Sermon Tone Analysis

Giving Thanks for the Structure of the Family

Let’s begin this morning by giving thanks to God for the structure of the family.

Prayer

Father God in Heaven, thank you for creating us in your image.

Thank you for creating us as men and women, created for the purpose of having a Relationship with you; dominion over all the earth; for uniting us as one in Christ Jesus.

Thank you for establishing the union of husbands and wives, who become one flesh in marriage.

Thank you for children and their part in the creating of families.

We are so blessed to be your sons and daughter, to have you as our Father, and to be redeemed through your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray… Our Father...

Ephesians

1 Corinthians 11:3

God placed Jesus as the head of the church.

He has given a similar structure to the home, with the husband being the head of his wife, loving her as Jesus loves the church.

Paul address the role of the wife and the husband, using the example of Jesus and the church to help us see their functionality.

Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on this chapter approaches Pauls writing from the point of harmony in the home, on the job, and in the church.

They all depend on the Spirit of God.

He states: It’s a power from within, not pressure from without, that hold the church and the home together.

Earlier in Paul writes

He uses the principle of Headship within the home to help us understand the harmony God wants to bring to the home and to the church.

So as we look at

Emphases is given to being filled with the Holy Spirit, which comes from God, by faith in Jesus Christ.

It is a continuous filling.

The outlet of being filled with the Holy Spirit is Thankfulness.

Back to our text… This passage of scripture has not always been well received because it gives a structure that some say, negates the value of a woman.

But that is not what Paul is saying.

He is saying that there is a ‘framework’ to the family and when it functions as it should, there will be harmony.

The wife...

The word ‘submit’ means to yield to the authority over them.

Wives are to submit to their husbands—honouring them and putting them first.

This is something many Jewish, Greek and Roman wives were forced to do.

For many women, being a wife was no different from being a slave.

But Paul is describing something far more wonderful.

A Christian wife is not submitting to her husband because he owns her, or because she is afraid of him.

She is submitting to her husband because he is the head of their relationship, who is responsible for her spiritual, emotional, and physical well being

The husband is the head of a marriage just as Christ is the head of the church.

Knowles, A. (2001).

The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 620).

Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.

In Roman culture, the family was ruled over like an iron fist.

In Jewish culture, the family life was for training sons, but excluded their young children and neglected the women.

Jesus honored women and welcomed children and

Paul is saying, “Husbands, you are responsible for the spiritual well-being of your wife, her security, and happiness.”

Paul is saying to the wife, “this you should know and submit to him.

If he is following the Lord, then he will have the wisdom to lead you and your family.

Some might ask, “What if my husband is not a follower of Christ?”

Here is what Paul writes in says.

You might ask, “What if my husband is not a follower of Christ?”

Here is what Paul writes in says.

In

What Jesus desires is for husband and wife to live harmoniously together; in mutual love and respect.

Another aspect of submission is to look to him in regard to decisions.

This is the message to both husbands and wives… even though there is one who is the head … responsible for the spiritual well being of the family, together, they are to talk about things that matter and will affect the home.

Example would be, you can both be working… her money…his money.

you can divide up responsibilities, she buys the groceries and clothes for the family; he pays the bills and sets aside an emergency fund.

whatever each has left over they can do with what they please.

One can be frugal, one can be spontaneous.

the one who is frugal will always have money, the one who is spontaneous, will not and they will always have too many toys and looking for money to take care of their part of the arrangement.

The key is working together, talking about the needs and desires, helping each other discover their strengths and weakness, and coming to the conclusion that sometime your spouse has a better perspective than you and they have insight and or wisdom that you do not.

Ultimately, the husband is responsible, but he should not be given free reign to do as he please, nor should he make his wife do what is spiritually unhealthy.

To submit is to yield to the person who is responsible in everything… “all that is important; to the final decision.

Now when i say the ‘final’ decision, one should not submit to anything that will be contrary to God’s well and desire.

Meaning, don’t allow yourself to be abused, ruled over with an iron fist that says you are going to do it my way or else!

When the Bible says that the husband is to be the head of the home, and that the wife is to be in submission to her husband, it does not give the man a licence to tyranny.

It does not mean that the man is never to consult with his wife or to lean upon her wisdom and take seriously her concerns and her judgment.

Sproul, R. C. (1994).

The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p.

135).

Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

The Husband...

One person described this responsibility as “terrifying.”

Why? because it means being willing to die for her because he loves her that much.

Would a woman be afraid to submit herself to a man who loved her as much as Jesus loved the church?

Would a woman fight and kick and scream against the leadership of a man who was willing to give his lifeblood to do anything he could to save her life?

The kind of rule that the husband is to have over his wife is to be modelled on the leadership of Jesus.

Sproul, R. C. (1994).

The Purpose of God: Ephesians (pp.

136–137).

Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

Husbands you have the responsibility before God to conduct yourself according to the Word of God in marriage.

In marriage, a person takes the vow to “cherish” the other person.

This means to hold them in the highest regard and to place great value on one another.

This is the attitude that is to permeate the home.

Not a power struggle or a see-saw battle for more authority than the other.

Man has a strong instinct of self-preservation.

He is to love his wife as he loves himself.

It is an agape love which means total unselfishness for the well being of the other.

R.C. Sproul writes:

Probably the most fragile mechanism in the whole creation is the male ego.

One of the most difficult things to admit or to understand is that there is probably nothing that a man wants more from his wife than her admiration.

There is probably nothing that a woman wants more from her husband than his attention, taking her seriously and treating her with the greatest dignity.

Here what we are getting at is the question of respect.

If I exercise my headship over my wife in a tyrannical way, I am not respecting my wife.

If my wife gives slavish obedience to me without any love, she is not respecting me.

The whole basis of the relationship is built upon love, cherishing and respecting one another.

Sproul, R. C. (1994).

The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p.

139).

Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

If the husband makes Christ’s love for the church the pattern for loving his wife, then he will love her sacrificially (Eph.

5:25).

Christ gave Himself for the church; so the husband, in love, gives himself for his wife.

Jacob so loved Rachel that he sacrificially worked fourteen years to win her.

True Christian love “seeketh not her own” (1 Cor.

13:5)—it is not selfish.

If a husband is submitted to Christ and filled with the Spirit, his sacrificial love will willingly pay a price that she might be able to serve Christ in the home and glorify Him.