Ephesians 6:1-9 | When the Gospel Hits Home
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When the Gospel Hits Home | Pastor Dean Deguara
Ephesians 6:1-9 NLT
Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, 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.”
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them 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.
Point 1 | Stubborn Hearts are Replaced with Obedient Hearts
Ephesians 6:1 NLT
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.Private obedience in God’s economy is always connected to God’s promised blessing.
Point 2 | Hypocrisy in the Home is Healed by Healthy Habits
Ephesians 6:4 NLT
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.Provoke: to stir up anger not just with rules, but with harshness, hypocrisy, or indifference.
Bring Them Up: to nourish to maturity.
What you model as a parent is how your children are molded.
Point 3 | Gospel Truth Brings Freedom to those being Held Captive
Ephesians 6:5 NLT
Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
The same Gospel that challenged slavery in Paul’s day can break the chains of whatever you're enslaved to today!
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All the notes are there for you to share and encourage and strengthen yourself during the week.
We're continuing our series.
We're almost done.
We're in chapter six of Ephesians.
And if you've accepted Jesus Christ,
as your personal Lord and Savior, and you've experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, you know what it means when I say that the gospel or the good news hit your heart.
How many are thankful that the good news hit your heart this morning?
And when the gospel or the good news hits your heart, how many know everything changes?
Everything changes.
You can't do the same things you used to do.
You can't say the same things you used to say because the power of the good news or the gospel, how many know it does a work from the inside out and everything changes, right?
And most of us in this room have experienced how the trajectory of our lives change.
How many know, come on, we were on a downward spiral until Jesus intervened in our life.
And he picked us up and plucked us out of the miry clay.
Come on, set our feet on a solid rock.
Hallelujah.
This is what he did for us.
But I remember after the gospel hit my heart, one of the biggest challenges I faced early on in my Christian life was when I brought the gospel that hit my heart home with me.
You see, what I thought was good news wasn't readily received as good news to everyone in my family.
How many know what I'm talking about?
My mom was worried that I had joined a cult.
My dad was skeptical and called Christianity a scandal.
My sister thought I had lost my mind.
My cousins thought I had flipped out.
My friends had thought that I had been brainwashed.
And what I didn't realize back then that I realize now was the gospel wasn't just disrupting my house.
The gospel was confronting my household, or as we'll learn today, oikos.
Everybody say oikos.
That's the Greek word for household.
It basically means this.
It goes beyond just your immediate family.
It's your sphere of influence.
And in order to understand what Paul is speaking into with the good news, you really have to understand what the oikos represented in his day.
Paul begins to teach us in the latter half of chapter five, which Pastor James, come on, didn't Pastor James and Pastor Brandon both kill it?
I'm telling you, we've got a gifted and anointed team.
And Pastor Jesse is back.
Man, we're getting back in the rhythm around here.
Getting excited.
But Paul begins to teach us about how to wage warfare, trying to live out the gospel with the ones who live with us.
How many know that can be challenging?
Come on, the ones we work with, the ones we go to church with.
And Paul begins to challenge the church of Ephesus to allow the gospel that hit their hearts to hit their houses, come on, with mutual submission, radical obedience, selfless honor, and holy service.
How many know that doesn't sound that easy?
Right?
How many of you know when that happens, all hell, come on, can break loose in your house?
Because why?
The enemy doesn't want the public acknowledgement of your faith to reorder your private life according to God's design because the enemy knows your power is rooted in your private life.
And as we're going to learn over the next couple of weeks as we wrap this series up in Ephesians, your greatest weapons of warfare regarding your home, come on, is your attitude.
How many know your attitude creates your atmosphere?
Yeah.
Your greatest weapons of warfare regarding your home is the things that Pastor James began talking about last week.
Submission to God and one another.
Your obedience to God and your follow through with others.
How you honor God and how you honor others.
How you serve God and how you serve others.
And so we're looking at Ephesians 6 today.
Chapter 1 through 9.
Let's read it.
It says this.
Children, obey your parents.
All the parents said amen.
Because you belong to the Lord for this is the right thing to do.
Honor your father and mother.
This is the first commandment with a promise.
If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you and you will have a long life on earth.
