Good afternoon again. Will you go with me in your Bibles or your bulletins? We will be reading Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 through the end of the chapter, and we will be reading Ephesians 6 verses 1 through 4. This is the word of God. Wives, submit to your own husband 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 its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the water, 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. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I'm saying it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respect her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother This is the first commandment with a promise, that it might go well with you and that you might live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you, who are wise and who created us and who knows our lives and who knows the purpose of our lives has revealed this in your word. And as we come together and we consider this passage, we see, Lord, that you are speaking to us in very practical ways, very things that are of our daily lives. And we thank you that we have this revelation in front of us. But we thank you, Lord, also that you have given us the Holy Spirit, that as we read this, we can understand this through the power of the Holy Spirit, and we can actually also have faith and trust in your word. Help us, Lord, to understand, Lord, what is the main point of what you want to teach us from these verses, and help us also, Lord, to submit ourselves to your word, to be able, Lord, to follow your lead as you teach us how to live lives that honor you. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So we continue today in this study that we're doing from the book of Ephesians, and Paul continues in this topic of walking in a manner worthy of the calling that he has given to us, working in a manner worthy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and working in a manner worthy of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what he does today is that he goes specifically to tell us about areas where we need to start to apply what he has been teaching us so far from the beginning. Because so often we might hear these exhortations from God's word and we go and we try to apply these things initially in our interactions with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the church because they see us and we see them and we have been called by the word of God to exhort one another, to submit to one another and therefore we see the need of applying it here as we interact with members of the body of Christ. Then sometimes then we decide to go and apply these principles as well in our workplace, in our interactions with people outside because we see that this is the way we can be effective sharing with others the gospel. But then we forget that the place where we need to start to consider these words is our families, is our homes. And sometimes, so often we neglect that, that we might behave as good Christians and walks in the church among our brothers and sisters, and maybe even at work, having a good work ethic, but we have forgotten that we are called to start from home. with our spouses, with our children. And this is what Paul does here. I think that if you look at this section, not just this section, but adding what follows in chapter six, verses five through nine, you can see that Paul is addressing three layers in our lives. One is our most intimate layer, which is our spouses, our marriages. And then he goes to talk about our relationship with our kids, with our children, children and parents. And then when he talks about bond servants and masters, you could apply that today in our context to talk about our relationships at work. So Paul is addressing all these things in order to help us to see that here is where we have to start. We have to start with our marriages. And then in our relationship with our kids and us as children with our parents and then when we go out and we interact with the world. And somebody was asking me, well then what is the connection or how do we put this together into all what Paul has been saying before? So if you remember from last week, one of the things that Paul called us to do is to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And then as he explained what is to be filled by the Holy Spirit, he described different things that happen in the life of a believer when he is filled by the Holy Spirit. And one of them is what you can read in the last verse of what we studied last week, which is verse 21, when Paul says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And you can see that what Paul does in the following verses, and even in the following chapter, is apply this submission that happens in the body of Christ. First of all, the submission that happens in marriage. And it's not just for the wife to the husband, but as you will see, it's also the husband, how he's submitting as well to his wife. And also you see that submission that happens between children and their parents and also the submission that happens between bound servants and masters. So you could see that all this is connected and it's all about the same thing. Paul is reminding us and teaching us about our Christian walk that starts at home with our marriages. Now one thing that I want to warn you is that we will not cover all that we can cover from these verses. For example, Dr. Boyce preached five sermons from this passage. Five sermons from this passage. And if you look at Piper, he preached ten sermons from this passage. And if you read what Stott wrote about this, you can get probably another five or 10 sermons from this passage. And Enrique is only preaching one sermon, not because I'm very smart, but because I want us to focus in one main point, which I think is very important. And I wanted to leave for you to do the homework in understanding the meaning of all the different things that Paul is saying here because we are called to do that. We are called to continue studying God's Word. But there is one main thing that is very important that I found very important in my own life as I was studying this passage during this week. And there are basically two main points that I want us to look at from these verses. The one is, what is the main purpose of marriage? What is the main purpose of marriage? And the second one, which is in reference to the relationship of children and parents, is what is the biblical balance relationship between parents and children? how this biblical balanced relationship should look like. So first of all, let's start with what is the main purpose of marriage. And I'd like to invite you to go to this passage that you might not find a direct connection right away, but you will see it as we look at it. It's 1 Corinthians chapter two, verses seven through eight. 1 Corinthians chapter two, verses seven through eight. