WEEK 8 | Ephesians: Called by God to Walk
Ephesians 5:21-32
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT LEADS TO SUBMISSION
Galatians 5:13
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
SERVING HUMBLY IS AN ACTIVE EXPRESSION OF SUBMISSION SUBMISSION COMES FROM A FEAR OF CHRIST
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
WIVES ARE ADDRESSED AS PEOPLE OF MORAL AGENTS OF CHOICE A WIFE’S SUBMISSION IS BUILT AROUND THE PREMISE THAT HE AND SHE IS ONE
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
1 Corinthians 7:4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.
HOW DOES PAUL CALL FOR MUTUAL SUBMISSION YET ALSO MAKE THE HUSBAND THE HEAD? THE NATURAL RESULT OF BEING THE HEAD MEANS MEN ARE CALLED TO LOVE LOVE MEANS BEING SELF GIVING, SELF SACRIFICING, SELF DENYING, JUST LIKE CHRIST
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
THE RESULT OF LOVE AND LEADERSHIP IS HOLINESS AND CLEANSING
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
HUSBAND AND WIFE, YOU ARE ONE TEAM, SO WALK AS A TEAM
32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
CHRIST AND THE CHURCH ALONG WITH MARRIAGE IS A GREAT MYSTERY
BOTTOM LINE:
HUSBAND AND WIFE, YOU ARE ONE TEAM, SO WALK AS A TEAM