The earth.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.
Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
Verse five, we're gonna dive into this in the third point.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.
Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.
Try to please them all the time, not just when they're watching you.
As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.
Work with enthusiasm as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
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.
Today, I want to talk to you about what happens when the gospel hits home.
What happens when the gospel hits home?
You see, Paul is reminding us, beginning in chapter five, that the Lord sees how we live at home.
In the private places of our lives, behind closed doors, the things that nobody else sees except us.
And when the gospel hits home, not only should our life change, how many know our homes should change too?
You see, if the gospel hits your house, how many know there's a difference between a house and a home?
If the gospel truly hits your house, God will transform it into a Christ-centered home.
Before we dive into this text, however, it's important to understand how a household functioned in Greco-Roman culture.
Again, it's nothing like we experience today.
It was a very unhealthy, dark, and demonic situation.
It included multiple generations, grandparents, adult siblings, their spouses.
How many know this is a lot of people in a house?
Children and even slaves and servants under the absolute authority of the father.
In Latin, it was the paterfamilias.
In the Greek, the word is householder.
He held everything.
He held the entire authority and responsibility of the house in his hand.
And there was also a household code in that day, which was like a cultural manual for running a home in the Roman Empire.
How many know we've got a, come on, kingdom culture manual that is available to us that can bring our homes into line with God's word, amen?
And it was a set of instructions in the ancient world that described how members of a household or an oikos should relate to one another in order to maintain order and stability.
Again, this was a very unhealthy, dark, and demonic structure.
In fact, Pastor James laid out very well last week, but I want to just give you a little more context.
The wife...
Though legally married, she was often treated as property, and the husband had the legal right to divorce her at will, and fidelity was expected from her, but not from him.
Children,
His authority, the father's authority extended over both minors and adult children.
And he could arrange marriages, control finances, and in earlier times even decide life or death for newborns or disobedient children.
Slaves and servants were considered property with no rights, and the paterfamilias could buy, sell, punish, or even execute them, and slaves lived under constant threat and had no legal recourse.
In other words, I want us to understand the powerful thing that is happening as Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus, and he's shining the light
on a dark structure.
You see, the oikos was not a place of mutual love.
It was a mini empire where the father of the household ruled like a little Caesar with abusive power.
How many know the gospel has a great way of flipping, come on, things upside down?
Men, let me just speak to you for a moment.
God doesn't call us to be emperors of our home.
He calls us to be the ones who are empowers in the home.
He's not calling us to be emperors.
He's calling us to be encouragers.
He's not calling us to be emperors.
He's calling us to be servant leaders.
And it's into this dark, rigid, and controlled structure of a household that
that Paul begins to shine the light of the gospel to confront the darkness that is happening behind closed doors.
You see, Paul understood that it was one thing for the gospel to touch somebody's life, but it was another thing entirely when the gospel transforms your house into a home.
I want us to, real quickly, just so we understand this,
the contrast between the Greco-Roman culture household and a household that is confronted with kingdom culture and is centered on Christ.
There's a chart behind me here.
The Greco-Roman household code, which they called it, was centered on the father, the male head of the house with absolute authority.
But in Paul's gospel household code, it was centered on Christ as Lord of the household.
In the Greco-Roman household, it addressed the powerful, the powerful only, husbands, fathers, masters.
But in the gospel household, it addresses the powerless first, wives, children, slaves, giving them dignity.
Purpose in the Greco-Roman household, purpose was to maintain social order and control.
In the gospel household code, the purpose was to reveal gospel order, sacrificial love,
mutual submission, honor, and equality in Christ.
Authority in the Greco-Roman household was absolute.
No limits placed on the head of the house, but in Christ.
How many thankful we're in Christ?
Authority is accountable to Christ, and power is limited by love
And lastly in the Greco-Roman household relationships were defined by status and hierarchy.
In the kingdom relationships are redefined by identity in Christ.
You see Paul knew that if the gospel doesn't work in our homes it won't work in our communities.
He understood that if it doesn't transform our families, it won't transform our city.
And if it can't change us where we live, it will never change, come on, the places we go.
And the first thing that changes when the gospel hits our homes is that stubborn hearts are replaced with obedient hearts.
