Sept 12, 2021 - The Call of Husbands
Notes
Transcript
If you were with us last week, we saw Paul address the Wives among us...
And the call that went out to them...
Wives, Paul said - Submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.
And we looked at what that Submission looked like...
We DID that by going back to God’s design FOR women...
Before God created WOMAN - He said that it WAS NOT GOOD that man was alone...
And we saw how GOD KNEW - that with man alone, this thing wasn’t going to DISPLAY God to the world!
In order for creation to be "complete” (if you will) - God declared...
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.”
And from there - in the VERY BEGINNING - God’s original design...
We see this call for the woman...
The Call of HELPER
And we saw how much POWER lies in this call as HELPER...
We all KNOW the power a Wife’s words and actions have on her husband!
We saw the warnings that go out to husbands about their wives
We saw the IMPORTANCE of the role of Helper - for a husband
And TODAY - we see the call of the Husband...
We’re actually going to spend this week AND next week on husbands...
And today we’ll see a connection between the GOSPEL of Christ and this call to husbands...
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 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.
Now - first thing I want us to see is this...
SLIDE: Husbands, Love Your Wives As Christ Loved: (this call is a) The Call to Lead
Husbands, Love Your Wives As Christ Loved
Husbands, Love Your Wives As Christ Loved
NOW - How do we go from husbands LOVING their wives as Christ loved the church -
to this BEING a call to - LEAD?
We GET THERE - due to the call of the wife…which we saw last week.
What was the call of the wife?
To SUBMIT to her husband
The SUBMISSION of the wife - must be in RELATION to the LEADING of the Husband
NOW - How did Christ LOVE the church?
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
What’s on display here?
Since Husbands are CALLED to love their wives AS Christ loved the church and gave HIMSELF UP for her...
WE KNOW - that ...
SLIDE: Husband Leadership: Sacrificial Love
Husband Leadership
Husband Leadership
This is what’s on display in v25...
It said - Christ loved the church and gave HIMSELF UP for her...
Christ’s LOVE for the church GAVE HIMSELF UP for her...
That’s - Sacrificial Love
Husbands are called to LEAD this way!!
BUT - What we as husbands MUST KNOW - is what this sacrificial LOVE - is AIMING at!
What’s the GOAL of this Sacrificial Love!???
In order to see this - we just need to look at the COMPARISON used in our text today...
If we can understand WHY Christ LOVED the church in the way He did...
We’ll come to know WHY Husbands are to LOVE their wives in the same way…And in DOING SO - we’ll see what that LOVE is AIMING AT...
the goal of that love.
We want to know - WHAT is a Husbands Sacrificial LOVE aiming at?
And so we look at our text today...
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
OK, the TARGET of that sacrificial love is in the next verse....
That love of Jesus - is aiming at what comes next...
v26
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
OK - THIS is the AIM of Christ’s love for the church!
That He might SANCTIFY her...
To – sanctify – or – to SET Apart - or - to DECLARE HOLY!
· And v27 completes that idea…
27 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.
The AIM of Christ’s LOVE - FOR the church - was that the church would be DECLARED - HOLY!
Or - SANCTIFIED!
We hear this word over and over again in Christianity...
Sanctify
Sanctification
We need to know there are 2 types of Sanctification...
Positional
Progressive
SLIDE:
Positional Sanctification: Occurs at the moment of salvation, when God imputes the perfect righteousness of Christ to the saved individual on the basis of that individual's faith in Christ's sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection as the full atonement for the individual's sin.
“Position” here - refers to your position before God
People - at any moment in time - are in EITHER one OF TWO positions before God...
The Bible says - you are either FOR God - OR - against God...
to be FOR God - is to be SAVED - Sanctified!
Upon faith - at the moment of salvation - A person is DECLARED - Holy/Sanctified!
But there’s also PROGRESSIVE sanctification!
Progressive Sanctification: The process of growing in holiness as a Christian.
As we walk through life - and we embrace the idea that IRON SHARPENS IRON…and we LEARN from each other...
…we GROW in our faith...
That’s progressive sanctification...
NOW - where is this in the Bible?
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
The words “Sanctified” and “Saints” have the same Greek root...
What is this saying?
It’s saying - to those who were made HOLY in Christ Jesus and called to BE Holy...
It’s saying - to those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to BE sanctified...
Christians are sanctified and called to be sanctified.
The Bible presents salvation as a gift that is received the moment a person places faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior...
Christians are THEN called to live out practically (called to be saints/holy) what is already true POSITIONALLY…(sanctified).
And so - THE AIM of Christ’s sacrificial LOVE for the church - was their Sanctification...
Which Sanctification you ask?
Positional or Progressive??
Answer - Both!
Jesus came to earth - and lived out the Righteous requirement of the Law...
Because that’s TRUE - He PURCHASED - with His life, death and resurrection...
Our ETERNAL LIFE = which equates to our POSITIONAL Sanctification!!
Upon FAITH in Christ’s WORK - we are declared HOLY!! Positionally SECURE - IN CHRIST!
But that wasn’t ALL!
By His work - and By His CONQUERING of Death...
WE TOO CAN NOW LIVE OUT
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Here we have the GOSPEL - Christ’s WORK - leading us to - - WALK (in this world) in the NEWNESS of Life…(progressive sanctification)
Baptism (spiritual baptism - which is tied to FAITH) - OPENS the door to the newness of LIFE...
Our progressive sanctification!
And so THE AIM of Christ’s sacrificial LOVE for the church - was their Sanctification...
Positional AND Progressive...
HUSBANDS - Our call to sacrificial LOVE for our wives HAS in it’s VIEW - their progressive sanctification!
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 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.
NOW - we as husbands - we aren’t ABLE to bring about Positional Sanctification in our wives...
BUT we are called to help our wives LIVE out PRACTICALLY - their call to - BE SANCTIFIED…in this fallen world!
Now - do you remember last week how we went back to the garden to see the PURPOSE of the woman - as HELPER?
Well - THIS week - we SEE man’s purpose in this call in Ephesians....to LOVE his wife as Christ loved the church...
BUT
I also want to go back to the garden…to see a PATTERN that God used....
That I think is a PATTERN for us as HUSBANDS to follow- which will help us LIVE out this CALL TODAY!!
So far - we’ve seen that ...
SLIDE: Husband Leadership: Sacrificial Love
Husband Leadership
Husband Leadership
And THIS sacrificial love - the goal of it is - the sanctification of my wife...
So let’s go back to the very beginning to see some help in this...
In Genesis 1, we see what...
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The earth was - WITHOUT FORM....and VOID (no fullness)
There was no FORM...
And there was no - STRUCTURE....and there was no LIFE growing in the structure!
*think of a VASE…with a plant
There was no vase....and therefore…no plant
So what does God do?
The first 3 days of creation…He builds the STATIC - life-support systems
Sea
Air
Land
He creates the STRUCTURE NEEDED - for?
The next 3 days - He fills that structure with - LIFE
Animals
birds
humanity
He creates STRUCTURE - that allows his creation to - FLOURISH
And then when he created man - he told the man what?
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
He said - Rule the world - have dominion OVER it...
Give the world structure - but do it in a way so that everyone can be fruitful and be blessed! (grow)
This pattern - established as part of God’s ORIGINAL design for man...
Is a pattern that will HELP us HUSBANDS LIVE OUT our call to LEAD!!
We - as Husbands - need to know...
SLIDE: Husband Leadership: Creating & Protecting Structures that Allow Wives to Flourish
Husband Leadership
Husband Leadership
NOW - this kind of FLOURISHING - is the kind that leads to - sanctification!
Our job Husbands - is to create and protect structures - that allow our wives to FLOURISH
That’s what GOD DID!!
In the beginning!!
We’re called to do this!
And so - here are some questions we need to ask ourselves - RIGHT NOW!!
SLIDE: Question
What helps my wife flourish under God? How is she built? What does she need to be all that she’s meant to be as a woman under God?
Men - we have to LOVE Jesus enough - to ask ourselves this question…and then PURSUE answering it
Does my wife NEED TIME....to get before God’s word? Yes?
Then [I] need to CREATE time FOR HER - to be able to DO THAT
I need to PUT structures IN PLACE...
And maybe that entails me - (BRACE YOURSELF) - taking the kids out of the house so they’re not CRAWLING ALL OVER HER for the umpteenth hour in the day...
AND THEN - I need to PROTECT that structure...
So that it doesn’t TURN into a ONE and DONE situation!
Too many wives are stuck experiencing DRIVE THRU Sanctification...
They’re trying to GROW in the Lord - at the Drive Thru window of life...
And so listen husbands - if your wife NEEDS TIME alone - then create that structure! And guard it so it lasts!
We need to always ask the question:
What does my wife need to be all that she’s meant to be as a woman under God?
Does she need resources?
