Authentic Spirituality, #12
A Spirit-filled Marriage, Eph. 5:21-33
By Louie Marsh, 6-14-
THE BIG DISCLAIMER!
Introduction:
Based on what we’ve seen so far – Spirit filled,
Two Prerequisites:
All believers are called upon to
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 (ESV)
Greek is reflexive in the middle voice – you submit yourself. True for all uses of the word in today’s passage.
It’s really all about CHRIST & THE CHURCH!
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32 (ESV)
How Can mutual submission be a picture of Christ and His Church?
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)
SHOW PICTURES OF THE HENDERSONS
With a combined age of 211 years, one couple in Austin, Texas, has been named the oldest living couple in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
John Henderson is 106 and his wife, Charlotte, is 105.
The Hendersons have a love story that has quite literally stood the test of time. On December 15, they will celebrate 80 years of marriage.
The Role of the Husband: LOVER
LOVE your wife!
Husbands, love your wives…However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, Ephesians 5:25a, 33a (NIV)
NOT RULE HER! The word authority is NOT here!
Unkind and domineering husbands ought not to pretend to be Christians, for they act clean contrary to Christ’s commands. - Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Two Role Models for the Husband to Follow:
CHRIST
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV)
How Does the Husband Follow Christ’s Example?
LOVE your wife!
Michael Reagan was 26 years aid when he married his first wife, Julie, who was 18. just before the wedding in Hawaii on June 13, 1971, he received this letter from his father, giving him advice on how to stay happily married. Michael's marriage lasted a year and then dissolved. He married again in 1975.
Michael Reagan Manhattan Beach, California June 21, 1971
Dear Mike:
You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another view-point. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.
Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three a.m., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame. There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it. The man who puts into the marriage only half of what he owns will get that out. Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back on an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn't take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven,, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music
…
Love,
Dad
P.S. You'll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day.
SACRIFICE yourself & desires for her! Your goal: make her WHOLE Your Heart’s desire - for her to be all God is CALLING HER to be.
28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. Ephesians 5:28-30 (ESV)
I must NURTURE my wife as I do my self.
He is kind to himself who is kind to his wife. – Charles Spurgeon
This is critical because we are ONE FLESH!
The Two Roles of the Wife: RECEIVER & RESPECTER.
SUBMIT to your husband in the Lord.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Ephesians 5:22-24 (ESV)
Wives submit THEMSELVES!
RESPECT your husband.
…and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:33b (ESV)
This Explains Biblical Morality
Marriage is set apart by God as a model of the relationship between Christ & the church.
Christ gives life – therefore marriage is the only God ordained place to bring new life into the world.
That Means It Must Be Based On:
Love Grace Order Selflessness – both submission and Christ like loving demand nothing less than the forsaking of self and turning to Christ!
