What Every Woman Wants Her Man To Know Series

What Every Woman Wants Her Man to Know

Ephesians 5:22-30

Men, this is what every woman wants you to know:

1. She wants and needs you to lead 5:22-24

2. She wants and needs your sacrifice 5:25-27

3. She wants and needs your tenderness 5:28-30

Be attentive in conversation

Be gentle in disagreements

Be encouraging in hardships

Be helpful in stressful situations

Be honoring in public

Be attuned to her emotions

Wife's Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.

Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong; He said, “nothing.” I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.

On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, “I love you, too.”

When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.

Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

Husband's Diary:

A two-foot putt ... who the heck misses a two-foot putt?

Turn with me to Ephesians 5:22-30. This morning we begin a new series entitled “It’s Complicated.” We’re going to talk about marriage and millennials, parenting and singleness. We chose the title based on the undeniable fact that relationships are complicated. People are complicated. And when you have a relationship with another person or another group of persons, it is exponentially complicated. Amen?

This morning we’re going to dive into the deep end and tackle one of the most controversial passages in all of the Bible because it sets the context for any discussion on marriage.

The Bible often compares the marriage between a man and a woman to the marriage between Jesus and the church. It was Hebrew custom at the time of Jesus that the man and woman would become what was known as ‘betrothed.’ It does not exactly equal our modern term of engagement. It was more than that. It was a legal arrangement between the man and the woman prior to the actual marriage ceremony. During that time, each would be diligent to fulfill their roles in preparation for marriage. She would remain pure, pristine, and wait for the day her lover would come get her and formalize the marriage. Meanwhile, the groom would go and prepare a place for them to live together. After the agreed upon time, usually about a year, he would show up unannounced. She would know the day, but she wouldn’t know the time exactly so she would look for an long for his return.

So when Jesus says in John 14 on the night He was with His disciples and about to be arrested: “I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.” John 14:2-3, He had this in mind. When He tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids in Matthew 25, some of them were ready for the groom to come but others weren’t, He had this in mind.

In Revelation 19 we catch a glimpse of the glorious culmination of this relationship: “ 7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory,

because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.

8 She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:6-8

We who are believers are considered the Bride of Christ. While we wait for His return, we are to live pure and pristine lives. He is the Lover of our Souls. And we are most fulfilled when we find our deepest pleasure in pleasing Him.

So this analogy between Jesus and His church and a husband and wife, is packed with meaning.