You can open up your Bibles to Ephesians 5. Passage many husbands have been waiting for. I was telling Tony as he stopped by last night that I had way too much. in my notes and so I think what I'm going to do is maybe allude to them here and there and then put them on the website or on Facebook. I did a massive amount of research into the context of this passage but I don't know if it will be as profitable to bombard you and inundate you with a whole bunch of facts because this is a pretty simple passage and we basically just need God the Holy Spirit to enable us to submit to it. I tried to build a huge defense against feminists and liberals and people who challenge the apparent archaic nature of this, that Paul was some kind of chauvinistic misogynist, that he had it in for women. I think I'm going to bypass a lot of that and then just sort of stick to the text and trust that God will enable us especially Christian wives, to put this into practice. So let me just read it, and then get right into a couple of contextual reminders, and then get into, I have a short three-point message off the three verses we're going to look at. Verses 22 through 24 of chapter 5. This is God's word, this is not Dr. Phil, or Oprah, or some kind of psychologist giving us his opinion on how to correct a marriage. This is God's word. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, His body. And it's Himself, its Savior. Now, or but, literally, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Father, please, by the Holy Spirit, would you direct me to say only what you would have me to say, and I pray, Lord, that Christ would be seen in this passage, as a glorious and sufficient Savior. Not just for wives or husbands, but for all sinners, Lord. Young and old, male and female, slave and free. Lord Jesus, may You be the crown on this sermon. May You be the diadem in the crown. May we look to Christ even as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's table. Holy Spirit, help me. Lord, to make this ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ, even as I believe Paul is doing. Father, we ask this for Your glory. In Jesus name, Amen. We move in verse 22 to a more practical, more specific practical application of what Paul has been teaching from verse 18 on. Verse 18, he says that when a church is filled with the Holy Spirit, there will be certain fruits. And he's talking more of a corporate spirit-filled church. Ending in verse 21, that a fruit of the Spirit's filling in a church will be submission to one another in fear, or as the ESV says, out of reverence for Christ. And so I hope you see that moving from verse 21 to verse 22 is moving from more of a general corporate nature into a more specific family nature. This is what a Spirit-filled church looks like. This is 18 to 21. And now Paul, into chapter 6, is going to say this is what a spirit-filled family is going to look like. And he's going to begin with the dynamic of husbands and wives, move into the children, and then bring in the idea of servants. Not just within, of course, the family, but we will apply that in chapter 6 to all of us. But we're moving from the general to the specific. I want to give you a quote from Dennis Rainey. that will hopefully remind us of the seriousness of the family and the redemptive purposes of God. Sometimes wives can feel kind of inferior, that their husbands can be out on the streets preaching the gospel or at the workplace preaching. I want to remind us that God is going to change this world through the church of Jesus Christ, but He's going to change the world through the church of Christ which are comprised of families. Dennis Rainey says this, no church, community or nation will rise higher than the spiritual condition of its families. I agree wholeheartedly, I concur with that statement. No church, community or nation will rise higher than the spiritual condition of its families. And the reason why our nation is in the dire situation that it is in is because Satan has been eroding for the last 60 years The fabric of society. Families. Satan has been attacking the families. The family has been destroyed as it were. And our nation is reaping the benefits. The fruits of it. Benefits is the wrong word. He says, the family is God's smallest unit in the battle for the soul of any nation. And if you are complaining about how godless and how wicked our nation has become, if you are a husband or a wife, you have a lot you can do about it. Don't just complain about the situation you are engulfed in. Pray that God would begin to change your family. Sometimes we have all these great and grandiose things that we think will change our nation. I agree with Dennis Rainey. He says that the family is going to change our nation. That the nation is changed one family at a time. The family is the place where civility and respect for others are nurtured and cultivated. If the soul of our nation is to be restored, it will be done one home, one family, at a time. In the church. We'll assist this by proclaiming God's truth for the family. Paul's time was no different than our time. And as you will see if I post my notes, that there's nothing new under the sun. That there is a feministic revolution, a sexual revolution going on in Roman Empire at that time, most notably in Ephesus. And if you were to read a lot of Paul's letters, there are undertones of this idea going on. If you read 1 Corinthians, you see in chapter 10, 11 and 14, that there is this feministic undertone, undercurrent that is beginning to rear its ugly head. That the family is beginning to erode in Paul's time. And so what Paul begins to do is he begins to give advice then not just for the church but for families. Let me give you a couple of contextual reminders as we look to wives and husbands and children. That Paul ultimately is all about the glory of God in Christ through the advance of the church and so his exhortations to wives this morning and husbands for the next