This coming Lord’s Day we will be continuing our study of Colossians, and that portion of Paul’s letter that addresses the subject of ‘The New Life at Home,’ or ‘The Lordship of Christ Over the Household’ (Colossians 3:18-4:1).

And you will recall how we have learned that there are critical duties and responsibilities given by the Lord that relate to each of the three components of the first-century household:

the husband and the wife,

the parents and the children,

and the master and the bondservants (a relationship that we will identify and study next Lord’s Day).

But this Sunday morning we will be looking once again at what Paul has to say regarding the relationship between parents and their children, with a special emphasis upon “fathers” and “children.”

As we have in our previous messages, we are going to see how God’s saving and transforming grace in our Lord Jesus Christ not only changes our individual lives, but how it also completely revolutionizes the home, and especially the way the father disciplines and trains the children.

As we examine Colossians 3:21, we will also be taking a very close look at Ephesians 6:4 where Paul lays out the same instructions for Christian fathers, but with some helpful additions. When we set these two passage side-by-side, a fuller picture of the role of the father comes into view:

Colossians 3:21—“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

Ephesians 6:4—“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

In addition to learning what the Bible says to earthly fathers, we will also discover much about our Heavenly Father. Any study of fatherhood must take us ultimately to the One we have come to know as “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15) by means of faith in His Only Begotten Son.