Incorruptible Design

DISMISS KIDS

Take your copy of God’s Word and join me in Ephesians chapter 5.

All you have to do is drive around Montgomery for about 5 minutes and you will find out real quick that a lot of people are only concerned about where THEY’RE going and how fast THEY can get there—and don’t really give much thought to who is in their way.

One of the most important traffic signs on our roads is the “yield” sign. You know, it’s the upside down triangle with red border, a white center, and BIG BRIGHT RED LETTERS THAT SPELL OUT — YIELD.

What direction is the Yield Sign giving drivers? A lot of times, it appears when roads or lanes are merging together and it tells drivers to stop and to “yield” or “surrender” the right-of-way to other drivers. Its purpose is to prevent collisions! It’s a safeguard for our good!

You know, the Bible instructs believers to “yield” or “submit” to one another in our relationships to avoid relationship collisions and for our good!

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Ephesians 5:18–6:9 (ESV)

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 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. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

TRANSITION

This is, obviously, a large portion of scripture.

I could have done what I’ve done in the past and what most preachers would do—or at least recommend doing—and that’s take these three major relationships of our lives—marriage, parenting, and jobs—and preach them individually.

But, I try not to be like “most” preachers ; ). In all seriousness, though, I wanted to preach this whole section as one unit because it’s one unit of Paul’s thought.

The theme of this whole section—believe it or not, is NOT submission. It’s what the Spirit-filled life should look like (back to 5:18). That’s the main background of Paul’s writing and instruction when it comes to marriage, parenting, and our employee-employer relationships.

And, here in these three major relationships of our lives, Paul says…

MAIN IDEA

One of the results of a Spirit-filled life is humble and joyful submission to one another.

Wives are instructed to be subject/submissive to their husbands, children are instructed to be submissive to their parents, and employees are instructed to be submissive to their employers.

Now, that sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Submission is joyful?

So, what is “submission”? It’s a word, honestly, that we kind of recoil at. We like our freedom and our personal autonomy. In the flesh, we don’t like the idea of authority.

Submission means to willingly place oneself under the authority of another.

Everyone is under some form of authority.

Now, notice—Paul is writing this to BELIEVERS. He’s not just instructing Christian wives or Christian children or Christian employees. He’s giving instruction on MUTUAL SUBMISSION to Christian wives AND husbands, Christian children AND fathers, and Christian employees AND employers.

So, in this text, I want us to see three components to living the Spirit—filled life of mutual submission.

1. The ATTITUDE of our mutual submission.

So, we’ve defined submission as “willingly placing oneself under the authority of another” … but what does submission “require?”

The key is found in verses 18 and 21.

Look at them again.

Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

You can’t fill something that’s already full. The implication, here, is that there is an emptying and then a filling.

Emptying ourselves of self//pride.

Ephesians 5:21 (ESV)

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philippians 2:3–7 (ESV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

“…out of reverence for Christ…”

That word is literally, “fear.” The “fear of the Lord” in the OT is tied to worship—ultimate regard for the holy name of God.

So, submission in our lives is an issue of our hearts. It’s a worship issue.

Biblical worship boils down to trust and obedience. Do I trust that God’s design is best and will I obey?

Second, we see, here, the…

2. The AUTHORITY over our mutual submission.

Veterans—I can’t speak from first-hand experience but I know from getting to know many of you…THE FIRST THING YOU LEARN upon entering the military is…you are at the bottom of the chain of command…and you learn REAL QUICK that there is authority and you’re not it and you better respond to whatever that authority says immediately…and you aren’t given a whole lot of choice in the matter.

God is a God of order and design. God has a perfect design for the home, for the church, for our relationships that is for His glory and for our good.

When we get saved, we aren’t just getting our eternity secured in heaven…we are surrendering to the Lordship of King Jesus…Lordship over our every area of our lives.

This means that we are to live in submission to Jesus’s Lordship/his authority…means that we submit our lives to His design.

