Honouring Christ In Family Roles --Headship And Submission Series

HONOURING CHRIST IN FAMILY ROLES

Colossians 3:18-4:1

January 29, 2017

You may go to the following link to listen to an MP3 recording of this message: http://chirb.it/fnghJh

INTRODUCTION:

1.) When we look to the Scriptures, God has placed a very high importance on the family.

2.) Throughout the book of Colossians we have been seeing how Christ is to be exalted in every area of life.

3.) Today as we continue in this series, I want us to look at the exaltation of Christ in our family relationships.

I. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP.

1.) God’s plan is not the world’s plan.

A.) Today there are many who misunderstand the teachings of Scripture on the marriage relationship.

aa.) We live in a culture where it is more common to see life and even marriage lived by the standards of

this world rather than by the standard of Jesus Christ.

ab.) Today when we talk of marriage and the Biblical role for the marriage partners, there are many who

would see the Biblical roles for a husband and wife as unacceptable for today’s culture and marriage.

B.) Much of the Biblical teachings we have on marriage comes from the Apostle Paul.

ba.) Many women today would label Paul as a male chauvinist and as one who was putting down women

with a desire of making them inferior to men.

baa.) Certainly nothing would be further from the truth.

bab.) When we understand what Paul taught from a biblical perspective he actually did a lot to raise

women up.

bac.) In fact it is because of the lack of Biblical roles rather than by the presence of such roles, that

negative views of Paul on marriage have occurred.

bad.) In all likelihood negativity towards Biblical marriage roles often comes because headship

may have been abused by the one entrusted with that role.

.01) I have found that when a woman is overly resentful of the Biblical role that somewhere along

the line either with herself or with her mother that a man has abused his role as the head of

the household.

.02) A second thing to realize is that the roles of men and women in marriage have been put under

the curse that came on this world in Eden.

.021) When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden Adam had chosen to step down from

his role as head of the family.

.022) Therefore when God placed his curse on all of creation this role and relationship

between man and woman was also placed under a curse.

.023) The result of that curse meant that from that point onward there would be a battle

between the sexes for that role.

.024) The resolving of that battleground comes only when a couple is willing to give

themselves to Jesus Christ, and to His will.

C.) Today there are many who cannot appreciate what Christ has done for marriage relationships.

ca.) It is only when we look at cultures where the Church and Jesus Christ are not powerful or perhaps

not even present that we can truly understand what Christ and the Church have done for women,

and for the institution of marriage today.

cb.) Perhaps one of areas where we can see this most powerfully is to look at Islamic cultures where the

presence of Christ and the church are minimal.

cba.) In the past few years we have heard of the kidnapping of around two hundred girls because of

a desire to go to school and receive an education.

.01) Those poor girls will likely never be reunited with their families again.

.02) some have them may have been forced into prostitution as sex slaves, or other such things.

.021) All of this harsh treatment merely for trying to get an education.

cbb.) We have heard of cases of “Honour Killing” of Islamic girls because of not wanting to marry

whom they were told they must marry, and many times these girls might only be 10-12 years of

age.

cbc.) We can look at many things that happen to women in these countries, and how little value, or

importance is given to them in society.

.01) It is only when people are brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that such terrible

things change, and women have been given rights, value, and honour as human beings.

.02) It is when we can see such things as this that we understand Paul was not a chauvinist, but in

fact raising women to a higher place than the world was willing to give them.

2.) God’s Plan is higher than the world’s plan.

A.) To fully understand the teaching of Scripture on marriage we must understand that it is a plan with

responsibilities for both partners.