Straight Down the Middle of the Plate

In one paragraph

Florin worked through Colossians 3:18-4:1, the practical commands that follow the longer section on putting off the old self and putting on the new. He read all of chapter three's opening seventeen verses aloud before moving into the new material, so that the commands for wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters would be heard in the context that Paul set for them. The sermon was...

Read together

1. Colossians 3:1-17 read aloud in full as the grounding text before the practical injunctions
2. Colossians 3:18-4:1 the main passage for the sermon, covering practical injunctions for wives, husbands, children, fathers, bond servants, and masters
3. Genesis 3:16 cross reference on wives submitting, noting the marginal reading that desire may be against rather than for her husband
4. 1 Peter 3:1 cited as another passage on wives submitting to husbands
5. 1 Peter 3:7 cited on how a husband should honor his wife as the weaker vessel
6. Esther 1:20 mentioned as an example of a government decreeing that women be submissive to their husbands
7. Ephesians 5:22 cited as parallel command for wives to submit to their husbands
8. Ephesians 5:25 cited as parallel command for husbands to love their wives just as Christ loves the church
9. Ecclesiastes 9:9 listed as a cross reference for the command that husbands love their wives
10. Romans 13 referenced for the principle of being subject to governing authorities and the rule of law
11. Colossians 3:17 quoted briefly on doing everything in word or deed as service to the Lord, as a lead-in to the bond servant section

Talk about it

1. Florin read Colossians 3:1-17 before getting to the practical commands in verses 18 through 4:1. What does it tell us that Paul grounds all of these household instructions in that earlier section about putting off the old self and putting on the new?
2. Florin said that wives submitting to husbands and husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church are both high callings, but that when a husband is genuinely loving his wife that way, he is not a hard man to submit to. Where do you see that connection breaking down in real life, and what does it look like to hold up your end when the other person is not holding up theirs?
3. Florin described what is expected of children as obeying all the way, right away, and with a happy heart, and then said that fathers are commanded not to provoke their children so that they do not lose heart or have their spirits broken. How do those two commands work together in a household, and where is the tension hardest to navigate?
4. When Florin got to bond servants and masters, he pointed out that Paul was addressing people who were legally considered property and yet spoke to them as people with a master in heaven who outranked any earthly master. How does that reframing of who you are ultimately working for change the way you think about your own work or your own role of authority over others?
5. Florin said there is no cover for any of us, and that whatever role you have been given, wife, husband, child, father, employee, or employer, you can only play your own part and answer for yourself. Where is it hardest for you personally to stay in your lane rather than waiting for someone else to go first?