Sermon - Ephesians 5:22-6:9 - Littleby Baptist Church - November 25, 2018

Paul understood what it meant to live life to its fullest. He focused on the people around him, valuing them, taking joy in them, and by being a witness at every opportunity. If we are going to make the most of our time on earth, we need to be doing the same. Pouring ourselves into our family and friends and being a witness to the world.

Living life to the fullest also means we need to be submitting to the Holy Spirit. Letting Him dwell in us, guide us, mold us, shape us, and help us to life a life worthy of the calling placed on us. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control become evident as we submit to the Holy Spirit.

Live your life to the fullest, loving those around you, living worthy of your calling, and letting the Holy Spirit guide you every step of the way.

As we move to this week’s verses, we need to remember two things. First, we are to be filled with and depend on the Holy spirit and second that as believers we need to submit to one another as a unified family.

Ephesians 5:22-24

“²² Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, ²³ because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.”

This is the first of the 3 instances where Paul is stating that one group of people needs to submit to another. This is not an instance of one being more powerful than another. One group is not better than the other. One is not more important than the other. One is not to bully, belittle, or demean the other. Paul is using this to tell us that one group is to lead the other.

Men we are the spiritual leaders of our homes. We are to guide our families in faith, we are to be seeking God’s will as we do so and walk accordingly.

Paul uses the Church and how it is to submit to Christ as example for us. As a church we need to submit to Christ’s leadership. We trust that He is leading us down the path we are to go. We choose to listen to His words. We choose to ask for His guidance, and even when we do not fully understand the why, we do our best to follow His lead.

As the church we let Christ lead and wives are to follow their husband’s lead. Trusting in our Lord and that the husbands are following Christ’s leading.

Ephesians 5:25-27

“²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. ²⁷ He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.”

Here is the first of the 3 times that Paul is telling the leader on how they are to care for those submitting to them. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

So, while the wife is supposed to follow the husband, the husband needs to be making every decision in a way that honors Christ. We husbands are to lead, make decisions, teach, guide, and pray for our families following the leading of the Holy Spirit and keeping our wife and children in mind while we do so.

We know the Bible tells us we are to follow Jesus. He gave of Himself so that the Church and all in it would be made holy, cleansed of our sins, and so that we can spend eternity with Him. As leaders us men, need to remember that we are to take care of those in our charge. As we imitate Jesus and His sacrifice, we need to give of ourselves as we lead our families. We need to lead in Love.

Ephesians 5:28-32

“²⁸ In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰ since we are members of his body. ³¹ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. ³² This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Here Paul saying that the Church is part of the Body of Christ united in the New Covenant and likewise the marriage between a husband and wife unites them. If a wife is not submitting to her husband’s leadership, she is fighting herself. If a husband is not putting the best interests of his wife front and center, he is not looking out for his own best interest. The only way a marriage can flourish is through mutual love and remembering even in marriage everything we do should be in service to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:33

“³³ To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.”

The first of the 3 relationships that Paul is writing about is summed up simply with husbands love your wife as you love yourself and wife respect your husband. Men, we need to be loving our wives, we need to be taking care of their needs, we need to be praying for them, we need to be encouraging their walk with God, we need to love them fully as Christ loves you. Ladies, you need to let your husbands be the leaders of the families they are called to be, you need to share your thoughts, express your concern, but respect the choices they make. Most importantly ladies, pray for your husbands, we need it.

Every step you take as a married couple needs to be bathed in love, serving each other as if you are serving Jesus.

Ephesians 6:1-3

“6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. ² Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, ³ so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.”

Paul is referencing one of the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

From a practical standpoint, as a child obeys their parents, they learn how things are done, from farming, cooking, hunting, fishing, building fences, and so much more. We learn how to live, how to act, how to treat others, from our parents. From a faith perspective as children obey their parents, they learn to study God’s Word, pray, and give thanks for all that God does.

If both parents and children continue to live Christ centered lives, the child will learn what it means to serve God as they obey their parents. They will see that following God tends to bring things like Love, Peace, Joy, and the other Fruit of the Spirit into their lives. Learning to obey your parents, who you can see, hear, and talk with helps to develop what is needed to learn how to follow God. We do not see God in His physical form, we do not hear His audible voice, and it can be hard to figure out exactly what He is asking of you. It is easier to learn these things from your parents who you can see.

Matthew 7:9-11

“⁹ Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”

Learning to step out in faith obeying your parents, paves the way for learning to step out in faith and following God. If you trust your parents knowing that they love you and want what is best for you, following God will be that much easier. A mother’s love is vast, but even it pales in comparison to the love of Christ for you. So, if you have faith in your parents love, once you understand God’s love for you it is easy to trust in Him. If you are trusting in God, you will see Him at work in your life.

Ephesians 6:4

“⁴ Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Husbands are to love their wives and Fathers are to love their children. Father’s as the spiritual leaders of their homes are not only to care for their wives and love them as Christ loved them, but they are to love their children and teach them what it means to serve the Lord. If a Father neglects to point his children to Christ, he has made a grave mistake. Men it is our job to lead our families. We need to love them, pray for them, teach them, guide them, and help them to understand what it means to walk with the Lord.

Ephesians 6:5-8

“⁵ Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. ⁶ Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. ⁷ Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, ⁸ knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.”

While we do not have slavery in this part of the world, we still need to take this message to heart. Most of, if not all us have, do, or will work for someone at some point in our lives and Paul’s point applies to that relationship also. As we work as a slave, employee, volunteer, or even on our own land we need to do everything as we would do it if we were serving or working for Jesus. Our focus should be on serving Jesus and giving Him the glory. We should work the same regardless of if the boss is watching or is nowhere to be found. While we may get a paycheck or an attaboy, the real benefit comes from serving an amazing God who has already redeemed us.

Ephesians 6:9

“⁹ And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

Masters, bosses, leaders, husbands, and fathers are to treat others as Christ has treated them. Being put in a position of authority does not mean it is our way or the highway. It means that we have been tasked with leading others in ways that point them to Jesus. We are all equal in God’s eyes and we need to remember that we are united as believers in the Body of Christ.

Three distinct relationships that most of us will deal with in one form or another, all point us to Christ. Wives submitting to their husbands show us how to submit to Christ. Husbands sacrificial care for the family points to how Jesus sacrificed for us. Children obeying their parents teaches us to obey Christ. Fathers pointing their children to Jesus, teaches us the importance of discipling the next generation of believers. Slaves serving their maters demonstrates what it means to serve Christ without question. Masters treating their servants well shows us that we are all equal in Christ’s eyes.

Once again it is all about the people around us. Our relationships should be pointing each other to Christ. How we treat others should show the world that Jesus is our Lord.

It all stems back to Loving God and Loving Others.


God Bless,

Robert