Sermon Illustrations

Freedom in Marriage Lies in Submission

In the movie The Poseidon Adventure, the ocean liner S.S. Poseidon is on the open sea when it hits a tidal wave and tips over. Because of the air trapped inside the ocean liner, it floats upside down. In the confusion, the survivors can’t figure out what’s going on. They scramble to get out, mostly trying to climb the steps to the top deck. The problem is, the top deck is now 100 feet under water. In trying to get to the top of the ship, they drown. The only ones who make it are the few who do what doesn’t make sense. They do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and descend into the dark belly of the ship until they reach the hull. By going ‘down’, they reach the ocean’s surface. Rescuers hear them banging and cut them free. In marriage, the only way for us to find freedom is to choose what doesn’t make sense: lay down our lives for our spouses. We must go down to go up. Freedom lies in submission.

Eph 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

From a sermon by Stephen Sheane, Husbands and Wives, 6/1/2010

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