A Godly Marriage Series

Many of you have probably seen the commercial with a couple having a drink with their dog by their side. The conversation went something like this: The woman asked, “If you, Max our dog, and I were in a canoe and it tipped over, who would you rescue first?” The guy quickly replied, “I’d save you first of course and Max can swim by himself!” The woman smiled and asked the next question. “If you, your mom, and I were in a canoe and it tipped over, who would you rescue first?” The guy again quickly replied, “See you later Mom!” The woman’s smile got bigger and asked, “If you and I were in a canoe and it tipped over with your beer, who would you rescue first?” All of sudden there was silence!

The woman said, “Well?” The guy said “What??” With that the woman left! The guy looked at his dog and said, “What was that about???? If you and I were in a canoe…….” Typical guy huh?

You see, most guys don’t know Ephesians 5:25 which states, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

So guys, if you’re not willing to die for your wife, you’re done! Is that really true?

Open your Bibles to the Letter to the Ephesians and let’s take a closer look at Ephesians 5:25.

Can we just pull out verse 25 on its own?? Absolutely not! Verse 25 is only the beginning of a long sentence! We need to read v25-27 to fully understand what God is saying! We need to read the Bible very carefully and make sure we understand verses in context. The entire Bible is God’s Word! Each verse in Ephesians 5 is related to the whole Chapter; each chapter of Ephesians is related to the whole letter; and each letter or book in the Bible is related to the entire Bible!

What’s the number one rule of Bible interpretation?

Read the bible in context!

And so, for those of you who are not married, the message today is for you! You see, we will discuss what God expects in a marriage relationship. And so before you think about marriage, know what God wants you to do in a marriage.

For those of us who are already married………… well, it’s too late!

Just kidding!!! Our focus today is on marriage, but if we study it in context, there is a message for all of us today. ……….

Read along with me Ephesians 5:21-33….

God gives us a picture of a perfect marriage, with the wife submitting to the husband in everything and the husband loving his wife like Christ loving the church.

Let’s do a quick survey. Let me start with the guys. Guys, how many of you would say that most of the husbands you know do not love their wives as they should??

Ladies, how many of you would say that most of the wives you know do not submit to their husbands??

Why is a godly marriage so difficult?

The answer of course is in the text of our Bible passage today!

And so, before discussing what the passages for wives and husbands mean, we need to note a few things. Marriage is God’s idea and God knows what’s best for a marriage. And so, if we are Christians and married, our goal is to have a godly marriage as indicated in Ephesians 5.

1. We are to commit to do God’s will for wives and husbands.

If we profess to be Christians, we are to trust and obey God’s Word including what it says about marriage.

The second thing we need to note is that God’s instructions are specific for the individual. In other words,

2. We need to focus on what we have to do personally and not be caught up in the blaming game. Remember what Adam said when God confronted him of his sin? Adam blamed Eve; “the woman gave me the fruit!” And of course, Eve blamed the devil; “the devil told me it was okay!”

We need to stop this curse of fingerpointing! God calls us to take personal responsibility for our actions rather than blaming someone else. And so, guys, we can not say, “If only my wife would submit to me then I will love her as I should.” And ladies, you can not say, “If my husband would only love me as he should, then I will submit to him.”

And speaking of submission, we need to understand what submission means in this text.

3. Submission is about harmony and order not slavery.

Look again at verse 21 of Ephesians 5….And look back briefly to Ephesians 4:4-7…

All Christians are subject to one Lord who is Jesus Christ, Why? – because God desires harmony and order in His Kingdom! And Jesus Christ not only apportions gifts to every Christian but empowers them to love one another to bring harmony and order in the church!