Exploring Christ's Spiritual Laws

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Eph 5:4 . . Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking,
which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

"out of place" is a pretty good way to put it; sort of like a fish out of water,
viz: heavenly people are civil up there, and really ought to be down here.

The koiné Greek word for "foolish talk" is morologia (mo-rol-og-ee'-ah)
which means silliness; viz: buffoonery.

Webster's defines a buffoon as: 1) a ludicrous figure; viz: a clown, and 2) a
gross, and usually ill-educated stupid person; viz: an ignoramus. I think I
would put gross high on the list of undesirable buffoon-type behaviors. It's
okay for kids to be gross, but thoroughly unbecoming for a mature adult.

The word for "coarse joking" is eutrapelia (yoo-trap-el-ee'-ah) which means
witticism in a vulgar sense; viz: ribaldry. Double entendres would probably
fall into that category along with suggestive remarks.

The word for "thanksgiving" is eucharistia (yoo-khar-is-tee'-ah) which
means: gratitude; viz: grateful language.

You know "thank you" is not a dirty word. Christ's people should never take
the attitude that just because somebody is doing their job that they don't
deserve recognition.

One of my favorite romantic comedies is "No Reservations" starring
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. Prior to filming, Catherine took a
job waiting tables to get a feel for working as a waitress. On several
occasions, patrons didn't even look up at her nor speak in a cordial tone
when they ordered. It struck her as remarkable that the people whom she
was serving had absolutely no inclination to even so much as acknowledge
her as a fellow human being.

A believer friend of ours once related to my wife that in the restaurant where
she worked, a church group would meet once a week. They were noisy, they
made a mess, they overstayed, and they ordered practically nothing but
coffee and tea. They never left a tip; not one time. Those churchians were
just as miserly and ungrateful as cranky old Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles
Dickens' A Christmas Story.

"We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Heb
12:28)

It's not uncommon for people to ask: What is grace? Well; you're likely to
hear any number of definitions; but we just listed a number of grace's
aspects: concern for the welfare of others, generosity, morals, marital
fidelity, clean speech, maturity, gratitude, and a sensible attitude towards
wealth. Those aspects easily qualify as serving God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear.

What is reverence and godly fear? Well, a rough-hewn definition is: having a
high enough opinion of God's core values to adopt them for your own and
put them into practice.
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Eph 5:10 . . Find out what pleases The Lord.

People depending upon their intuition to know what pleases The Lord are of
course doomed to failure because the information isn't available like that,
no, it's something has to be found out, i.e. researched; which involves
learning by means of books, sermons, lectures, seminars, radio Bible
teachers, Sunday school classes, and personal Bible study.

This particular process of discovery has to include the Old Testament in
order to avoid the possibility of missing something important.

"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning"
(Rom 15:4)

"Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." (1Cor
10:11)
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Eph 5:11-12 . . Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but
rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of what the disobedient
do in secret.

For an example of this directive, Genesis is mute about the despicable things
that the Sodomites lusted to do to the two men lodging at Lot's house. It's
as if the author drew a curtain over Sodom and said: This is just too
shocking. I'm not going to spell out what the people of Sodom had in mind
that night. You will just have to use your imagination.

Jude simply, and concisely, says that they were utterly unchaste; even to
the point of having their way with innocent visitors. (Jude 1:7)

I think it's fair to ask just exactly how one might "expose" shameful deeds
without at least identifying them and/or describing them to some degree.

The koiné Greek word for "shameful" is aischron (ahee-skhron') which
means: indecorum.

Webster's defines "indecorum" as: impropriety. In other words, despicable
acts should never be described explicitly in polite company, nor in the
presence of children; which quite obviously precludes the use of a pulpit for
explicit descriptions since congregations are an amalgam of men, women,
wives, husbands, dads, moms, and underage children.

I don't think The Lord's directive forbids any and all mention of despicable
acts. In other words, his directive doesn't say that I cannot tell polite
company that the Bible condemns the conduct of pedophiles, gays, lesbians,
transvestites, and porn stars just so long as I don't start describing, in all
their lurid detail, the revolting things they do to, and with, each other in
private and/or on film or in view of an audience.
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Eph 5:14 . .Wake up, O sleeper! . . rise from the dead, and Christ will shine
on you.

Death is sometimes depicted as sleep, e.g. Matt 9:24, John 11:11, 1Cor
15:51, and 1Thess 4:14. So the command to "rise from the dead" is
appropriate for Christians who honestly think obedience to their master's
commandments is not all that important.

"Brothers, we have an obligation-- but it is not to the sinful nature, to live
according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die"
(Rom 8:12-13)

In other words: Christians who have no interest in finding out the will of the
Lord as per Eph 5:10 are asleep; viz: spiritually deceased.

"You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the
night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are
asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep
at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

. . . But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith
and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God
did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we
may live together with him. (1Thess 5:5-10)
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Eph 5:15 . . So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are
wise.

"Wise" of course meaning to live your life in such a way that it counts for
Christ instead of only counting for yourself and/or counting for the world. For
example: if you get pulled into the worlds of corporate management,
political activism and/or civil disobedience; I can just about guarantee that
your life is not counting for Christ because those are really big distractions
and sometimes its players have to play dirty to be effective.
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Eph 5:17 . .Therefore do not be uninformed, but understand what The
Lord's will is.

In other words: Christians are not supposed to fly by the seat of their pants,
but rather, fly by instruments: viz: fly intelligently; and that entails reading
a driver's manual before attempting to operate a car, so to speak.

Moses told Moses' people that there is no need to go on a special "golden
fleece" quest to discover what The Lord's will is; either out in space nor
across the ocean in a foreign land. No, The Lord's will is easily accessible
between the covers of even the cheapest second-hand Bible on the shelves
of a thrift store.

However; no Bible-- no matter how cheap, nor how expensive, nor what
version-- is of any real use if it's not studied. But even systematic Bible
study is quite thwarted when the information isn't retained.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it
says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a
man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he
does." (Jas 1:22-25)
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Eph 5:18 . . Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead,
be filled with the Spirit.

If more Christians would comply with that decree there wouldn't be so many
of them in Alcoholics Anonymous. I've heard of studies indicating that some
people have a genetic weakness for alcohol. Nevertheless, genetic or not,
drunkenness is sin and Christians are under orders to subdue it.

"So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you." (Col 3:5)

Eph 5:18 doesn't forbid drinking; only getting drunk. Why do people get
plastered anyway? Isn't it to make themselves feel good and better able to
cope with life's difficulties? Alcohol therefore could be said to be an antidote
to one's existence.

"Liquor is for the dying, and wine for those in deep depression. Let them
drink to forget their poverty and remember their troubles no more." (Prov
31:6-7)

Some of us seem born with a melancholy disposition but that's really not the
same. Real depression will literally drive you to suicide. I know because I've
been there.

So in that respect, pills and alcohol are a crutch. I'm not saying a crutch is a
bad thing; I mean, after all, God created Eve as a crutch for Adam so then if
all crutches are bad, then women are bad too. No, crutches per se are not
bad; it's one's choice of crutch that matters; e.g. cocaine,
methamphetamine, alcohol, valium, Prozac, overeating, etc.

God's Spirit is supposed to be a crutch for believers; but His effectiveness as
a crutch is found only in something called the fruit of the Spirit.

"The fruit of the Spirit is joy, peace, and self control." (Gal 5:22-23)

Two elements of the Spirit's fruit that have a powerful influence on a
believer's well-being in life are Joy and Peace; which are obtained out of a
bottle for only a short time; and are actually chemically dependent rather
than supernaturally dependent.

But joy and peace come at a price.

"If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit
you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live" (Rom 8:13)

In other words; Christ's followers should not expect to obtain the Spirit's joy
and peace when their conduct is unbecoming.
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Eph 5:19 . . Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs: singing and making melody with your heart to The Lord

That verse is actually pretty good justification for a church choir; but I really
think it should also be used to justify hymn books in the pews too so the
congregation can sing together. And make very sure the object of your
music is Christ and/or his Father rather than other kinds of celestial
personages; e.g. saints and angels.
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Eph 5:20 . . Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The essential point to note is that Spirit-filled believers give thanks to God
the Father rather than to Mary the so-called Mother of God (cf. Rom 8:15
and Gal 4:6) and they give their thanks in the name of The Lord Jesus Christ
rather than in the name of a patron saint.
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Eph 5:21 . . Submit to one another out of respect for Christ.

The koiné Greek word for "submit" is hupotasso (hoop-ot-as'-so) which
means: to subordinate (as a verb) which is just the opposite of dominance,
equality, and/or rivalry and competition.

A workable synonym for the kind of submission we're talking about here is
"deference" which Webster's defines as: (1) respect and esteem due a
superior or an elder, and (2) affected, or ingratiating, regard for another's
wishes; viz: honor.

This isn't about a pecking order. What we're talking about here is a Christian
social skill; it's about regarding others as not equal to yourself, but actually
better than yourself; and it pleases Christ to do so; besides being just plain
all around good manners.

"Whoever humbles himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven." (Matt 18:3-4)

Little children in that day were minors who had little or no social status at all
to speak of. If somebody abused a minor; it was just too bad since there
were no Child Services bureaus to defend them. Minors are typically among
the ruled rather than among those who do the ruling; and they get like zero
to-none respect from their elders.

In other words, an imperious believer-- one that's assertive, bossy, take
charge, demanding, argumentative, quarrelsome, impudent, conceited,
domineering, confrontational, manipulative, reactive, independent, non
negotiable, opinionated, obstinately or intolerantly devoted to their own
opinions and prejudices, stubborn, and insistent upon their own way --is
definitely a failure at subordinating themselves to their fellow believers in a
manner consistent with Christ's instructions.
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Eph 5:22 . .Wives, submit to your husbands as to The Lord.

The koiné word for "submit" in this verse is the very same one we just
discussed, and never means that wives take orders from their husbands like
in some sort of despotic monarchy. We haven't changed the subject; in point
of fact we're actually being redundant because what we're talking about here
is deference rather than obedience. An attitude of deference is mandatory
for Christians on both sides of the gender aisle-- both men and women.

We should emphasize that these instructions are only for Spirit-filled
couples. They're not for the average rank and file pew-warming couple, nor
for the world's couples at large.

First of all; Spirit-filled wives walk in the fruit of the Spirit; which is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self
control. That alone filters out most wives. And they also speak to themselves
with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; making music in their hearts to The
Lord rather than going around with a grumpy disposition all the time with a
cross look on their face.

Spirit-filled wives don't strive for equality, nor do they compete with their
husbands as rivals for supremacy, nor do they have to be right all the time.
And most importantly, a Spirit-filled wife treads lightly on her husband's
feelings.

A wife that's independent, quarrelsome, complaining, fault-finding, chafing,
hostile, violent, carping, dominating, manipulating, critical, thin-skinned,
defensive, assertive, aggressive, thoughtless, insensitive, loud, stubborn,
difficult, cruel, gender-biased, confrontational, always clamoring about
strength and empowerment, and harboring a "I am woman! Hear me roar!"
mentality is not The Lord's concept of deference.

A deferent wife is gracious, cordial, affable, approachable, temperate, genial,
sociable, ready to turn the other cheek, generous, charitable, altruistic,
tactful, sensitive, sympathetic; and above all coherent, reasonable, and
rational rather than incoherent, emotional, and reactive.
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Eph 5:23-24 . . For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the
head of the church, his body, of which he is the savior. Now as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in
everything.

Christians, no less, have tried to circumvent that commandment by quoting
Paul to refute Paul; for example:

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither
male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:26-28)

But if we were to make Gal 3:26-28 a rule in family affairs; then Christian
marriages would be same-sex unions; and that, to say the least, is quite
laughable.

If a Christian wife cannot treat her husband with the respect due him in
accordance with Eph 5:21 then she should at least try to treat him with
respect in accordance with Eph 5:23-24; in other words; treat her husband
the way she would treat Christ were he the one sharing a home with her.

Though both husband and wife are equals as believers, and equally Christ's
subjects, they are definitely not equals as man and wife though they be one
flesh; just as Christ and his Father are not equals though they be one God. A
Christian wife who humiliates her husband in any way literally humiliates
Christ when she does so; and gives herself away that she's neither walking
in the Spirit, nor filled with the Spirit, nor loyal to the lord and master of
Christianity.

NOTE: It's said that familiarity breeds contempt; and I'm afraid that a good
number of Christians have gotten so accustomed to thinking of Christ as a
sibling that they've forgotten he's primarily a monarch.

Men and women have very different needs as regards to respect. Shaunti
Feldhahn, author of "For Women Only" relates a survey taken among
segregated groups of men and women with this question: Given a choice;
would you rather be disrespected, or would you rather be alone and unloved
in the world? The majority of the ladies chose disrespect rather than living
alone and unloved in the world while the majority of the men chose to live
alone and unloved rather than be disrespected.

A young bride just starting out, with a head full of feminism and a heart
infected with contempt for males; not caring how important respect is to
men, will have no trouble turning her husband's marriage into a living hell
for him without even half trying.

So then, what's one thing that every Spirit-filled wife can do to please
Christ? Simple. Respect her husband. And don't respect him only if he earns
your respect: no, respect him all the time just as you'd respect Christ all the
time were he your husband. A wife cannot expect a husband to love her
unconditionally when she won't make an effort to respect him
unconditionally.

A very disturbing display of disrespect took place in my own home. My wife
and I used to baby-sit for a couple at church whenever they were away.
When they came over one night to pick up their kids, my son and theirs
were playing a really good Nintendo game. The daddy informed the kids it
was time to go, and in customary kid-fashion they ignored him and kept
playing their game. So he became gruff and ordered them out to the car.

