Ephesians 5 Part 2
Bible Study Time 1-15-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 1-15-06
As I mentioned earlier, we are looking at Ephesians 5 this morning. Last week we saw that God expects believers to walk as children of light, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We are to avoid all sexual impurity which is one of the many unfruitful byproducts of covetousness.
We also saw that our God given sense of humor must be used to bring glory to God. It would be foolish for us to engage in obscene humor in the light of the fact that someday the wrath of God will be poured out upon the sons of disobedience. In Galatians 6 Paul said:
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
What a choice! Will we chose the flesh or the Spirit? The result of the flesh is corruption, while the reward of the Spirit is everlasting life with hearts that rejoice:
Ephesians 5:19
19 speaking . . . in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in (our) hearts to the Lord,
Obviously, this does not mean that we will never feel sadness, or sorrow, or pain, but it does mean that even during tough times God will use His word to comfort us, and as we witness His working, a song of rejoicing will begin to grow.
When Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi, they were put in a dungeon with their feet fastened in the stocks. But there they were at midnight, praying and singing hymns to God. The Bible says that all of the prisoners were listening.
God may not use miracles of language or physical healing today to confirm the gospel, but this melody which flows from the Holy Spirit is every bit as powerful. The prisoners of sin who hear that tune will sense the glory and the mystery of it all, and they will be drawn to the saving power of Jesus Christ.
While Paul and Silas sang, an earthquake broke lose the gates of that Philippian jail, and when the jailer woke up, the first thing he said was, “what must I do to be saved?”. He had heard the melody of the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to be like Paul and Silas who were:
Ephesians 5:20 (NKJ)
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of (the) Lord Jesus Christ,
Only when we experience this melody of joy can we truly do what Paul commands next and that is to submit to one another in the fear of God. Submitting to one another means that we must be willing to yield the right of way. People who go through life feeling threatened or intimidated by the circumstances of life find that hard to do. Those who feel safe and secure will have the capacity to step aside and say “let’s consider doing things your way.” The peace of Jesus Christ which spawns that melody of joy gives us the personal sense of security which allows us to submit to one another in the fear of God.
Those who do not know how to trust the Lord sometimes take their obsession with control to an extreme. Once I saw an interview on television with a family in which the mother tried to control everything. She had a schedule for every person, including her husband, which covered every activity from morning till night. Each person had to make a check mark on the schedule when they had accomplished each task. As you can imagine, this was driving the family crazy. After listening for a while, the psychologist looked at the mother and simply said, “What are you afraid of?”
The mother asked, “What do you mean?”
Again the psychologist asked, “What are you afraid of?”
After a few seconds, with tears in hers eyes, the lady said, “I have such a wonderful life, but I live everyday with this overwhelming fear that something is going to happen to take it all away from me.”
Well, this kind of fear does not come from God. In fact, the Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God is the one who controls the circumstances of life, and it does not matter how much we try to take that power from Him, He will never give up, Praise the Lord. As believers, we are to know no fear except the fear of the Lord. David said:
Psalm 23:4 (NKJ)
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You, (Lord), are with me; . . .
This idea of submitting one to another is a wonderful introduction to Paul’s instruction concerning marriage in the next few verses where he says:
Ephesians 5:22-29
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
Throughout the Bible the marriage relationship is sacred. It was ordained by God in the Garden of Eden. After God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, He gave her to Adam as a companion, tailor made for Adam’s needs. When God brought her to Adam, Adam said:
Genesis 2:23 (NKJ)
23 . . . "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Then in Genesis 2:24, God said:
Genesis 2:24 (NKJ)
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Here we see that God introduced the concept of the family even before Adam and Eve knew what a family was. God spoke of the father and the mother even before there were children. Obviously, the marriage relationship is superior to all other relationships and is the relationship upon which all other relationships are based.
The Lord Jesus referred to Genesis 2:24 when the Pharisees asked Him about divorce. The Lord reminded them that it was God who made the first man and the first woman, and it was God who said, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Then the Lord Jesus added something very special when he said, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.” God had intended all along for the marriage relationship to last for a lifetime.
