“ When God has something very great to accomplish for His church, it is His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of His people; and it is revealed that, when God is about to accomplish great things for His church, He will begin by remarkably pouring out the spirit of grace and supplication.”  – Jonathan Edwards

Revive is a ten day prayer initiative for the Church.  Each day focuses on a specific prayer need for the body of Christ and a daily Scripture reading.  During these 10 days we’ll be reading in the Book of Acts 1-3 chapters a day, and praying specifically for our churches.

Two thousand years ago, on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Many times, however, the church became stagnant and resisted the work of the Holy Spirit. God, in His mercy, poured out His Spirit anew on the church. Some of these fresh outpourings of the Spirit we find in Acts 4:29-31, Acts 10:44-47 and Acts 11:15.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests that when we read the book of Galatians and the portion of Scripture found in 1 Corinthians 12-14 carefully, it will become clear that these churches experienced an extra-ordinary work of the Holy Spirit in their midst.

Over centuries past stagnation has happened over and over in the church. Let us then, today, pray for an extra-ordinary work of the Spirit of God in the church globally. Without a new and powerful working of the Spirit in the church, the church will be rendered powerless. We need God’s divine power to do our work.

Lord, apart from You we can do nothing. Help us to seek Your will, and join You where you are working. Help us to be sensitive to the leading of Your Spirit.  Help us to grow in obedience as a church, and to love and worship You more.

You can follow along with us on June 1st as we begin praying here on the website or you can add me on Facebook. Click the button below to download the prayer guide.

The post Revive – Ten Days of Prayer appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

God can fix broken marriages.  He can heal broken hearts. True forgiveness is supernatural – we can forgive because He forgave us.  He can restore what’s broken.

The post When Love Leads appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

35 responded back and the results are a little bit alarming.  There’s no need for me to share a lot of my thoughts in regards to the results in this post, instead I will let the results speak for themselves and allow you to draw your own conclusions about the implications of these answers and the effects it plays in our marriages.

How often do you communicate to your wife your specific prayer needs?

How often do you prayer together?

Does your wife know the biggest struggles that you have faced in the past two weeks?

Do you know the biggest struggles your wife has faced in the past two weeks?

What are you thoughts about the results?

The post Prayer Concerns appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

Never “fitting in”.

It’s interested how I thought God saving me would open the way for me to fit in.  That process hasn’t exactly turned out the way I thought it would.  I still struggle with fitting in, but now it has taken an entirely different concept.  To be up front and honest, let me be sure to tell you that I struggle with relating to many things that other guys are interested in.  I called them disconnects because they were things that disconnected me from being a part of the group.  I was the outsider in most conversations.  A great example is sports. I’ve never been good at sports or even very faithful to watch them.  I had a 4 week run at a men’s softball league at church that was disastrous.  I signed up for it so that I could connect with the guys, and build relationships, but I walked away feeling even more disconnected than before I started. God saving me didn’t change the fact that I still terrible at sports.  No matter how many times I went up for bat, Philippians 4:13 did not give me supernatural sporting capabilities.

Another example is social gatherings. I remember one year our Sunday School class had a get together at one of the couples’ home, and after 15 minutes of mingling, the ladies separated from the men to the kitchen, and the men went down to the basement to watch extreme cage fighting.  Nothing says unity like watching two guys beating the crap out of each other on live tv. Between the bloody fists, foul language and beer commercials during the breaks, somewhere in all of that I wanted to leave.  None of those things hold much of an interest to me, so you can imagine how miserable I was.  I couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough. My wife was equally as miserable upstairs as the women shared about high school memories (my wife couldn’t relate because she was home-schooled), and in those conversations began a lot of husband bashing.  On the way home that night, we were both excited to get out of there, but we left with a heaviness we didn’t have before then.

Identifying a Heart Change.

God began to use the events of that night to shape the years to come in my life, and just as God was trying to do a work in me, so was the enemy.  I never fit in before God saved me, and it was becoming clear to me that I still did not fit in.  I still felt like an outcast, even among brothers in Christ.   Today, there hasn’t been much that has changed – I still don’t watch tv so I can’t relate to conversations about the latest reality tv show, Duck Dynasty, or the Cardinals game.  I don’t play video games so whenever some of the younger guys start talking about Call of Duty I often give that “deer in headlights” look.  Same situations as before, except for one thing – God changed my heart.

