Introduction
Why is the home the acid test of our Christian profession? When we say we are Christians - we belong to Jesus - why is the home often a difficult place to keep our testimony bright and convincing? Is it because outside the home we can put our best foot forward, but at home they also see the other foot, and it is made of clay? We spend more time at home than anywhere else, so our loved ones see more of us than other people do. People at home know us best so they know more about our weaknesses, failures, bad habits, warts, and pimples! Of course they also know more about our strengths, our virtues, our Christian character. Home is a tough place. Here too, Jesus is Lord, so Paul wrote to wives and husbands, to children and parents, to slaves and masters - instructing them on what it means to be a Christian in the home. He was writing to Christian households. Of course pagan writers also dealt with household relationships and the morals involved in these relationships. Polybius for example. The Jews also dealt with the subject; Philo and Josephus did.

The Pauline peculiarities
However, Paul's instructions to Christians are peculiar in two ways. They are clearly different from pagan or Jewish instructions. First, because they are reciprocal. He gives instructions not only to wives but also to husbands; not only to children but also to fathers; not only to slaves but also to masters. Something new! Even in Judaism it was assumed that all the rights were on one side, and the duties on the other side. Not in Christianity. Here, Paul instructs wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters - of their duties. Reciprocity is new. One commentator wrote: the claims of the slave are as real as the claims of the master. Second, Paul's instructions are peculiar because of the motivation for obedience that he appeals to. We obey our duty - as wives or husbands, as child or parent, as slave or master - because we are in Christ. We obey our duty because we are in the Lord. This is our Christian duty. It is Jesus we aim to please. Do you remember Paul's prayer for the Colossians in chapter one? Colossians 1:10 says, " And we pray this in order that you may live a live worthy of the Lord (Jesus) and may please him in every way…". We do our duty, not mainly to promote peace and harmony at home - though it will also do that - but because we want to please the Lord Jesus!

Wives and husbands
Wives submit to your husbands. This is fitting in the Lord. Nararapat lang. It is your Christian duty. To submit, or be subject is literally, to rank yourself under him (hupotasso). It is a military term. Wife, you are the major and your husband is the general; he outranks you. The CEV actually translates, "put your husband first"! Phillips softens it too much: "Adapt to your husband." We stay with "submit." Paul has more to say on wives and husbands in Ephesians 5, the parallel passage but we reserve that passage for another time.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Is Paul saying two things to husbands? Love, and do not be harsh? Probably one thing: Love, and if you love, you will not be harsh. How are we husbands being harsh to our wives? By thoughtless remarks which put them down or insult them. By overworking them, making all kinds of demands. By failing to appreciate them. Or, failing to express our appreciation for them. By taking them for granted, like familiar furniture. By keeping them at arm's length because we are afraid of intimacy. But love is intimacy. Today, Mother's Day, is a good day to affirm your love for the mother of your children. Seek her greatest good, promote her highest welfare.

Children and parents
Children, obey your parents in everything. Why? Because your obedience pleases the Lord. Obey in everything, literally? With no exceptions? Well, if your obedience to parents does not please the Lord because you are doing something clearly against the Lord's will, that would be the exception. Don't help your parents cheat on their taxes! I said, "clearly." If your mom says, " Don't go to choir practice; stay home and help me," you need overwhelming evidence that going to choir practice is God's will. I suggest it is not. When you think of exceptions, look up the Hebrew midwives (Exodus 1), Daniel's friends (Daniel 3) and the apostles (Acts 5). Otherwise, habitually obey. Then, when the exception comes, it is clear that it is Jesus you really aim to please, not just yourself.

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will be discouraged. How do we embitter our children? By being too hard, imposing standards of behavior that are beyond their capacity. Or, by being inconsistent in the application of rules - sometimes strict and sometimes lax. Or, by being unfair - by treating Allen one way, and Belle another way. Only God the Father is the perfectly consistent parent, but we may aspire to be like him. We ask: How can I be like God my Father, as a parent? We help our children to grow deep roots, and later we help them to grow wings. Much wisdom is needed because the two goals overlap. We are omnicompetent to our child of 5; we do not understand him or her when he or she is 15; and when he or she is 25 we are incompetent! Why is the word addressed only to fathers? Because we fathers are more likely to embitter our children and discourage them. Let us aim to be encouragers! Let us encourage our children to live for Jesus!

Slaves and masters
Paul deals with slaves and masters more lengthily here than anywhere else. Probably because the letter to the Colossians was closely associated with Onesimus the runaway slave, and his master, Philemon. Paul has been criticized for saying to slaves, "obey" rather than "revolt!" Slavery is clearly contrary to the will of God who created all humans equal. However, we can appreciate the fact that the church was born in a society in which slavery was an accepted institution - legal, part of the fabric of Graeco-Roman civilization, and essential to the economy. If the church attacked slavery directly by declaring, "revolt!" Christianity would have sunk beyond the hope of recovery along with such revolutionary movements as was led by Spartacus in 73 to 71 B.C. The Christian way is by subverting the institution through changing personal relationships. It took 19 centuries for slavery to finally be abolished but let us remember that William Wilberforce acted on Christian convictions. Meanwhile let us appreciate the radical character of what Paul is saying to slaves in our text. "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything." Paul uses a compound Greek word that he may himself have invented to describe how a slave should not do his work. Not with "eye-service" says Paul, doing your work well only when your master has his eyes on you, not really caring about the quality of your work. The word is ophthalmodouliais, from ophthalmo (eye) and doulos (slave). Eye-service. Not acceptable. Because, even as a slave, it is the Lord Jesus you are serving (v.24b). So whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (v.23). I cannot get over how radical this is. What work do we regard today as not worthy of the dignity of a graduate from UP? Janitor/messenger, fishball or balut vendor, garbage collector or newspaper boy, labandera or housemaid, cargador or mechanic, hospital elderly or street sweeper, watch-your-car boy or sikyu, sacada or driver, atbp. Nothing in this list compares with being a slave. Yet Paul says: do your work as a slave as work you do for Jesus. Please him! Incredible.

Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair. Unheard of elsewhere in the first century! Slaves had no rights! They were chattel, property, something owned. Maybe sold or given away. Christian masters: treat your slaves justly and fairly. Why? Because you too have a Master in heaven and to this Master you must give account. We no longer have slaves and masters today but we still have subordinates and supervisors. Those of us who have authority over others: we must be just and fair, we too have a master, the Master.

Conclusion
In all these household relationships, as in all of life, we have one aim. We aim to please the Lord Jesus. Let us not be men-pleasers, serving with ophthalmodouliais, but let us be servants of the Lord Jesus. He alone is worthy of our love and devotion. To him be glory and honor, forever and ever!