Those who find true love in marriage would not have it any other way. In fact, it may even hurt to think that in the next life that relationship will be different. But in this we can be fully confident, though it will be different in the next life, it will be even better. Hard to imagine, I know, but the glory of heaven is indeed hard to imagine.
Now here in Ephesians 5, Paul also went to Genesis 2:24 to verify the validity of the marriage bond, and after quoting that verse he said that the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church. Of coarse, this church is the same church that Paul has been talking about all through the book of Ephesians. It is the Church which is the Body of Christ.
In Matthew, Chapter 16, the Lord said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” But the church of Matthew 16 is not the Church which is the Body of Christ. The church of Matthew 16 was a Jewish Church which had the hope of an earthly kingdom with Christ ruling as their King.
Jesus Christ does not serve as the King of the Church which is the Body of Christ. Our relationship with Christ is much more personal and much more intimate. Christ serves as the head of the Church which is His Body. In Ephesians, Chapter 1, Paul said that Christ serves as Head over all things to the Church which is His Body, and in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Paul said that we should speak the truth in love so that we may grow up into Christ who is the Head of the Body.
As we think of the analogy of the human body, the relationship of the head to the body is certainly different from that of a king to His subjects. A king functions in an authoritarian capacity. He makes certain demands of his subjects, and he rewards or punishes his subjects based on their performance.
This is not the case in the Church, the Body of Christ, and it is not suppose to be the case in the marriage relationship. The head dose not function in an authoritarian position. In the analogy of the human body, the head is totally dedicated to directing the activities of the body so that the body will survive and flourish. The body, on the other hand, is totally dedicated to performing whatever function the head may signal. There is total unity of purpose and function. The head is never threatened by the body, and the body has no thought of independence from or rebellion against the head.
The marriage relationship, like the human body, was intended to reflect the perfect unity which exists between Christ and the Church. This is a grave responsibility for those who enter into marriage, and it should, therefore, not be entered into lightly or unadvisedly. When our marriages fail to reflect the union and unity of Christ and the Church, it is not just a social malady, it actually mocks the plan and purpose of God.
After 40 years in the desert with the children of Israel, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he struck a rock in the desert rather than speaking to it as God had instructed him to do. Why was this so important? Because speaking to rock symbolized the believer’s fellowship with God. Moses had made a mockery of the symbolism which God had intended, and as a result he was not allowed to enter into the promised land.
God wants our marriages to display in a symbolic sense the peace, the harmony, the unity that exists between Christ and the Church, and there are great rewards for those who are faithful to follow God’s instructions. Actually, some of our deepest personal needs are met in the marriage relationship when we follow God’s instructions. God created Eve because He saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, but His unique formula for marriage meets the personal needs of the wife and the children as well.
Paul said that the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church, and since we are to be imitators of God as dear children, it is only logical that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.
Jesus Christ was willing to humble himself and except the cruel death of the cross in order to provide for the well being of those who trust in Him. This self-sacrificing kind of love is truly the most powerful force in the universe, and because the marriage relationship is the foundation for all other relationships, God made this kind of love the cornerstone of the marriage relationship.
When the husband loves his wife with a love that is pure and unselfish, the wife will respond and submit to his leadership as naturally as the body responds to the brain. Now, we the Bible says in this passage that the husband is to love and the wife is to submit, these duties are not mutually exclusive. We have already seen that we are all instructed to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God, and the Lord Jesus told his disciples to love one another as He has loved us for greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
In godly marriages generous portions of love and submission will be found on the part of both the husband and the wife. To follow the example of Christ, we must all learn to subject our own will to the will of others, and we must all learn to love even when the ones we love are undeserving. Jesus Christ said to the Father, “not my will, but Thine be done.” The result: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and while we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of Christ.
As I close this morning, I would like to remind you that Christ’s offer of salvation is still open today. If you don’t know Him, if you have never put your trust in Him, open your heart to Him right now. You can pray right now, wherever you are. If you ask Him to save you, He will come into your life and put a song of rejoicing on your lips.