God began to show me something about my identity. He began to show me the importance of truth.  My identity in Christ is based in the truth of His Word.  You see, once I began to see myself as God sees me, I didn’t mind at all being that OTHER guy, because that other guy was loved, chosen, and accepted by God (Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:39, Romans 8:1).

My identity wasn’t in whether or not other guys would accept me because my life was hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3).  I was not a reject, I was a new creation in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:17).   This is why truth is important.

Remove Truth and you remove your identity.

If you take away the believer’s identity in Christ, then what are they left with? Reject truth, what hope do you have?

You are condemned – Romans 8:1

Separated from God’s love – Romans 8:39

Still dead in your sin  – 2 Corinthians 5:17

You are darkness – Ephesians 5:8

Unholy and Faithless – Colossians 1:2

Hopeless – Colossians 1:27

Truth doesn’t matter.. unless it’s about me…

This is an area that confuses me whenever it comes to the post modernist.  In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything, and truth is ultimately rejected.  Truth in the post modernist view is being replaced by Doubt. Most post modernists despise and refute any claim to the truth that you might have, except for one area -their identity.  They are beloved, accepted, blessed, and they will hold to those truths to the very end.  You cannot take away their identity in Christ because whether they choose to accept it or not they do believe in certain truths.  In order to understand who you are in Christ, the only basis for this has to be an understanding of the truth of God’s Word.

Self-ism

My question however, is how do you claim certain truths about who you are and reject claims about who God says that He is? Christian music artist Shai Linne called it – Self-ism, the world’s fastest growing religion.  For the post modernist it is easy to hold onto their identity in Christ, because it makes the Gospel all about them instead of being about God.  It allows them to hold on to the theological viewpoint that God is a God of love, while rejecting the truth that He is Holy and Righteous, because it fits their agenda to do so.

How do you choose what truth you want to reject?

Scripture couldn’t be clearer, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

No where in scripture do we read that some scriptures are more “God breathed” than other scriptures nor are we ever told that some passages can be ignored because they are less inspired than other passages.

It is the Truth of God’s Word that set me free.  Being that OTHER guy means that I am loved by God, not because of what I have done or did not do, but because of who I am in Christ Jesus.  You can’t pick and choose what truth you want to believe and reject the ones you don’t.

The post Being that OTHER guy appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

That is the kind of faith that in the midst of imperfection can look to Christ and say: “You have already perfected me in your sight.” This faith says, “Christ, today I have sinned. But I hate my sin. For you have written the law on my heart, and I long to do it. And you are working in me what is pleasing in your sight. And so I hate the sin that I still do, and the sinful thoughts that I contemplate. And in this hatred of my sin, and in my meager advancements in holiness I rejoice that, according to your promise in Hebrews 10:14, I have been perfected for all time by a single offering, your precious self.”

This is the true and realistic faith that saves. It is not the boast of the strong. It is the cry of the weak in need of a Savior. I invite you and urge you to be weak enough to trust Christ in this way.

Application
At the conclusion of this sermon, John Piper asks a very important question. What is that question and how would you answer it for yourself?

DG Topical Studies: The Cross By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

The post The Cross of Christ: Perfected For All Time – Part Five appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

Growing up I was the stereotypical “headbanging devil worshiper” that you tried to steer clear of.  I had the long hair, the blue jean jacket with the Iron Maiden iron on patches covering the back and sleeves.  I was the guy who wore the most vulgar and shocking band t-shirts that I could get away with wearing.  Yes, I was the one who got both ears pierced, wore the giant gothic style cross necklaces, and rarely ever did you see me smile. In fact,  I went throughout my middle school and high school life trying to be the scariest guy you could meet.

Chances are you remember him.

I’ll be 38 years old in just another month, and a lot has changed since those days.  For over 30 years of my life I was dead both emotionally and spiritually. Seven years ago God called me out from death to life, and I could share a lot of the gory details of my past, but this passage of Scripture can explain to you the miracle of what happened in my life -

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The New Living Translation says in verse 10 we are “God’s Masterpiece”, and I love that.  Scripture tells me that I am a dead man brought to life.  I’m a miracle. Made alive with Christ.  That’s not something that just anybody can do.  I can’t raise myself from the dead.  It was only because of God’s mercy  and grace that He saved me.  I couldn’t do a single thing to earn that.  “By grace, saved through Faith.”  I went from that guy who was dead in his sins to that guy who was raised up and seated in the heavenly places in Christ.  What a transformation!  What joy! What a God!  Thank you Jesus that I am not defined by who I was,  but that I am now defined in who You are.

