Deeply Rooted (When I Read Your Word)

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:10-12 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms . WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? These verses use a lot of words and phrases that have to do with war (strong, armor, stand against, schemes, struggle, powers, and more). If Christians are called to be peacemakers, what are we doing talking about going to war? An important part about being a believer is that we really are involved in a war, but it doesn’t get talked about very often by Christians. So who are we at war with? Sometimes it feels like we are at war with people who don’t like us, people who are mean to us, or people who disagree with us. It may feel like we are at war with our bosses, our par...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:9 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? That first sentence is CRAZY! When Paul tells masters to treat their slaves "in the same way," he's referring to what he just told the slaves to do, which was: 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. So...Paul just told masters to obey their slaves with respect and fear...?! At heart, what this shows is that, in Jesus, there is no such thing as slave or ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:7-8 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Whether we're Alexander Hamilton, we manage our own company, we've never worked a day in our lives, or we're the lowest on the totem poll at a Bahama Bucks somewhere, we get the choice on who we serve. Are we going to serve ourselves? Our manager? What if, instead of making it our goal to serve some person, we made it our goal to serve God?! Working for God changes everything. You know in school when your teacher leaves the room and everyone kind of looks at each other and then immediately starts to cheat on the assignment? That's called working for your teacher. If you were working at your schoolwork for God, then you know that there's never a moment that He leaves the room, so you try to be excellent/wholehearted all the time! Wh...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:5-6 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? When we read God's Word, it's always very important that we understand the context of the passages we read. Sadly, many people have used passages like these without context to say that the Bible supports things like slavery, but that simply isn't true! Slavery looked very different in the times of the Bible than it did in the world many years later. Slaves often offered themselves up to work for others, and while they worked, many masters would treat them as if they were a part of their own family. It's not a coincidence that this passage immediately follows Paul's words about how parents should treat their own children! So, now that we have context, what is Paul s...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:1-4 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? So, you probably thought you were off the hook if you're a student who has been reading the last chapter with us, but JOKES, Paul just came at you, too! Each of y'all has a parent figure at home, whether it's a mom, a dad, both, a grandparent, etc. In the Old Testament, the first commandment that is about the way humans relate to other humans is about children honoring their parents, and that commandment is also the first that has a promise attached to it. In the OT, it is written that children should honor/obey/respect their parents so that things can go well for them for their whole ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:31-33 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? The quote we see here in verse 31 actually comes from Genesis 2:24... so let's get some context on what's happening here. In Genesis 2, God sees that Adam desperately needs a helper. God provides Adam with everything in His creation, including every animal, but none of them makes a suitable helper for him. So God creates Eve, a woman, from Adam. Like, literally from Adam! When Adam is asleep, God takes a rib from him and creates Eve out of it. So Adam and Eve really are "one flesh," or one body! Over the last few days, we have been talking about marriage. When a man and woman choose to marry one another,...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:25-30 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church — 30 for we are members of his body.  WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Yesterday, we talked about the role of the wife in relation to Jesus and the church. In verse 25, Paul shares the example of Jesus giving his life for the Church because of how strong His love for her is. Verses 26 and 27 dive deeper into the duties a husband has for his wife. What Paul is saying is that husbands are supposed to love and fully commit themselves ...