Stubborn hearts are replaced with obedient hearts.
Ephesians 6, 1.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
I don't know about you, but rebellion and disobedience before I got saved came pretty easy.
I didn't even have to work hard at it.
But when the gospel hit my heart, it also started to change how I acted at home.
And one of the things that I was taught early on by my youth pastor and the youth leaders that were pouring into my life at the time is that your life will never surpass the level of your obedience.
And private obedience, which is so important, in God's economy is always connected to God's promised blessing.
You see, the more you obey the good news, the more opportunity God gives you to share the good news with your family.
The more you submit yourself to God and love and serve your family, the brighter the light shines in your home.
Verse three, if you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you and you will have a long life on earth.
Remember, the father had total authority.
He could take you out forever.
No matter what age of child you were, he could take you out.
And Paul is saying, listen, I need you to stop fighting against that, and I need you to stop operating in the opposite spirit, in a different attitude.
This is what he's saying.
Listen, because kingdom attitudes always shift the atmosphere.
Are you guys still with me?
Come on.
You see, no obedience, because listen, again, we've learned this through the entire book of Ephesians.
Paul was a prisoner of the Lord.
Come on.
And he's saying, you're a child of God.
And listen, how many know when we trust God with our attitudes, even if unjust things are happening to us, how many know God will take care of those people?
Amen.
He will.
He'll turn these structures upside down.
No obedience and honor, no blessing of long life.
You see, God just doesn't want us to survive at home.
He wants us to thrive at home.
You say, well, Pastor Dean, what if my parents or my household doesn't deserve honor?
How many of you come from tough backgrounds, tough situations, tough family situations?
You see, obedience in this passage, as Pastor James mentioned so eloquently last week, isn't about blind submission to flawed human beings.
It's about revering Christ despite their flaws.
I've talked to many people who have difficult parents.
Anybody got difficult parents?
Don't raise your hand if they're here.
Come on, difficult leaders, difficult pastors, difficult bosses in your life.
And how many know that can get really hard?
That is hard.
I don't care who you are, that is hard.
But your obedience to God can soften their heart.
Your obedience to God and not man can soften a stubborn heart.
You see, many of us still carry wounds or pride that affect how we relate to our parents, pastors and our leaders.
Honoring them even if they are flawed is still part of our obedience because it unlocks God's blessing of God's promises in our life.
Now again, like Pastor James said last week, no one is telling you to submit yourself or to stay in an abusive relationship or a dangerous circumstance.
But let me just say it this way.
Just because you run into a challenging season in your home life doesn't mean God is calling you to leave.
He may be calling you to serve.
I know it's going to get quiet in here.
First Corinthians chapter seven, I won't get into it, but it even talks about how when a married couple that is unequally yoked, one spouse is saved, one spouse isn't, if that spouse decides, listen, to serve their mate, it'll soften their heart and there'll be an opportunity where that spouse will even come to know Jesus just in a shift of our heart posture.
How many of you know it's just easier to retaliate though, right?
Your spouse's flaws cannot be the reason why obedience doesn't flow from your life.
How many have had that conversation with the Lord all by yourself before?
You guys know what I'm talking about?
Lord, I wish you would change her.
You guys know what I'm talking about, right?
And at the same time, come on, when you're, how many ever done that before?
You're butting up against one another.
God is wanting to change you.
He's wanting to change us.
You see, you cannot, let me just break it down a little more.
You can't let your parents' flaws be the reason why the blessings of God don't flow to your life.
Now, that doesn't mean you don't have boundaries or you continue to subject yourself to unhealthy situations.
You may have to put some hard boundaries in place for a season, but let me just say this.
Don't harden your heart for any reason.
You see, it's important to know that our obedience to God and his word can help us overcome barriers in our homes that are blocking God's blessing when it comes to creating, come on, not just a house, come on, but a home.
How many know God can't bless our disobedience?
He can't bless our disobedience.
And if you want God's blessing on your household, you have to bring your life into alignment with God's divine plan and order.
And you start with obedience, honor, and humility at home.
God's blessings flow through divine order and obedience in our lives by submitting to his word and his ways, which will prevent war.