I want you to watch this video.  This depicts the struggle I faced (and continue to face) in regards to truth and how the truth of God’s Word has impacted my life. Please take 10 minutes of your day to watch this video, and if you’ve seen it before, I pray that God will give you new eyes to see it again.

So what does this have to do with our series about truth? I will pick up on this in the next few posts in this series called ‘Who Determines Truth?”

 TRUTH MATTERS.

 ”I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, One who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted for me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.” – JI Packer

The post Being THAT Guy appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

The text for our study is John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Throughout this series we will look at the following claims from Jesus:

• He is the Way.
• He is the Truth.
• He is the Life.
• There is no other way to the Father, except through Him.

For more information about this study you can read the introduction here. 

In this post I want to introduce to you 5 different religious viewpoints.  We will dig deeper into each one of these throughout the study.  Keep in mind these are summary statements about each one from key leaders in each of these movements.

1) The Muslim.

The Muslim believes  Allah is the proper name applied to the true God Who exists necessarily by Himself comprising all the excellent Divine names and attributes of perfection. Allah is One and Unique. He has no son, partner, or equal. He is the sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Every creature bears witness to His Oneness, Divinity, Allah has revealed His final Scripture, the Qur’an, to the last of His Messengers, Muhammad, peace be upon him, who was responsible for conveying the Message of Islam to mankind.

2)The Buddhist.

Buddhist Zen master, says “Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.” If you want to learn about Buddhism, I suggest putting aside all assumptions. Put aside assumptions about Buddhism, and then assumptions about religion. Put aside assumptions about the nature of the self, of reality, of existence. Keep yourself open to new understanding. Whatever beliefs you hold, hold in an open hand and not a tight fist. Just practice, and see where it takes you.”

3) The Atheist

Richard Carrier,  Author of Sense and Goodness without God – “There is simply no more evidence for Jehovah than there is for Zeus. Christians find no reason to believe that Zeus exists, so they do not believe in him. For the same reason, I do not believe in Jehovah. In fact, It offends me that an invisible god is given credit for every good thing that happens in the world, while every evil is blamed on humanity.”

4) New Age Spirituality

Henry Nouwen, a Catholic Priest who has written over 40 books on spirituality and battled depression for much of his life  - “Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.”

5)  The Post Modernist.

Rob and Kristen Bell, formerly of Mars Hill Church – “Life in the church had become so small.  It had worked for me for a long time, then it stopped working.” – Kristen.  The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself “discovering the Bible as a human product, rather than the product of divinity.  The Bible is still center for us, but it’s a different kind of center.  We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.  I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible, that I knew what it means, but now I have no idea what it means.  Life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color.”

So Many Roads to Nowhere…

Five very different roads claiming a variety of different things.   “So many roads to nowhere” as the song goes… Two of these are masquerading as “Christian” beliefs. One claims to believe in nothing, but even that statement is an oxymoron, and the other two resemble nothing of the God in Scripture.  So which one of these roads leads to Jesus?

The Bible makes a very bold claim that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him.  None of these five roads will lead you to that conclusion, as you will see further into this study.

I admit, a part of me thinks it would be nice to say that you can believe whatever you want to believe. You can do your thing, and I can believe what I want to believe, and it’s all good, because whether you choose Jesus or Muhammad, Buddha, or you just want to trust in yourself, that we’ll all be together in the end as one big happy family.  Life would seem a lot simpler if Jesus was one of many ways and all roads would lead to Heaven.

The truth however, is that the Bible is not that kind of book.  Jesus doesn’t teach this, and all roads do not inevitably lead to Heaven.  I’m going to go one step further and tell you that none of the roads mentioned in this post will get you there either.

The Bible stands in direct opposition to the world and all of it’s false belief systems.  Jesus taught a message that was offensive to the world then, and it still stands just as offensive today. He makes exclusive claims that are hard for us to accept.  His message stood against every thing the culture believed and stood for, even  had been taught their entire lives.  Their hatred of Jesus crucified Him on a cross, where He died, mocked, beaten, spit upon, whipped, and physically crushed.

Today, the message of the Gospel is still offending the world, and His followers are receiving the same kind of response. Millions of Christians around the world are being beaten, tortured, exiled, and murdered simply because they chose to put their faith in a risen Savior instead of the endless gods and hopes this world tried to offer them.

