Being Married
Ephesians 5:22-23
Know – what the Word says
Main idea of the passage:
Paul lays out the structure of leadership within the family and explains how it reflects the larger relationship of Christ and the Church.
Explanation:
Our God is a God of structure, meaning and clarity. He is not wishy-washy or complacent. He designed marriage from the very beginning to exist within certain boundaries and to operate within a certain leadership structure.
When marriages follow this pattern, there is fulfillment, blessing, and a sense of meaning and purpose, because they are mirroring the much larger picture of Christ and His Church.
As with almost everything about our faith, there is the present fulfillment and outcroppings of obedience, and there is a “fuller-fillment” – or larger picture – that is also being represented.
When marriages follow this God-ordained pattern, they give an accurate reflection – a true story – about Christ’s relationship with the Church.
Live – what the Word says
Main application of the passage:
Husbands and Wives should follow the biblical mandates for how they are to relate to one another in the marriage relationship.
Application:
While passages like this tend to make people bow up and get defensive, when we really understand what is being said, we willingly accept it and acknowledge that it is best.
Submissiveness is a joy for a woman of God when she is married to a man who is loving her as Christ loved the church and is sacrificing himself for her. But even if she is not, Scripture doesn’t give us room for a cop-out.
A man who truly understands the responsibility of headship (not the privilege of headship) fosters a willingness to submit in his wife’s heart. But, again, he has no option to not sacrificially lead her just because she has a stubborn streak or has difficulty submitting. Obedience is obedience, regardless of what the culture around us might say.
Rogers– Lessons by Bucky Rogers, minister to students at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church, Moore, since 2006. Rogers, originally from Cleveland, Tenn., is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Southern Seminary.