Ep 1013 | Jase Cares for His Sick Godson & Missy Performs a Midnight Rescue
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We got, we were having, I guess, what would you call it, Jason? An old man conversation before we... It's a therapy, a therapy conversation. I feel like it was therapy when he said, I need to vent or rant. I forgot how you said it, Jason.

I thought I had a couple of rants that I had. It's hard to get old is what I was thinking, but you may have another take on it. What you're supposed to do when you reach my age is, you know, you have grandkids and my oldest son that they've turned their place into a baby factory. So they got three under three. Yeah. But they manage it well every time I'm there. And the good thing about being a grandparent is, you know, all your kids,

Insert your all your jokes here. You get to show up, but you can always leave. So there's it's it's a great my single tagline, Jace, because now I've got them stretched out. Mine are getting married is it's all the love without the ultimate accountability.

And which is a really good situation because like it's up to your kids to raise their kids ultimately. But, you know, you're part of the process, but you get to love them just like your kids. You just don't have that ultimate responsibility, which is true. So that's not what I was going to vent on the, you know, Missy and I had a situation that we don't really go into detail about it. But we we have a little man that we're helping raise and he had a surgery, which was.

is tough when you have toddlers going through the surgery. And so it's, but we've had a lot of experience with that with Mia. And so whatever the case, uh, and it was, you know, pretty extensive and affects, you know, him talking and eating it in his throat and mouth area. So this is day, uh, what day? See now I don't even know what day of the week it is. I think this is day six of the recovery. Yeah. Uh,

And, you know, much better yesterday. But I've been taking the night shift, which is basically 9 o'clock to 9 in the morning. Because, you know, when a- How old are we talking here? What's the age again? We're talking almost three. Okay. So about race age. And so, you know, I positioned myself. Because I wasn't here the first two days, which were the roughest. So Missy-

was full time. She, she got the rough end of this. So I said, you catch up on your sleep. I'll take this. And so the first couple of nights was about every hour. No, there was a cry out. So, you know, you don't get to really sleep. And, uh, so I did pretty good, but now that he's a lot better, like last night was just one time. It was like 1250. And I basically woke up and just sensed a presence somewhere. Uh,

And I eased around the corner and he was sitting on the second step, just sitting there. I was like, what's up, buddy? Yeah.

And he's like thirsty, you know, because his mouth gets real dry from overcoming what he's in. The first night I would have to, his nose would get so dry because it was running so bad with a little, you know, a little blood, a little snot, whatever. And I'd have to, because he couldn't breathe because it's like once it comes out of your nose, it then dries. And so I didn't read a manual. You know, I got a warm paper towel and just slowly worked it, which it took probably 10 minutes.

And, uh, so I've been, been Dr. Mom. And, uh, but this morning it was just, it's just a terrible morning. I mean, he slept that one instance, he went back to bed, gave him something to drink. So everything's fine. So then about, I think it was 6.15, he got up, which is early. But, uh, so I was like, all right, buddy, let me get you some milk here. And

Well, the event I want to go on are these. I'm so glad we have a new administration because I've noticed that every product that you use with kids that has a different country on it besides the U.S. has a lot of problems. So I fixed the milk. I had it to him. Well, look, it just it's leaking all over him, which is leaking. Yeah, cups leak.

So now I'm trying to fix the cup. Now he's like, ah, you know, because he's like new pajamas basically is what he was saying. I was like, no. You want someone to make sippy cups great again is what you're telling me. We need this. Because look, I went sippy cup to sippy cup and they all had problems. And look, they're very confusing. There's no manual at this point.

Because some of them, it's like how to put it together. I can't figure it out either. Well, it's like the gas cans, too. I can't figure out how to pour gas out of these gas cans. I mean, it's like a, I'm like, I don't know, how do you do this? I mean, you've got to twist, push down, hold. I'm like. Yeah, you know what? Regulation. Because people say, you know, it's a safety issue. The problem is you can no longer get gas out of it, which is a problem.

issue that I'm having because I need the gas because I can't go anywhere. Well, it's the same thing with washing machines too. When's it, well, not that y'all wash your own clothes, but when's the last time you saw a washing machine that fills up with water and

that gets scalding hot to wash your clothes in. You can't, it's like lukewarm water. It's all like energy efficient and it like just barely puts a little bit in there. But I'm like, you're not getting the clothes clean with like, give me the, I want the old stuff. I want the dryer to get super hot. Give me the, give me the old, I want the old hot water heater. I mean, that's what I'm saying. We, Al and I come from a family that when we needed gas, my dad handed me a piece of a water hose.

