June 09, 2021: SOAP #4206:  Ecclesiastes 10-12; Psalm 94; Ephesians 5

SCRIPTURE:  Ephesians (NIV) 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

OBSERVATION:  To the husbands, Paul commands us to love our wives.  To not love our wives would be disobedience to God’s word.  It would violate God’s expressed will.

 For Paul to make such a command is a good indication that this is not a love based on feeling.  It far surpasses natural feelings.  It is a love based on choice.  It is choosing the highest good of the other. If we can break into semantics, it is not a love one discovers that he has for his wife, but a love one chooses to give to his wife.

If we do not understand, we have an excellent example.  Do it in the same way Christ loved the church.  No believing husband should ever be able to say that he does not know how to love his wife.  If he has ever read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he has a clear picture of the love he is to give to his wife.

Jesus gave himself up for her (the church). It was not something done in response to a demand. It was done willingly. He said, “No,” to Himself to say, “Yes,” to the church. Men must learn to say, “No,” to themselves to say, “Yes,” to their wives.

APPLICATION:  If I live according to seven verses (25-31), it should be joy for Sharon to live according to three verses (22-24).  Verse 33 again emphasizes that the husband is to love his wife (as he loves himself) and the wife is to respect her husband (treat him as one having great value).

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, this passage is more than head knowledge about marriage; it is the basics of how husbands and wives interact.  Help us to live it out.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity.