FATHERS, SERVANTS, EYESERVICE
Friday – March 17, 2017
Greetings and blessings from The Three Minute Word publication on this wonderful Friday. Friday is the day I remind us all to pray for the Church of Jesus Christ which are those persons who name Jesus as their Lord. Church buildings are a lovely and convenient for peoples of like mind to come together and increase in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord but buildings are not the body of Christ. This knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord not only equips us for the work of the ministry but grace and peace is multiplied in our lives. Remember that all these buildings will be burned up on the last day (2 Peter 3:11-13). This beautiful old Church pictured is just a couple hundred feet from my boyhood home. Now let’s return to our Bible Study.
Ephesians 6:4-6 (KJV)
4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
I am going to present Ephesians 6:4 in various translations of the Bible which I think will in and of itself give clarity as to what Brother Paul is expressing by leadership of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:4 (MSG)
4 Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
Ephesians 6:4 (GW)
4 Fathers, don’t make your children bitter about life. Instead, bring them up in Christian discipline and instruction.
Ephesians 6:4 (AMP)
4 Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.
Effective and Godly parenting takes time, patience and the bedrock understanding that we are to treat this child, our child, as we would want to be treated. The way we want the Lord to treat us. Recall the love commandment concerning our neighbor, our child is certainly our neighbor. We can be guilty of wanting to hurry the process and become angry and abusive in the process. Just think if our Heavenly Father expressed Himself fully with our progress in the family of God. I strongly suspect there are many times we are like absolute nitwits in the eyes of God. Yet on the other hand we expect our children to know what we know and do as we do before they can even walk and talk right. Lord forgive me. Effective parenting includes training our children in the thoughts, Words, and ways of God which hopefully they see expressed and mirrored in us the parents. This is not to say our children might not get angry, at us but it should be on them not us.
Next the Holy Spirit turns His attention to servants which could include a slave however I will focus on the employee – employer relationship. Wherever we have accepted the responsibility to serve, to be a servant we must not treat that relationship with any less seriousness then our relationship with the Lord. An employee has accepted a position to serve the needs of that given business. Certain responsibilities have been assigned and the Christian is to perform those responsibilities with all due diligence having an excellent spirit (attitude). Those duties should be performed with the same attitude and diligence as our service and obedience to the Lord. When we are in tune with and allowing the leadership of the Holy Spirit our business or employment is part of our assignment in the earth, to the world. If God has put us there, we are to discharge those responsibilities first as unto the Lord and second as unto our employer or customers.
We are not to do just enough to get by and get home. We are not to be grinning when the employer is present and complaining when they are around the corner. We may as well turn our head toward Heaven and complain to Him, He is the One who led us there and has assigned us there to accomplish something for the Kingdom of God. Our service to our fellow man and to our employers is service to God. This assignment is the will of God and excellence should be a consuming passion of our heart and the Spirit of God will cause us to be at least ten times better than the heathen in the same or similar job.
Ephesians 6:6-8 (KJV)
6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
This business of how we discharge our duties in our business or employment is serious before the Lord. Look at Ephesians 6:7, whatever we are doing it is for the Lord not men (people). We are on assignment little children. As I close for this week, look at the next verses and see how you and it interface.
Ephesians 6:7-8 (KJV)
7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
This is the law of sowing and reaping. What are we reaping?
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