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are done to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, They would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The key part on this verse that you will find a connection between what Paul is saying here and what we have here is the word mysterium or the word mystery. That word mysterium is what you have in Corinthians translated as a secret and hidden wisdom of God. The word mysterion doesn't mean something that is so mysterious that nobody can get what is the meaning of it, but mysterion, in the way Paul use it, it talks about something that was hidden but is now revealed. And in the case of this test is that when you look at the Old Testament, You can find that through the Old Testament, throughout the Old Testament, Christ was there in every part. That the Old Testament is crystal centric. Christ is the center of the Old Testament. And the rulers of this world didn't see that because it was a mystery. It needed Jesus to come and appear and make it clear how he would redeem his people. That part of his redemption plan will be that the Gentiles and all the nations will be included and that was also a mystery. for the people of Israel. But just the whole appearance of Jesus as a humble servant who went to the cross and died on the cross and delivered us from the slavery of sin was some whole mystery for the people of Israel who was expecting a deliverer who would deliver them from the oppression of the Roman Empire. So here we have this mystery, and when you look at the test that we have in front of us, Paul is talking also about a mystery. Verse 32 says, this mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ. And what is the mystery that is profound that it refers to Christ? It's the quotation that Paul does from Genesis 2.24 that says, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. One thing before we continue to look at what this mean in this test is what we understand also from Colossians chapter two verses 16 through 17. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard of festivals or new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the sustenance belongs to Christ. What we find in the Old Testament, throughout the Old Testament again, is different pictures, what people will call prototypes, or what our Bible will teach us is shadows of Christ, images that will point to Christ. For example, if we think about Moses bringing the people of Israel out of slavery from Egypt, it's a prototype, it's a shadow of Jesus delivering us from the slavery of sin. When we think about the serpent the bronze serpent, where the people of Israel will look at the bronze serpent and they will be healed from the snakes that have bitten them. That was also another shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ. And through the Old Testament we find many shadows because the whole Bible is about Christ. Christ is the center. And this is what happened with marriage as well. That when we look at marriage and the way Paul interprets this passage of the Old Testament, Paul is teaching us here that our whole marriage is about Christ and his church. Again, look at what Paul says in verse 31. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. That was a clear instruction for the early people on earth. But Paul says this here, which is what help us to see that this was also a shadow. This mystery is profound, is so deep. It's not just about this beautiful union between men and woman, but he says, and I am saying it, which means therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. It refers to Christ and the church. Basically what we can see there is that the main purpose of marriage was that God created marriage as an illustration of the relationship between Christ and His church. It is true that God gave marriage to men and women for the mutual enjoyment, for companionship, for blessing them, also to multiply and fill the earth. But we can see here that the main purpose of marriage was that Christ and the church were pictured in that relationship. You may wonder, how is that possible if Adam and Eve have not yet seen? And how is that possible if all these things that are related to God's plan were not seen or could not be seen? When you read Ephesians chapter 1 verse 2 says, or verses 3 and 4 says, like this, blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, even as he choose as in him before the foundation of the world. We were chosen in Christ before everything that existed or assisted. Therefore, when God designed marriage, God designed marriage as one of the many examples that we find throughout the scripture that was pointing to the union of Christ and his church. You could see that actually when you look from the cross back to the passage of the Old Testament, how meaningful what Paul says or what God says to Adam and Eve here. He says, therefore a man shall leave his father and hold fast. And that is actually referring to that covenant relationship that is an eternal covenant relationship between Christ and his church. But it's also telling men and women that when they get married, this is for the rest of their life. This is the intention of God. Hold fast to his wife. And here is the other part. It says, and the two shall become one flesh. And that is what happened in our union with Christ. Christ is the head and we are the body. We are one flesh with Christ because Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body of Christ. Now why is that so important? And I think that that's actually the main point that I like you guys see with me from these verses. This is so important because it help us to see that the calling that we have in marriage is a higher calling than what we think. That the calling that we have in marriage is not just to please one another or to love one another, to care for one another, to nourish one another as a couple, but also that as we follow God's lead on what he have designed for marriage, we are an illustration for the world and for the church of what the relationship between Christ and his church is. We are to be a metaphor of that beautiful illustration. And then you realize how important it is to follow the roles that God has given to each one of us in this relationship. Not because God choose women to give him this role and men to give him this other role because there is something in essence different or superior between one or the other, but because God is illustrating this relationship between Christ his church. To the woman he says, wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church his body. Basically we're looking here at how God is using that example. It's not that God goes and sees marriage and says, well that's great, let's use this as an example of how the church and Christ will function. But basically what God is designing is the relationship between Christ and the church and saying, Wives, submit to your husband as to the Lord. The submission is in submission to the Lord. And one thing that is important to realize from here is that it's not saying, husbands, submit your wife to yourself. But it's a command to the wives to come voluntarily to submit to the spiritual leadership of the husband who have the responsibility of lead the wife in the law, of moving the wife towards the law. But also, husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church. And I think that we cannot stop there but continue reading what does this love means to the point that he gave himself for her. So in this sense you can see that there is a mutual submission because the wife is submitting to the leadership of the husband but the husband is called to submit his own life. in love for his wife. I found this quote from Dr. Boyce who quoted another person who described how this love should look like. He says, love is Paul's key word for Christian husband just as to meet is the key word for Christian wives. It is not a verb. to be taken lightly. What does love mean? I like, he says, Walter Trowbridge definition. Let me try to tell you what it really should mean if a fellow says a girl, I love you. It means you, you, you, you alone. You shall reign in my heart. You are the one whom I have longed for. Without you I am incomplete. I will give everything for you. I will give up everything for you, myself as well as all what I possess. I will love you alone, and I will work for you alone, and