And said, go get it out of there. I mean, I don't know what the safety precautions of that, but I'm pretty sure inhaling gas to get the flow going and sticking it in your tank is not a good thing for little kids to be doing. But Al, there we are. And we turned out great, didn't we? Oh, yeah. Look at us. Look how old we are. That may attribute to some of our problems right there. But you're right. That went from that process, which was terrible, but at least you could access it,

to now you go and buy it but you literally cannot get it out of the can into whatever you're trying to do i agree zach or or what i end up doing is i end up taking the lid off of the whole thing and trying to do and then i spill it everywhere so i'm like now we've done the thing that you were trying to stop you're actually doing more of it i mean it's like the town i live in they you know they won't pick up your trash unless it's in a bag well the problem is well i've

I mean, literally in the can. So in the can, in a bag. So if you put trash in there. I've had the same conversation. It's a trash can. And I'm like, we live with that. What if a raccoon or bear gets in? And now I got to go, you want to save the environment, but you're requiring me to go and I get another plastic bag.

Rebag everything. I'm like, it is. I'm telling you. Yeah. I was just going to get back to the sippy cup conversation. So I finally figured out and it was 90% me. I just couldn't figure it out. There was no instructions. And then he takes a big gulp of it and I'm looking no leaks. And I'm like, yes. And then when he takes off, cause now he's happy, it slips through his fingers and

hits the floor, and it was a full container of milk explosion. I mean splatter in every direction, which then caused just him, because it scared him.

And then I saw that bedroom light come on. I thought, well, no sleepy time for Lulu. She got up. You know what? I'll have to say this about my wife. She opened that door and she's like, babe, you sound like you need some help and had a smile on her face.

And I thought, babe, you're the greatest woman on the planet. So I was really impressed with my wife. Look, you're right. When it comes to disasters like that, even not a huge disaster, but something like that, the wives are the best. So I was carrying a pitcher of tea, and it's a plastic bottle.

tea maker thing, Jace, because we have tea makers that we use. So you know what I'm talking about. It was the thing your tea goes into. I'm carrying it. Well, it slips out of my hand. It was full of tea and it slips out of my hand. It hits the floor. I guess it's a plastic, but it just exploded.

And shards of this plastic went everywhere. Tea is, I mean, literally on every cabinet. And I'm just standing there looking. But within 30 seconds, I'm

Lisa shows up with a ma. I mean, it's like I'm still trying to process what just happened here. You know, I'm looking at them. I'm picking up the thing. I'm wondering what happened. I mean, I'm in a daze and she's in like within five minutes, the whole thing. She's got everything moved out of the kitchen. She's cleaned everything up. And I was like, she's like a superhero. Hey, I'm telling you, I salute moms worldwide. I mean, I didn't even say I couldn't figure out.

the initial diaper change, they have now, you've cut for any that has to do this. Just when you get out the diaper, you have to kind of peel back the part that's actually gonna hold it. 'Cause I kept going round and round. I was like, there's nothing to stick this to. And so after about three or four minutes,

You know, a little man says, maybe Lulu should do it. I was like, it was such a small little piece of cloth that was tucked.

That you just pull out, then you open up, you know. But if you don't know what you don't know. I didn't. There's no box. It was just a stack of diapers. There's no manual. There's no instructions. So I'm saying this had built into pretty well a crescendo for the first hour that was difficult. But you're talking about stressful. I mean, I don't get stressed out about anything, but I was stressed out about that, you know. So.

There you have it, Al. That's what I've been dealing with for a few days. Man, I don't know. That sounds pretty rough. And sick kids are always difficult. But you're right. You and Missy have a ton of experience, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier. You know, I hadn't figured it out either yet. I mean, I'll tell you, it's a young man's game. No question about it.

And, uh, it takes a village. So there's all your cliches right there that probably sum up where I'm at. I mean, we did a, we had a baptism last night at the church and, um, the girl gave her testimony. It was, it was really powerful. She came out of kind of this new age world and was talking about all this time she had spent. She's from England and, uh, she had just gone through just a lot, uh, been assaulted, um,

And end up getting pregnant from that, had the baby, though, and who's just beautiful, beautiful little boy. And so she was given her this really emotional testimony about her journey to finding Christ had gone through all these meditation retreats. And she said she had basically meditated herself into a state of just like sickness.

