Sermon Tone Analysis

You are listening to the Truly My Disciples podcast where each week we strive to understand what the Lord’s will is so that we can abide in his word and truly be one of His disciples.

We’re your hosts John Gentry and Phillip Stuckey.

Our podcast title and theme come from the words of Jesus in , “IF you abide in my word, you are TRULY my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

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Let’s get into our topic for today: Being Great Wives, Part 3

In the previous lesson / episode, we discussed that true disciples of Jesus who are great wives

Revere their husbands and

Subject themselves to their husbands.

And how these two characteristics of godly wives is countercultural

In this lesson / episode we want to conclude this miniseries on being great wives by looking at four responsibilities that great wives fulfill toward their husbands.

The first responsibility we want to discuss is that to be a great wife, you will …

Love Your Husband

John

Titus

Phil

God planned that wives would love their husbands.

Interestingly, the word for love in the Greek in (philandros) is a word that means affection for one’s husband.

It is a kind of love that can be taught to younger women by older women.

John Chrysostom: “To love their husbands.”

This is the chief point of all that is good in a household, “A man and his wife that agree together.”

(.)

For where this exists, there will be nothing that is unpleasant.

For where the head is in harmony with the body, and there is no disagreement between them, how shall not all the other members be at peace?

For when the rulers are at peace, who is there to divide and break up concord? as on the other hand, where these are ill disposed to each other, there will be no good order in the house.

This then is a point of the highest importance, and of more consequence than wealth, or rank, or power, or aught else.

Nor has he said merely to be at peace, but “to love their husbands.”

For where love is, no discord will find admittance, far from it, other advantages too spring up.

John Chrysostom: “To love their husbands.”

This is the chief point of all that is good in a household, “A man and his wife that agree together.”

(.)

For where this exists, there will be nothing that is unpleasant.

For where the head is in harmony with the body, and there is no disagreement between them, how shall not all the other members be at peace?

For when the rulers are at peace, who is there to divide and break up concord? as on the other hand, where these are ill disposed to each other, there will be no good order in the house.

This then is a point of the highest importance, and of more consequence than wealth, or rank, or power, or aught else.

Nor has he said merely to be at peace, but “to love their husbands.”

For where love is, no discord will find admittance, far from it, other advantages too spring up.

“To love their children.”

This is well added, since she who loves the root, will much more love the fruit.

1.

The young women are “to love their husbands and children.”

This compound phrase in English expresses two Greek terms that were often used in Paul’s day to describe characteristics highly desirable in a woman.

(Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (2001).

Vol.

34: 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (electronic ed.).

Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (300).

Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

2. J.N.D. Kelly (Pastoral Epistles, 240–41) states: “In antiquity, among pagans and Jews alike, these twin virtues were regarded as the glory of young womanhood, and are frequently mentioned on funerary inscription.”

(ibid.)

3.

This exhortation is still needed where some married women prefer poodle-dogs to children.

(Robertson, A. (1997).

Word Pictures in the New Testament ().

Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.)

4. Example: Julius Bassus to Otacilia Polla my sweetest wife, who loved her husband and children and lived with him blamelessly for thirty years.

(Vincent, M. R. (2002).

Word studies in the New Testament ().

Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

Remember, marriage is a relationship that is designed by God to bring joy to the man and the woman by providing lifelong companionship ().

Just as God expects the husband to love, cherish, and honor his wife, the wife must do the same.

Even though there will be times when it will not be easy to love and to cherish him, God expects you to work together and to love your husband.

Do not take him for granted, but encourage him and help him to serve the Lord together ().

Want to be a great wife?

Love your husband.

Second, to be a great wife, you need to …

Be Faithful to Your Husband

John

Phil

It is shocking how many people have been unfaithful to their spouse.

It is difficult to put a number on the percentage of husbands and wives that have been involved or are involved in an adulterous relationship.

The most recent numbers I have found show that there is very little difference in the percentages of men versus women.

It is suggested that around half of all husbands and wives have been or are involved in an adulterous relationship (for various statistics, simply google “adultery stats”).

One report even suggests that as many as 80% of all marriages have been affected by adultery (Vaughan).

The Lord’s church is not immune to infidelity.

Within the last two years four or five preachers known to me have been involved in affairs, one was even a mentor of mine.

(from article, “A Clash About Marriage”)

Marriage is a committed relationship between one man and one woman where physical and emotional intimacy are good and holy.

Just as God expects a man to leave and cleave to his wife, so God desires that a wife be faithful to her husband ().

God’s design for the wife is for her to be faithful to her husband and to not be sexually intimate with anyone else ().

The challenge in our society is for women to guard their hearts and minds from all of the sexual temptation that permeates our daily lives (cp.

).

Just as the word of God also encourages husbands to be intoxicated with the wife of their youth, to be filled by her breasts and to be completely satisfied by her at all times visually, mentally, emotionally and physically, wives should be the same with their own husbands ().

Be as Job and make a covenant with your eyes that you will not gaze upon another man (; cf.

)! (from article, “A Clash About Marriage”)

John

Phil

John

Instead of being lured into temptation, a woman must commit herself to be true to her husband and to save herself for him and no other ().

To be a great wife, you need to be faithful to your husband.

We’re gonna take a short break.

When we come back we’ll discuss two more points.

[COMMERCIAL]

Third, to be a great wife, you need to …

Remain With Your Husband for Life.

John

Phil

A Clash About Divorce: A couple of years ago I overheard Dr. Phil say that if a person was not happy in his marriage then he needed to get out of it.

Last year I saw Matt Lauer interviewing an author of a new book on marriage, divorce and remarriage.

She, too, stated that when a person gets to the point in his marriage where he is no longer happy then he needs to get out of it.

Both reasoned that it was destructive to a person’s emotional, mental and even physical health to stay in an unhappy marriage.

It is no longer unusual for someone to get married three or four times during his life.