Ephesians 5:18-6:4
•Part 2
We left off last time with the question, How did we get here? How did this country get to this place? How did this state, this parish, this city, this town, this community, and this family get to the place where the family is now anti-cultural? We will look at this answer from a biblical perspective. Let's go back and look at what happened with Israel. We can agree that Israel had the Word of God; it was given to them (Romans 3:1-2). What did they do with God's Word? "Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightiest be profited by me; And honour not his or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," Matthew 15:1-9.
Notice in verse 6, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition". Tradition takes the pre-eminence over Scripture when Scripture is not taught correctly, or simply not taught. The people become ignorant of what the Bible says and so live their life in ignorance of it. You end up with a Biblical morality that gets watered down with each generation until everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. In verses 8, 9, you end up with a religion of motion structured by the traditions of men. They go through their motions thinking they are doing right, but their hearts are far from God, the result is a life that is lived to please self in the name of religion. Society gets worse with each generation. A hatred towards the things of God grows. They have no more tolerance for the things of God, or for the people of God. They want to get rid of the Word but to only find out that it is in the hearts of the children of God; therefore, they must get rid of the children of God. This brings about persecution to silence the ones who love the Lord and want to live for Him. You may say this is dooms day talk, but if you look at history you will find this very trend.
As the family goes, so goes the nation. The majority of families in America reflect America. We cannot with one swoop change this, but with the Biblical raising of each generation, little by little we can have an impact. You can be a Biblical family. You will have much opposition, even from your own families and friends. People will think that you are crazy. Do you think people thought Noah was crazy? They didn't think he was crazy when it started raining. What Noah was doing was anti-cultural; "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Hebrews 11:7.
When you and I are a Biblical family we will be considered anti-cultural, maybe even a threat or a drain on society. The benefits of being a Biblical family are great; but more so because we bring honour and glory to God. We cannot be a Biblical family without the Bible, and we will not lovingly follow the Bible without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. He is the center of a Biblical family. He is the Word become flesh. Without Him we can do nothing. We love Him because He first loved us. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Traditions and opinions of men are a slippery slope away from the bible. All of us have opinions and preferences, which means we must be very careful when looking at others. It is easy to twist Scripture to make ourselves feel like we are biblical, and then look down on others who are not like us. This is the same trap the religious crowds fell into. One thing that stood out with the religious crowds is that they hated anyone who was not just like them. When we learn what the bible teaches about the family, etc., we should be humbled, and we should desire to teach others, understanding that they are where we were once at, not looking down our noses at others, but having compassion on them.
I want to add that you can have the best family in the eyes of men, and still die and go to hell if Jesus Christ has not saved your soul. It is eternally important that we examine ourselves according to the Scriptures to make sure the Lord has truly saved us. "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" II Corinthians 13:5. We have been given Scripture so that we can know with full assurance that Jesus Christ has saved us. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God," I John 5:13.
Our Lord and Saviour is so good to us. There are some things we do in ignorance, and once we see the error of our way through the Scriptures, we go to Jesus Christ confessing those errors as sin and turning from them. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," I John 1:9. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," Isaiah 55:7.
Through the Person and power of the Holy Spirit, by God's grace, we are given the ability to understand Scripture, and to live for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You may say that you do not think you can be biblical, to which we would say, no one can, apart from God's grace. Our God is so wonderful that we really don't have to words to describe Him. May the Lord grant us the grace to live for Him while we are looking and longing for His return. Lord willing, next time, we will get into Ephesians 5:18 and we will work our way through the rest of Ephesians 5 and into Ephesians 6. Be Biblical and do kingdom work.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com Soli Deo Gloria.
