Ephesians 5:21-24

Ephesians 5:21–24 “21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 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.”

5:21-6:9

Family life within the good land of the imperatives.

The imperatives up to this point have been focused on relationships within the church community and the way the church interacts with the dark world outside, now the focus is on the intimacy in the home.

There is no area of our lives that the law of Christ in light of his grace does not touch.

The family is the most basic and fundamental institution in creation

The health of society is determined by the health of the families in that society

The health of a church is determined by the health of the families in that church.

The hope of future healthiness in any of the expressions in society is found within the family.

The million dollar word for the life of the household is submission (And the mechanism of life to the family is proper submission).

Thus, it is no surprise that the prince of the power of the air, in his attempts to destroy the church has attacked the family by attacking its main mechanism of operation: submission.

It started with the blessed role of the wife to submit to her husband.

It then went to the child’s role to submit to their parents.

Through both deteriations came the attack the husband's leadership in which the man’s role was to be a big child watching sports in his man-cave.

And what has came forth from the erosion of submission is the very loss of the family unit in general

The life blood, the fountain head of the health of the family is in submission.

Yet even in conservative circles when submission is taught it is done with buts, yets, and blushing.

We must see in scripture that submission is the the source of livelihood to the family, the source of your happiness, and the structure needed for a family to be a gospel-center wellspring of life.

Ephesians 5:21 “21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

A. The life of submission is universal—and B. done within the context of reverence or worship or awe of Christ

A. The very nature of the God-creation relationship is one of complete sovereignty and submission to that power and authority. Thus that submission finds its way in all the relationships of humanity.

Submission is the most natural and therefore gratifying thing for a creature made in God’s image to exhibit.

B. Like the work to be done on earth is done with the light of the sun, so all your work of submission must be touched and energized by the glory of Christ.

Thus, submission is to be driven by worship.

Ephesians 5:22 “22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”

A. The expression of submission wives ought to be eager to display is towards their own husbands God has given to them. B. Submission is to be driven by love.

A. Within the realm of women worshiping God, we see the crown jewel is to be a help to her husband.

Genesis 2:15 “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Work and keep Genesis 2:16–17 “16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

A helper needed

Genesis 2:18 “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””

The man to realize the need

Genesis 2:19–20 “19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.”

The blessed solution

Genesis 2:21–24 “21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Family unit most central to all area of life

The mechanism to ensure health and happiness is submission

Satan attacks it by attacking submission. His lies are:

Only women are called to submit

For the motivation to keep them from their full potential and for the power of men

All are called to submit

Start with motivators of submission first:

Reverence (worship)

As to the Lord (love)

Then move into the beginning of marriage being brought forth to obey (worship) and a need met (promotes love).

Then 23-24 wives role and marriage role in general is to display the greatest relationship ever created: the church and Christ.

Intro:

The land of the imperatives for the family

The family most basic element of life in society and the church

Which explains why Satan has attacked it so.

The heart of the attack is the needed element of submission

Submission is the necessary mechanism for a happy and flourishing family

Without it, we see the complete destruction of the family unit

The prince of the power of the air’s attack is found in these major lies:

Submission is just for people who are oppressed (wives and children)

The motivation for submission is only for the betterment of selfish men

Submission belittles the significance of women and children

Overall we can say that the lie is submission does not work in making a family prosperous and happy, and it keeps women from their full potential.

I. 21. Universal Submission

II. 22 The Wife’s Particular Submission

III. 21-22 Motivator’s for Submission

IV. Spiritual significance of Submission 23-24

Ephesians 5:21 “21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Ephesians 5:32 “32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Everyone should have a certain level of submission to each other—even husbands to wives and fathers to children and magistrates to their subjects (Calvin).

Ephesians 5:22 “22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”

Ephesians 5:23 “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.”

Ephesians 1:22–23 “22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

1 Corinthians 11:3 “3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”

1 Corinthians 6:13 “13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

and is himself its Savior not something the husband is to the wife, but this is supposed to encourage the wife to do her duty to her husband motivated by her husband in heaven who has taken care of her ultimately. Though it may be scary to submit like this to a sinner, it is rooted in her submission to the perfect savior of the world.

Some people argue savior is the husband here and not Christ. Its is not found in the Greek. Calvin says it is meant Christ as savior with an eye on husband as savior of wife (works for her salvation).

Ephesians 5:24 “24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

The church submits to the church with joy and confidence that Christ will take care of her.

Colossians 3:20 “20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”

Colossians 3:22 “22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.”

Titus 2:9 “9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,”

The pattern of the wife’s submission is that of the church to Christ—with willing and joyful hearts. Not forced compulsion as is the pattern laid out by the world.

1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

In everything does not denote in things unlawful

Acts 5:29 “29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 4:19–20 “19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.””

Rather it denotes that the test of submission is found when its contrary to self-will, or in everything.