How many are familiar with war?
Come on, how many know some of our homes are battlegrounds, not holy ground?
And it'll prevent war from breaking out in your house.
Now, again, understanding the Roman household and the complexities that Paul is addressing, there were adult children.
This is what I want you to get.
This is a complex, again, household that Paul is speaking the good news into.
And so he's not just addressing little kids.
He's not just addressing, you know, the mom, the dad, and the three little kids.
This is not what he's speaking into.
He's actually speaking to the little kid, come on, in many of us.
The immature child inside of me that doesn't wanna grow up.
The immature me that doesn't want to listen.
Anybody good at not listening?
The immature me that doesn't want to do right.
The immature me that always wants to respond no.
Just me.
All right.
Someone in the back too.
The immature me that always does the opposite of what I'm told to do.
And what I began to think when I began to meditate on this passage, even as adults, I think there's a little kid in all of us that doesn't want to obey.
1 Corinthians 13, 11.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child.
I understood as a child.
I thought as a child.
But when I became a man or a grown-up, I put away childish things.
Amen.
You see, when the gospel hits home, God begins to deal with our stubborn hearts, and he replaces them with obedience heart.
It leads me to my second point today, and it's this.
Hypocrisy in the home is healed by healthy habits.
Hypocrisy in the home is healed by healthy habits.
It says this in verse four.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
That word provoke means to stir up anger.
Has anybody ever stirred it up before?
Man, you guys are good Christians in this place.
not just with rules, but with harshness, hypocrisy, or indifference.
In this passage, the good news is limiting the father's authority by saying no to harshness and no to manipulation.
And the gospel is reframing fatherhood in this passage and is confronting the control freak.
Anybody like to just control things?
is confronting the control freak in all of us and now is saying, instead of trying to control everything, why don't you begin cultivating the things that I'm wanting to cultivate in your home?
You see, this is what I know.
Again, I've seen this over the years just in observing.
Listen, you cannot control the outcomes, come on, of anybody in your home.
You can influence the outcomes.
Come on, you can pray for the outcomes.
But every time I see, they call them helicopter parents.
You know what I'm talking about?
Every time I see a helicopter trying to control the outcomes, come on, where they go to school, where they place, what sports they play, how they play them, how many times, every time they try to control the outcomes, guess what?
It never works.
God is calling us in this passage to be nurturers and disciples and developers, not controllers.
Yes.
The gospel in this passage is confronting our need as parents to control everything.
Thank you.
Listen, can I just say this to you?
And again, I have two grown adults.
Listen, your kids are a lot better in God's hands than your hands.
Yes.
Listen, God gave you your children so that you could be a steward and a manager and an influencer in their life, not a controller.
And when you cease and give God the reins to your children, amazing things will happen.
Amen.
You see, sooner or later, we're going to learn that we can't control outcomes in our home, but we can cultivate health in our home.
Is this okay?
Everybody doing all right?
I'm just checking your pulse in here today.
All right.
And Paul is calling parents, especially fathers, to lead with grace, not fear.
Why?
Because our parenting reflects God's relationships with us.
If we're distant, they assume God is distant too.
If we're harsh, they may fear coming to God with their struggles.
But when we model grace, truth, patience as parents, and we love them, and we are giving them a picture of the Father, how do we know they'll never outgrow that?
And that's the heart of this verse.
He says, bring them up.
Not just feed and clothe them, but spiritually shape them.
The Greek phrase there, bring them up, means to nourish them into maturity.
How many know that's a process?
How many know that takes patience and prayer?
How many know we have to be intentional?
It just doesn't happen.
And Paul encourages us, listen, don't provoke them to anger, but with discipline and instruction.
How many know we need both?
Discipline without instruction crushes the spirit.
Instruction without discipline produces laziness, but together they raise disciples, not just well-behaved kids, but kids who passionately love Jesus.
Come on, and have a passionate, come on, to work hard, amen?
So what does obedience look like for us as parents?
It's practicing what we preach.
It's understanding that your home is the first discipleship training center, right?
In other words, you can't delegate the discipline and instruction of the Lord to Pastor Jasmine or Pastor Isaiah.
Come on.