And then she had an encounter with Jesus and, um, and, and then we got baptized last night. But in that moment, she's given this very powerful, powerful testimony. And we have so many kids at our church and it was a Wednesday night. I had made a jumble lie because we were going to do Christmas caroling. And then the baptism kind of popped up. And, uh, and I looked around while she's in the middle of this really powerful story. She's weeping and crying and,

And when I tell you the noise from the kids, I mean, I thought, man, this is like Lord of the Flies. I mean, it is like, I don't, you know, I don't really know the solution to it. Al or Jace, I do know that when you get under three, and especially when you multiply that number, it can get,

it can get pretty wild. So I don't know. I don't have a solution. Yeah. The Bible says children are blessing from the Lord or the Bible says that. So we're just going to hang on that right there. Well, they go through this cause you know, at some point in the recovery, we started having conversations after he went to bed. It's like, now what part of this is him not feeling well? What part of this is him just wanting to do whatever he wants to do? You know? So, I mean, you're trying to create structure at that age. Yeah.

Because if you don't, I will say this for both of y'all. I compliment you both because you're both in the position you're in of putting yourselves out there for people, families who had needs.

because of their life situation. And that's what we need more of. So even though it's difficult and not always easy, the fact that y'all are doing what you're doing, both in adoption and also just being an assistant, is to be commended. So you have accommodations. I'll say this, Al. I go back to the days of how I remember our parents parenting us. We probably need to return to some of that, what we call the

I think now it's called free range parenting, but I don't know what they called it back then, but it was, but it's, it, you let the kids cut, but, but they have a place to say that there's that, there was that level thinking about how Phil was back in the day. I mean, it was like, you could, you had your freedom to go do all of the things you wanted to do, but you better not disrupt the gathering of the adults. You know, there were some rules that were in place, but it wasn't overdone, which is great. It's actually, this is a great conversation for where we're headed in our text today.

The 2024 F-150 Lightning truck gets dirty and runs clean. With an EPA-estimated range of 320 miles with the available extended-range battery, it's the only electric vehicle that's an F-150. Visit Ford.com slash F-150 Lightning to learn more. Excludes platinum models, EPA-estimated driving range based on full charge. Actual driving range varies with conditions such as external environment, vehicle use, vehicle maintenance, high voltage, battery age, and state of health.

how is phil by the way well i saw him uh two days ago and uh you know unfortunately he's had what three back procedures i guess and it's it's kind of the at this stage of his life it's put the cement in but you know your back is not designed to be a cement truck you know i mean it's supposed to be flexible

And so what's, what the problem is it causes parts of the other vertebrae to get weakened. So he's got two more breaks. And, uh, so we, I basically found out on my way down there. So we had that Willie and I had that conversation with him because what's happening is every time he, uh, he goes under, it kind of accelerates, uh, the problems he's having mentally. But this is a,

You can't live with these two severe fractures. I mean, that's what's causing all the pain. And my dad, you know, look, we could sit here and tell stories about how his tolerance of pain is in the upper one percentile of the world. Yeah. So when he's hurting, you know, it's got to be bad. But so he'll have to have that procedure next week.

but i mean the silver lining is they can do both of them at one time so so he was a little disappointed by that but it actually uh he did say well y'all thought i was crazy and and now look i told y'all i was hurting it's kind of funny you know like because you know as soon as he had the last procedure when they looked at it you know they were like

Everything's fine, but just, it was only, you know, he's like, no. Yeah. He just keeps saying he was hurting, you know? Well, that's part of, that's part of the family tradition though. If you think about it, I mean, the first thing you have to do that, we all got that gene in us.

