Ephesians 6:1-24

Our lives are all about relationships.  We maintain relationships with our family members, coworkers and with God.  These relationships demonstrate the reality of who we are in Christ and how He has transformed our lives.  Our relationship with God is the source of our strength to be obedient to His Word as well as be faithful in all of our other relationships.  Paul closes this letter with instructions about how we can maintain these relationships in accord with His desires.
GOD WANTS US TO BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER PEOPLE IN CHRIST: As children we learned “the golden rule” to treat other like we want to be treated.  This is a simple principle but, unfortunately, seems to be a difficult practice.  God calls children to obey their parents as God has designated our parents as our authority on earth.  Submission to authority is a vital characteristic that we must learn while we are young because it is needed throughout all of life.  Parents are also called to treat their children with consideration and care.  Due to the fall our tendency as authorities is to use our position as a means of self-promotion as opposed to humble service.  As parents we must discipline our children in a way that helps them learn to follow Christ but we must never provoke them or exasperate them with demands too great for them to accomplish or through our own inconsistency.  Christian workers are called to realize that all their work is for the Lord and not merely for whoever their employer might be.  We must be diligent in our work even when unsupervised because the reality is that God is always supervising our service.  God expects us to give our best effort all of the time.  Believers should be the best employees.  Christian employees are also called to run their businesses with excellence and lead their workers in a humble and graceful manner.  Positions of leadership do not grant us with the right to be cruel and inconsiderate.  God wants us to treat one another the way that Christ would treat them.
GOD WANTS US TO BE CONTIENTIOUS OF OUR POWER THROUGH CHRIST: The godly relationships and obedient behavior Paul has called us to in this book is not only difficult, it is simply impossible apart from Christ.  However, as believers, the power of Christ is available to us and He expects us to use it on a daily basis.  Each day we are to remember that Christ has saved us from sin and that He expects us to life lives of righteousness.  We have a tendency to allow important truths to fade in our memories.  Our faith in Christ and all of the ramifications of that faith must be constantly remembered if we are going to be victorious in our battles with sin. Just as we get dressed every day, we ought to consciously arm ourselves with these blessed truths about our relationship with Christ.  Salvation, faith and righteousness are truths that protect us as we seek to carry the Gospel of Christ forward.  The Word of God empowers us with a message that we can carry to the nations while at the same time, it provides protection from the false teachings and philosophies with which Satan constantly seeks to bombard us.  The Christian way of life cannot happen on “auto pilot,” we cannot start off on our walk with Christ and then put our faith on cruise control.  Every day we must recall the glories of our salvation, remember our faith in Christ, reflect on the truth of God’s Word and then reveal this message to all of those who have yet to hear the glorious Gospel of Christ.
GOD WANTS US TO BE CONSISTENT IN OUR PRAYERS TO CHRIST: Prayer is the key component to maintaining a fresh and vibrant relationship with God.  Christ makes this direct communication with God possible and it is a source of strength and comfort that is too often neglected in the lives of many believers.  Paul recognized the power of prayer so he constantly asked others to pray for him and he assured others of his prayers for them.  If we hope to be successful at communicating the truths of God’s Word to a lost world, we need to pray.  If we desire courage to stand strong in the face of suffering, we need to pray.  If we want to be effective in our testimony as examples of godliness, we need to pray.  Prayer, is and admission on our part that we need Christ in order to be effective as examples and ministers of the Gospel.  When we fail to pray we are, in essence, telling God that we believe that we are sufficient to handle our temptations and fulfill our ministry to others without His help.  Prayerlessness is spiritual arrogance.  God wants us to call out to Him on a consistent basis as we declare our dependence upon Him and our desire to live for His glory.

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