couple of weeks and to children and to servants is ultimately under this idea that that Christ is building His church. This command to women this morning is inextricably linked and tied up with God's eternal purpose in Ephesians 1.10. Just look at it. I know I've said this a hundred times, but this is the lens through which I am reading Ephesians 5.22 and following. That God, in His infinite wisdom, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ, is summing up all things, or uniting all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on earth. In other words, women, wives, your submission to your husband is not a trivial matter. It's not a secondary issue. It is of essential importance. It's not inconsequential. It's not unimportant. You might think, ah, whatever, I don't need to submit to my husband. It's really not that big of a deal. I've memorized Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Well, Ephesians 2, 10 says that God predestines people to carry out good works. And part of the good works that He's purposed in you wives is the godly, reverential submission to the head of the house. When we forget that marriage is all about the glory of God and Christ, we get in trouble. If Christian marriages actually took a step back from their bickering and from their power struggle, and they said, this marriage is a picture, according to Paul in Ephesians 5.33, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is summing up all things under His headship, under His reign. If you actually understood this, husbands and wives, your marriages would be so radically altered and different. Marriage is not about husbands or wives per se. It's not even about children. Marriage is about the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And so when you're tempted, to an insubordinate spirit, when you're tempted to bicker, when you're tempted to nag, when you're tempted to mock, when you're tempted to belittle your husband. Remember, the glory of God is at stake in your marriage, and that Christ is summing up all things through the gospel, through the church, which is comprised of husbands and wives. Wives, see your obedience to this command. See your submission to your husband as evangelism. Where do I get that from? When you submit to an imperfect man, you give glory to the wisdom of Jesus Christ and to God who instituted these rules within a marriage. This is not some angry preacher who is saying, wives submit because you ought to. This is the head of the church saying, I know what is best for the family. I know what is best for men. I know what is best for women. Submit to my infinite wisdom. And when you submit to an imperfect man, you are showing that you are submitting ultimately to a perfect Savior who is head of the church. When your children see this, your children see you submitting to an imperfect husband, you know what your children are learning? That the gospel of Jesus Christ is able to overcome those tensions and those proclivities and all those selfish isms that are redounding in their life. The women who submit to their husbands show that the gospel of grace is powerful. And it can undo what Adam and Eve did in the garden. The gospel is powerful enough to subdue all of our selfish tendencies in wives and in husbands. When you submit to your husbands as to the Lord Jesus Christ, you show the power and wisdom of the gospel. That's the first thing I want us to understand before we look at the text. That the marriage is inextricably tied up with God's eternal purpose. Not just in Ephesians 5, but all the way back in Genesis 1 and 2. When God wanted His glory to further to the ends of the earth, He gave the keys to a husband and a wife. Be fruitful, be multiply. Be multiply, that's a coolness. Are you all thinking of MC Hammer now? Genius. Be grateful and multiply. Take my reign and my glory to the ends of the earth. He didn't give it to an evangelist. He didn't give it to a George Whitefield. He gave it to a husband and a wife. Second, Not only is this admonition to wives and husbands and children under the rubric of Ephesians 110, it's under the umbrella of Ephesians 4. I therefore, a prisoner for a word, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Wives submitting to an imperfect husband is what it means to live in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness. with patience, bearing with your imperfect husband in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Christ in His wisdom says that submission of wives to their husband is part of this bond, this unifying bond of peace. If Ephesians 4, 1 to 3 is true for the unity of the church, how much more is it true for the unity of the marriage? Third, Christ honoring submission is impossible apart from the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. And I say this just because it's been a month since I've preached on this. Be filled with the Spirit. And when you're filled with the Spirit, He, filling you with Christ's mind, enables you to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And so if you're struggling with submitting to your husband, it's because you're not focusing on Christ. You're focusing on the imperfections of your husband instead of the perfections of Christ. I know that sounds a little too easy, but it's true. Whether you're husband or wife, if you're having a problem submitting to authority, And we all have to submit to authority, of course. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, who points us to Christ and gives us the mind of Christ. I read it this morning, and I'll just give you the citation, Galatians 5, 16, to the end of the chapter. When you're walking in the flesh, there's this insubordinate spirit that begins to dominate and characterize even Christians. jealousy, fits of rage, dissension. All of these things will arise within us if we're not keeping in step with the Spirit. Fourth thing I want to say before we get into our three points. For wives, a lack of submission to your husband is perhaps the greatest area of spiritual warfare for you. I'm not saying it is, but there's a good chance it is. If Satan is going to hammer on you in an area of your life, it's going to be, don't submit to your husband. He's a sinner. He's imperfect. He's flawed. He makes mistakes. He's not deserving of it. But as we're going to see, Christ doesn't give conditions. He says, wife, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And Satan is going to tempt you the way he tempted Eve in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve are right there. He tempted Adam to be a pansy. And rather than sacrificially loving and providing and protecting his wife, he became a coward and selfish. Satan nailed Adam there. We're going to see that next week. But what did he do with Eve? He tempted her. She saw the fruit was good. It would make her wise. And rather than submitting to the head, she took matters into her own hands. And Eve fell, being duped by Satan. I believe he still does that today, that he tempts wives to a spirit of rivalry and insubordination. Rather than looking to Christ, who is the Savior, and trusting in His wisdom, Satan would have you look at your imperfect husband and say, he's not worthy of it. So one, wife submission is inextricably tied up with the furtherance of God's kingdom. This is so important, wives. Two, this is a major component of what it looks like of living in a manner worthy of Christ's calling. In chapter 5 it says, do not be foolish, but understand, discern what the will of the Lord is. Wives, this is the will of God for you. Walk then, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time. This is part of what it means to look carefully how you walk. Wise living for the wife is submitting to her husband as head. Thirdly, that this is an impossibility apart from being filled with the Spirit. If you have a real problem, if there's a power struggle in the family, trust in Christ. Look to Christ. Ask for the Spirit to help you. Do what you cannot do. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. The Spirit will enable you to obey the commandments of Christ for the glory of Christ. He really can. You might be thinking, it's so impossible. If you knew what a bumbling idiot my husband was, you wouldn't submit either. Don't look to him. Don't look to you. Look to Christ. I can do all things, including submit to an imperfect husband in Christ who strengthens me. You have to believe it though. You can't say but after Ephesians 4 or Philippians 4.19. You actually can. God's grace can do all things. Fourthly, as I mentioned, submission is a problem wives will struggle with. Probably till the day you die. Satan is going to hammer on you. Finally wives, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. What's going to enable you to stand against the wiles of the devil who's going to tell you that submission is not a big deal, and that it's maybe an archaic, Neanderthal kind of ideology that Paul was imbibing from Jews who didn't understand 21st century culture. No, the Word is enough. And understand that Satan is going to hammer on you. So be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. My first point, a startling command for wives. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. A startling command. And the reason I say it's startling is because Paul's exhortation to wives for us today would have been received in the exact same way it was received in the first century. When you hear this today, you think, foolish, you think chauvinistic, you think belittling of a woman's dignity. Paul's exhortation to Christian wives in Ephesus would have been just as offensive to them and to that world then as it is today. Some of the university students are not here this morning but I was thinking about that, that if some of them got married and their friends in university or their professors in university heard that they're submitting to their wives, they would laugh them to scorn. You submit to your husband? Do you not have a brain, woman? Do you not think for yourself? Are you a robot? I want you to understand that this word is timeless and unchanging and true and it's sufficient. And that what Paul was writing then applies just as much as it did then for us today. The culture was just as wicked then as it is now. That there was a massive feminist movement going on in the Roman Empire. Where the women were being exhorted to unshackle themselves from the bonds of tyranny. But they were encouraged to find freedom. Nothing is new under the sun, says Solomon. The heart that is desperately wicked in Genesis 3 and Genesis 6 is just as desperately wicked in 80, 55, or whenever this was written. And that desperately wicked heart of unregenerate people and unregenerate society is just as wicked in 2013. The culture in Paul's time had been congratulating themselves. for their work in liberating women from their bondage to an archaic, tyrannical, hierarchical system dominated by men. Unfortunately, the women who were getting saved had this baggage of feminism with them that they were bringing into the church. If you were to study it, they were encouraged to take off the veil. And Paul, I think, deals with that in 1 Corinthians 11. And that veil was a symbol of submission, and that the husband was the head. And they were being encouraged to take it off in public. They were encouraged to be promiscuous. They were encouraged to have as much sex with whoever they wanted as much as they wanted. And if they didn't want the child, they aborted it. Abortion isn't a new phenomenon. Satan hates children, he hates families, and he was just as active then as he is now. Please don't think that this word that Paul is writing is given to a world that is vastly and erotically different. No, this world is identical to ours. And Paul would have been laughed to scorn. If they had blogs back then, Paul would have been blogged against. If they had YouTube back