They'll do a good job of getting and encouraging your kids.
But listen, your kids have to love God and love people because you love God and you love people.
What you model as a parent is how your children are molded.
What you model is how your children are molded.
Don't underestimate the spiritual formation happening under your roof.
What you model is what they'll mirror.
Can you say that with me?
What we model is what they'll mirror, for better or for worse.
What I want you to see is the power of healthy habits and how it can heal our hypocrisy.
If you have a habit of going to church, guess what?
they'll learn to go to church.
If you skip, so will they.
If you discipline yourself to pray, they'll learn to pray.
I dare you to allow your kids to catch you praying in your secret place.
If you practice forgiveness, guess what?
They'll learn forgiveness.
If you hold grudges, they'll learn resentment.
We cannot expect our kids to live out of the faith they haven't seen us live first.
And this is why our homes are the first classroom of discipleship, and you're the first teacher.
You say, Pastor Dean, well, what if I've already blown it as a parent?
Has anybody ever blown it as a parent besides me?
Come on, we've all lost our cool.
Come on.
We all spanked our kids one too many times, right?
We've all done that.
We're all guilty.
But can I just say this?
Stop beating yourself up for not being the perfect parent.
There is no such thing.
Don't be a perfect parent.
Be an authentic parent.
Say you're sorry when you've blown it.
Humble yourself when you've made a mistake.
Speak life when it's easier to be negative.
Have patience even when it's painful.
Model an authentic faith, not a perfect faith.
Model the faith that you want your kids to carry and allow the healthy habits in your life to heal the hypocrisy in your home.
It's not too late.
I said it's not too late.
It's not too late.
It leads me to my last point and I've got time to get to this.
Gospel truth brings freedom and
to those being held captive in our homes.
Says obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with fear and with sincerity of heart just as you would obey Christ.
When I first started studying this passage, I'm gonna be honest, I was a little disappointed with what the commentaries were saying about this verse because they were ignoring the cultural context of the day.
And many of the commentaries glossed over the topic of slavery happening in Roman households and related these verses to the modern workplace and being good employees and good bosses, which you can derive that out of this passage, but it's not really sticking to the context
the genuine or the truth of the text.
And I think if we approach it with this thing of just be a good employee, just be a good boss, I think that we actually dilute the power of the gospel message that Paul is delivering to the household or the oikoses in Ephesus.
Now, before this gets lost in misunderstanding, let me just say this clearly.
Paul isn't endorsing slavery here.
He's bringing the gospel into an unjust system.
And while Roman slavery wasn't race-based like the horrors of American history, it was still dehumanizing.
Slaves in the Roman households were usually slaves because of economic debt and debt's
They could not pay.
And the fathers or the masters of the households were ignoring.
Remember this revelation that Paul is carrying.
It's no longer about individual salvation.
It's about salvation for the entire household.
The household of faith.
How many know, come on, the gospel should look differently in church.
Come on, the good news should look differently for those that say, hey, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, I'm a churchgoer.
And Paul is carrying a revelation, not just for individual salvation, but the household salvation.
And in this passage, the gospel ethic is being ignored because how many know Galatians 3.28 says this, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one,
in Christ Jesus.
Listen, that was good news for those, listen, that were under the absolute authority of the paterfamilias or the father of the household.
And Paul is speaking of slaves as spiritual equals and he's reminding masters that they too have a master in heaven, come on, that has taken notes.
And Paul saw revival happening when the gospel is not only applied to our personal life, but to our home life.
And the passage that I was reminded of is one that I've quoted hundreds, probably thousands of times over my ministry career.
And it's Joel chapter two, verses 28, 29.
You know it.
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
Everybody in the house, your sons and your daughters, listen, who should be silent in your presence, listen, they're all gonna prophesy.
Come on, your old men, listen, who are tied to only your dream, they're going to begin to dream dreams.
Your young men who are supposed to be all about your vision, they're gonna actually be able to see their own visions.
And also on your men's servants and on your maid's servants,
I'm going to pour out my Holy Spirit in those days.
How does that happen?
This is the revelation that Paul is working on or that he's delivering.
What was the prophet Joel prophesying?
He says, when you surrender control of your house, my spirit will come and visit your house.
