Ephesians 5:22-33 - Storytellers Part 1: Husbands

Last week we started a series on marriage and the family as we have arrived at this

point in the book of Ephesians.

And we talked last week about the fact that marriage is not first and foremost about us.

That's not actually the primary reason that God designed marriage in the first place.

What God had in mind in marriage was to reveal a mystery, was to show people the reality of

a relationship between Jesus and His bride, the church.

We said that marriage, rather than ours, was the primary story, the real Cinderella story.

It's the story of Jesus, right, the prince of heaven who didn't consider His privileged

position in heaven as something to hold on to, something that He needed to grab tightly,

but He left His throne and He came down to grab hold of us.

It's a story where the princess He comes after is not lovely on her own.

Just in her own condition, she's not attractive.

She's actually abandoned and forlorn and pitiful.

But the prince loves her.

That's the story, is that the prince loves that bride.

That he pursues his bride all the way to his own death just so he can have her hand.

That he actually lays down his own life for her, a high cost in order to have her as his bride.

He sacrifices his own life.

He dies for her, purifies her, restores her to her original beauty and lives in love with

her forever.

It's a glorious story.

And the most glorious part about it is that it's true that Jesus actually loves us like that.

That's the story of marriage.

So when we begin to read about marriage, the first thing that we ought to understand is we're

not to get so focused on our own marriages that we miss the great story.

It's in that context of the love of Jesus for us that we all are to live as His people and to

tell that story to others.

And then some of us within that group of God's people who are all telling the story, some of

us have a particular job of telling that through our marriages.

Paul's telling us that husbands and wives are to be storytellers.

To be retelling and reenacting for all to see that glorious story in our relationship with

each other, a relationship where we're not the heroes, He is, but where we get to tell

in a special way the grandest story, the one the world most needs to hear.

So today we're going to look at how husbands are to do that.

And next week we'll look at instructions to wives.

Now why in that order?

You know, why not ladies first after all?

Isn't that the way it's supposed to go?

There's a very spiritual theological reason for this, and that is that if I put that sermon

off for one more week, there's an increased chance of Jesus coming back before I'm forced

to preach it.

And so that's the very important reason that we're starting with husbands.

I'm just kidding.

Mostly.

We will look at Paul's words to wives next week.

But we're going to read the entire passage again this morning, focusing on Paul's words

to husbands and their role in telling the grand story.

Ephesians 5 at verse 22.

Hear God's holy, inerrant, infallible word.

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.

Pray with me.

Oh, Father, open our eyes this morning that we would behold wonderful things in your word.

Your word is precious to us, so speak to us through it, we pray.

It is perfect.

Your word is perfect.

Perfect.

The man who speaks is not.

He's a husband who's far from perfect, who sees more of his failures than successes.

And so, Father, we need you to speak.

Speak in spite of me for the glory of Jesus, the perfect husband, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

You know how sometimes things seem like really good ideas in your head, and then when they

actually play themselves out in reality, you know, not so much?

Well, when Christy and I were engaged, I had about nine months or so, you know, to figure

this husbanding thing out.

It was very important to me.

I really wanted to be a godly husband, a good spiritual leader.

And so, I thought, I know what I'm going to do.

During these nine months, I'm going to, on my own, go away and privately study through

the Psalms.

So, I started doing that, and I started studying the Psalms, reading commentaries, taking notes

of all of the key things that I learned, even picking, like, hymns and songs to go with

each Psalm, right?

Because I'm going to be ready to lead my wife the first few weeks of our marriage.

And I think that if we had just stuck with it long enough to get with my wonderful thoughts

on, like, Psalm 4 or 5, if we'd gotten there, I think maybe it would have stuck.

But having set myself up as the one who had all of the wonderful thoughts, among many other

things wrong with that approach was I was forgetting the mutuality of marriage, that we have mutual

needs that we struggle with, things that we both need to learn.

And so, I'd set myself up in this case as the expert, right?

The one who'd studied much ahead of time and had many, many books worth of wisdom to teach

and direct my wife in all things spiritual.

And that, of course, would be a pattern for a marriage where I would be the one who has

it all together, has things figured out, and would be bringing her up to speed all of the

time, apparently.

