Husbands Series

What does it mean to Love Your Wife

Sacrifice for Your wife v. 25

Lead Your wife v. 26-27

Be considerate of Your Wife 1 Peter 3:7a

Respect Your wife 1 Peter 3:7b

Slide 1

I want you to close your eyes for a minute.

When I begin to speak, I want you to see what picture comes into your mind.

Vows

I, Scott, take you, Laura, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, so long as we both shall live.

You probably saw your wedding day if you are married. That is a day that I took on a new role in my life, a role that I did not have before that day, the role of husband.

If you are married, the same thing happened to you, you took on a new role.

When you hear those words, they seem pretty straight forward for the most part.

I was making agreement to be Laura’s husband

when we were getting along and

when we weren’t getting along,

committing to her that I would be there.

I was making an agreement then for the future that I would not leave her if we encountered some rough times.

I made agreement that I would be there if we had

a lot of money or

little money.

I made agreement that I would be there and be her husband even when she was sick or well.

We have an idea of what looks like in life?

But then the next words make a promise to love and to cherish.

What does that look like?

What does it mean to Love Your Wife

Slide 2

We need to know that, because our text today starts out with this command for husbands.

Turn with me to Ephesians 5:25 (P. 829)

Slide 3

Paul, having just finished discussing the role of the wife, now turns to the role of the husband and begins with this command.

Ephesians 5:25a

Husbands, love your wives,

We hear and say those words often, but what do they mean?

Does it mean that we should

conjure up strong feelings for your wife?

Buy them some chocolate

Let them watch their favorite TV show

Do only what they want?

What does loving your wife look like in real life?

What does loving your wife look like in your life?

That is what I want to talk about today.

Throughout this series, I am talking about the practicalities of playing the different parts that God has designed for us.

Not just what sounds good, but how that might look in real life, in your life.

So what does loving your wife look like being lived out?

Paul gives us a couple of things in this text to help us see what loving our wife will look like. We will also see what Peter has to say to husbands about what loving our wives should look like.

God has told us in His word how to truly love our wives in such a way as to help her be the woman of God He wants her to be which in turn will be of great value to us.

One of the first ways that our love should manifest itself is in

Sacrifice for Your Wife

Slide 4

Ephesians 5:25

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Christ gave Himself up for the church, He sacrificed Himself for it, and we as husbands need to sacrifice for our wives.

Two weeks ago I spoke about the S word for wives, submission. Submission is not an easy aspect of being a wife.

Well this is the S word for husbands, Sacrifice.

Sacrifice is not an easy aspect of being a husband.

What does sacrifice entail?

Does this mean that we only do what our wives want?

Should we give up everything we ever dream about if our wife does not want to do that?

No, we have to realize the purpose of our sacrifice.

Sacrifice does 2 things.

Shows the reality of our love for our wives

Helps them to be holy.

Sacrificial love will benefit your wife in ways that will better enable her

to be holy and growing in relationship with God and

to follow your godly leadership

When someone sacrifices something for someone else, it speaks love.

Jesus sacrificed for the church not because we deserved it.

He sacrificed because He loved us.

John 15:13

13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

(from New International Version)

Romans 5:7-8

7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.