Submit to One Another Part 1: Wives
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:21-24 NIV Read More
That whole section we just read about talking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…now Paul is making it practical. It’s hard to do a short Bible reading and keep things in context, but this section is the practical application of everything we’ve read in Ephesians 5 so far. Don’t read this like an isolated fortune cookie verse or a stand-alone rule.
Live like a shining light, not a cutting laser and speak building up words to one another. Have joy and peace in your life as you live according to the Holy Spirit’s will, and in marriage, submit to one another.
Wives submitting to husbands like you’d submit to the Lord was never meant to be about cooking his favorite breakfast or hanging up his shirts the right way. Look at the life of Jesus and the way He cared for His church. That is where a wife can live a life of submission. As a man grows close to the Lord, he can act like the head of the body, like Christ is the head of the church and provide several important things.
Leadership
Jesus knew and clearly shared the role of being responsible for the church. He took responsibility for it’s people (took all of our sin!) and regularly told what the goals and process were. Every “the kingdom of heaven is like” statement that Jesus made helped the Church to know what her purpose and goal was all about.
Problem Solving & Settling Disputes
When there were questions of truth, the disciples took those questions to Jesus. He was in perfect fellowship with God the Father and was able to bring wisdom and insight that served everyone involved.
Providing for Needs
When the Church needed something, Jesus worked to deliver it. At extreme personal cost, He paid for the sins of all who would need it. Submitting to Him to take care of everything lets the Church focus on the action of her calling, rather than coming up with the provisions for it.
Being a Steadfast Source of Love
Nobody was afraid to bring their problems to Jesus except for those that would end up being outside of the family. Even the woman at the well was amazed and wanted to be around Jesus after He exposed her sin. The centurion that didn’t feel worthy for Jesus to come into his house still knew that he could confidently submit to His power.
Nothing helps a man grow like having his family trust and have confidence and respect for him. It’s often the insecurity of his manship that turns a man into a jerk! Nothing helps the church grow like people submitting to one another in love and out of reverence for Christ.
It’s a lot more about an orderly/sacrificial kingdom than it is about who cooks the eggs. The more we grow and submit to that advice, the greater we all become.
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