IT'S COMPLICATED | Marriage | June 26, 2022

IT'S COMPLICATED | Marriage | June 26, 2022, 2022 Sam Knight | Guest Speaker Ephesians 5:21-33 (ESV) Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. “Wives submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” 1) Acknowledging a divine order 2) Recognition of spiritual leadership 3) Voluntary sacrifice “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” 1) Unmerited 2) Intensely 3) Intentionally 4) Unending 5) Selflessly 6) Manifestly 7) Sacrificially It’s even more complicated without Christ at the center of everything! Reflection Questions: 1) The New Testament has several passages that call for people to be submitted. How do these passages help qualify Paul’s intention in this passage from Ephesians 5? 2) What does the Bible teach about how authority is to be exercised? How should this affect the way you treat those over whom you have authority? 3) Why is Paul’s argument for the husband’s headship within marriage so important? Where have you seen this practiced well and when have you seen this abused? 4) What is the nature of the wife’s submission? What is it not? What examples can you think about that help you understand this command Paul gives? 5) Paul writes that husbands are to love their wives “as Christ loved the church” (5:25). How does what he says about the relationship between Christ and the church apply to husbands and wives? 6) He goes on to assert that husbands are to love their wives “as their own bodies” (5:28). Why does he add this? 7) What difference do these commands make to the way we share the gospel? Next Steps: Complete the Connect Card to receive more information, have us pray for you, or to ask us any question: http://journeyweb.net/connectcard Want to worship through giving and support the ministry of Journey Church: https://journeyweb.net/give Download our app: https://journeyweb.net/app Join our Facebook Group to stay connected throughout the week: https://facebook.com/groups/JourneyChurchBozeman Get your children connected to our children's ministry, Base Camp: https://journeyweb.net/children Our Student Ministry is for High School and Middle School students: https://journeyweb.net/students Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JourneyChurchBozeman Notes Page: https://journeyweb.net/sermons/notes/2022.06.26.pdf