“…as the church submits to Christ.”- Ephesians 5:
In continuing on our request to find what Biblical marriage is all about, we were left to wrestle with the question that applies to every Christian on the face of this earth, how much will you submit your life to Jesus Christ?
The answer that can only please God is 100%.
Not 20%
Not 65%,
Not even 99%.
God Wants All of Us
“love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your should and with ALL your strength and with ALL your mind.”- Luke 10:27 (sense a pattern here?)
Anything else is sub-par, against God, mediocre, and watered-down Christianity.
But why must we submit to Christ? And how does this pertain to women in regards to their husband? As we continue down this road, these questions will be answered. As for now, let’s focus on why Christ is worthy of our submission and adoration.
Get Low
To submit is originally a military term coming from the Greek word hypotasso- meaning to arrange under, subordinate, to subject one’s self, obey.
In military, submission to authority is a vital training exercise that is routinely drilled into the young cadets as they train for war. Without this discipline, there is chaos. When they battle is raging, emotions are flaring, and thoughts are scattered, the submission of those young cadets to a leader that is experienced and removed from the fray is something that has overcome many foes
The question arises, “Does Christ deserve the radical submission that He calls the church to?”
Let’s look at some characteristics of Jesus Christ:
Who is Christ?
1. He is God
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”- John 1:1
“they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us)”- Matthew 1:23
“He is the true God and eternal life.”- 1 John 5:20
2. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the great “I AM”, He is God in the flesh. There is no one like Him.
“On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of Lords.” – Revelation 19:16
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”- Revelation 22:13
3. He is the Faithful Groom.
“if we are faithless, he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself.”- 2 Tim. 2:13
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself…”- John 14::4
“For the husband is the head of the wife and Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.”
4. He is the Rescuer of the Lost, the Great Overcomer.
“looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
“But take heart; I have overcome the world.”- John 16:33
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”- 1 John 5:5
5. He is the Creator of All Things, Including Us.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him.”- Colossians 1:16
6. He is our Only Hope.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”- Hebrews 10:23
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The Point:
Jesus is worthy of all of our adoration and praise. Can a mere human attain any of the things listed above? Of course not.
This is the Jesus we submit and give our lives to, not the sissy Jesus that is portrayed in so many movies and places today.
Ladies, here me on this, you can not properly submit to your husband until you have properly submitted to Jesus Christ. The Gospel has the power to transform marriages, strengthen them, and make them work. Without the Gospel at the core, and submission to Christ, a marriage will fail. This failure does not always come in the form of a divorce. A failed marriage consists of one that does not give God the glory He deserves.
It is my prayer that in my marriage, as well as marriages across the world, that we would all submit to our spiritual head, Jesus Christ, and glorify His name!
In Christ,
Phillip
Summary of Empirical Marriage Data
ReplyDelete"Extensive studies and research have been performed by marriage and family professionals, sociologists, and demographers. Over the last 50 years these studies reveal that significant numbers of egalitarian marriages are happy in comparison to traditional hierarchical marriages. A recent study quantified these results revealing that over 80% of egalitarian marriages are happy while less than 20% of traditional marriages can say the same. That represents over a 4:1 ratio in favor of egalitarian marriages. Spousal abuse continues to be more than 300 percent higher in traditional marriages than in egalitarian marriages.
These research studies accomplish the following: First, they effectively discredit any traditionalists’ notion that dismantling hierarchy destabilizes marriage and that the root problem in marriage is the unwillingness of each spouse to accept the role for which he or she was designed. Second, they prove that hierarchy actually destabilizes and harms marriages. Third, they provide objective data that egalitarian marriages produce the healthiest, happiest, most intimate, and stable of all marriage relationships with the least amount of spousal abuse."
http://godswordtowomen.org/Preato3.htm