Sermons Lynn | 11 May 2008 08:35 am

HIS

 

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Ephesians 5:22-33 [+/-]Ephesians 5:22-33 [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]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. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their 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. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

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“Wives, be submitted to your husbands as to the Lord.” The combination of theological liberalism that began to penetrate our culture in the 1920’s and permeate it by the 1960’s along with radical feminism that emerged in the 1960’s and became the fixed lens through which we see women in our world by the 1970’s have combined to make it virtually impossible for us to hear these words. We have so turned and twisted this opening sentence of this powerful passage in Ephesians; we have so contorted and corrupted this very clear communication from God to His people about life in the family that it has so lost its meaning that it has no meaning at all. It is one of the most clear evidences of why it is that we even in the church have lost our way because the living out of the teaching of this text in our homes and families is on the front lines of most visible and vital evidence that we belong to God.

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6 Responses to “HIS”

1. on 16 May 2008 at 12:21 am 1.mark f said …

   

   After your sermon Sunday, I wanted to throw some statistics about the American Family out there that I found on a discipleship website:
   Out of the 113,000,000 MEN in America 15 years of age and older (as of 2004)
   * 33% of the 72 million children in America will go to bed tonight without their biological father in the home.
   * As many as 70% of men seek out pornography.
   * 40% to 50% of recent marriages will end in divorce according to the United States Census Bureau.
   * As many Christians will divorce as non-Christians (34% vs. 33% according to Barna).
   * More than 50% of children born in 1990s spend part of their childhood in single parent homes.
   * 66% children born in America will not live with both biological parents through the age of eighteen.
   * Two years after a divorce only 53% of children see their non-custodial parent on a monthly basis. Ten years after the divorce on 28% have monthly contact.
   * 4 out of 5 students in evangelical churches will drop out of church by their senior year in high school (Howard Hendricks).
   * 73% of households with children under 18 headed by married couples (vs. 91% in 1960); 27% households headed by single parents.
   The sad part is that most of these statistics are looked upon with no surprise!
   I bring this up to say that I believe that the time has come for the men (including myself) to stand up and say no more. As a married man, I take the scriptures in Ephesians very seriously. It is imperative my household is Christ-centered and not world-centered. I believe that men find it easy to give up on their families because the pressures (strongholds) are too great. The world takes hold and chews them up.
   I saw a man this week that I hadn’t seen in a while. We had crossed paths at a place where I was formerly employed. He was a respected man back then and held a position of high authority. He is no longer in that position due to an unfortunate set of events. I was 5 feet from him this week and I didn’t even speak! Whether I can be like Peter and preach to the masses, or Andrew and bring them one at a time, my hope is that I can witness to as many as I can. I am still mad at myself for not at least saying “how are you?” God calls us to be “Fishers of Men” and I felt God calling me to speak to him. But I didn’t. I let an opportunity to do God’s Will slip by! I choked in the clutch.
   As Men of God, we need to work harder at building disciples, so that no one is left behind. I broke the code this week. I pray not to be that disobedient again!

2. on 19 May 2008 at 1:00 pm 2.kai said …

   

   David Murrow has a great book titled “Why men hate going to Church” which details how the “modern” American church has been overly feminized and how most men hate going to church because they think they need to check their masculinity at the door.

   When the modern American church fails to uphold masculinity, is it any wonder why the modern church in America is dying for want of men who will dare to lead the charge in an effort to turn the tide even within the walls of our “safe” churches?

3. on 20 May 2008 at 9:11 pm 3.mark f said …

   

   I have heard of Murrow’s book. Good read. I read an article one time about a men’s ministry leader getting permission from the Pastor to change the men’s restroom from pink and mauve to a manly olive drab. He also changed the soap from sensitive skin dove to “Gojo”. Pictures of wildlife draped the walls instead of bunnies and pretty flowers. It seemed funny to the Pastor, but it was well received by the men.

4. on 27 May 2008 at 3:50 pm 4.heather said …

   

   With Mark f’s statistics in hand, and I am asking this not to start but to think. Is it true that in so many ways, women had to take the role of men because they had to? The reason I ask this is, even though I didn’t make the right choices at the time and I have to live with them now, because my son’s father chooses not to be the father and I have to deal with that. What is the best way for women to deal with situations like these and similar ones (through divorce and death of spouse)?
   And I understand that some of the things that I deal with is of the consequences of the sin that I did (even though I have asked for forgiveness of).

5. on 27 May 2008 at 4:20 pm 5.David said …

   

   I believe that mentoring is very helpful in these situations. There’s not always going to be a possibility of reconciling a marriage; but thankfully there are some great opportunities for a young boy to be mentored by an adult male role model, to learn the things that would ordinarily be learned by their father. I am so thankful that God put men in my path after my parents divorced.

6. on 27 May 2008 at 4:52 pm 6.kai said …

   

   In the words of a great preacher (Johnny Hunt if anyone’s interested), forgiveness does not automatically mean the removal of consequences. At any rate, to answer your question as to the role of men when it comes to single mothers, David is right, if we really are supposed to be a community and “family” of believers, we ought to (men that is) fill in as best we can where the biological father failed.However before we can hope to properly “fill in” in any capacity, we need to know what masculinity really is and why it’s needed in a household in conjunction with femininity. Here’s a great lecture about men’s role in the church for anyone who’s interested: http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/faculty/20060329stinson.mp3

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