Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 5:21-33

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 1999

Marriage, Complete Breakdown

 

A mature-looking lady had an appointment with a marriage counselor, and told him flat out: "I would like to divorce my husband."

To this, the counselor replied, "Well, do you have any grounds?"

She answered, "Why yes.

We have almost an acre."

The puzzled counselor asked her, "You don't understand.

What I want to know is do you and your husband have a grudge?"

The lady answered, "Actually, we don't, but we do have a nice carport."

At this, the counselor shook his head and said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I just don't see any reason why you should divorce your husband."

The lady looked at the counselor and said to him, "It's just that the man can't carry on an intelligent conversation."

/Why do so many marriages struggle or fail today?/

Because most couples have rejected God's pattern.

Most folk today believe that marriage will meet their every need, only to find out that it won't.

For couples to be truly happy in marriage people must learn to give instead of taking!

/Husbands, how do you get your wife to treat you like a king?

/Listen up!

 

Introduction

 

Last Sunday we looked at the final command /to walk/ in a certain way.

Christians are to walk /circumspectly/ or/ wisely/.

This involves planning our lives and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

His ministry results in joy, thanksgiving and submission.

Paul now relates this to our interpersonal relationships.

In the 3 sets of relationships Paul describes, he says that we should exercise mutual submission to one another.

Children are to obey their parents.

Wives are to submit to their own husbands.

And servants are to obey their masters.

Paul also gives instructions for the husbands, the parents and the masters.

They are to behave properly in their exercise of authority.

They must show care and respect for those under them.

Today we will look at God's commands marriage.

Only the Holy Spirit enables us to have harmony in matrimony.

I.

Wives Submission & II.

Husbands Love

 

Through out this passage Paul compares marriage to the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Paul starts by giving a command to the wives /to submit to their own husbands/.

Paul describes this submission three ways.

*/Ordinance, Order/* and */Outworking./*

/a.

Ordinance/

 

*Ephesians 5:22* /Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord/.

The */first reason/* wives should submit to their own husbands is because God commands it.

He has given this ordinance.

The word*/ submit/*  &upotassw means /to render obedience, to be subordinate to, to place or arrange under/.

This is a voluntary action on the part of the one submitting.

This is a military term that referred to soldiers arranging themselves in ranks under their commander.

Paul commands wives to submit to their husbands as unto Christ.

When a wife submits to her husband she is in fact serving the Lord, obeying His will.

Part of a wife's service to God involves fulfilling the role that God has called her to.

A wife who observes this command is in fact observing the Lordship of Christ.

Those who don't are being disobedient to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This word */submit/* is used to describe people being subject to an ordained authority.

*1 Peter 2:13* uses this word to show our relationship to the government.

/Therefore *submit* yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, /*1 Peter 5:5* uses this word to describe the relationship between young people and older folk and in fact all relationships.

/Likewise you younger people, *submit* yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you *be submissive* to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”/

The basic principle is the same.

Respect and obedience toward an ordained authority!

Submission is possible only when we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.

He gives us the necessary grace to be submissive.

Submission is acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in our lives.

/ /

Law and Grace

 

A tyrannical husband demanded that his wife conform to rigid standards of his choosing.

She was to do certain things for him as a wife, mother, and homemaker.

In time she came to hate her husband as much as she hated his list of rules and regulations.

Then, one day he died--mercifully as far as she was concerned.

Some time later, she fell in love with another man and married him.

She and her new husband lived on a perpetual honeymoon.

Joyfully, she devoted herself to his happiness and welfare.

One day she ran across one of the sheets of do's and don'ts her first husband had written for her.

To her amazement she found that she was doing for her second husband all the things her first husband had demanded of her, even though her new husband had never once suggested them.

She did them as an expression of her love for him and her desire to please him./

Husbands there is a lesson here for us in this too.

Don't demand submission, earn it by loving your wives!/

 

/b.

Order /

 

*Ephesians 5:23* /For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body/.

Paul's */second reason/* is God's established chain of command or headship.

*1 Corinthians 11:3* /But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

/God has established a proper order.

God > Christ > Man > Woman.

/Why has God done this?/

Because you cannot have two leaders in one home.

Two heads may be better than one when working out a problem.

But two heads in one home leads to conflict.

Someone must have the final responsibility in the home.

God has ordained that the man is the head.

It has nothing to do with equality, but rather it refers to our different roles.

Christ was equal to the Father yet He became a man and took on the form of a bond servant to provide our salvation.

He was equal but took on a subservient role.

God requires the same thing of wives.

In Corinth, Paul had to correct the ladies for seeking the leadership positions in the Church.

This is why he listed this chain of command in verse 3 and then discussed the issue of headship in detail.

/c.

Outworking/

 

*Ephesians 5:24* /Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything./

Paul's third reason involves the outworking of the command.

As the Church is subject to Christ in all things, so too the wives must be subject to their own husbands in everything.