Family Relatioships

Illus: It is unbecoming for any man to wear a pair of orange pants with green stripes, and a purple shirt with polka dots. If a man insists on wearing such an outfit, people are going to laugh at him behind his back.

Today a lot of folks are laughing behind the backs of some Christians. Paul tells us that there are things that are unbecoming to us to wear as Christians. He gave us a list of things we should PUT ON and TAKE OFF in previous verses.

After talking about things that should not be in our lives, it is not by accident that Paul now starts talking about family relationships.

It is unbecoming to us as Christians to not have the right relationship between

• HUSBANDS AND WIVES

• PARENTS AND CHILDREN

Let’s look at the verses in our text, to see what we can derive from them. What do we see?

I. LET’S LOOK AT HER

Look at verse 18, we read, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.”

Look at three things about her submitting to her husband. God ask the wife to do something that is very difficult to do, He asks her to submit.

Why is it so difficult to submit?

Several reasons:

(1) We all have minds to think with, and we all have our own ideas about things, and how they should be done. For us to be willing to submit, we have to take our thoughts on the matter, and be willing to lay them aside, in order to submit to someone else.

(2) Another reason it is difficult for a wife to submit, is because we live in the midst of the Woman’s lib movement. And one of the things that woman’s lib states clearly, is that they are not going to submit to any man. They state this and they practice this.

Illus: One women’s libber worked in the office as a secretary. One day the office staff was having to work late, and her boss asked her to put on a pot of coffee, and she refused. She told him that when she was hired, she was given a job description of what she was expected to do, and it did not include making a pot of coffee.

Her boss did not like her attitude. She had been asked to do something that just about every body in the office had done at one time or another. He knew he could not fire her for not making a pot of coffee, but later, he did find something he could dismiss her for, and that is exactly what he did.

We live in a society where some women want it to be known, that they are not going to submit to any man. But if you look into their lives, you will find they do not submit to ANYONE!

They live their life selfishly, doing what they want to do!

Listen, the only thing dumber than a woman like this, is a man who will marry such a woman.

God sees woman’s submission, as something that she should be willing to do. And that is why God’s Word teaches that she should we willing to submit to her husband.

The word “submit”, is the word “hupotassesthe”, which means subdue, or subject in obedience.

W.E. Vine, and A.T. Robertson both agree that it is a military term.

Illus: A private might be in the army, and his drill sergeant tells him to do something. He might believe that he knows a better way of doing what he has been asked to do. But he is not the sergeant, and he has to be willing to submit to his authority anyway.

Notice, God says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands…”

Why? Because the husband has been placed as the head of the home, and one day he is going to have to give account to God, as the head of the house. And if you are always bucking him as the spiritual leader, he cannot be the spiritual leader he is suppose to be. That does not mean he does not value your opinion, it simply means that he is going to have to give account to God for being the head, not you, and since he is going to be the one to give account, he had better do what he thinks is right.

As a wife, you must be willing to submit to him.

Look at the third thing that Paul says to the wife.

(3) Look at verse 18 again. It says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, AS IT IS FIT IN THE LORD.”

Listen wives, the women’s libbers may not appreciate that you submit to your husbands way of thinking, because they had rather have you submit to their way of thinking. But God is pleased with it, AS IT IS FIT IN THE LORD.