When you release control, come on,
I'm releasing my Holy Spirit.
In fact, because of the application of the good news to Greco-Roman household, early Christians, and I don't have time to get into this today, but they began redeeming and freeing slaves, and some former slaves even became bishops in the ancient church, amen?
I wanted to stay true to that text.
But then I want to just share with you as we close here something that the Lord laid on my heart.
Because honestly, I can't imagine allowing slavery to go on in someone's home, behind closed doors, hidden where nobody else knows.
Or even worse, being a slave where no one knew about the abuse or the mistreatment that I was experiencing.
But yet many of us have hidden chains clanking in our homes today.
Not the chains of Roman slavery, but modern bondage, quiet addictions, secret sin, emotional control.
We're chained to pornography.
We're chained to debt.
We're chained to our devices.
Come on, chains are clinking behind closed doors when no one's watching.
But can I just tell you this?
Heaven hears them loud.
And the same gospel that challenged slavery in Paul's day, can I encourage you, it can break the chains of whatever has you enslaved in your private life today.
And maybe the greatest battle you're fighting isn't at work, it isn't online, but it's right there in your house, in your habits, in the places that nobody sees.
How many know if the gospel can't work at home, come on, we have no business preaching it.
And today, listen, that chain breaking, soul freeing, come on, healing power of Jesus is in the room today to set you free.
And it starts with surrender.
Listen, if you're here today and you've been carrying change too heavy for too long, sin, shame, secrets, addiction, or just the ache of being far from God, can I just invite you, come on, to a Savior, come on, that wants to live inside of you and bring the change that you've been longing for.
If that's you today, with every head bowed and every eye closed, you say, Pastor Dean, I wanna give my life to Jesus Christ.
I wanna get right with him.
If that's you, will you just raise your hand?
I'm not gonna embarrass you.
I'm gonna pray with you.
Is there anybody in this place that you would say, Pastor Dean, will you pray with me?
Anybody at all?
Anybody at all?
Yes, thank you, thank you.
It's okay, I'm gonna let the Holy Spirit work.
I'm not in that much of a hurry.
If you raised your hand or you didn't raise your hand, we're gonna pray this prayer together on the screen at the sound of three with all your heart, with all your soul.
We're all gonna pray it together with the people that raised their hand.
One, two, three.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness.
I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
Right now I turn from my sins, invite you to come into my heart and life.
I wanna trust and follow you from this day forward.
I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior.
Thank you for saving me.
In Jesus' name.
Can we give God praise for those that raised their hand?
If you prayed that prayer, we believe that you got born again.
We'd love to put a New Believers New Testament in your hand as well as some next steps that we can take with you as a church to help strengthen your walk with God.
My friend Jeff is in the back on your way out.
Please let him know that you made that decision.
Will you stand with me today?
Because there's a second call that I want to make.
Our prayer ministers are up here to pray with anybody that needs prayer.
But maybe you're here today.
You're already a believer, but there are battles in your home.
There are habits in your life.
There are hidden hurts in your heart that haven't come under the authority of Jesus Christ yet.
Maybe your words at home don't match your worship on Sunday.
Maybe your parenting feels reactive instead of spirit-led.
Maybe the chains aren't around your soul, but they've crept into your marriage, your mindset, your moods, or your mouth.
And today, listen, God wants to bring the gospel light, come on, and shine it on every dark place in our hearts.
If you're here today and you're saying, Lord, I want order in my home.
I want healing in my family.
I want freedom in my habits.
I want peace in the places where I've let pride live too long.
Will you just lift up your hands in holy surrender?
Come on, every hand in the building should be up.
I know mine are up.
You say, Father God, I need you to come and visit my home with gospel power.
Let me pray over you.
Father, you see every chain that has us bound.
God, you see the things that are done in hidden places.
We thank you today, God, that they are being brought into the light and we are no longer held captive by them.
But what today, God, we stand in the liberty and the freedom of the Holy Spirit.
God, I pray that chains would begin to fall off in Jesus' name.
Chains of addiction, chains of shame.
chains of anger in Jesus' mighty name.
God, free your people, and God, turn our houses into homes.