More importantly than anything else, as I told you, I was right. I tried to tell you. Yeah. So once we established that, yeah. We got to establish that, assess and blame. But you know, another issue is Jays for, for dad, um, they have, um, is it scoliosis? Um, I think is the term for it where you have these issues with your back and shoulder and a curvature, right? And so that's in our genetics. Uh,

Several of dad's siblings have dealt with that. Phyllis has it as well. So, you know, there are other factors. You get arthritis as you get older. And so there's just a lot going on there. And the dementia and the Alzheimer's is hereditary. I got checked for that because, you know, you think about our family. There were seven kids out of that group. And if you think about it, my mom, Uncle Tommy, Phil,

Um, arguably Harold has some form of that. Oh, he definitely did. Uh, Harold, uh, and then our granddad, Judy, uh, now she had cancer as well, but she, she had some dementia at the end of her life. And so, I mean, that's, uh, I mean, that's, it, it's, it's hereditary. Yeah. And he's kind of got two things going on at one time. They've known about this blood disease he's had for years, but it's just like in the last couple of years, uh,

accelerated to a, it was like, he has it. They, you know, he's done all kinds of treatments over the years, uh, but it just all of a sudden accelerated. And boy, when it, when it did and kind of manifested itself into what, what it is today, which is attacking his bones. You know, I've learned a lot about this process because your blood, uh,

is made from your bone marrow. So once that gets jacked up, I mean, I'm giving you my, my summation of it, you're just going to have problems. And, uh, so that's basically what accelerated, which is causing all the problems. And then at the same time, that's what I said. They, they've kind of noticed that every time he goes under that kind of accelerates the Alzheimer's. So we've gotten a lot of medical, uh,

People that have reached out to us and we're very thankful, but most of this stuff that he's dealing with has been known and, and been treated for years. It's just all of a sudden, you know, due to his age or whatever, it's just accelerated. Well, and there's no, uh, we've discovered, I've discovered just from hearing a lot of folks as well out there. And we do appreciate your concerns, but there's no one size fits all for, uh,

you know, fixing somebody's problems. You just, you know, everybody's different and your genetics play into it. It's a lot of other stuff as well. So we appreciate the prayers. But having said that, when I visited him now in the last, uh, really ever since we've gone public with his condition, Phil has noticeably been doing better. Yeah. Which I should be to prayer. Yeah, me too. There's no doubt. So if you don't think, uh, your outcry, uh,

uh has has affected anything that would be a mistake uh because it really has and we're very appreciative of it which is kind of why we did a follow-up because we're like hey this is working you know god has done something to his overall demeanor that has been welcome and uh and really we talked about peace last time but there's an overall peace

And even when we sat there and discussed it, he wasn't in a lot of pain, even though I now know he's got two fractures in his back that are severe. And so we're thankful for all you guys out there. Keep it up. And Al and I have decided that next year, near the end of the year here, we're going to get in incredible shape.

We're going to have six packs by the end of 2025. I don't know about six packs. Are you in? I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. But maybe not a six pack. Let's go for a twin for a little two pack and then see where that goes. I'm just trying to downsize the keg at this point.

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The whole, where we are in our text, and we were talking about this on the last podcast, Jase, the early, like, second century, which is when you start kind of, you know, seeing some notes of how that worship was done. Most of it was done around the Eucharist, was done around the Lord's Supper. That was that time, which is, you know, and biblically, you look back and see. And so it is kind of interesting that that's evolved into what it is today. It reminds me of that story in John 4 when he,

which people look at this woman as a terrible woman because she had been married six times and was living with a guy, and it was showing the dividing lines of culture. We don't associate with people that are not Samaritans. They have this interaction where God, through Jesus,

is reaching out and showing us this, you know, he's going to, he's going to just demolish these dividing lines culturally and getting the Colossians three 11, bring us all together under one head as Christ, you know, after he gets into her life and they start talking about worship. And this is a John four 19, sir. The woman said, I can see you're a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem, which is so much of what we're talking about in Colossians about letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts as members of one body. And we get hung up on who's doing worship here and who's doing worship there. It's the place. And he comes back to the point we're making about this being a person.

Jesus declared, believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, which she, you know, that probably threw her for a loop. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews, yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

but they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks. And I think that's what he's talking about in Colossians three here, talking about speaking, teaching and worshiping in the name of the Lord Jesus. Yeah. And that's, that's Paul's argument in Romans. If you go back to Romans, I mean, you can pick up anywhere in the book of Romans, but Romans nine, when he, when he says, well, you just read, uh, what Jesus said, which is salvation comes from the Jews. Right. Yeah. And Romans nine, Paul pretty much says the same thing. He says that, uh,

He said, for I wish I could be cut off and were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites. And to them belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs. And from their race, according to the flesh, their DNA is the Christ.