Brilliant idea.

If you're not married yet, don't do that.

Equally unhelpful, though, was my reaction to this idea not working so well.

What do you think I felt when I basically put my best foot forward and fell on my face?

What was my reaction to that?

Backing away altogether, right?

I don't want to fail again.

I hate that feeling.

I guess I just should have nothing to do with this.

Really nothing to say.

I don't have anything to offer in this area.

I'm going to stay back, play it safe, not risk failing again.

And I think both of those are struggles we have regularly as husbands.

On the one hand, in our pride, we're at times overly presumptuous.

We're high and mighty, belittling our wives.

Or, in our insecurity, in our self-doubt, we're passive, withdrawn, neglecting our wives

altogether.

We struggle with that.

Before we even get to Paul's words directly to husbands in this passage, husbands find

out in verse 23 what?

Their role in the story is to be the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the

church.

Now, that word head in this context refers primarily not to superiority over, but to responsibility

for those who have been entrusted to one's care.

So, we're called to be the head of the wife.

And it's important to point out what that means and doesn't mean because men have misused

this verse to justify abusing the authority they've been given by God in marriage.

Assuming they're wiser.

Concluding they should make all the decisions.

Relegating their wives to being controlled by them.

Trying to teach their wives the Psalms from a position of superior knowledge and all those

things that we all do, right?

Y'all all did that when you were engaged, right?

You didn't all do that?

Well, you did stuff like that, right?

You thought you were going to have it together and teach her.

And it's disgraceful of the image of God in the women we're married to.

Further, as we'll see in this passage, it completely misses the picture of the way Jesus serves the

church as her Savior.

It doesn't tell the story well at all.

You're not playing that role because you're better than she is.

But, on the other hand, God has designed you for and called you to it.

On the other hand, all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the opposite struggle has been

one that men particularly wrestle with.

We call it passivity.

Just as Adam in the garden stood idly by while Eve was tempted and fell into sin,

standing by, not stepping forward.

I would say especially these days, men abdicate this role of headship even more than they abuse it.

We abdicate the responsibility God has given us for those in our care even more often than we

overdo it.

We more often neglect than we do overdo things.

We fear failure, perhaps like I did after experiencing it.

We doubt our ability to fulfill such a high calling.

And after all, our role is to be like Jesus, right?

That's the role we're given.

So, I mean, really, who's going to be able to live up to that?

And so the self-doubt comes, I could never possibly do it well enough.

For some of us, we've just dealt with pressure at work all day.

One decision after the next.

And we come home and what we want is to check out.

Not to have to speak into anything.

No decisions to make.

No responsibilities to have.

And so we don't provide any leadership at all.

And doing nothing is certainly not the role of Jesus either.

Being domineering is not what Jesus was like.

But doing nothing is not what He's like either.

If we're to be responsible for those God has put in our care,

we have to engage with them, not be checked out.

We have to listen and understand their hearts.

Not just blow them off or patronize them.

We have to think intentionally about what's best for them.

Not just placate their every whim in order to buy ourselves some peace and quiet.

Men, we do those things.

All of them.

All of that is entailed in being a husband.

In doing our part to show the incredible story of Christ pursuing,

initiating, going after His bride and saving and cleansing her.

So if it's not domineering on the one hand and it's not neglecting our wives on the other,

what does this role, this headship look like?

What does God call us to as husbands?

Husbands.

The clear answer of this passage is love.

It starts with love.

Look at verse 25.

Husbands, love your wives.

It continues in the middle of the passage, verse 28,

in the same ways husbands should love their wives.

And he gets all the way to the end and he's summarizing what he said.

And verse 33 says,

Let each one of you love his wife as himself.

It's not hard to figure out what Paul's message for husbands is, is it?

Love your wives.

It doesn't get much clearer than that,

but let's try to make it a little more tangible for us.

It's easy to say, it's easy to say I love you, right?

But harder to experience that reality, to actually demonstrate it.

As Paul describes what it means for husbands to love their wives,

he says there are really two things to keep in mind and be regularly doing

to play your part in this story well.

Two things.

The first is lay down your life.

The second is lift her life up.

Lay your life down and lift her life up.

That's what this love looks like.

