Who's In Charge Here? A Series on Authority
Saturday, January 31, 2004
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My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for this new day of life to live and to love and serve You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I may live according to Your perfect plan and will for my life. Lead my every step that at the end of the day, You will be glorified in my life. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Verses
Ephesians 5:21-33
21And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. 24As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.
25And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her 26to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s word.£ 27He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. 29No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. 30And we are his body.
31As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”£ 32This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
1 Peter 3:1-7
1In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, even those who refuse to accept the Good News. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over 2by watching your pure, godly behavior.
3Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 5That is the way the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. 6For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, when she called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.
7In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. If you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard.
Reflecting on God's Word
What one truth in these two Scriptures would make the most difference in the Christian community in America if it was taken to heart and lived?
Thoughts: Authority in Marriage...
As we draw our week of examining authority in marriage to a close, we cannot help but see that God’s plan for marriage is that a man and a woman come together under His authority to become one—to become a “unit,” which may or may not include children. Those who do not marry, are called to live lives under God’s authority, and in the community of believers, as part of God’s larger “family.” It is in this arrangement that God intends for us to bring children in the world, or as Genesis 1 puts it “be fruitful and multiply.” As we live under God’s authority, those who are married are to love, respect, honor, understand and submit to one another. This is a great challenge—and one that is impossible if a person is living without the new life that Jesus gives us when we receive the salvation He offers. Even when we are living that new life, it remains a challenge to love, respect, honor, understand and submit to one another, but that is God’s intention.
So, what about those folks who fail at living out the challenge, and who end up separating or divorcing one another? This is a difficult challenge and one that is not to be taking lightly by any who bear the name of Jesus. The book of Malachi tells us that God hates divorce. Jesus tells us that divorce was only permitted because of human “hardness of heart.” God’s intention is for marriage to be permanent in this life—for as long as both parties are alive. Of course when divorce comes, as it does all to often both among believers and non-believers, there is guilt, blaming, and all that always goes with sin. We must acknowledge that divorce always involves sin, since divorce is a sin. Thankfully, God’s grace is offered to all who confess their sin, turn from it (repent) and seek God’s restoration. In a situation where divorce has occurred this sometimes means reconciliation. At other times it does not. Divorce is never to be taken lightly among Christians. Neither is it to be taken as an “unforgivable sin.” As with all broken relationships, grace and mercy are required in order for wholeness to be regained.
As those who take the Bible as God’s word and as the final authority for daily living, we are called to seek the Holy Spirit’s presence and power for living out our lives in love, respect, honor and understanding, AND to extend the grace and mercy we have received when failure occurs, as it surely does to some degree in all of our lives. The process of sanctification, of becoming like Jesus, is a life long process, and requires great prayer and diligence. May we all encourage one another to faithfulness in our lives together, and in our individual family lives, that God may be honored, and His authority obeyed.