Who is God over all? Blessed forever. Amen. So I think that's what Jesus is talking about, too. And one of the things that Paul goes on to say in that Romans 9 and 10 and 11 passage, it's like this argument that he's making really from the beginning of Romans is that the Gentiles are being grafted in, starting with the Jews first, but then adding in the Gentiles. You fast forward in the book of Romans, you get to Romans chapter 12, and it's kind of this climactic argument of for what is the purpose of all this?

And the purpose of all of it is so that we would worship the one true God together. And so he defines that worship very similar to what you just said in Jesus's interaction with the woman at the well, when she's like, hey, where do we worship? We go up here in this mountain on our temple, or do we go to the one down here in Jerusalem? And Jesus is like, hey, where?

Let me tell you something. It's all fixing to get flipped on its head because I'm going to define worship properly for you. It doesn't take place in a place. God wants worshipers who will worship in truth and in spirit. Paul says it this way, that I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

To present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So you say, what is worship? Is it just us singing songs? It is that, but according to Paul, it's not just that. It's actually to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

or the Colossians passage, the renovation that we talked about last time, the renovation, be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And I love that passage that Paul gives us because it really does broaden out our perspective on what worship actually is. And so this Colossians passage is just another example

that Paul's coming to the same exact bullseye in, which is what does it actually mean to worship God in the end? Well, it's directed at a person and a relationship with a person and giving him praise, which is what we sing when we sing the doxology. And it's a connection singing is to the heart. And it's interesting because like, you know, it's Christmas season now. And it's interesting because obviously we have

spiritual Christmas songs that we sing in association with Christ and Him coming. But even like other songs, what is it about this time of year that, I mean, my radio station stays on one thing. It's been on there since Thanksgiving. And every day I'm singing these same songs I've sung a thousand times.

about Christmas and about this joyful time. But it's not always just joyful. I was going to mention this on the last podcast that Moses and Miriam wrote a song in Exodus 15, which was out of the triumph of coming out of slavery out of Egypt. So we think about that as being like, man, what a song of tribute and deliverance. But then you go to Job 1,

And Job has just lost everything he had. And in the moment, it says he fell down and he worshiped God. And then he had this little refrain, you know, that I came here with nothing. I'll leave with nothing. But I still honor and praise you. And I mean, the worst moment of his life was.

He still recognized the greatness of God. And so and there's several more different instances, both the high of highs and the low of lows, including Jesus in between the Last Supper in Gethsemane, where he was about to go and offer himself for us. He and his disciples sang a hymn.

you know, in that moment. And so, you know, which looked like a tragedy, but wound up being victory. So, you know, you look at all these different situations, Paul and Silas and jail and Acts 16, and you see this idea of worship. It both lifts up,

Uh, but it also is, is sometimes out of tragedy or victory is still that same spirit. And I think that's the part of it that, you know, Paul taps into here in Colossians three. Well, Al, after, after a time of worship, 150 Psalms, incredible difficulty. And you see how much that there was singing to the Lord, going to the Lord, leaning on the Lord. And they'd have that little phrase, Selah, which is, uh,

Yeah, reflect. Yeah, let it reflect. And we need that. Yeah. I mean, it is a necessity. Time to move? Skip the hassles of selling during the holiday season and sell your home directly to Opendoor. Request an all-cash offer in minutes, close, and get paid in days. You can even pick your close date so you can move after New Year's. Start your move at Opendoor.com or download the Opendoor app.

Open Door is represented by Open Door Brokerage, Inc., License 02061130 in California, and Open Door Brokerage, LLC, and its other markets. Terms and conditions apply. I mentioned this before. Gratitude is in all three of these verses, talking about worship, talking about what we teach, and this attitude of that. So that's pretty interesting that that tied into that. But that's what I'm saying. We're all doing this together as members of one body.

And, you know, we have so much more in common than we do apart. But we don't want to get into this where we have these little groups and I don't like the worship. I like uptempo songs or, you know, you just have to figure it out. And he doesn't really get into the details of that. I mean, he has three lists just like he does in the family dynamic, which is where we're going to next. I mean, a lot of people, we're all different. We have different personalities.

But he clearly defines these roles, which we know that make functional societies. A husband who loves his wife and a wife who's submitting to her husband, that's the terminology he uses. But it is based on who we are in Jesus. But it becomes more of a partnership.

than I had ever noticed before until we were studying this in depth. And you really see that in the book of Philemon, because even when he gets into this, you know, slaves and masters, what the Roman family looked like. Well, you know, we would think, what was their biggest objection? Well, the first thing they're going to object to is that you can't be harsh with your wife or, you know, treating her with respect. And they're like, what? I'm in charge here.