I want those two simple thoughts to be constantly running through our minds day by day.

Men, we've got to be thinking,

what does it look like for me today to be laying my life down and lifting her life up?

Because when these two realities become regular parts of your relationship with your wife,

you'll be displaying the love of Jesus for his bride through your marriage.

And that's what it's all about.

So first, lay down your life.

Verse 25 again.

Husbands, love your wives.

How?

What's it going to look like?

As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

As we saw last week,

the love of Jesus for his church involves sacrificial action.

It's costly.

You've heard of husbands sacrificing others, wives, children, friends,

on the altars of their own goals, their own success, their own glory.

But the love described here is exactly the opposite of that.

It sacrifices self for the sake of others.

In this case, one's wife.

The word itself that Paul uses for love here in this passage is agapao.

The word that means the self-giving love that seeks the good of the beloved rather than of self.

Love, remember from 1 Corinthians 13 and that great passage, is not self-seeking.

So being a husband by definition can't be about serving the power, glory, and success of yourself.

It's intended to be a costly role.

To protect your wife, you may have to suffer great cost to yourself.

Being a husband is not a safe role to play in the story.

And you don't get a stunt double for it.

It's yours.

I remember in middle school and high school, at least where I grew up,

that if a guy was interested in going out with a girl or wanted to take her to a dance,

he never asked her first.

Who did he ask first?

Did you all do this at your school?

Who do you ask first if you wonder if she likes you?

Yeah, you ask her friends, right?

Now, why do you ask her friends first?

Yeah, because you're a wimp, right?

Essentially, yes.

Because the guy doesn't want to risk the potential cost of embarrassment or rejection

or public shaming in the middle school cafeteria and other horrific things.

The disgrace that would come upon a guy if she didn't like him back, right?

So before asking her, I'll find out what the answer would probably be.

The terrible pattern in that is that the guy would stand safely back

at the trunk of the tree while pushing the girl out on the proverbial limb, right?

Do you see how that happens?

I'm not going to be the one who gets burned.

I'm going to push you out there and then see.

He protects himself and his reputation at all costs.

Godly love, on the other hand, risks self and sacrifices self to protect the beloved.

It walks out on the limb and takes the heat for the difficult decision rather than passing

the buck to her from the safety of silence.

Guys, think about what's valuable to you.

What's something that you think, oh, that's really valuable to me?

Think along the lines of national championship tickets.

Think of promotion at work.

Think that car that I've had my eye on for a while.

I know those are things that would be valuable to me.

Ask yourself, what would you do in order to get that?

What would you sacrifice in order to have it?

Money?

Time?

Even rearranging your calendar so that you can be a part of it?

That's how you can really tell something's valuable to you, isn't it?

By thinking of what you would give up in order to have that.

Do you wonder if you're sacrificing for your wife?

Or if you're sacrificing your wife for what you really value?

Ask her if she feels valued by and beloved to you.

What could you do that would make her feel valued by you the way Christ values us?

What sacrifices could you make?

As I've thought about sacrifice recently, I've realized that for many of our wives,

from the beginning of the relationship, they've sacrificed a lot.

Perhaps not just marrying me, I understand that in itself sticks out,

but sometimes their own plans or agendas or goals, careers.

And many of them have sacrificed for their husbands.

And we often get stuck thinking about our careers, our goals, our plans.

And we say, oh, it's for the sake of my family.

I'm just providing for my family, which is a very important thing.

Don't get me wrong.

But if we're honest, guys, is it often beyond providing

and more about pursuing my own dreams and goals and success?

Does your marriage seem costly to you?

If marriage seems to be costing you, husbands, that's the idea.

That's the story we're telling.

Marriage, Paul says, is not about finding a wife who can help you move to the top of the social circle,

have your physical desires fulfilled, or really succeed in professional life.

It's not.

It's about committing to moving down, to love your wife, to value and cherish her.

That's the story of Christ's love for His church, isn't it?

He laid His life down to rescue and protect her.

Now, you may be willing to take a bullet for your wife.

But in the meantime, while you're waiting on that opportunity,

as I've heard several of our wives say,

would you unload the dishwasher?

Or pay attention to the kids?

