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Understanding Women, Understanding Men (Part 2)
Contributed by Rick Crandall on Jan 24, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Men and women: Yes we can understand each other.
Understanding Women, Understanding Men (Part 2)
Sermon by: Rick Crandall
Preached at McClendon Baptist Church
West Monroe, LA
Nov. 13, 2005
*Tonight we continue our study on understanding women & understanding men.
-And yes we can do it.
*Think about trying to keep a car running right.
-I don’t know how to do even simple repairs on an engine, but I can get the right manual and find out what to do.
*I went to the library to check one out for tonight, but they wanted a $65 deposit for that book!
-That’s a valuable book, but here in our hands we’ve got a priceless book.
*It can help us understand the most important things in life.
-It can even help us understand men & women.
--So if we really want to understand men & women, we have to take a look at the Book & follow God’s plan
1. And the first thing we see is that God calls wives to submissive love.
-(This is in vs. 22-24.)
*These verses have been distorted by a lot of men, and discarded by a lot of women, but they are important to help us live together in love.
-And as I said last week, one main reason why is because God created men with a built in need to be respected.
--Men respond to respect.
*All things being equal, it motivates us, it charges us up, challenges us, and helps us to be the men we were created to be.
-It helps us be the husband you want us to be.
*So ladies, let’s go deeper.
-How are you going to show submissive love?
-The key is in the last part of verse 22: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
*My wife Mary’s submission to me is a reflection of her submission to the Lord.
-She can submit to me, because she has already submitted her life to the Lord.
*Of course, it helps when I act like the Lord!
-And I don’t always do that.
--Men, we get it wrong sometimes don’t we?
*I really like the story Ed Boland tells about a wedding that his pastor performed.
-Unfortunately, he forgot the groom’s first name.
--He just could not remember if it was “James” or “John.”
*I’ve never done that, but I did ask one poor bride to take the groom to be her wedded wife.
-Fortunately, she had enough sense to not repeat after me, and eventually, I figured out what I was doing wrong.
*Well, this pastor forgot the groom’s first name.
-And the pastor said: -“I knew I would have to ask him.
*So I said, Is your name James or John?”
-“James,” the groom said.
*Then his bride nudged him gently & said, “Your name is John.” (1)
*We don’t always get it right, do we guys?
-Not by a long shot.
*But when our wives submit to our leadership in a Godly way.
-Then it brings glory to God & grace to our families.
2. So God calls wives to submissive love, and He calls men to the Savior’s love.
-(We see this in vs. 25-29.)
*Men: We can see clearly here that God gives the greatest responsibility to us.
-We are to love our wives the way Jesus Christ loves us.
1-That means we are to have a love that’s supreme.
*In John 15:13, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, for a man to lay down his life for his friends.”
*Jesus Christ gave His life on the Cross for us.
-He made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
--And that is the kind of love He wants us to have for our wives.
2-Love her with a supreme love, but also love her with a serving love.
*In verse 26, we see Jesus washing the church with the water of His Word.
-And one of the most memorable things the Lord did on the night before He went to the Cross was this:
--He got up from supper, got a towel & a bowl of water, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
*Jesus loves us with a serving love, and that’s the way He wants you to love your wife.
*I like Bob Dole, former Senator & hero from WW2.
-At age 21, Senator Dole was severely wounded on a hill in the Italian mountains just two weeks before the end of the war.
--He was trying to pull his radioman to safety.
*Over the next 3 years, he was not expected to survive.
-He lost a kidney, lost the use of his right arm, and most of the feeling in his left arm, but God blessed him to recover.
--And the best I can tell, he is a good man with a delightful sense of humor.
