Clarity: What If I Live? (part 3 of 3)

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

(Colossians 3:18-21 ESV)

• I. Jesus First! in me (Col. 3:1-11)
• II. Jesus First! in my relationships (Col. 3:12-17)
• III. Jesus First! at home (Col. 3:18-21)

The question on most people’s minds is WHAT IF I LIVE?

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy

“There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.” – Homer (polytheist)

• III. In the Home (Col. 3:18-21)

The first place our Christian faith should go to work is in the home. 

“Let them learn first to show piety at home,” commands 1 Timothy 5:4. If the wife is drawing her spiritual nourishment from Christ, the Head (Col. 2:19), then she will be submissive and obedient for Christ’s sake. Read Ephesians 5:22 and 1 Peter 3:1-22 for additional information on this theme.

Of course, the husband too will show love and tenderness toward his wife and family. The headship of the husband in the home is a reflection of the headship of Christ in the church, according to Ephesians 5:23.

“Try praising your wife, even if it does frighten her at first.” - Billy Sunday

Children are to obey their parents for Christ’s sake, to please the Lord. It is sad when children who are professing Christians rebel against their parents and thereby sin against Christ and the church. Christian sons and daughters need to live up to their high position in Christ as members of His body.

What blessings would come to our homes if each member of the family said, “I will live each day to please Christ and make Him preeminent in all things.” There would be less selfishness and more love; less impatience and more tenderness; less wasting of money on foolish things and more living for the things that matter most.

 “I’m Glad That’s Cleared Up!”  Ancient culture creates a difficult read for this truth. Modern and postmodern cultures distort the truth. God is honored and a harmonious life results when a husband and wife raise their children with their heart, their mind, and their strength, set on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Col. 3:2 with a little Deuteronomy 6 sprinkled in)

(Outline from Weirsbe's Expository Outlines)