His wife then proceeded to come down on him like the wrath of God and
exclaimed: "You're yelling at them in front of the Webers! You're hurting
their feelings!"

Well, guess what? Mrs. Self Righteous was lecturing her husband in front of
us and hurting his feelings. If you could have seen the look on his face you'd
know that her husband was not going to get over the effects of his wife's
public scolding for a long while to come; if ever.

You know, kids get used to their parents demeaning them in front of others.
To kids, it's just a fact of life. However, I seriously doubt there's a husband
on earth who can get used to a wife treating him like a child.

"A wise woman builds her home; a foolish woman tears her home down with
her own hands." (Prv 14:1)
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Eph 5:25a . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church

Love and Like don't necessarily go together. For example: One of my
favorite lines from a NetFlix series called Downton Abbey goes like this: "As
my son I love you; but I have tried, and failed, to like you".

Christ's love for the church is expressed in the grammatical past tense. This,
I believe, is because it refers to his crucifixion; which is an illustration of the
kind of love I quoted from Downton Abbey.

"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1John 4:10)

In other words: the benefit of Christ's crucifixion isn't limited to his buddies
rather, is extended to the entire human world, both the likable and the
impossible to like. This is what Eph 5:25a is talking about.

There are toxic wives out there who do not deserve their husband's
affections; and in fact have done all in their power to destroy them.
Nevertheless, it is his Christian duty to continue looking after her, and to
treat her as if she were a buddy in spite of the fact that she is impossible to
like.
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Eph 5:25b-33a . . He gave himself up for the church to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present
her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other
blemish, but holy and blameless.

. . . In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his
own body, but he nourishes and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--
for we are members of his body.

. . . For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to
his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery-- but
I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also
must love his wife as he loves himself

We're not talking about narcissism here. This is about care and concern for
someone's survival; viz: meeting their needs.
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Eph 5:33b . . and the wife must respect her husband.

We're not talking about admiration here. The Greek verb for "respect" is
phobeo (fob-eh'-o) which essentially refers to fright; and is used just that
way in numerous places throughout the New Testament.

Some translators render phobeo as "reverence" which Webster's defines as
honor or respect; felt or shown; which means that wives don't especially
have to like their husbands in order to respect them. A show of respect will
do in lieu of felt respect. In other words: the Christian wife would do well to
stifle the disgust she feels for her husband and be civil.

I overheard a female caller on radio imperiously announcing to Dr. Laura
that she couldn't respect her husband. So Dr. Laura asked her why. The
caller responded: Because he hasn't earned my respect. So Laura asked the
caller: Have you earned your husband's love? The caller retorted: I don't
have to earn his love. It's a husband's duty to love his wife just as she is.

So Laura pointed out that the caller was practicing a double standard. She
demanded that her husband love her unconditionally, while refusing to
respect him unconditionally. And on top of that; had the chutzpah to dictate
the rules of engagement regardless of how her husband might feel about it;
thus making herself not only impossible to like, but also quite difficult to live
with.
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Eph 6:1 . . Children, obey your parents in The Lord, for this is right.

The primary reason given for children obeying their parents is simply that
it's the right thing to do.

There's a lot of grown-ups out there who have problems with authority; and
those problems began very early, right in their own homes. They were
demon seeds who refused to accept their parents as superiors; and they
themselves as subordinates.

The parents of the command are "in The Lord" in other words, this rule
doesn't pertain to kids with secular parents; which is a good loop hole
because there may come times for kids to disobey their parents out of
loyalty to a higher power. (cf. Matt 4:10, Matt 10:37)

The koiné Greek word for "obey" in that verse is interesting. It's hupakouo
(hoop-ak-oo'-o) which means to pay attention; viz: to heed; to mind.

Not only is minding one's parents the right thing to do, but minding has its
benefits.

"That it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
(Eph 6:3)

The promise doesn't guarantee long life; it promises that, should you
perchance survive to a ripe old age, they'll be good years. In other words;
though a Christian juvenile delinquent may live long and prosper, that
doesn't necessarily mean they'll have a pleasant time of it. Things like
happiness, peace, love, understanding, and contentment may end up
eluding them every step of the way.
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Eph 6:2-3 . . Honor your father and mother

The koiné Greek word for "honor" in Eph 6:2 is timao (tim-ah'-o) which
means to prize, viz: to fix a valuation upon; to revere, to think highly of.

The very same word is used at Matt 15:4-6 where Jesus related the fifth
commandment to caring for one's dependent parents. Compare that to 1Tim
5:4 where it's said:

"If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to
put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying
their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God."

