Ephesians 5:15-21

 A Focus on the Family

This weekend we will be hosting a Marriage Conference. In addition, Chad Schapiro, who is leading the Marriage Conference with his wife Erica, will preach for us on Sunday morning. As many of our couples focus on their marriage this weekend, we will spend our devotions focusing on the family this week. 

Over the course of this week, we will read part of the well-known household code that is found in Ephesians 5:21-6:9. We begin today with the verses right before the household code to get a sense of the context in which these words to the family are written. Ephesians 5:15-21 completes a section of Ephesians which describes how to “be imitators of God and walk in love” (5:1). Much of the second half of Ephesians is telling Christians how to live out their faith in their relationships. We are taught how to “not be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord” (5:17). 

My point is that the household code of how to treat your spouse and children is not just a list of dos and don’ts. It is an outgrowth of your relationship with Christ. How we treat our family shows the world to whom we belong. The way we live as a family tells the world about the God we serve. Verse 21 sums this up, and it is where we will begin again tomorrow: “subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.” May it be so.