I’ve enjoyed being with you this morning. Thank you for listening, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
We also saw that our God given sense of humor must be used to bring glory to God. It would be foolish for us to engage in obscene humor in the light of the fact that someday the wrath of God will be poured out upon the sons of disobedience. In Galatians 6 Paul said:
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
What a choice! Will we chose the flesh or the Spirit? The result of the flesh is corruption, while the reward of the Spirit is everlasting life with hearts that rejoice:
Ephesians 5:19
19 speaking . . . in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in (our) hearts to the Lord,
Obviously, this does not mean that we will never feel sadness, or sorrow, or pain, but it does mean that even during tough times God will use His word to comfort us, and as we witness His working, a song of rejoicing will begin to grow.
When Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi, they were put in a dungeon with their feet fastened in the stocks. But there they were at midnight, praying and singing hymns to God. The Bible says that all of the prisoners were listening.
God may not use miracles of language or physical healing today to confirm the gospel, but this melody which flows from the Holy Spirit is every bit as powerful. The prisoners of sin who hear that tune will sense the glory and the mystery of it all, and they will be drawn to the saving power of Jesus Christ.
While Paul and Silas sang, an earthquake broke lose the gates of that Philippian jail, and when the jailer woke up, the first thing he said was, “what must I do to be saved?”. He had heard the melody of the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to be like Paul and Silas who were:
Ephesians 5:20 (NKJ)
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of (the) Lord Jesus Christ,
Only when we experience this melody of joy can we truly do what Paul commands next and that is to submit to one another in the fear of God. Submitting to one another means that we must be willing to yield the right of way. People who go through life feeling threatened or intimidated by the circumstances of life find that hard to do. Those who feel safe and secure will have the capacity to step aside and say “let’s consider doing things your way.” The peace of Jesus Christ which spawns that melody of joy gives us the personal sense of security which allows us to submit to one another in the fear of God.
Those who do not know how to trust the Lord sometimes take their obsession with control to an extreme. Once I saw an interview on television with a family in which the mother tried to control everything. She had a schedule for every person, including her husband, which covered every activity from morning till night. Each person had to make a check mark on the schedule when they had accomplished each task. As you can imagine, this was driving the family crazy. After listening for a while, the psychologist looked at the mother and simply said, “What are you afraid of?”
The mother asked, “What do you mean?”
Again the psychologist asked, “What are you afraid of?”
After a few seconds, with tears in hers eyes, the lady said, “I have such a wonderful life, but I live everyday with this overwhelming fear that something is going to happen to take it all away from me.”
Well, this kind of fear does not come from God. In fact, the Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God is the one who controls the circumstances of life, and it does not matter how much we try to take that power from Him, He will never give up, Praise the Lord. As believers, we are to know no fear except the fear of the Lord. David said:
Psalm 23:4 (NKJ)
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You, (Lord), are with me; . . .
This idea of submitting one to another is a wonderful introduction to Paul’s instruction concerning marriage in the next few verses where he says:
Ephesians 5:22-29
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
Throughout the Bible the marriage relationship is sacred. It was ordained by God in the Garden of Eden. After God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, He gave her to Adam as a companion, tailor made for Adam’s needs. When God brought her to Adam, Adam said:
Genesis 2:23 (NKJ)
23 . . . "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Then in Genesis 2:24, God said:
Genesis 2:24 (NKJ)
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Here we see that God introduced the concept of the family even before Adam and Eve knew what a family was. God spoke of the father and the mother even before there were children. Obviously, the marriage relationship is superior to all other relationships and is the relationship upon which all other relationships are based.
The Lord Jesus referred to Genesis 2:24 when the Pharisees asked Him about divorce. The Lord reminded them that it was God who made the first man and the first woman, and it was God who said, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Then the Lord Jesus added something very special when he said, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.” God had intended all along for the marriage relationship to last for a lifetime.
Those who find true love in marriage would not have it any other way. In fact, it may even hurt to think that in the next life that relationship will be different. But in this we can be fully confident, though it will be different in the next life, it will be even better. Hard to imagine, I know, but the glory of heaven is indeed hard to imagine.
Now here in Ephesians 5, Paul also went to Genesis 2:24 to verify the validity of the marriage bond, and after quoting that verse he said that the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church. Of coarse, this church is the same church that Paul has been talking about all through the book of Ephesians. It is the Church which is the Body of Christ.
In Matthew, Chapter 16, the Lord said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” But the church of Matthew 16 is not the Church which is the Body of Christ. The church of Matthew 16 was a Jewish Church which had the hope of an earthly kingdom with Christ ruling as their King.
Jesus Christ does not serve as the King of the Church which is the Body of Christ. Our relationship with Christ is much more personal and much more intimate. Christ serves as the head of the Church which is His Body. In Ephesians, Chapter 1, Paul said that Christ serves as Head over all things to the Church which is His Body, and in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Paul said that we should speak the truth in love so that we may grow up into Christ who is the Head of the Body.
As we think of the analogy of the human body, the relationship of the head to the body is certainly different from that of a king to His subjects. A king functions in an authoritarian capacity. He makes certain demands of his subjects, and he rewards or punishes his subjects based on their performance.
This is not the case in the Church, the Body of Christ, and it is not suppose to be the case in the marriage relationship. The head dose not function in an authoritarian position. In the analogy of the human body, the head is totally dedicated to directing the activities of the body so that the body will survive and flourish. The body, on the other hand, is totally dedicated to performing whatever function the head may signal. There is total unity of purpose and function. The head is never threatened by the body, and the body has no thought of independence from or rebellion against the head.
The marriage relationship, like the human body, was intended to reflect the perfect unity which exists between Christ and the Church. This is a grave responsibility for those who enter into marriage, and it should, therefore, not be entered into lightly or unadvisedly. When our marriages fail to reflect the union and unity of Christ and the Church, it is not just a social malady, it actually mocks the plan and purpose of God.
After 40 years in the desert with the children of Israel, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he struck a rock in the desert rather than speaking to it as God had instructed him to do. Why was this so important? Because speaking to rock symbolized the believer’s fellowship with God. Moses had made a mockery of the symbolism which God had intended, and as a result he was not allowed to enter into the promised land.
God wants our marriages to display in a symbolic sense the peace, the harmony, the unity that exists between Christ and the Church, and there are great rewards for those who are faithful to follow God’s instructions. Actually, some of our deepest personal needs are met in the marriage relationship when we follow God’s instructions. God created Eve because He saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, but His unique formula for marriage meets the personal needs of the wife and the children as well.
Paul said that the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church, and since we are to be imitators of God as dear children, it is only logical that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.
Jesus Christ was willing to humble himself and except the cruel death of the cross in order to provide for the well being of those who trust in Him. This self-sacrificing kind of love is truly the most powerful force in the universe, and because the marriage relationship is the foundation for all other relationships, God made this kind of love the cornerstone of the marriage relationship.
When the husband loves his wife with a love that is pure and unselfish, the wife will respond and submit to his leadership as naturally as the body responds to the brain. Now, we the Bible says in this passage that the husband is to love and the wife is to submit, these duties are not mutually exclusive. We have already seen that we are all instructed to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God, and the Lord Jesus told his disciples to love one another as He has loved us for greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
In godly marriages generous portions of love and submission will be found on the part of both the husband and the wife. To follow the example of Christ, we must all learn to subject our own will to the will of others, and we must all learn to love even when the ones we love are undeserving. Jesus Christ said to the Father, “not my will, but Thine be done.” The result: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and while we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of Christ.
As I close this morning, I would like to remind you that Christ’s offer of salvation is still open today. If you don’t know Him, if you have never put your trust in Him, open your heart to Him right now. You can pray right now, wherever you are. If you ask Him to save you, He will come into your life and put a song of rejoicing on your lips.
I’ve enjoyed being with you this morning. Thank you for listening, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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