You know, and you would want him just maybe to abolish this idea of slavery and masters and people being under you. But the same principle comes out. He was saying, this is how we're going to live for Jesus within the family dynamic, within the family.

The dynamic of paying off debts and working and all those situations, which was profound to their world, because you go back and look at the Roman rule of families, and basically the head of the family could do whatever he wanted to. It's more of a liberation. I think some people will read these passages that we're getting to.

And maybe see them as limiting or, but that's actually got to understand them as they're written in their cultural context are actually very liberating. And I think that going back to what I said in a previous podcast too, that we want to, we have to start with who God is first and then understanding what is, who is he in his inner, like how does God interact in his inner life? Meaning how does God interact with father, son, Holy spirit? What is that dynamic about? What is that like?

And the more that we think about that and contemplate who he is, then it does form us into the kind of people that we should be. And furthermore, how we relate to one another. And so that when we talk about this, we've mentioned this word peace quite a bit in the last probably four episodes. Like you're never going to have peace or you're, I'll say it this way, you're going to have peace to the degree that you reflect

your true nature. If I'm reflecting something that's not me, well, then you're not going to have peace, right? Because I'm not aligned with who I am. And so when I can align with who I really am, that's how you get peace. So to understand who I am, though, according to the biblical teaching, I first need to understand who God is because I'm made in His image.

And so that's why we start there. And then it flows out into how does this play out in relationships? And, and what, what I think you'll see is that it's actually very, very liberating. Yeah. Brings a whole lot of happiness, which is why he led with this concept going into these next four verses. Back when we studied Ephesians, you remember before we got to five 22 through 33, where he went in depth about wives and husbands, uh,

and how that relates into your christian walk he started that with submit to one another out of reverence for christ so he sets the tone that this starts with this idea of sacrifice and submission before we ever get into a marriage into parenting into indentured you know servitude or whatever the case may be whatever your cultural things are going on if it starts

with a proper relationship with the almighty, with the creator, with the son of God, then it's going to work. You're going to find a way to make it work and you're going to make it through difficult times and you're going to give him praise and you're going to have wonderful, joyous times and you're going to give him praise. So that becomes the bottom line. So he says, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands love your wives.

and do not be harsh with them children obey your parents and everything for this pleases the lord fathers do not embitter your children or they'll be come discouraged slaves obey your earthly masters and everything and do it not only when their eyes on you and to win their favor but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the lord whatever you do working at it with all your heart as working for the lord not for men since you know that you'll receive an inheritance

from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong.

And there is no favoritism. Yeah. Read verse one to verse one says, uh, of chapter four. Yeah. They should have made the break. It should have been all together. Masters provide your slaves with what is right and fair because you know that you also have a master in heaven. So basically he's going to go into like he did. I considered like a condensed version of what he sent to the church in Ephesus, uh, about family beginning with marriage, uh,

Then, of course, talking about children and that relationship both ways. And then, of course, talking about whatever your situation is in life. And because you got to remember back in those days, a household, I think we said this before we talked about this in Ephesians, it's been estimated that

that there were anywhere from 25 to 40% of the Roman population were indentured servitude or people that some had been captured in wars. And these were people living, many of them in the homes of a Roman family. This was the family model. They were family. Yeah, and some of them were paying off debt. Some of them, it was just making money. Yeah, it's not the same. This isn't the same thing as like the transatlantic slave operation. Exactly.

Which is, by the way, forbidden in Scripture. I mean, like any, like you can, there's, I mean, Old Testament and New Testament both forbid kidnapping someone and forcing them into labor. I mean, that's forbidden in both the Old Testament and New Testament. But I think there's a big, a big thing here, though, that I think is probably more reflective than anything is two things. Well, one, we misunderstand the word like submission, for example. In our culture,

We think that that is a bad thing, although both husband and wife are called to submit. Right. And I think it's a misunderstanding, not a misunderstanding. It's a result of the fall that in the fall terms like submission become when you put yourself at risk.

Because if I submit in a post-sin world, then someone could take advantage of me. But if you look inside the Godhead, you don't see that type of fear. There's never a possibility of a father hurting son or son hurting father.

