RELATIONSHIPS Part V Ephesians 5:21-29

REVIEW Wives had their verse. Husbands had their verse. Ephesians 5:21-24 Husbands had their verse. Ephesians 5:25-29 All believers count others better than yourself. Jesus had power and position yet emptied Himself. Jesus ministered to His disciples with a basin and towel.

REVIEW Christianity is all about dying to self. The one transforming question for every relationship, married or single is: What can I do to serve you? But they don’t deserve it…neither did the disciples nor do you or I. The Spirit of God will give you the power you need.

i. Ephesians 5:21-23 Man is called “the head”. Genesis 2 Head = source of authority. Genesis 2 God put the man in charge of naming all the creatures. Why? Naming yields a shaping power, an authority, and a headship.

II. Leadership roles given to man in the garden: Provision – Genesis 2:15 Spiritual – Genesis 2:16,17 Romance – Genesis 2:23,24 Protection – Genesis 2:24

II. Leadership roles given to man in the garden: Two genders are a more complete view of the image of God. The woman in Genesis 2 is called “the helper”. And that requires submission! Headship is the man’s responsibility. Genesis 3 – humanity’s fall happened through a failure of the man to lead.

III. Where are you, men? Boys blame, men own. Boys take, men give. Boys complain, men figure it out. Boys pout, men endure. Boys wish, men do. Boys stiffen their necks, men bend their knees.

III. Where are you, men? “As goes the man, so goes the family. As goes the family, so goes the church. As goes the church, so goes the community. As goes the community, so goes the nation.”

III. Where are you, men? So if you want to change the nation, change the community. If you want to change the community, change the church. If you want to change the church, change the family. If you want to change the family, change the man!

III. Where are you, men? Many men, parents in general, do not see their homes to be as sacred as the church. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 We must choose to make our homes His home. Joshua 24:14,15

III. Where are you, men? II Samuel 6:10-12 Inside the Ark of the Covenant were 3 items: 2 stone tablets of the law given to Moses – God’s Word A jar of manna from Israel’s wilderness wanderings – God’s Provisions Aaron’s budding staff – God ordained leadership in our homes.

III. Where are you, men? We must build an ark of salvation in our homes. Hebrew 11:7 Salvation of our homes is paramount importance..

III. Where are you, men? Exalt God in your home. Example Christ-likeness in your home. Encourage faithfulness in your home. Educate your children in God’s ways in your home. Establish Godly values in your home.

Scriptures

Ephesians 5:21-23 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Ephesians 5:25-29 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

Genesis 2:15 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Genesis 2:16,17 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:23,24 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2:24a 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Joshua 24:14,15 14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

II Samuel 6:10-12 10 So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed- Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.

II Samuel 6:10-12 12 Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed- Edom to the City of David with gladness.

Hebrews 11:7 7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.