* Years ago my dad taught me a lesson which I remember till today. As usual, I had to learn it the hard way. As I recall, he sent me into the yard to remove a rose bush. Instead of doing what he said and “digging it up”, I cut it off just below the ground and roughed up the dirt like I had dug it up. Guess what? It came back up. Why? I got rid of what I could see & left the important parts alone.
* For me, this story has become an example, allegory, or a metaphor for life. In these United States, we have some huge problems which we can see.
* Some of these; differences of opinions on moral standards and acceptable behavior in society, in the home; divorce, child and spousal abuse; In Government; economy, war, leadership, politics; in church: divisions, discontent, & distractions. The list is almost unending.
* What I find interesting is this: As a people, we tend to focus on the “results” of our problems rather than dealing with the ‘root’ of those problems. I can tell you that cutting off that rose bush just below the ground was a great deal easier than “digging it up”. Which, by the way, was required “if’ I were to get rid of the bush.
* All of this intro material is to communicate a needed truth. Our text tonight is a part of scripture which most pastors either steer clear of or on the converse, attempt to explain away. Now understand, they don’t explain it away on purpose, but more because this teaching is not a popular teaching in the USA. Before this message is over, some will be ready to charge the platform and take up a collection to hire a hit man to take out this chauvinistic pastor.
* Whether you’ve heard this before (and I suspect you have), whether you like it or not (doesn’t impact the message), and whether you heed and apply it or not, it is still God’s word. As best I can, I will be true to His word.
* TEXT CALL – The apostle Paul is teaching 2 truths here where, I believe, are inexorably intertwined. TEXT
* Verse 32 uses the word “mystery”, “truth”, & secret, what a description for the church and the home.
A Happy Home and A Cooking Church – Pg 2
* Tonight, let me direct our thinking toward 2 different thoughts. Surely, this will not cover “all” the meanings of this passage but it will give us some principles to help both our homes and our church.
1) RESPONSIBILITY – is the first concept taught by the text. The husband, the wife, and the church has specific responsibilities. Let’s sort these out;
> The Husband is to love his wife. This is not eros, nor phileo, but agape. God expects men to love their lady with a “godly” type of love. Remember God demonstrated His love by giving His most precious gift BEFORE we were loveable.
> The husband is to love his wife as he loves himself. In the Bible, it is understood that we love ourselves. Remember the passage, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is nothing wrong with a healthy love of self. The spiritual issue comes when we love ourselves too much. God wants us to love ourselves so we will want the best for ourselves. For “HE” is the best we can do with our lives and He wants us to want that for ourselves. And now, the husband is told to love his wife in the same way.
> The husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. How much was that? He died for her. It will serve us well to remember that Christ died for the Church before the Pentecost. Pentecost ushered in the “church age”, &Jesus show His love by His death prior to noted establishment of the church in J.
> The husband is to lead his wife. Opps! Here comes the problem. The Bible says, “The husband is the head.” Listen, I have 24 translations of the Bible on my computer. All but 2 translate this “head” and those 2 say, “in charge of” and “provides leadership”. This is not a statement of personal worth but of personal position. Men consider this; what would happen to the military if the generals handed off the responsibilities of their command to Captains? Among other things, there would be a breakdown in command. (Apply)
> The wife is told to do only 2 things:
> The wife is to submit to her husband’s authority. While I am in deep water, let me swim out a little deeper. Greek, as I understand it, actually says, “Wives, unto your husbands as unto the Lord”. I am not a linguist, but those who are seem to agree that the understanding is this: submit, be subject, yield to, place yourself under, & willing to serve. Why is this? I don’t know. Some say the order of creation. Possibly. Truth is, since the beginning of time, God has given all of His creation “organization”. There is a common response to this truth. When my husband loves me like Jesus loved the church, then I’ll submit. Well, Paul put no such stipulation or order to the process.
> The wife is to respect her husband’s authority.
* Respect or Reverence consists of love and esteem, which produce a care to please, and of fear, which awakens a caution lest just offence be given. That the wife reverence her husband is the will of God and the law of the relation.
* Couple of Observations: worried about abuse and domination; wife should not do anything which gives her husband the occasion to “command” her. Men are aching for respect.
> Emmerson Eggerich tells the story of a wife who went to her husband’s office. She was taken aback by the amount of respect given to him there. She reflected on her own actions and the amount of disrespect there. What a wakeup call.
> The Church is to submit to Christ. Well duh, this is so obvious. Really? I’ll suggest that IF the church is submissive to Christ, then would not the goals, purposes, and missions which are at the very heart of Christ be the most important to the church. Additionally, “IF” it is so obvious that the Church does not simply “cooperate with” or “partner with” Christ, why do we use these terms with the wife & husband?
2) REASON – Why did Paul lay down these principles?
> Do you realize that the reason for this organization of the home and church is that the responsibilities are the same for Christ and the Husband?
> The very reason Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her was to present the church in splendor without spot or wrinkle, to make her holy & blameless. In other words to make her all she should be.
> The very reason the husband is to love his wife is to present her being all she can be.
CONCL: When a wife and husband discover their roles of “love and respect”—their troubled home becomes a place of peace or their good home becomes a great home or their great home becomes a godly home.
When the church learn how to submit to the Christ, a sense of purpose, responsibility, passion, excitement and joy take hold. The results are that lost people are won to Christ and Saved people are discipled and become Giants in the Lord.