And the marriage relationship is actually supposed to be reflective of who God is. That's the Ephesians 5. Well, that's the whole point of Ephesians 5. And so marriage is an example. It's not even the point of the text, actually, in Ephesians 5. He says, I'm not talking about marriage, right? He's talking about Christ and the church. And so it's a reflection of who God is, and he's using it as an idea. So really—

I think what has to be recovered first is the idea of what is submission. And then two, we cannot get away from verse 25 that says there is no partiality. So there is this idea, too, that we're not there's not a difference in the value of of anybody in the kingdom of God. We all come into the kingdom.

maybe from different positions on planet earth and different things. But in God's world, there's neither Greek nor Jew slave, nor free male nor female. Yeah. And him saying that is where the power in this, because we're going to eventually get in chapter four to this guy called Onesimus from the book of Philemon. And we're going to do a little study because it's all about here is this guy Onesimus who's a runaway slave.

And Paul writes a letter to Philemon basically saying, I want you to take him back, but not because of this relationship you have, but because there's neither slave nor free in the kingdom of God. And there's a partnership. And Paul really puts himself on the line there because he's saying evidently he had met Philemon.

omnisumus you know in ephesus and he was like this actually helped lead him to the lord yeah this is like a son to me and he kind of implies not only do i want to i want to for you to take him back and we'll get into this in detail but i want to introduce it because we're in this slave master situation which people are like what in the world is that talking about but he's like i want to pay off whatever

He owes and he kind of implies that I want you to treat him as a fellow partner in Christ and absolve, you know, basically giving his freedom. And it's very powerful because you see all these people who don't study their Bible, who are not believers in God. They'll come to this verse and it's like, oh, the Bible supporting slavery. And it's like, well, have you read the book of Philemon?

I mean, it's the exact opposite of what he's trying to do. And basically you see Paul living out the cross of Jesus where that no matter what position you are in life or whatever culture you're in, there's no categories in Christ at all. And you work through the situation that you're in.

And I believe he upholds the family dynamic as far as husbands and wives and kids, because that has to be there for any functional society. He just kind of flipped it on his head and said, we're doing these roles because of Jesus. Yeah. And on the discussion of Philemon, for example, like you think about you read that and we might think, whoa, wait, what's he what's he endorsing here?

You have to understand the culture in this is this is actually on the opposite side. He's actually disrupting the whole concept here. He is not. It is not an endorsement of anything other. I mean, this is what he's doing here is actually the most disruptive thing. That's why when you said Paul's taking a big risk.

i mean this i mean he's pushing some serious cultural boundaries here which is why he's chained up while he's writing this kind of stuff because this is not going to wash in their culture they're like wait what and so i wanted to read this little excerpt out of uh nt wright's commentary i thought this and and i've introduced this on the last podcast where he's like you're in this new world you have this new freedom and and

considering Colossians 2, where Jesus nailed to the cross the written code, the regulations. And so for us, you know, we've studied our Bible. We kind of get it that now there's no place where you're just there's no guidelines. I mean, the Bible is filled with. Yeah, he's.

You're not under some code to justify yourself. But in response, you're going to trust God with his guidelines, whether it's from the family or whether it's your response to

you know all the sins we could list i mean think galatians 5 you know the fruit of the spirits love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness self-control well that was right after the acts of the sinful nature are obvious you know the old self sexual immorality all these things well we follow these guidelines but we're and we're free to serve christ but that doesn't mean oh we're just you know

Whatever these little bumper sticker statements that try to justify saying, you know, love is love and, you know, I have choice and all these things. So he wrote this with that in mind. I want to read it. It's kind of long, but I just wanted to introduce it. He put new freedoms have burst upon us. The old rule rule books, the codes conventions by which people use to order their lives have gone.

And he's just saying with this analogy, oh, there's a new president. I have a new leader. And he's comparing that to us having a new king of king and a new motivation for doing what's right, this grace motivated instead of rule keeping. And then he says, this has been particular. So in the area of relationships between the sexes in general, and this member, this is coming after this statement that he put, we can do what we like.

and assumptions about marriage in particular millions of people have claimed their and he put freedom in quotations to go about things in quite a different way from how their parents did any attempt to question this freedom provokes the instant response that surely nobody wants to go back to the days of the old ways and the old president and yet you'd have to have

your head buried in the sand, stop up yours and lose all contact with the real world if you wanted to ignore what has happened as a result.