then, there would be all these self-righteous, intelligentsia laughing at Paul. What? A woman submits to her husband? Get with the times, Paul. Paul does get with the times. He goes back to Genesis 1. A sterling command. What? Submit. This word is abrasive in our ears, this word is stringent, it is offensive and it's a loaded word. But as Timothy Savage in his book, No Ordinary Marriage, reminds us that we have to understand that this word need not be understood as a negative word. When you think of submit, you already think inferiority, unintelligent, slave mentality. That's just what comes to our mind in the word submits. But Timothy Savage reminds us that this was the mind of Christ our Savior in Philippians 2. Submission is not a negative word. Christ willingly, gladly, joyfully submitted himself to the Father for the Father's glory and for our good. For the joy set before him, Christ laid aside his divine prerogatives. He submitted himself in John 13 to sinners and washed their gross, defiled feet. Submission is not a bad word in a good context. Submission literally means hupa, under, tasso, to line up, to line up under. And the illustration that came to my mind is the idea of a line and going to the back of the line so others can go in front of you. And so when you're hungry this afternoon for our fellowship meal, hupotasso, be subject to one another. Line up underneath someone else. Let someone else go first. And that's what Paul is encouraging all Christians to do, but specifically in marriage, wives, to line up under the authority of their husband. You put yourself last so others can go first. Instead of cutting into line, you go to the last position because you love others more than yourself. In 521, Paul says submission must characterize all Christians. So there's a truth and a sense in which husbands still submit. to their wives, that they even submit to their children, that they even submit, as it were, to an unbelieving world. But what submission looks like varies. And I want you to understand that. We're all to submit to one another. But there's differing degrees of what that submission looks like in a family, in a church, and in the world. So I'm to submit to my leaders, 1 Peter 2, Romans 13. I submit to our Prime Minister and to our Premier. Not because they're different or better men, but because they have been placed, that I line up under their authority. Okay? In this church, you submit to the leaderships that God has placed over this church. Not because me and Marvin and Chris are ontologically better, or superior to you, you do so because this is what God has instituted in this church. He has put governing authorities in the civil realm, in the church realm, and even in the family realm. And so this startling command for wives is that they are to submit themselves to their husbands. All husbands, all wives submit to each other, but in 22, There's a special kind of submission that wives are to live out. John Piper says this, mutual submission does not eliminate unique roles. Okay, so don't pull the egalitarian where it says, you need to submit to me Mark. Mark is the head of the family. Even if Sharon is wiser than Mark, more competent than Mark, Mark is still been placed there. We love to trash our premier. The fact of the matter is, he makes the decisions, not me. And I need to submit to that, as to the Lord. After declaring that there is to be mutual deference in 521, Paul devotes 12 verses to the unfolding difference in the way a husband and a wife serve each other. So a husband, as it were, submits to his wife by sacrificially loving her. A wife submits to her husband by honoring his headship. So the command, submit. Who are you to submit to, wives? This is important. Wives, submit to, what does it say? your own husbands. And I think that's important because a lot of people think Paul's chauvinistic. He doesn't say girls submit to boys. He doesn't say women submit to men. And he doesn't say Sharon submit to Ryan. He doesn't say Noni submit to Chris. He says wives submit to your own husbands. Paul's not saying that men are anyway superior. And so I can't tell Sharon what to do. I'm not her husband. I'm not her own husband. And it's very emphatic in the Greek. And remember that. That you are to submit to one man, wives. And that's to your own husbands. You're not subject to all men. You're only to offer glad submission to your own husbands. How do you do it? As to the Lord. Okay, the startling command. submit. To whom? To your own husbands. How? As to the Lord. Throughout this section, as we're going to see, those who are asked to submit to the God-given authority of others are asked to view their submission to others as part of their commitment to the Lord. Okay, so we're going to see in chapter 6. Servants, obey your earthly masters. Render to them service as to the Lord and not to man. So you need to have the lens of Christ in this. You need to actually understand that. When I'm submitting to Daryl, it's as though I'm submitting to Christ. Not because Daryl is like Christ, or that Daryl is a Messiah, but in your submission to Daryl, what you're saying is, I'm submitting ultimately to Christ's wisdom. Christ is the head of the church, put Daryl as the head of this family. So here's the illustration that came to mind. I was thinking of your family, Yongerdens, and so you have two boys. Our church is full of girls, and so you're the family that had two boys. And when Mark owned the irrigation company, he had David and Jared. And so, Mark is the head honcho. He's the head of the company. And the company is growing and expanding, and David and Jared are both working now for Mark. They're both equal. Jared is no way inferior to David. But Mark, in his wisdom, decides to put David to be a manager over the employees of which Jared is. They're both children. Mark doesn't love David any more than Jared. Just out of his own will and his own wisdom, he decides that for the good and the