over others... however much of that there may be in society We - says Paul - here in the church - are going to be different And in fact one of the marks of the Holy Spirit...... being at work in our lives is the attitude of mutual submission... the same heart attitude that Jesus displayed in washing his disciples feet... and in going to the cross Maybe in today s world, that word submission...... just doesn t work well for us Society sees submission as a weakness, not a value So if it s just too hard a word for you to relate to, then let s substitute the word... Humility... which after all, is at the heart of submission With humility you can see past yourself With humility everything doesn t have to be done your way With humility you can invite others into your circle, even though you have the power to keep them out 16
Humility applauds when others are preferred before us In our Rights-Driven World...... where everything is about what s best for you... and what you deserve... and what you shouldn t ever put up with Humility says: I m going to lay that down and promote the needs of others When Paul sat down to write Ephesians 5 and 6...... he was thinking about Godly relationships in the home He figured that mutual submission should be the flavour of Christian homes So the massive challenge to you and I... from this passage is that we look at our own home, or flat... and the relationships within it And ask: Is your home marked by humility - in all its relationships? Is there mutual submission? Such that wives stand up for husbands rights And husbands stand up for wives rights There are no slaves in your home...... thank goodness... but there is always power... can those of us who hold it, lay it down where needed - that s agape love... can we prefer the needs of our housemates?... and does respect all the relationships in our homes? 17
Because just like in Paul s day...... people look at how we Christians live And say, Can you believe they do like this and think like that... And just like in Paul s day, the church can t be a counter cultural community... if we don t live by those same counter cultural values in our homes Husbands and wives - how are we treating each other? And how are some of us getting on with the colossal headache of parenting, in a rightsdriven world? In kiwi culture there is so little family code left... as society pushes us so hard to be individuals, to be different, to stand on our own and say I m not them, I m me It s Mothers Day...... and most Mothers I know will put their family pretty much at the top of the list of things they care about So for them, and for the intent of Ephesians 5 & 6, I d like to close with a prayer for families PRAYER FOR FAMILIES 18