I will wait for you, and I will never force you, not even by words. I want to guard you, protect you, and keep you from all evil. I want to share with you all my thoughts, my heart, and my body, all that I possess, I want to listen to what you have to say. There is nothing that I want to undertake without your blessing. I want to remain always at your side. This sounds really like a love letter, right? But it's basically the kind of definition of the love that Christ give us an example when he gave himself, when he gave his whole life with the purpose of doing what for the church, to sanctify the church, to wash it with water, that he might present us before God the Father as holy and without blameless. He's pointing right away, Paul, to the example of what Christ have done for the church to let us know that, in a sense, Christ is giving us an example of what we are, an example to the world when we love our wives as husbands should love their wives. So brothers and sisters, the main point that I'd like for you to notice from these verses is that Marriage has a higher calling than what we sometimes think, that it's just for us and for our enjoyment and for being together with somebody, but the calling is for us to be an example to the world and even to the body of Christ of what the church is like. Now, let's move to the second part, which is what is the biblical balance relationship between parents and children or how does this should look like. So first of all, Paul says, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother for this is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you might live long in the land. There are two things that you could see from what Paul is saying to children from these verses. One is that they are called to obey. And the second one is that they are called to honor. When he talks about obeying, he refers, or he used actually, the law that is written in the hearts of every human being. Because he said, obey your parents in the law, for this is right. for this is right. And you could see this in cultures all around the world, that this is something that, in a sense, happened naturally. Not that the children are very obedient to their parents, but that that is the main requirement of any child. since he is born. You can see also how different this is between relationship between husbands and wife, where wife is called to submit to her husband when she and him have started this covenant relationship between them. But in the case of children, nobody decided or nobody decided to have the father or mother that he or she has. But we were called to obey our parents is to follow their lead in whatever they teach us. Especially when Paul is referring here to this part, he's referring to little children or children that are still under the supervision of their parents. But what he asks in verse two is something that is, I think, greater, because it refers to honor your father and your mother. And honor is more than simply obeying the lead or obeying the instructions of your parents. To honor means to respect, to value, and to give the honor that they deserved. But in this case, Paul quotes the Old Testament to show that this is a commandment for us as believers as well, to honor our parents. So again, as I told you, there has been many questions regarding all these points, and I'd like to read to you a quote from Beuys about some questions that some people may have regarding obeying parents. What is a child to do, for example, if his or her father is irresponsible, alcoholic, or profligate, or if the mother is immoral, undisciplined, and excessive worldly? Can a child properly honor such a parent, should he? To link this duty to the preceding, should a child obey the commandments of such a non-Christian parent? The answer is that a child, while he is a child, owes obedience to the parents in all areas except those that contradict the revealed law of God. In this, the child's position is the same as that of a Christian wife in relationship to a non-Christian husband, or a Christian citizen who find himself in conflict with an anti-Christian government. The principle is, if you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. Romans 13, seven. all obedience and respect to those over them, but no at dispense of the obedience we owe to God." So basically, this is basically, I would say, a word of wisdom for children or sons and daughters that find themselves in a relationship with parents who are non-believers and might be asking them to do things that are against God's law. But you see also here a balance. One thing is that children are called to obey and to honor parents, but at the same time, Parents, as you can see here in verse four, the fathers that could be also translated as parents, are called not to provoke their children in anger, but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. I think that we should not misunderstand this as fathers or parents having to avoid any confrontation with their children in order to keep peace at home. because this is not what Paul is saying here, because the contrast is actually what Paul says as follows. He says, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. In other words, what you see here is a comparison between provoking your children is leading them based on your own understanding versus leading them versus leading them based on the discipline and instruction of the Word. Of course, this is not an easy thing, and I'm starting to learn my own lesson on that. But you can see that two things are really important in this. One is that a father needs a lot of prayer. in order to have the wisdom to know when and how to say things to their kids. But at the same time, parents need to understand very well the instruction from the Word of God. The parents need to know the Word of God in order to instruct their kids. One important thing that we could also get from verses one and two is that when Children are called to obey their parents. Indirectly, parents are called to discipline their children. Because when you see that, you see the importance of the responsibility that children have before their parents, but parents have before the law of leading their children in accordance to the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, I think that when you look at these verses in particular, you can see here God teaching us to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. But you can see how God is teaching us how what we do has great relevance. Going back to the case of our marriages, our marriages are an illustration of the relationship of Christ and His church. Therefore, our motivation to live in a way that honors God is a motivation to show to the world as well to the other believers that this is the kind of relationship that happens between the head, which is Christ, and the church. And the responsibility that we have as parents and the responsibility that any of us have as sons and daughters is a responsibility to honor as well the Lord. Let us pray. Dear God, we thank you that your word speaks about all the areas of our lives. and you, Lord, lead us and give us understanding of it. We thank you, Lord, that you have spoken here in your words that are important for us as believers in the most fundamental relationships that we have in in our Christian families. Help us, Lord, to meditate on these words, and may you apply these words in our hearts. May you stir up our hearts to continue, Lord, studying them. And may you help us, Lord, to live lives, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that you have given us. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.