So, our first and highest submission is to King Jesus. He is Lord over all things.

So, all throughout this text, as Paul is commanding believers to be mutually submissive to one another, he roots our humble and joyful submission to one another in our obedience and submission to the authority of God as Lord and King over all.

Wives

Everyone’s favorite verse.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands…”

First of all, Paul is not teaching an inferiority of women. In fact, he’s doing the opposite. Roman culture was such that women were inferior to all men. Paul teaches, here, that women are to “submit” (not be subservient to) their own husbands. Not someone else’s husband. Not all men.

Women held in equal standing in the body of Christ as co-heirs!

God created and designed Christian marriage to be a reflection of Jesus’s relationship to His bride—the Church. This is what Paul says in verse 23.

Jesus unconditionally and sacrificially loves His Bride and the Bride—the Church—humbly and joyfully submits to Him in trust and faith.

Submission is ultimately rooted in trust. Trust that your husband is loving Jesus supremely and following Him and His leadership.

As you submit to your husbands and his God-given/ordained leadership, you are submitting to God’s design and authority.

Husbands

What does our mutual submission to our wives look like? Now, you may say “Hold up…Paul says for wives to be submissive to their husbands. Not the other way around!” Remember verse 21.

Christian husbands, God has designed marriage in such a way….

You aren’t “lording” over your wife but you are a conduit/pipeline of God’s grace and His goodness to her…just like Jesus is to the Church—His bride.

Loving her sacrificially.

Loving her spiritually.

Loving her selflessly.

You will stand before the Lord one day/answer to Him.

Kids

“ obey your parents in the Lord…for this is right”

You are under the authority and the leadership of your parents.

This isn’t optional…your parents are an extension of God’s authority in your life.

Kids—notice what Paul says about the 4th commandment—it’s the FIRST with a promise.

Listen…your parents love you. They are seeking to provide for your good. They aren’t trying to prohibit you from things just because they have the authority to say “no.”

Sometimes your parents have to be prohibitive because they’re being protective and providing the good.

To rebel against them is to rebel against what is for your good. WHO DOES THAT?!?!

Your obedience and submission to your parents is ultimately an issue of your obedience to the Lord.

Fathers

A conduit of God’s grace and love…

“Bring them up”—nourish them by training them/growing them in the Lord.

We teach our kids a lot of things but are we intentionally discipling them in the way of Jesus?

Men—you have a spiritual responsibility to your wife and to your kids. You will stand before God one day.

Let me circle back for a second—men—do you see the spiritual leadership role you have been given by God?

vs. 26—love your wives spiritually in such a way that you are doing everything for her sanctification.

6:4—discipling your children.

Paul then moves from the relationships in the home to relationships between Christian slaves and masters. While the slavery of the Bible wasn’t to the same horrific level as slavery in 18th & 19th century America, it was still an imbalance of human relationships and, in the Roman empire, these relationships were often abused.

The closest parallel we’ve got today is the relationship between employees and employers.

Employees/Servants

Your work matters—ultimately aiming to please the Lord…not cutting corners, not ___________ but…

“as you would to Christ” (vs. 5) // “as to the Lord” (vs. 7)

Employers

Grace & Mercy—in a world not known for that. Slaves were just property and the way by which the owner/master would enrich himself.

Accountable to the Lord.

Summary—those who have been given leadership roles—and those under leadership—are not to abuse their God-given authority or their freedom in Christ but are to seek the good of “the other” and reflect the love and goodness of God—by laying down personal privilege and rights in humility and joy.

3. The OUTCOME of our mutual submission.

FREEDOM

In submission we are free to value other people. Their dreams and plans become important to us. We have entered into a new, wonderful, glorious freedom, the freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others.

Richard J. Foster

SANCTIFICATION

Submission is an essential part of sanctification.

Jesus isn’t commanding us to do something He hasn’t done himself.

WITNESS