I should point out that one's parents need not be deserving of honor. They
only need to be one's parents; whether good parents or bad parents makes
no difference.
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Eph 6:4 . . Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up
in the training and instruction of The Lord.

We're not talking about religious training here-- the focus is upon a daddy's
parenting style. Despotism, tyranny, and unfairness are not The Lord's way
of raising kids; but rather; his way is the manner of a shepherd; and "good"
shepherds aren't cruel to their flocks.

Maybe you don't burn your kids with cigarettes, pour Tabasco sauce in their
eyes, or lock them in a hall closet without food and water for two days; but
do you ignore their opinions, demean them with denigrating labels, ridicule
them, threaten their lives, work them as slaves without compensation, deny
them things just so you won't appear to indulge them, and/or say "no" to
their requests for no good reason than that you don't want to seem weak
and under their control?

Do you routinely abuse their human rights, and/or relegate them to the level
of livestock rather than bona fide human beings with feelings and a mind of
their own? Do you nurture within them a feeling of importance, of belonging
in your home, or do you make them feel like an invasive species and/or an
uninvited guest? Kids pick up on things like that.

But aren't there moms out there exasperating their kids? Of course! Mothers
can be just as tyrannical, despotic, and unfair as dads.

I believe it is a Spirit-filled dad's sacred filial duty to defend his children from
their own mother's abuses should the need arise. Not many dads are willing
to do that because it means risking having the wife turn against him; so
quite a few dads opt to sacrifice the children in order to keep momma
happy. In my opinion, throwing one's own children to the wolves in order to
avoid living in the same house with a moody woman has to be one of the
worst possible sins a man can ever commit in his own home. It's just
downright cowardly; and tells the kids they can't trust the one man in the
whole world upon whom they should be able to rely in times of distress.

FYI: The Bible predicts that towards the end, parents will become callous
with their babies.

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For people shall be . . .without natural affection" (2Tim 3:1-3)

The koiné Greek word for "without natural affection" is astorgos (as'-tor
gos) which means: hard-hearted towards kindred.
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Eph 6:5-6 . . Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and
with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to
win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the
will of God from your heart.

The koiné Greek word for "slaves" is doulos (doo'-los) which is an ambiguous
word that can mean slaves by voluntary or involuntary means. The first
would be something like an indentured slave; which Webster's defines as a
contract binding one person to work for another for a given period of time.
Jacob is a good biblical example of indentured slavery. He sold fourteen
years of his life to uncle Laban in exchange for Rachel's hand in marriage.
(Gen 29:18, Gen 29:27)

The practical application applies to giving one's employer an honest day's
work for an honest day's pay. But pay is not really the primary issue.
Subordination is the primary issue, and has been in this epistle since 5:21.
Believers may not like the idea, but they are not independent agents with
Christ; no, he owns you: bought and paid for as flesh on the line.

"You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God
with your body." (1Cor 6:19-20)

So then, a Spirit-filled employee will serve workplace employers with a.
conscientious regard for their indentured-slavery status with Christ; which is
really difficult for American believers because their country has such an
abhorrence for slavery and such a high regard for freedom, revolution, and
independence. But though believers are slaves to Christ, they are not slaves
to a slave driver. Note the gentle demeanor of the request below.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice-- holy, acceptable to God --which is your
reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Rom 12:1-2)

I once worked with two Christian men in a welding shop who demanded a
sit-down with the superintendent to air some grievances. I took it upon
myself to remind them that Peter directed Christians to endure what they
thought of as unfair treatment from employers (1Pet 2:18-25). Well, they
ignored both me and Peter because they felt insulted to be treated like
children by management and wouldn't rest until they told them so.

What you have there is a case of rabid male pride overruling The Lord's
wishes. Not good. Peter was given the keys of the kingdom (Matt 16:19). If
Christians believe that to be true, then for them, scorning Peter is all the
same as their scorning Christ-- it's a domino effect all the way to the top.

"Whoever listens to you; listens to me. Whoever rejects you; rejects me.
And whoever rejects me; rejects the one who sent me." (Luke 10:16)
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[Webers.Home]

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Eph 6:7-8 . . Slaves, serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving The Lord
instead of men.

If believers wish to hear The Lord say "Well done thou good and faithful
servant" then fighting with management is simply out of the question. No,
don't fight, instead: bite the bullet.

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him,
but also to suffer for his sake." (Phil 1:29)

"Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of
conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what
credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But
when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable
before God.

. . . For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, nor
was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not
reciprocate; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously." (1Pet 2:18-24)

Now there's a good, practical application of turning the other cheek.
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