And he's just keying in on this, all this gender controversy and marriage makeups. So he says, the one thing we can certainly say about the parts of the world that have claimed this freedom is that relationships between the sexes and especially within marriage are more confused and destructive than ever. And I'd put an exclamation point there.

All too often, freedom has meant the same thing as the freedom of the drivers to drive all over the road without looking. He made this analogy about you have to have some guidelines no matter what your view of freedom is or we're going to be having head-on collisions, even in the church.

Short-term freedom may be leading to long-term capacity, slavery to chaos, injury and death. Nobody who drifts into a sexual relationship, let alone a marriage relationship, remains free thereafter, which is a very good point. When you think about the roles in marriage, like me and my wife, I'm not free to do anything and everything I want to do.

I'm free to do anything and everything I want to do as long as it conforms to what we have in Jesus, which is me, you know, which means she's the only person I would sleep with. And a covenant. Yeah, it's a covenant. It's a covenant. Yeah. You, you have a covenant with your wife. And so, and, but at the end of the day too, it's not, but the picture is not,

of marriage should not. If this is your view of marriage, I would tell you, you have a misunderstanding of what marriage is. I'm with my wife.

And man, I can't get to be with anybody else, man. And you kind of shrug your shoulders like that's you've missed it. Like the point is, is that I want I'm committing to her because I want to be with her. And then and I'm not saying that temptations don't arise. And I mean, surely that everyone can identify at some level with that. But it's to kill that.

You know, that's why the act of worship is to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. Then you'll be able to discern what's true and what's not true. That's the point. And so over time, I actually do experience true freedom because my desires change over time as I walk in the spirit. And now, like if my desire is only for my wife, well, guess what? I get to have my wife. And so that's where the, that's the piece that comes in because I can actually have, and they have the freedom. I can actually have the thing that I want. That's, that's freedom.

Yeah. So he goes on to say, of course, many will scream, you know, at the very suggestion, but of that freedom about freedom of choice. Yeah. I kind of skipped over that section, but you can read this. This is a, what did I say? This was Paul for everyone, the prison letters. But I want to lastly to say that because he makes a point that freedom of choice has become an idol to do anything that

and everything just because you feel like it. And what is the ending result in our culture? That family dynamic is a foundation. Whether you believe in God or not, just look at the stats.

And he addressed, the last thing I want to read is addressing this idea about slavery and masters in their culture. I think this is very profound. It says, what Paul is offering in this passage is a very brief highway code for household relationships.

It is remarkable for several reasons. Perhaps the first is that he doesn't just tell wives and children and slaves how to behave as many pagan moralists of his day would have done. Their duties are balanced by the corresponding duties of husbands, parents, and masters. This is every bit as revolutionary as what people today often wish he had said. For instance, that all slaves should be

Should be freed at once, which would be unthinkable in his day because slaves did much of the work by what today we have through gas, electricity and the eternal combustion engine. Rather than dreaming of impossible freedoms, he prefers to offer practical guidelines for any society. So I just think that was that was how they.

function back then, you know, through technology and different things. We don't even consider that. Well, let me say, let me say this before we close. It's funny. You mentioned that as you were painting that picture, uh,

We've seen a lot of people kind of come out of this new age. I call it the burning man, which is kind of a free for all. Polyam, which is sleep with whoever you want to sleep with. Meditation, prayer, all the whole thing. Do what you want to do. Follow your own heart. Follow your own desires. We're seeing a lot of people come out of that and come into Christ. And what's interesting is the women.

Not even having the same conversation, but I've had the conversation with these women. And you know what? One of their biggest critiques of the movement they came out of was that once the woman gets pregnant, how the one who got them pregnant leaves to go find his enlightenment or to go find himself and to find their freedom and explore their truth. And they're like, man, that's all fun and great until...

man, I got a baby that you created with me and now you're gone. And so in the end, you see it. And so they're actually seeing the end of this and they're saying, wait, this is very oppressive for women. Very oppressive for women to not have this covenant, this covenant of marriage and not have these things that bind fathers to their children, to their families. I just think that's interesting stuff.

That that's one of the big things that we're seeing of why people are getting disillusioned with that. I call it the utopian promise of the secular culture that never delivers.

Which is why it's in this text. So we'll talk more about this and more next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazetv.com slash unashamed.