Sermon Tone Analysis

We are in a series entitled Ephesians: Fitting in to God’s Plan

Last week we talked about how God’s plan is such an abstract concept for most people.

It’s like a construction blueprint, people who are trained can read it and envision the outcome.

But for the average person, they need a three dimensional picture of what God’s plan looks like.

What does it mean to bring everything under the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

It looks like Christ-like love.

- Jesus showed us what God’s love - and God’s plan looks like.

So last week we talked about how God’s love is transforming us back into the people that God created us to be.

Christ’s love renews our minds.

You have it all -

The light of the Holy Spirit.

A living relationship with God.

The knowledge of the Word.

Jesus in your heart.

Being renewed in your understanding means you know who God made you to be and you are moving toward it.

Christ’s love changes us like day and night.

It changes our character.

It changes our behavior.

It changes our life’s objective.

One little verse was left out of last week’s sermon because it would be the subject of this week’s sermon.

It’s a short verse, but it makes a huge statement.

When we are personally, individually transformed by Christ-like love, it changes the dynamic of all our interpersonal relationships.

Christ-like love changes the way we relate to people

Ephesians 5:22-6:9

So God’s plan is to bring everything under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The part that trips up most people is the concept of “Lordship”

We are accustomed to using power in a way that takes advantage of others.

In one of their famous comedy routines, Bud Abbot says to Lou Costello.

“Now listen here!

I’m the king and you’re nothin’.”

Costello begins to chuckle.

Abbot gets angry and asks, “What are you laughing about?

I said I’m the king and you’re nothin.”

Costello replies, “Yeah, well you just said you’re the king over nothing.”

But Jesus who is “God in the flesh” did not do that.

And he taught his disciples not to do that.

But Jesus who is “God in the flesh” did not do that.

And he taught his disciples not to do that.

In this passage we see three relationship dynamics in which there is an imbalance of power.

Costello begins to chuckle.

Abbot gets angry and asks, “What are you laughing about?

I said I’m the king and you’re nothin.”

Costello replies, “Yeah, you just said you’re the king over nothing.”

Coming under the Lordship of Jesus is going to change how we exercise the power that we have in relationships.

It doesn’t mean that we become weak and give up our power.

It means that we assume responsibility for stewardship of God’s grace and use our power to demonstrate Christ-like love.

Christ-like love changes the husband-wife relationship.

First, Paul affirms that there is a God-ordained order in the home.

The word “submit” does not actually appear in verse 22.

It is implied, or carried over from verse 21.

So wives submitting to their husbands is a clarification or extension of “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ”

The word “submit’ in the Greek refers to an appointed order - a role or position.

in the same way, “headship” refers to the order of authority.

However, Christ-like love changes the way we use our power and authority.

The husband is instructed to love (Agape) his wife.

The husband-wife relationship is compared to that of Christ and the Church.

The Church is called the Body of Christ both literally and figuratively.

Marriage is another area where we are called to be stewards.

In working through the grief of my marriage and preparing to make the announcement of my engagement to Karie, I prepared a sermon on marriage that considered why the Bible says there is no marriage in heaven.

I came to the conclusion that marriage is a stewardship.

We don’t have that person forever in the way that we may think.

We have them for a time that we might produce increase for the Kingdom.

That means producing children, but it also means producing the character of God in each other.

In our wedding vows and without knowing about the sermon that I had preached, Tim Sanger, our friend and minister, substituted the words,”until death do us part” with “and one day to give you back to God in better condition that what I found you.”

What would happen if a husband valued his wife and treated her with the same care as his own body?

In ancient times women were considered to be of lesser value than men.

If a man’s wife did not please him, he might abandon her and seek another.

In working through the grief of my marriage and preparing to make the announcement of my engagement to Karie, I prepared a sermon on marriage that considered why the Bible says there is no marriage in heaven.

I came to the conclusion that marriage is a stewardship.

We don’t have that person forever in the way that we may think.

We have them for a time that we might produce increase for the Kingdom.

That means producing children, but it also means producing the character of God in each other.

In our wedding vows and without knowing about the sermon that I had preached, Tim Sanger, our friend and minister, substituted the words,”until death do us part” with “and one day to give you back to God in better condition that what I found you.”

Genesis says that husband and wife are to become as one.

So a husband who mistreats his wife actually hurts himself!

The profound mystery is that we also become one with Christ!

So we have already learned that the coming under the Lordship of Christ means knowing who you are in Christ.

Being transformed into that image of Christ-like love.

So that we look like what God originally intended us to be.

The husband is to do the same for his wife.

Wash her with the Word, not just the scripture but the truth of who she is in Christ.

(Speaking truth, declaration)

He is to present her (give her recognition).

He is to cover (not point out) her blemishes.

He is to make her radiant.

Christ-like love radiates.

When a husband loves his wife with Christ-like love she will radiate the same back.

Loving is mutual just as submission is mutual.

However, headship means that the husband has a responsibility to initiate.

Jesus loved us and initiated grace toward us.

Headship means that grace flows down.

We become a source, not a limit.

Wives can help their husbands by calling them into that place of authority.

Christ-like love changes the parent-child relationship.

Instructing children to obey parents is nothing new, but this one has a twist.

These verses sound exactly like many ancient document for instructing order in the home except for the words, “in the Lord”.

It calls us back to the idea of submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

It means that our obedience needs to be voluntary - out of Christ-like love.

Paul takes us back to the Fifth Commandment.

The original promise is that they would live long in the promised land.