And everybody said, amen.
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When the good news of Jesus Christ truly takes root in our hearts, it doesn't just change us as individuals—it transforms our entire household. The impact of the gospel should extend beyond our personal spiritual lives and into the very fabric of our homes, relationships, and family dynamics.
In ancient Greco-Roman culture, households were structured very differently from what we know today. The "oikos," or household, was more than just immediate family; it encompassed multiple generations, servants, and slaves under the absolute authority of the father figure. This patriarchal system often led to abuse of power and dehumanizing treatment of those under the father's control.
It's into this dark and rigid structure that the light of the gospel shines, confronting the darkness behind closed doors. The transformative power of Christ challenges us to shift from being emperors of our homes to becoming empowerers, from harsh rulers to servant leaders.
The contrast between a Greco-Roman household and one centered on Christ is stark:
Leadership: From father-centered to Christ-centered
Focus: From addressing only the powerful to giving dignity to the powerless
Purpose: From maintaining social order to revealing gospel order through sacrificial love
Authority: From absolute power to accountability to Christ
Relationships: From hierarchy to identity in Christ
This radical shift begins with replacing stubborn hearts with obedient ones. As Ephesians 6:1 instructs, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." This call to obedience isn't just for young children, but for the childish, stubborn parts in all of us that resist submission to God and others.
Obedience and honor in the home unlock God's blessings in our lives. Even when dealing with difficult family members or leaders, our obedience to God can soften stubborn hearts. It's not about blind submission to flawed humans, but about revering Christ despite their flaws.
However, this obedience isn't one-sided. The gospel also confronts those in authority, particularly fathers, challenging them to lead with grace rather than fear. Ephesians 6:4 cautions, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
This verse reframes parenting from control to cultivation. We're called to be nurturers and disciple-makers, not micromanagers of our children's lives. Our parenting should reflect God's relationship with us—patient, gracious, and truth-filled.
The power of modeling cannot be overstated. What we model as parents is what our children will mirror. If we want our kids to love God and love people, they need to see us doing the same. Our homes are the first discipleship training centers, and we are the primary teachers.
For those who feel they've already failed as parents, take heart. It's never too late to start modeling authentic faith. Be quick to apologize, humble yourself when you've made mistakes, and consistently choose to speak life. An imperfect but genuine faith journey can be far more impactful than a façade of perfection.
The transformative power of the gospel extends even further, bringing freedom to those held captive in our homes. While the context of Ephesians 6:5-9 addresses the issue of slavery in Roman households, its principles speak to the hidden chains many of us carry today—addictions, secret sins, emotional bondage, or unhealthy dependencies.
The same gospel that challenged the unjust system of slavery in Paul's day has the power to break whatever chains bind us in our private lives. Whether it's pornography, debt, technology addiction, or any other hidden struggle, the liberating power of Jesus is available to set us free.
This freedom starts with surrender. We must bring our hidden battles into the light, allowing the gospel to penetrate every dark corner of our hearts and homes. As Joel 2:28-29 prophesies, when we release control, God pours out His Spirit on all members of the household—sons, daughters, old and young, even servants.
Applying these truths to our lives today, we're challenged to examine the state of our homes:
Are there areas where stubbornness is preventing obedience to God?
How can we cultivate healthier habits to heal any hypocrisy?
What hidden chains need to be brought into the light for God's liberating power to break them?
The journey of transforming our houses into Christ-centered homes is ongoing. It requires consistent surrender, authentic modeling of faith, and a willingness to let the gospel confront every aspect of our private lives.
As we embrace this transformation, we'll find that our homes become places of mutual love, sacrificial service, and spiritual growth. The impact will extend beyond our four walls, influencing our communities and even our cities with the powerful witness of lives truly changed by the gospel.
Let's commit to allowing the good news of Jesus to truly hit home, revolutionizing our relationships, reordering our priorities, and releasing captives in our own households. As we do, we'll experience the fulfillment of God's promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, starting right where we live.
May our homes become beacons of gospel light, testaments to the transformative power of Christ, and training grounds for the next generation of passionate followers of Jesus. The change begins with us, in the most intimate spaces of our lives, as we surrender daily to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and homes.