Then I’m going to put MONEY behind that!
I’m going to INVEST in her sanctification!
*With everything being online nowadays, there are so many resources at our fingertips
Is there a way that I - as Husband - can create traditions with my wife and family....
…that provides STRUCTURE where they can meet with God…and FLOURISH
…then I’m called to DO THAT!
NOW - CAN I MAKE my wife LOVE Jesus MORE TODAY than yesterday?
Absolutely not...
CAN I MAKE her SIT DOWN and focus in and memorize 5 new verses every day?
NO!
I’m not CALLED to do that!
But I am CALLED - and I CAN - create and protect structures where she can flourish!
That’s OUR CALL as Husbands!!
And it doesn’t stop there!!
REMEMBER who our example is - guys?
Jesus Christ!
Did Jesus just TALK about holiness?
Was Jesus - ALL BARK and no BITE?
Was He ALL TALK?
NO - He lived it out!!
Well - where do think this is going?
Listen to this staggering verse...
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me!
HUSBANDS - can we say the same?
Not to do MY OWN will - but the will of Him who GAVE ME MY WIFE?
We’re not JUST CALLED to create and protect STRUCTURES for our wives...
We’re called to PUT our own Sanctification ON DISPLAY for our wives and families!
We’re CALLED to LIVE IT OUT!
Remember that popular saying - Be the change you hope to see in the world?
Our call Husbands - is to DISPLAY the holiness we pray to see in our wives!
And so when we think about our text today…and the connection between the Gospel and our call...
We saw it before - that Husband Leadership entails Sacrificial Love...
Well here’s the thing...
Creating and Protecting Structures…for our wives…WILL entail Sacrifice!
· Husbands - We must sacrifice TIME and maybe RESOURCES - to create a STRUCTURE where our wives can GROW in their KNOWLEDGE of God
Having time to get into God’s word
Maybe it would help your wife flourish to sign up for an online theology course
· Husbands - We must sacrifice TIME and maybe RESOURCES – to create a structure where our wives can get with other women
This is vital to the Spiritual growth of your wife
So often wives get buried in the Care-Taking of others that they miss out on opportunities to TAKE-CARE of themselves with other women…
MEN – our response to this has to be – Not on my watch!
· I must build structures that allow my wife to FLOURISH – spiritually – with other women!
Guys – How many of you like watching your kids at home, by yourself?
· We’ve gotta work on this!
· We must take seriously the sanctification of our wives…
· Husbands - We must sacrifice TIME and maybe RESOURCES – to create structures that allow my wife to USE her gifts!
To CULTIVATE her gifts!
I’m called to ENCOURAGE her in these things!
To help AFFIRM her gifts, or help point her in another direction
· Husbands - We must sacrifice PRIDE – in order to create structures where our wives have permission to CHALLENGE us - as their Husbands…
Where OUR PRIDE as Husbands is laid down – Our wives can fulfill their role as HELPER – and thus flourish UNDER God!
· How many of you Husbands in here – take everything that your wife challenges you on – PERSONALLY?
I do
I need to lay down my PRIDE and CREATE that STRUCTURE! And then GUARD IT – from my PRIDE!
· Sacrificial LOVE – is where all of this comes from…
· It’s the MANIFESTATION of the Gospel – in our marriages!
Could we all use a little more Gospel in our marriages?
· A little more GRACE?
· Husbands – this is your call…
· And I know – this is not easy…
· THAT’S WHY – we need each other men! We need each other…
· Listen – I can help you BUILD some of your structures…YOU can help me build mine…
· Our call as Husbands – is to LOVE our wives – AS CHRIST loved the church and gave Himself for her!
We’ve seen:
Our call…as Husbands - is...
The Call to Lead
Love as Christ Loved the Church
Sacrificial Love
Create & Protect Structures that Allow Wives to Flourish
We’re not done though...
There’s more to THINK about regarding this particular call...
Next week - we’ll see WHY this is so hard for men...
And yet - SO important…! And worth it!
Let’s Pray...
LORD’S TABLE
What is it?
reflects the gospel
WHO can partake?
unbelievers - no
The Bible says not to take this lightly. Scripture says – “ whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
believers - come
If you are a child of God - Saved from your sins by the Blood of Christ...then I ask
Men, Husbands - challenge yourselves - prepare your hearts for next week as we look to your call
Wives, ladies - challenge yourselves
Take time now and examine yourself before the Lord.
22 While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” 23 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
“do this…in remembrance of me.”
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen