First Love: Spiritual Resources (Episode 7)
Devotional Thoughts from Ephesians 6
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
This is Episode 7 of my devotional series on Ephesians from my book “First Love: A Deeper Understanding of Church from the Book of Ephesians.” This episode features devotional thoughts on Ephesians 6.[1]
You can start today’s devotional by reading my Ephesians 6 paraphrase.[2]
Ephesians 6
Children, as part of Christ’s body, learn God’s plan for you by following your parents’ instruction. Therefore, “Honor your father and mother,” and you will enjoy the promise that comes with this command, “prosperity and long life.”
Fathers, speak to your children in a way they can understand. Do not nag your children or admonish them out of frustration. Nurture them, training them as the Lord trained you.
Obey your earthly masters, sincerely respecting them. Your true Master is Christ. Therefore, whether they notice or not, whether you feel like it or not, serve wholeheartedly. In this way, you are doing God’s will. You serve Christ, the one who will reward you.
If you find yourself in the position of “master” over another person, remember that you have the same Master they do. Therefore, honor God and treat those under your authority as you would treat his children. God will not show favoritism to people in authority.
In every relationship in the church, draw your strength from all aspects of God’s power. Use every available resource to fight the devil and his schemes. Don’t fight with each other. Instead, use all your might to resist evil spiritual forces. You will face evil times. This battle is for your soul and there is no way you want to lose it.
God gives you many weapons for this conflict:
Truth and righteousness protect your heart
The gospel prepares you to preach
Faith extinguishes every devilish attack
Salvation spiritually guards your mind
The Word of God defines God’s standards, cutting through lies like a spiritual sword
Engage the Spirit in every prayer at every opportunity. Be alert to the spiritual realities faced by the Lord’s people. Pray for me to fearlessly proclaim this mystery as an ambassador, whether am I free or in chains.
I am sending to you my faithful companion, Tychicus, to share how God is at work amongst us.
God’s blessing and peace to every faithful brother and sister. Grace to those whose love for our Lord Jesus Christ will never die.
1. The Singing Family (6:1-10)
We can all picture that confident child, standing before a crowd of doting parents, who is willing to sing out with all their heart… whether they sound good or not. And the parents’ response is irrational—they cheer on their children unconditionally and unabashedly because their child’s voice sounds wonderful to them!
Now imagine your children singing a new song… not to show off their talent, but to express their true heart to you as a parent, to God as their father, to Jesus as the savior of the church. They’re singing to their parents and the God whose kingdom is being proclaimed!
What is that song?
The Children’s Song: “Honor.” When children honor their parents, they show how much they value the preciousness of family. They fulfill God’s only command that comes with a promise: “honor your father & mother… that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Deut 5:16).
Honor
To assign value (give honor), as it reflects the personal esteem (value, preciousness) attached to it by the beholder (God)
The Parent’s Song: “Nourish.” Parents also have an opportunity to sing over their children with a spiritual song. Paul directs his instruction to the Fathers—the household leaders in a Patriarchal society. This would have been quite a shock, since Roman household codes directed their instruction only to those who needed to submit to the household “master” (wives, children, and slaves). Fathers glorify God by nourishing (Greek is ἐκτρέφει, to nourish, nurture, or bring up) their children in the same way they “feed and care (ἐκτρέφει) for your own body” (5:29). Paul’s instruction on how Fathers can sing to their children continues: “speak to your children in a way they can understand. Do not nag your children or admonish them out of frustration. Nurture them, training them as the Lord trained you.” (First Love Paraphrase)
Family in Ephesians
God demonstrated his love for us by adopting us as his children (1:5) into his family (2:19) to give us his inheritance and to bear his name (3:14).
God set the example; we imitate him (5:1) as husbands and wives (5:25-32) and children and parents (6:1-4).
Slaves in Christ. Jesus started a revolution meant to overthrow the kingdoms of this world through “subversive loyalty.”[3] Rather than using military force or political power, Jesus taught his disciples to create a counter-cultural community loyal to a new King—Jesus! He didn’t outlaw or overthrow the institutions of the day that oppressed (through slavery or other forms of oppression). However, he planted the seeds and awakened the consciousness that eventually overthrew these tyrannical practices. Paul directed both the “slaves” and the “masters”—once again disturbing the typical Roman household codes by treating them as equals and calling them to recognize the only true master while treating each other with respect as brothers and sisters.
2. The Spiritual War (6:10-20)
At this point in the letter, Paul has already explained the spiritual nature of church. Now he issues the call to arms: Fight for your spiritual family, build up the church. Because of people’s innate ignorance of the spiritual realms, Paul had to explain each aspect of the fight, contrasting spiritual and physical warfare.
Fellow Soldiers Arise. Paul desired for Christians to recognize their primary spiritual resources: God’s power and each other. It all begins with the call to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty strength. This is the source of every person’s true power—God made us in his image to reflect his glory and “rule over” the earth. But his strength was not meant to create individual “gods” but rather unified extension of his body to bring his reign by working together. Thus, Paul’s instruction is not for the individual but for the collective to align ourselves with God and each other, recognizing each person’s gifts to fight a battle for our souls.
Recognize the Enemy. Fighting each other inside the church wastes our energy and dishonors God. Even fighting people outside the church misses the point and misrepresents our Father. Our enemy is not “flesh and blood” but the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Paul exposed the behind the scenes working of the devil to help us recognize his schemes (2 Cor 2:11). This is not a religious, political, or cultural battle, but a clash of two kingdoms—the kingdom of the world under Satan and the kingdom of God.
Satan has a fiery hatred for God, an army of evil spiritual forces,
an insight into our weaknesses, an understanding of the spiritual realm that we cannot fathom,
and a diabolical motivation that is out of control.
(First Love)
Take Up Spiritual Weapons. Paul explained that through Christ we already have every weapon we need:
The Belt of Truth and Breastplate of Righteousness protect our hearts
The Gospel prepares us to preach
The Shield of Faith extinguishes every devilish attack
The Helmet of Salvation spiritually guards our minds
The Word of God defines God’s standards, cutting through lies like a spiritual sword
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
(2 Corinthians 10:4, NIV)
Engage the Spirit. Paul closed this section reminding us where the power comes from. To be strong in the Lord we must tap into his power. We are not left alone in this fight. However, God’s Spirit is activated by prayer in the Spirit, that will:
Bring us into spiritual reality
Draw us close to God
Energize us by the power of the gospel
Open our eyes to our own feelings and desires
Reveal others needs so we may serve them
Increase our faith so we understand the implications of our salvation
With all of this firepower, we would be neglectful, incompetent warriors if we failed to pray in the Spirit. (First Love)
Closing thoughts: Just as we underestimate the enemy and even the power of God, we can overestimate our ability to persevere. Paul closes with a prayer: Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. As I said in my book, “Most earthly and spiritual attacks aim to extinguish or diminish our First Love” (First Love). The next episode will address this challenge—to choose to “Love First” our God.
[1] To get the most out of this series, I encourage you to get a copy of the book on Amazon (only $6) and take a month to dig into a chapter each day!
[2] Note: This is my own paraphrase of the book of Ephesians that appears in my book First Love. I developed it to help me better digest the depth of teaching found in the scripture. In no way am I claiming that this is more accurate than a translation, but for those of us who have read the same translation more than a dozen times, it can be helpful to revisit the text from a different angle. I pray this version will help you find new insights into the scriptures.
[3] From the Bible Project videos on “The Way of the Exile” and “Parables as Subversive Critique”