THE VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIFE: MAKING CHRIST THE HEAD OF OUR HOMES
No institution in my lifetime has come under the severity of attack that the family has come under in the last, say, 30 years. Deterioration of this basic unit of humanity has left society reeling rapidly toward moral decay. There is therefore no greater challenge facing us than the need for restoration of family values.
If you have been part of a Christian family, you know that making Christ the head of the home is prerequisite for becoming a godly family; and, there must be agreement between wives and husbands as to the role of each family member.
To better understand this, let us begin at the beginning with the origin of male and female . . . “So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them . . . male and female crated he them.” (Genesis 1:27)
Male and female were created for meeting each other’s needs in marriage, and for begetting and making families - in keeping with God’s plan for civilization.
Woman was created from Adam’s rib for signaling God’s ideal that the two would become “one flesh”, and for placing the “fairer” of the two sexes under the protection of the physically stronger of the two – the man - whose duty it would be to provide for the two of them and their offspring.
However, origination of male and female for purposes intended by God gave way to degeneration when “the two who were intended to become one” fell into sin – an act of defiance toward God that, of necessity, brought about the Laws of God, after which self-serving men came up with their own laws.
Under laws of men, women were tools, servants, slaves, objects, subjects who were looked upon as “necessary evils” by orthodox Jewish men, evidenced by a prayer in which these men prayed, “Thank God I was not created a woman!”
The laws of men relegated women, particularly wives, to the role of second class citizens with few if any rights except those granted by husbands. Against this legalistic, ritualistic backdrop, Jesus was born “of a woman”.
During his ministry, Jesus’ disciples were surprised to find him talking to a woman of Samaria, but none of them dared ask why, because the way they saw it was, if Jesus associated with a woman in public, it must be okay.
We’re all familiar with our Lord’s encounters with women, especially those who followed him throughout his ministry. So, it is accurate to say that Jesus set women free from laws that took away their freedom.
A Samaritan woman exercised her freedom to speak and to share the good news about “this man who knew all about me and set me free”. “And many of the Samaritans believed because of the woman’s testimony.” Culture dominated by men made a woman lesser than a man, but God created male and female equal so that the two might become one.
Thus, the Bible says, “for this cause, a man is to leave his parents and join himself unto his wife, and the two shall become one”.
In Christ, when two persons are joined together in holy matrimony, they become one in the bond of love! Furthermore, Christ is the Savior of men and women alike! “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Now hear this) There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)
Contrary to the charge by some folks that he was anti-woman, Paul went on record to declare: “But the woman is the glory of the man!” (I Corinthians 11:7) - the same Paul who declared that, in Christ, there is no distinction between male and female.
In fact, Paul ought to be thought of as a defender of women’s rights! Constantly he lectured men to keep their hands to themselves, not to mention that he highly recommended marriage for men who could not do without a woman in their lives!
Paul’s view of women was relatively no different from that of Jesus who thought of women as being equals, whose encounters with, associations with, and reliance upon women are well documented in the New Testament.
Paul’s view of the mutuality of women is conveyed in Ephesians 5 . . . What is it about the principle of “mutual submission” that many folks do not understand . . .do not want to understand?
When Christ is the head of a home, there will be mutual agape love for one another. In this context of agape, there is NO place for “submission” as the act of obedience of one person to another . . . as an experience of humiliation . . . as a yielding to commands and demands of another . . . as servitude.
There IS the expectation that the two, having become one, will mutually “set themselves in array under” . . . “under the umbrella” (so to speak) of the other - in the sense that each of them will love, honor, respect, cherish, seek the highest good of the other (the definition of mutual agape love).
In the organization of the family, there may be different roles assigned to each of the two in the marriage partnership, but these roles are mutually agreed upon, voluntarily assumed, devotedly carried out in daily functioning. Whereas, in a mutually submissive marriage partnership, obedience is a function of children, parenting is the function of both partners in the marriage.
One of the beautiful aspects of mutual submission is the reality that, if one of the marriage partners is absent from the situation, or if one absents himself or herself from responsibilities associated with his or her role, the other person in the partnership steps in and assumes the other’s responsibilities.
This mutual understanding of “the one compensating for the other” must be the way it is if healthy functioning is to occur, as opposed to idly letting the family become dysfunctional.
Yes, the husband is the Designated Spiritual Leader of a healthy Christian home just as Christ is the designated spiritual leader of the Church, but IF the husband is absent due to circumstances, or absents himself from doing his job, the other half of the twosome becomes the compensating factor in keeping the family together and functioning as a healthy unit.
Yes, the wife is an equal partner in the spiritual leadership of the family unit due to her personal relationship to the Lord; her supportive role is to be assumed because of love for her spouse and children; the same is expected of her marriage partner who, in the absence of the wife becomes, by default, the compensating factor in keeping the family together and functioning as a healthy unit.
The tie that binds hearts together in a mutually submissive marriage is the same tie that binds our hearts together in a mutually submissive Church family - agape love.
As wife, your identity with Christ defines you as a godly wife. As husband, your identity with Christ defines you as a godly husband. As a child, your identity with Christ defines you as a godly child. Christ is the Head of the Church. Christ is the Head of the Christian Home. Christ is the Head of each member of the Family of God.
In Christ, we live as godly as we can - whether husband, father, wife, mother, children . . . we support one another in the family to which we belong . . . we compensate for each other’s shortcomings, absences, and/or weaknesses . . . we love one another with the same kind of agape love with which Christ loved the Church and gave himself! Amen.