Or listen to what's on my heart?

How do you know Christ cherishes the church?

Because He came for her at great cost to Himself.

He sacrificed everything for her.

Telling that great story in your marriage will require valuing your wife dearly

and sacrificing yourself for her good.

That's what it looks like.

And sacrificing yourself for her good brings us to the other side of the coin of laying your life down,

is lifting her life up.

This is pictured beautifully in verses 26 and 27,

when verse 25 ends up saying,

giving Himself up for her.

That the goal of what we're doing in our marriages is for her, for our wives.

And then how does He describe it?

What's going to happen to her as we lift her life up?

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.

And don't forget, that's not the way she is when He finds her, is it?

He finds her not looking like this and He's going to make her into that.

The love I'm called to show my wife involves intentional consideration of what blesses her.

It seeks to understand her needs and move toward meeting them.

Ask yourself honestly,

do you think or dwell more on what she needs

or what you need from your marriage?

What's the focus of your heart?

What's the focus of your heart when you're frustrated about your marriage?

There you go, that's an easier one for you.

I'll tell you what the focus of your heart is when you're frustrated about your marriage.

I'm not getting what I need out of this relationship.

Where do our hearts focus so quickly?

What are my needs?

Look back again at what Jesus' love did for us.

He saw that we were dirty and He began to wash us clean.

He saw we were impure and began to make us pure.

He saw we were neglected and forlorn and began to make us beautiful and full of splendor.

I'd say it this way,

part of the responsibility of the husband

is to make sure his wife experiences God's grace in her life in a transforming way.

That's what she most needs, right?

She needs His grace to be impacting her life.

So that's what lifts her up.

That's what makes her into the woman God has created her to be.

Sanctifies her by washing with water through the Word.

We can't ignore the priority of the Word of God in this.

Just as Jesus uses it in our lives to cleanse and sanctify His church,

so we must see that our wives are exposed to God's Word

in a regular and transformative way,

which is different from teaching them the Psalms every day of your marriage

like you know them better than they do.

It's more than that.

And one of the things I've learned about spiritual headship

or being a spiritual leader in my family

is that it is typically more about me pointing them to Jesus Himself

than being Jesus myself.

That's usually more helpful.

And that may seem obvious,

but what I mean is that the comfort in this passage for husbands

is that God is calling husbands to do for their wives

something Jesus is constantly doing for all of us.

So it's not all on us.

By the way, ladies,

that's why you're not lesser Christians

or incomplete people

if you have no husband

or one who doesn't love you well.

Because your being loved

and led

and made radiant

has never been all on one man.

Jesus cares passionately about it.

He's committed to that for you

whether you don't have a husband

or has one who's never loved you

like He does.

So I'm convinced

that some of my best spiritual leadership

has been when I've just

quit trying to fix things myself

and prayed for Jesus to help.

Asked Him to do what I was failing to do

for my family.

It's why saying I'm sorry

is often great leadership

because in repentance

we point to Jesus

and highlight our need

for Him and for His help.

And I know these sound like

just basic spiritual things.

Just the Bible

and pray

and repent

and you knew all of those

before you got here.

But do you do it for your wife?

That's what it means

to lift your wife up.

To be concerned about her needs.

To point her to Jesus.

To pray that He would make her flourish

and even use you

and your successes

and in your failures

to that end in her life.

This may sound like

a little bit of a bleak picture

for husbands.

I am one.

I don't want it to be

a bleak picture

laying down your own life

lifting her up.

Listen, here's the beautiful thing.

We're going to see this

this week and next week

in marriage.

The beautiful thing about it

is that in marriage

we're actually connected

to each other.

So we don't have to have

one go up

and the other go down.

Because you're united

to each other

you actually thrive together.

I think it's what

verse 28 means by

he who loves his wife

loves himself.

It's part of the mystery

of our connection

in marriage.

When the church looks like

a pure and radiant bride

Jesus gets glory too

doesn't He?

When your bride

flourishes and thrives

you do along with her.

In many relationships

when one party thrives

the other one suffers.

There's only so much

to go around

so when one goes up

the other one goes down.

But the beauty of marriage

is we're connected

to each other.

United in one flesh

so when we lay down

our lives for our wives

and lift their lives up

we're lifted up

along with them.

So if you're not married

but considering it

make sure you've asked

yourself if you're willing

to lay down your life

for your wife

and lift hers up.

Don't marry someone

because they make you

look good

or meet your needs.

Are you willing

to meet hers?

If you are married

are you intentionally

seeking your wife's

flourishing?

Are you seeking

to help her experience

God's grace

in her life?

Are you bringing her

regularly before Jesus?

Are you loving her

the way you promised

you would?

Robertson McQuilkin

served over 20 years

as president of

Columbia Bible College

until in 1990

his wife Muriel

who'd been struggling

deeply with Alzheimer's

got too bad

for him to continue.

Whenever he was not

with her

she would become

fearful and frantic

no matter what the

situation or who else

was there.

She regularly used

to leave their home

and walk searching

for him to his office

looking all over for him

until she came home

with her feet bloodied.

And so McQuilkin

decided to step down

from the job

that he loved

that he knew

God had called him to.

And he wrote this

to the Bible College

community about

that decision.

He said the decision

was made in a way

42 years ago

when I promised

to care for Muriel

in sickness and in health

till death do us part.

So as I told the students

and faculty

as a man of my word

integrity has something

to do with it.

But so does fairness.

She has cared for me

fully and sacrificially

all these years.

If I cared for her

for the next 40 years

I would not be out

of her debt.

But he goes on.

Duty however

can be grim

and stoic.

But there is more.

I love Muriel.

She is a delight to me.

Her childlike dependence

and confidence in me.

Her warm love

occasional flashes

of that wit

I used to relish so.

Her happy spirit

and tough resilience

in the face

of her continual

distressing frustration.

I don't have to care

for her.

I get to.

It is a high honor

to care

for so wonderful

a person.

He got to care

for her

for 13 more years.

Apparently still

deeply in her debt.

But he didn't merely

fulfill a duty

toward her did he?

A vow he'd made.

He loved her.

Do you hear in his words

how he didn't just

lay his life down

for his wife?

It wasn't just

stepping away

from a career

or from something

he was excited about

but he also lifted her up

treasured her

saw and highlighted

the beauty

and even the distressed

and broken version

of his wife.

That's the kind of love

described here

in this passage.

Pastor Tim Keller

said of love

to be loved

but not known

is comforting

but superficial.

To be known

but not loved

is our greatest fear

but to be fully known

and truly loved

is well

a lot like being loved

by God.

To be fully known

and truly loved

a lot like being loved

by God.

How God loves us.

Husbands

love your wives

as Christ loved

the church.

How has Christ

loved you?

He knows everything

about you

doesn't he?

Even the worst.

He's seen you

in your darkest moments

your greatest failures

and yet he doesn't

turn away

he doesn't berate you

he doesn't give up

on you

he is patient

and kind.

He forgives

and persists

in loving you.

He has come

to lay his life

down for you

and now he continues

to lift you up

to love you back

to your original beauty

that you might be

perfect and glorious

and he insists

on living in that

relationship with you

forever.

Fully known

and truly loved.

What a great

love story.

The greatest

story ever told

and it's true

and the world

desperately needs

to hear it

and see it

from all of us

to know

that amazing love

and husbands

we in particular

have the privilege

of telling

that grand story

every day

as we lead

and love

our wives.

Let's pray

and ask for God's help.

Oh Father

we would love

nothing more

than to see

Jesus

exalted

in the lives

of those

we know

and love.

We want people

to see him

and his love

for us

as glorious

and as the

thing that they

most need

and we

so easily

and so regularly

fall short.

We know

we don't love

as well as he does.

We need

your grace.

Father

we all

fall short

of telling that story

perfectly.

we husbands

in particular

have a task

of telling

that story

in our marriages

and we're well aware

of our limitations

and our failures.

Thank you

for loving us.

Thank you

for continuing

to show us

the kind of love

we're to pass along.

Father

would you fill us

with that

to overflowing

that we might

make Jesus

glorious

to those

who are watching

our lives.

May we

even in our failures

point to one

who continues

to love us

and may they

see his love

so clearly.

We ask it

in Jesus name.

Amen.

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