Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:20-21

This weekend I listened to a Joe Rogan podcast as the host and his guest discussed their admiration for people who claimed to know Christ. They described them as being the kind of people who believed and really lived out the truths of the Bible, they were not hypocritical, saying one thing and doing another.

I think that’s the point that Paul has been making for the church in Ephesus. A life that matters is a life that not only follows Christ, but points others to the Lord.

And so Paul begins to build on that theme with the idea of Christians “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

In the opening verses of the sixth chapter, Paul addresses relationships and how submitting works for all of us in the home, in the marketplace and in the public arena so that those who do not believe sit up and take notice. Christianity is still counter cultural.