organization and the structure of the company, it's good to put a head or a leader in the company, in the family, if you will. And what Mark tells Jared is, Jared, you need to listen to your brother. He's your head. He's your manager. And Jared might say, yeah, but I'm way smarter than David. Have you seen my marks? They're way better. I'm way more competent. And Jared has to ultimately submit to Mark's wisdom and say, OK, I think this, but Mark has put David over me. And by submitting to David, ultimately I'm honoring my father. I think that's all. Paul is saying here, wives, when you submit to your husbands, you're submitting ultimately to the one who put your husbands over you. And so when you render service from an obedient heart, workers, it's to the Lord. And wives, when you render submission from the heart, It's ultimately to Christ, and it's for His glory. And you say, yes, Jesus, Your ways are infinitely wiser than mine. You know how a family ought to run. You make no mistakes. I'm going to trust You, even if I have a hard time trusting my husband. Submit to your own husbands. Ask to the Lord. The first point, a startling command. The second point, the theological reason. Despite what egalitarians believe, The word head, kafale, undisputedly carries the idea of leadership and authority with a secondary meaning of provision. Okay, let me just define what that big $10 word is. Egalitarian. It basically means that people believe that men and women are exactly the same. Not only in their essence and their worth, but also in their function. that you can have women pastors, that women can lead the family, that women can provide for the family, that they're to be the breadwinners, that there's really no difference. And that's just an Old Testament sort of primitive law that has been foisted upon. No, no. Okay, so egalitarian. Equal in everything. Okay, and so feminists are egalitarians. Churches that have women pastors are egalitarians. This church would be complementarian. Another big fancy word. And basically what we're saying is that men and women are equal in their worth and their dignity. They're both image bearers of God. Genesis 1.26. In the image of God He created them, plural. Man and woman He created them. Women and men are equal. and dignity and worth. Men are not any way superior intellectually or morally or anything. This is just what God designed. And so a complementarian says, yes, women and men are equal in value and dignity and worth, but there are differing roles that complement each other. And that's obvious because that's what happens in Genesis chapter 2. God creates man And man needs a helper, a helpmate. He needs a compliment. He needs someone, as it were, to fill the puzzle. And so that's what we would believe, is that God created man and woman equal, but He made man the head, and He made the wife the helpmate, or the helper. Help me does not need to be a derogatory term. It doesn't need to be a slanderous, reviling term. A lot of people think it is. It does not need to be that way. Because that same Hebrew word, Ezer, used of Eve for Adam, is used of God, for His people. That God is our helper. And so that word does not need to be so odious. That God, as it were, is our helper. Just the way God in his infinite wisdom created the woman out of the man, took a part of the man, and then completed the man. He became incomplete, a part of him made him incomplete, and then he brought the two together, and the two complement and complete each other. That's your little lecture of egalitarian and complementarianism. So why? Why should a wife submit? He doesn't say, because your husband is smarter, or he is stronger, or whatever. Four, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Verse 23, four, because, since the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, He Himself is its Savior. The word head means leader, means someone with authority, someone who provides. That's just the way God made it. Husbands, this is who you are. You don't have to be a stay-at-home dad. I know that's going to burn a lot of people if they hear that. You are to lead. And if you think that it's some kind of privileged position, with much privilege comes much responsibility. Read 1 Peter 3. You're the stronger vessel. You come home from a long day of work, now lead your family. Don't sit on the couch and be a lazy bum. Anyways, that's for next week. Simply put, this is how God originally ordered the family roles in creation. And men and women in humble submission to God's decree must trust His wisdom in the matter. That's what's destroying our nation. This reversal of roles. Men becoming like pansies and women becoming like dictators. Just destroying the families. Wife submit, for the husband is the head. And Paul doesn't get into it. He just says the husband is the head. It's a true statement. The key interpretive verse though, is 1 Corinthians chapter 11. So you can turn there. I'm just going to read it quick. I promise this is not going to be a long one. The same issue is happening in Corinth as is happening in Ephesus. This idea of a new Roman woman. And all of this goddess pagan cult worship is beginning to influence the world and unfortunately it's influencing the churches. And so Paul says the exact same to the Corinthians as he does to the Ephesians. He says it in one verse in Ephesians and I think he unpacks it for us. In 1 Corinthians 11, 2. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I deliver them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. So here's that word kephale. Head, leader, authority, provider. I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is her husband. And the head of Christ is God. So the first thing this text tells us is that the idea of headship and submission to that headship is not bad. Why? Help me out here. Why is submission to a head not a bad thing in this text? Why does this text show us that submitting to a head does not necessitate inferiority? Christ submitted to the Father's head. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, dishonors Christ, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head was shaven. And the picture of subordination or of submission to the head of a family was wearing a veil. And so what some of the women were saying, hey, we're all the same in Christ, get the veil off. And Paul was saying, no, you're going against a creation ordinance. Namely that God instituted that men lead families and that men are the heads of families. They lead and they're authoritative figures. And so Paul is rebuking the women. That you're no less inferior. to your husband. But you still need to remember that God in His wisdom, before sin crept into the world, had husbands and wives together, but the husband led. The husband was the head. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair, shave her head, let her cover her head, for a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. Interesting. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. I know this sounds chauvinistic, but Paul is by no means a chauvinist. When this text is rightly understood, it dignifies women. And I'm not saying that to just cover up, I really mean it. Wherever true Christianity enters into a culture, it literally liberates women. but it truly liberates them. It doesn't offer the false liberation that the world offers, that becomes a weight and a noose and barns. Man was not created for a woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority, the veil on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. So you just have to submit. All things have come from God. This is God's wisdom. Before sin crept into the garden. Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God's good command. This is the way God did it. God instituted one man, one woman, together. One flesh. But in that union, the husband is still the leader. Woman came from man. Woman was made for man. And I find it interesting that it says that man... Where is it? What verse is it? 7. The man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. So this is the way I see it. That when you honor your husband, it gives honor to Christ. So you're not ultimately honoring your husband or glorifying your husband. You're glorifying Christ, because Christ is still the head of the husband. And as the woman honors her husband, that honors Christ, and it honors the Father. And that's what Christ was all about. What brings Christ great glory? When the Father is honored. And so there's this sort of step-by-step progression. And so wives, it's not just you submitting to your husband, it's ultimately you submitting to your head of a head of a head. That's why you do it. Not only for the safety of your family, but ultimately for the glory of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Four, the husband is the head, even as Christ is the head of the church and is himself its savior. Third, the example emulated. Back to Ephesians. That's the final verse and we'll move on. Now, or literally as I said, but... Just as, in the same way, husbands should... sorry... Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. So Paul says exactly what he does in verse 24, what he said in verse 22. Submit to your husbands. But he adds something now. In everything. It just gets it even more offensive, right? The Church's submission to Christ is here presented as the model of the wife's submission to her own husband. Paul is reinforcing the command of verse 22 with the simple addition of, in everything. He almost repeats himself word for word, and then he adds, in everything. Which simply indicates that submission is to be the normal disposition of wives towards their husbands. I think that's very important. A submission is not so much a duty as it is a disposition. You should be trying to cultivate a spirit of submission. All Christians should, of course. But even in the family, a spirit of submission. Because this honors the Lord. So it's not just like when the husband says, yeah, I think the family should do this. And you're like, OK. You should be willing and ready and you should be preparing yourself, cultivating within yourself a disposition towards their husbands. Clinton Arnold, a commentator says this, in everything means that a wife should cultivate an attitude of affirming, supporting and respecting her husband's leadership in the marriage without holding back certain areas where she wants to assert or maintain control. All sinners do that with God, of course. I'll let you have this part of my life. But I want to hold this. So you can take the porn, but I still want this materialism. I do that, maybe you're just like me. But Arnold's saying that it should be everything. You're not holding back. It's like, well, I'll let him sort of decide what to do with this. But I want to decide with the kids where to church. He's trying to hold back little pockets of resistance. Arnold says, no. The wife should be willing. Remember how I said that you need to be filled with the Spirit? Because this is an impossibility for anyone, including wives. Apart from the Spirit, letting the Word of Christ dwell deeply in your heart, this is an impossibility. This is offensive to you if you're not filled with the Spirit. And you have every but. The inner lawyer within you is just activated and you've got a hundred things you want to email me with. The wife is to cultivate an attitude, I like this, of affirming, supporting, and respecting her husband. Not belittling, or tearing him down, or like the dripping water in Proverbs, where you just keep berating on him until he just gives in like Samson. Without holding back certain areas where she wants to assert or maintain control. I would encourage, no, I just want to look at 1 Peter 3 quick. This is how Sarah glorified her God. Wives be subject to your husbands, likewise. Chapter 2 is all about everyone being subject and then Peter, like Paul, gets specific. He gets to the families. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands. So that even if some do not obey the word, that they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. What kind of conduct? A submissive heart. When they see your respectful and pure conduct, do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair, the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. Submission is not ultimately about your husband. It's about the glory of God. For this is how the holy women, who what? Hoped in God. How can you submit to your husband? By hoping in God, not hoping in your husband. Your husband is not the savior of the body, Christ is! For this is how the holy women who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves. by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children, if you do good, and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands. So Paul's not letting the husbands off, he's not free. Actually, with Peter, Paul's saying, it's even harder for the husbands! But for all intents and purposes this morning, Sarah honored her God. Because she hoped in God, and submitted to her husband. Abraham was a bumbling fool like the rest of us men. Incompetent, indecisive, wayward at times. And Sarah honored God by trusting and hoping in Him. So how do you submit to a husband who's imperfect? Not by hoping in your husband or hoping in Him to become perfect. By hoping in God. Which comes, of course, when the Holy Spirit points us to Christ. The church expresses submission to her head, or the church submits to Christ, how? Let me take a quote from John Piper's excellent book, This Momentary Marriage. He says, this is how the church submits to Christ. By honoring and affirming his leadership. We just submit to the Lord, but we honor Him as King. We affirm it. The Church submits to Christ by honoring and affirming Christ's leadership, as well as by helping, by any means possible, to see it carried through. So Christ is our Lord, and we want to do whatever it takes for Him to express His Lordship, to see His Lordship carried through. Christ is Lord and we want to assist it, as it were. We want to see His Lordship spread, actualized. How then is a wife to express submission to her head? In the same way. Now, as the Church submits to Christ, so also, in the same way, likewise, the wife submits to the husband. So wife, how do you submit to your husband? The same way the Church submits to Christ. And to quote Piper again, this is the exact same thing. The wife submits to her husband by honoring and affirming his leadership. As well as helping by any means possible to see it carried through. This is the word that came to mind as I was studying this. Seeking her husband's flourishing as leader. Not seeking to put him down and make him feel like a worm. Some wives are so good at that. And making their husband feel useless and that big. That's not what Christ does for us. And that's not what the church does to Christ. We magnify him. We want his reign to flourish. Wives, you should want that for your husband. You should seek to assist him as his helpmate, to carry it through according to your gifts, to be an encourager, to pray for him, to help. Just as the church proactively and intelligently seeks to submit to Christ's headship, so also the wife is to proactively and intelligently seek to submit to her husband's leadership. Last thing I want to say, and I shouldn't have to, but I'm going to say it, is that the word in everything doesn't mean in everything. So if your husband says, quit reading the Bible, your husband says, don't go to church, your husband says, hey, it's been hard times, can you steal something? Of course that's not what he means. It just means to submit in every instance that honors Christ. Remember, as you submit to your husband, it honors Christ. There are ways that you can obey your husband or submit to him that dishonor Christ. I don't think I should have to, but because there are pig-headed husbands who are chauvinists and tyrants, I will mention it that, in everything does not obviously mean, in everything no matter how harmful, silly or sinful. Okay? So if you have an unbelieving husband and he wants you to sin against God, you have to say with the apostles in Acts 5, is it more wise or better for us to obey God or obey man? The husband is your head, but remember he is under the headship of Christ. And you submit to your husband's leadership insofar as he, as it were, is furthering Christ's headship. If your husband says something that contradicts Christ's headship, of course don't submit. That's kind of obvious though, isn't it? Like, so if Matt says, you know, Heather, I want you to go and steal something for me. Submit, woman. No. No, that's not what Pastor Ryan said, and that's not what Paul said. Okay, so the Starling Commandment, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. The grounds or the theological reason for the husband has been placed as head over the wife, even as Christ is head of the church. Third point was the example that we are to imitate or emulate. As the church submits to Christ, so also the wives are to submit to their husbands. They seek his flourishing, to see his leadership actualized, and to see that his leadership is encouraged for the well-being, right? As Christ leads well, the church benefits. It's in your own interest, wives, to do this. Application. The wife might be thinking, I know I need to submit to my husband, but how? In 5.23, I left a phrase that Paul added. He awkwardly finishes the verse this way. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And literally in the Greek it says, he himself is the savior of the body. It doesn't have an and in there. And most commentators just think that Paul just adds it in like he sometimes do. When he mentions the name of Christ he gets excited and he loses his train of thought. He's just like me. Sometimes he can't follow me. I'm down with that because sometimes you couldn't follow Paul. Just like he did in Ephesians 2. He sort of lost track when he talked about grace and he went off track and he had to bring him back. He mentions Christ and he himself is the savior of the body. How do you submit to your husband? by remembering what Paul added there. Christ is the Savior, not your husband, not you. Christ is the Savior of who? His body. Christian wife, are you a part of Christ's body by faith in the gospel? Yeah. So let me just try to work this through quickly. This phrase, Christ is Himself the Savior of the body, is a great motivation for Christians, especially those who are wives, to remember that the same Lord who commands wives to submit to their husbands, is at the same time the same Savior who nourishes and cherishes His body. So the Lord gives the command. But He's also the Savior who empowers you to keep that command. I can't! I can't do this! Help me! I am your Savior. I will nourish you. I will cherish you. I will assist you. Beloved daughter, Jesus is your Savior. He will give you everything you need for life and godliness. The one who cherished you enough to die on a bloody cross is more than able to nourish you now that he has been raised from the dead. This is what Paul prays in Ephesians 1. He prays for the believers that they would get what God is doing in them. that they would understand the power that is at work within them. If joyful, humble and willful submission to your husband seems an impossibility by faith, believe Paul's words following his prayer that the saints would get the love of Christ. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that you ask or think according to the power at work within you, to him Be glory in the church and in Christ, both now and forever. Amen. How does God mediate that power to you? Through Christ the Savior. Christ is your Savior wife. Christ is your ultimate head. He is your ultimate provider. He is your ultimate nourisher. If you can't submit to your husband, go to Christ and He will enable you to. You can do all things in Christ. Remember, marriage and families are ultimately about what? The glory of God in Christ Jesus. We read it providentially in Isaiah 48, 11. Not for your sake. Not if I'm the Lord. I do this for my glory. So if marriage is about the glory of God, and my submitting to my imperfect husband makes that marriage better, that I can say by transit of property, by my submitting to my husband, that brings great glory to God. And God is all about His glory. Will God give me the grace to glorify Him? Yes! Because that's what His end is. Your chief end, wife, husband, everyone, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Your Savior will enable you to do that. Christian wife, this is my closing paragraph, I promise. If you are struggling with an ungodly desire to rule over your husband, remember how you learned Christ, Ephesians 4.20. And put off these deceitful desires of your flesh to dominate your husband and belittle his authority and nag him into submission with the drippings of your constant correction and questioning of his decisions. Ask the Spirit to open your eyes to see the glory of Christ as He submitted His divine prerogatives for your good and your salvation. Then ask the Spirit to transform you into Christ's image in true righteousness and holiness. That's Ephesians 4, 20-24. As Timothy Savage says, what could bring greater glory to God than the dissemination of His self-giving image throughout the earth? Wives, as you submit to your husbands, you image Christ, who submitted to His head. And isn't that the purpose of God, is to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory? So, as you imitate Christ, You begin to fulfill His mandate in Genesis 1 and 2 to fill the earth with God's image. You image Christ by submitting to your husband. Even if your husband isn't perfect. My final words come from one of my favorite songs. He is able. He is able. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. And Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked, let me just close the way he would close. from the text, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself the savior of it. Now, or but, as the church submits to Christ in the same way, likewise, the wife should submit in everything to her husband for the glory of God in Christ. My parentheses. Father, I pray that you would help us all as Christians to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. But Lord, Paul had no problems getting specific to the wives. And Father, help us as a church, Lord, to really cherish and to nourish and to think highly of wives. Lord, I pray that you would bless the wives of this church. And I pray for all the girls who, Lord, will be married. Oh, that they would have that gentle, trusting spirit of Sarah, Lord, who trusted her God even when her husband fell short of the glory of God. Father, help us, of course, as husbands, to imitate Christ as well. But, Lord, this morning we pray, oh, that the women of our church, as in Titus 2 says, would not bring reviling to your word through their lack of submission to their own husbands. Oh, that these wives would adorn the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray, Lord, that we would be more influenced by the eternal Word of God and the wisdom you give through it, than we would be by what social media says, by what pundits say on their news shows, by what celebrities say. Oh, Father, I pray for the young girls, that they would be more like Sarah, then they would be then Miley Cyrus and all of these women who are living in bondage. Oh Father, would you bless the marriages in this church. And Father, would they be Christ-honoring, Christ-exalting, because they are Christ-centered. Help wives and husbands and children, help us all to look to Jesus, who Himself is the Savior of the church, His body. Help us now to honor you, Jesus Christ, as our head, as we celebrate the table. We ask, Father, in His name, Amen.