What causes a man to stake his very life on the words in a book?  A man who would rather die than renounce this person of Jesus Christ?  I think of the verse in Matthew 13:44

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

I guess the next question I want to ask, is do you really know what it is that you believe?  Can you explain it, or even defend it?  Why do you believe what you do?  In the next post, I am going to share my journey with you about how I came to believe Jesus is the only way, only truth, and only life, and my prayer is that it will challenge and encourage you.

Discussion Questions:

• Looking at the 5 different views listed, were there any that surprised you with what they had said?
• Which one of these 5 seems to be the most dangerous path to be on?
• What do you think causes a man to die for what he believes is truth?
• How well do you know what you believe?  Can you explain or defend why you believe what you do?

The post Five Different Roads appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

We begin with a passages of Scripture which serves as the foundation for this series – John Chapter 14.

Jesus begins the fourteenth chapter telling his disciples about what was about to come, and that He would soon be departing from them to go and prepare a place for them.  I wonder what the disciples were thinking?  It’s clear throughout the early ministry they believed Jesus would be setting up an earthly Kingdom, but now they are puzzled.  Confused, Thomas asks a very important question:

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5)

Jesus responds with the boldest, most exclusive claim He could have possibly given.  The implications of what His response means for our lives have deep roots even for us today. These words spoken by Jesus stand as one of the pillars of the foundation of our faith.

Jesus says “Do you want to know where you are going?  How you can know the way?  Here it is. ”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

Jesus does not say He is a way, a truth, or a life.  He does not say he is one of many ways, many truths, or many lives, but His claim is exclusive. Absolute. He leaves no room for questioning or debate, He states it as fact. This is not a play on words, but a declaration – unless you go through Him, you will not come to the Father.

Those statements are the basis of this study.  Throughout this series we will look at the following claims from Jesus:

• He is the Way.
• He is the Truth.
• He is the Life.
• There is no other way to the Father, except through Him.

There are a lot of people claiming a lot of things in regards to what truth is, how we define it, and how it applies to our lives.  Claims that all truth is relative depending on what you believe – have permeated our culture.  Boundaries have been redefined, lines erased, and things that were once black and white, now appear gray to many.  There is today, an uncertainty in regards to truth.  There is also an intolerance towards anyone who believes in absolute truth.  These are all things that we are going to uncover and work through during this study.  Even in many “Christian” circles, the truth is something that people seem to be ok to disagree on.  Certain core beliefs are put aside in order to promote “unity”, and serious doctrinal errors have now invaded our churches as a result.  If Christians don’t believe the truth who will?

 Who Determines Truth?

Here is how the dictionary defines truth: Consistent with fact or reality; not false or erroneous. Real. Genuine. Accurate. Exactly conforming to a rule, standard, or pattern.

Even our human logic and way of thinking attributes truth to something that is accurate, consistent, conforming to a rule or standard.  So what is the standard?  We are going to look at Truth from a Biblical standard, and let Scripture define what truth is.  Based on the Word of God, here is our working definition of truth:

Truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Even more to the point: Truth is the self-expression of God. That is the biblical meaning of truth.

In our next post we will take a quick look at four different claims being made – each of them regarded as truth.  In this study we will let Scripture be our guide, as it should always be the final authority on what truth is.

Discussion Questions:

• How important is truth to you?
• Do you think that people are tolerant or intolerant in regards to Biblical truth?  Why do you think this?
• How would you define truth?
• How does Jesus’ claim that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him impact your life?

The post Who Determines Truth? – Introduction appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

Two Things That Relate Directly to Your Life

Now we come to our focus in verse 14: “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Turn your eyes upon Jesus here and see two things about Jesus that relate directly to your life today.

First notice that Christ has perfected his people, and it is already complete. “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” He “has” done it. And he has done it “for all time.” The perfecting of his people is complete and it is complete forever. Does this mean that Christians don’t sin? Don’t get sick? Don’t make mathematical errors in school? That we are already perfect in our behavior and attitudes? There is one clear reason in this very verse for knowing that is not the case. What is it? It’s the last phrase. Who are the people that have been perfected for all time? It is those who “are being sanctified.” This is why the tense is so important. Now “those who are being sanctified” are not yet fully sanctified in the sense of committing no more sin. Otherwise they would not need to go on being sanctified.

So here we have the shocking combination: the very people who “have been perfected” are the ones who “are being sanctified.” Besides, you can also remember from chapters 5 and 6, that these Christians he is writing to are anything but perfect. For example, in 5:11 he says, “You have become dull of hearing.” So we may safely say that “perfected” does not mean that we are sinlessly perfect in this life.

Well what does it mean? The answer is given in the next verses (15-18). The writer explains what he means by quoting Jeremiah again on the new covenant, namely, that in the new covenant which Christ has sealed now by his blood, there is total forgiveness for all our sins. Verses 17-18 “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” So he explains the present perfection in terms of forgiveness. Christ’s people are perfected now in the sense that God puts away all our sin (9:26), forgives them, and never brings them to mind again as a ground of condemnation. In this sense we stand before him perfect. When he looks on us he does not impute any of our sins against us, past, present or future. He does not count our sins against us.

 Verse 14 says that God has “perfected” his people. Does this mean that God’s people are sinless and no longer sin at all? If not, what does it mean that he has perfected us?

Verse 14 tells us plainly: “By one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” So notice, secondly, for whom Christ has done this perfecting work on the cross. You can put it provocatively like this: Christ has perfected once and for all those who are being perfected. Or you could say (and the writer does say as much in verse 10): Christ has fully sanctified those who are now being sanctified. Or Christ has fully accomplished and guaranteed the holiness of those who are now being made holy.

What this means is that you can know that you stand perfect in the eyes of your heavenly Father if you are moving away from your present imperfection toward more and more holiness by faith in his future grace. Let me say that again, because it is full of encouragement for imperfect sinners like us, and full of motivation for holiness. This verse means that you can have assurance that you stand perfected and completed in the eyes of your heavenly Father not because you are perfect now, but precisely because you are not perfect now but are “being sanctified”, “being made holy”, that, by faith in God’s promises, you are moving away from your lingering imperfection toward more and more holiness. (See Hebrews 10:32-35; 11:24-26 etc. for examples of how faith in future grace sanctifies.)

According to this passage, how can we have assurance that we are perfect in God’s eyes?

DG Topical Studies: The Cross By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

The post The Cross of Christ: Perfected For All Time – Part Four appeared first on Treasuring Christ.

It’s a warning about becoming “too familiar” with a passage in the Bible.  Often times we hear a passage enough times, and we become comfortable, often believing “we got it” and we end up disconnecting or tuning out.  I do this  alot with honestly powerful passages like Philippians 4:13.  Don’t dismiss the passage. For one reason, it’s God’s word.  It gives life to the hearer.  If you ever feel too comfortable with a passage ask God to reveal it to you, make it real, and guard  your heart towards complacency towards the word.

Ok, now that I’ve given the warning, we can move on.

Preparing for the Sweetheart banquet due to the audience being married couples I began searching the Scriptures for a picture of the perfect marriage.  My quest did not start out very good.  I read about Adam and Eve (that didn’t end well), same with David and Bathsheba…  I could have read from Song of Solomon but for some reason I can’t get past the passage dealing with gazelles, and flocks of goats. After some research I found this passage in Ephesians 5:22-33.

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. (Ephesians 5:22-33)

Out of this passage we see a few things other than just wives submitting to their husbands. (Isn’t that what always stands out to us as men?)

The Picture

Man and Woman. – Our Marriage – Our love for one another is a picture of Jesus and His love for the church.  So we are seeing in this text the following:

1. Just how we should be towards one another in marriage.
2. How much Jesus loves His church, so much in fact that He related it to marriage.
3. How these 2 things should mirror one another.

Now, I have heard the argument from men. “Wives have it easy. All they have to do is submit.” (Just for the record I have never said this.)

Verse 24 – as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Submission is hard.

“As the church submits to Christ.” – How well does the church submit to Christ? Our hearts – our desire is to submit but often our flesh gets in the way.  I don’t know of a single church that has successfully submitted in everything to Christ, yet as a husband am I expecting my wife to do a better job at this than the church?

Clearing the Air

You may have some ideas about what submission is or isn’t so let’s clear the air on this topic.

Submission is not inequality. Jesus submitted to the Father, and He is equal with the Father (John 10:30). Submission is not silence; but, when a Christian woman submits to her husband, it includes treating him and talking to him with the honor of the position that God has given him (Eph. 5:33). Submission for wives is obeying God (Eph. 5122-24): it is loving God (John 14:15); it is trusting God’s purpose in her life (1 Pet. 1:7), even when the situation is difficult; and it is trusting Him to work all things together for her good, even when things seem bad (Rom. 8:28,29).

Submission for wives is working in partnership with God for her husband’s eternal good regardless of his present spiritual condition (1 Pet. 3:1), it is demonstrating a Christlike character to her husband, and it is bringing glory to God (Matt. 5:16).

Let me ask a question. What happens whenever someone confesses sin in their lives to their brothers and sisters among their church family?  Don’t we come alongside them, pray for them?  Encourage them?  Follow up with them?

Husbands are we doing this with our wives whenever they are struggling?  Especially in light of how we are loving them as Christ loved the church?

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her by the washing of water, with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor – without wrinkle or blemish.

How well do we love?

So How do we love our wives? – As Christ loved the church

How did He love the church?  He gave up his life for her.  He died on a cross for her.

How many of us are willing to and would die for our wives? I think every man here would be willing to give up their lives for their wives.  We would risk our lives for them.  Why?  - Most of us would be willing to answer – because we love them.  Yes, yes we do.  There is a king of heroics associated with dying for the one we love isn’t there?

If we are prepared to die a physical death for them, are we also prepared to die to ourselves?  Lay down our wants, our desires, our past times, nail them to the cross and crucify them as well?  We will die for our wives, and I am asking will do die to our pride, and our rights as husbands?  Would we do as Jesus did, and give ourselves up for them?  Why is this so much harder to do?

I’m reminded of Matthew 10:38-39 the words of Jesus as He tells us “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus mentions the cross for the first time to his disciples, and the word picture He gave them was a violent death.  What He was calling them into – was total surrender. It would cost them their lives in necessary, and it was, and it did.

As we love our wives as Christ loved the church, it requires total surrender to Jesus.  It requires putting to death our wants and desires and giving up our lives for them.

If we as husband and wife would do this, what would the church look like?  Great, but what does this look like?

The LOVE Chapter

1 Corinthians 13.  Here comes the familiarity.  The “love Chapter.”  I did this a few years ago, and God opened my eyes (and my heart).  Whenever you read love, replace it with your name.  My passage looked like this:

Whitt  is patient and kind; Whitt  does not envy or boast; Whitt is not arrogant or rude. Whitt does not insist on his own way; Whitt is not irritable or resentful; Whitt does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but Whitt rejoices with the truth. Whitt bears all things, Whitt believes all things, Whitt hopes all things, and Whitt endures all things. Whitt’s love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Read the passage out loud with your own name.  About half way through you really start to sound like a liar right?  Well hopefully I am the only one who has that happen to them.

If God is love (1 John 4:8) and this chapter describes what love is and what love does, what does that say about God?  If we have the Spirit of God living in us, then don’t we have the capacity to love like this?

What does this look like in practical ways?

It could mean

1. Turning off the TV.  Whether it’s Sport Center, or Survivor, whenever she comes into the room just so that she is aware that she’s got my attention.
2. It could mean biting my tongue whenever I’d rather defend myself against something she said.  Jesus was not concerned about his own integrity but yet I am willing to cause division in my marriage because of my own?
3. It could mean getting up in the middle of the night whenever one of the kids is crying, or to get my spouse the bottle of water they are asking for at 3 in the morning.
4. It could mean putting down my book, or phone and really listen to what she wants to talk about.
5. It could mean helping out around the house, and taking the trash out before she asks.
6. It could mean that when you are out on a business trip that you unhook the television in your room so you are not tempted to look at anything inappropriate.
7. It means that we should be not thoughtless, but think of the needs of our spouse above our own.  Love is not self-seeking.

There is much practical application here.  For both of us.  I believe that if I love my wife in such a way, that I am sacrificing my life (read my wants, my desires, my time, my conversations, my attention) for her, we will see a different picture of what submission looks like.

Whenever we think of submission don’t most of us see it in a negative light?  Something we “have to do? Something we might even do begrudgingly?

Guys, if we are truly loving our wives as Christ loved the Church, our wives will have no problem submitting.  Why?  Not because of how awesome we are, but they will see Christ.  They will see us loving them as Christ, and they will know and they will feel that they are treasured.  How many wives want to feel treasured by their husband?

It will start to look like how Christ loved the church, and how the church submits in everything to Jesus.

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