Wives submit to your husbands.

Relationships part 2, “Wives submit to your husband’s as to the Lord.”

Intro…The perfect couple
The Perfect Story: There was a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.

One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone at the roadside in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor?

Answer: The perfect woman. She's the only one that really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.

A Male's Response: So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving. This explains why there was a car accident.


Text: Eph. 5:22, Colossians 3:18
Big Picture: “Wives submit to your husband’s as to the Lord.” (Husbands, be the godly man your wife would want to submit to!)

Eph. 5:22-24 and Col. 3:18
• Let’s get it out in the open. It’s right there in the Bible…
• It doesn’t need to be that scary of a concept when understood within the entire framework of a healthy, godly marriage.
• If the husband is doing his job (last week’s sermon) then the wife will want to submit to his leadership.

A parallel that will help: (Eph. 5:23-24)
• Husband: head of the wife
• Christ: head of the church
• So…as the church submits to Christ, wives submit to their husbands.
We follow Christ because we want to, we know it’s right. And that’s the way it should be in a healthy, godly marriage.
• As the husband provides godly leadership, the wife submits because she wants to, knows it’s right (most of the time).
• It helps to point out that this type of godly marriage with mutual submission only works if both partners are fully committed Christians, living their lives for God!

4 main points to this passage I’d like to point out:
Wives submit to the leadership of their husbands.
Wives are to respect their husbands.
Wives are to love their husbands.
Wives are to be committed to their husbands.

v. 22 & 24 Wives submit to the leadership of their husbands.
• “As to the Lord, as is fitting to the Lord.”
• Good wife/husband relationships bring glory to God.
• Woman I told we were married 20 yrs…”I’ve never done anything for 20 yrs!”
• “You have 5 kids! All from the same wife?
• Yes, by God’s grace we’ve been married “all these years.”

1 Peter 3:1-6
• Submission could bring your husband to Christ!
• When a husband sees Christianity lived out consistently in the life of his wife, the purity and reverence for God, it can’t be denied.
• This is the inner beauty that comes from God.
• “The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s eyes.”
• Like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master…
• Women, you are daughters of Sarah…”Do not give way to fear!”
• Fear of what people may think of you.
• Don’t forget vs. 7!

v. 33 Wives are to respect their husbands.
• Husbands need to earn the respect by being godly, servant leaders.
• Men, we can’t expect that respect, unless it’s earned.
• Remember, men want respect, women want security. What a tricky balance.

Before I go any further, I thought it would be good for you to hear this from a woman’s perspective. Kelley…

Titus 2:3-5 Wives are to love their husbands.
• This point should be a no-brainer…tips to the older and younger women..
• Older: be reverent in the way you live…
• Younger: Train the younger women to love their husbands…
• Getting to the point where you love, respect and submit to your husband takes time, training and mentoring from older women.
• Seek out some of the great older women we have in our church.

Romans 7:2 Wives are to be committed until death.
• “Til death do us part”
• “As long as we both shall live.”
• “I will love you faithfully from this day forward.”
• “I give you my life to keep.”
• “I vow to love your forever”
Now obviously this applies to both the wife and husband.
• I’ve used many of the same words today to the women that I did last week to the men: love, commitment, respect, honor.

Conclusion:
• “Mutual submission” is the key phrase I want you to go home with today.
• We need to fight the cultural trend of divorce.
• Let’s reverse the statistics: almost half of Christian couples divorce, just like non-Christians couples.
• George Barna, president and founder of Barna Research Group: "While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages."

• That’s one of the reasons I’m preaching this series…
• Men, it is our job to be godly leaders in the home.
• Women, it’s your job to submit to that godly leadership.
• As couples, if we can work together as God has intended, we’ll see some beautiful marriages.
• What an example to others!