Sunday, May 5, 2024
Ephesians 5:21-33 (NLT) – 21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body. 31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
RESPECT & HONOR REQUIRE SUBMISSION
I. The Spirit Of Submission Is Nondiscriminatory
Ephesians 5:21 (NLT) – 21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
II. The Responsibilities Of Submission Are Specific
Husbands / Men
Ephesians 5:33a (NLT) – So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself…
1 Timothy 3:5 (NLT) – For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?
Proverbs 18:22 (NLT) – The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.
Wives / Women
Ephesians 5:24 (NLT) – As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:33b (NLT) – …the wife must respect her husband.
Children
Exodus 20:12 (NLT) – Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Colossians 3:20 (NLT) – Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord.
Proverbs 6:20-23 (NLT) – 20 My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. 21 Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. 22 When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. 23 For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.
Parents
Proverbs 22:6 (NLT) – Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.
1 Timothy 5:8 (NLT) – But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
Ephesians 6:4 (NLT) – Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
III. Submission Ultimately Respects & Honors The Lord
1 Peter 4:8 (NLT) – Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.