Sermons
July 14th, 2024 by Pastor Solley071424AM God’s Masterpiece
Sub. The family
Theme: God’s order for the family.
Text: Eph 5:31-32
“God’s Masterpiece” Eph 5:31-32
Introduction
I want to speak this morning concerning one of God’s masterpieces. The Holy Spirit has been leading for a time now to bring a message or messages on Sunday morning concerning the family. Being a long time in the ministry in one place is a great blessing but it also brings some things one needs watch out for. I have brought messages on Sunday mornings about the family before so all have heard them. But when I looked at my notes I found that it was over twenty years ago, so not all of head them. The message, or messages, are not designed to point out all of our shortcomings and we all have them. Rather it is to begin to challenge each of us, including the pastor, to begin anew and afresh to be what God wants us to be in our homes and in our family.
I. The family, after God’s order, is truly a masterpiece: Eph 5:31-32 God instituted the family, ordained the family, and gives to us all that we need for joy and harmony in this world. That is when God’s order for the family is followed. Two born again believers brought together, one man, one woman, one life for life. – Eph 5:31
A. The family is a masterpiece of God because it gives us a picture, a working illustration of Jesus Christ and the church: Eph 5:32 That is what the Bible says. – Eph 5:31-32 Notice the picture of the family after God’s order as an illustration.
1. The husband joined to the wife, the wife to the husband and the old life left behind: Eph 5:31
2. A new life begun, the old passed away, all things becoming new: Eph 5:31
3. A love so great that they will never be separated: Eph 5:33 One man, one woman, one life for life.
4. A life filled with the joy of the Lord: Eph 5:19-20
5. That is God’s masterpiece and what God wants for the family: A picture of Christ and the church as we are joined to Jesus Christ and a new life begun, the old ways left behind all things become new, a love stemming from Jesus Christ that is eternal, and we are found walking daily in the joy of the Lord.
B. God also knew the family would come under attack: All that is of God, all that God wants, Satan attacks and tries to destroy. The family is no exception the Satanic attack upon the family began in the garden of Eden when Satan attacked Adam and Eve.
1. The context of this passage concerning the family reveals God knew His masterpiece would come under attack: Notice in chapter five we are given a list of things that will destroy a family. – Eph 5:4-11 – Take time to study these verses and you find one thing after another that Satan can use to destroy a family. The family is under attack.
2. Then in chapter six we are give things to put on to stand against the attack of Satan: Eph 6:12-18 Put these things on to stand in the battle against Satan. The family is under attack.
3. In between these two things God addresses the family: Eph 5:21-22 ; 6:1-6 It is important what God puts in His Word, it is also important where God puts things in His Word. God knew His masterpiece would come under attack.
4. Satan has been very successful in his attack upon the family: Few today are the families that are fulfilling God’s order and that attack today so fierce that even in a self proclaimed Christian nation God’s order for the family is a small minority.
II. But families can still present a picture of God’s masterpiece today: The Bible is an eternal book and is for us today. Jesus Christ never changes and is the same today and forever as He was yesterday. The Holy Spirit continues to indwell and empower the child of God today. Those things being true, and they are, tell us that if there were ever successful families there can still be successful families today. God’s masterpiece can still be found intact today.
PROP: Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, every husband, every wife, should study the Biblical order of the family, should study the masterpiece of God that is the family. TS. So that what God wants for us can be fulfilled in us.
Body
I. This passage that specifically speaks to the family is often misinterpreted and misapplied: Eph 5:21-24 Because the wife is addressed first, and because submission is addressed first has caused many to misinterpret and misapply the passage. I am not going to change the Bible this morning, not give you a new meaning, but we do need to see this as God presents it.
A. Because the wife is addressed first does not make her first in a marriage, in the home, the one given a place of leadership: Those three things the wife is given in our modern society. Women in America have been elevated above men in everything and when that happens in the family it disrupts the order of God.
1. God created Adam before Eve: Man first in God’s order of things.
2. God gave man the place of leadership: Eve was brought to Adam and Adam was to lead Eve.
3. God gave man the place of responsibility: We know that because God held Adam and not Eve accountable for that first sin. “By one man sin entered into the world”…
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4. That does not make Eve inferior to Adam: But in God’s masterpiece, in God’s order for the family man has been give the place of responsibility and leadership. God created Adam and then brought Eve to Adam. That is the God ordained order for the home.
5. Neither does a place of submission make the woman inferior to the man: Eph 5:22-24 In everything there must be an order. This doesn’t mean the woman has no rights or privileges in the home. It does not mean the woman is not capable of making decisions in the home. But it does point to a Biblical order in the home, an order God established. In God’s order it is Adam, then Eve, the husband, then the wife. In Everything there must be an order.
B. This is often where this is misapplied: Sometimes well-meaning, sometimes not, this is often misapplied. In some religious practices woman are forbidden to sit with men, are forbidden to face the preaching, are forbidden to speak other than singing with some Bible passages being used as they are taken out of context.
1. And at times we as men may take advantage of the above passage to make well-meaning jokes: During this time when I have not been able to do what I normally do as I recover from this surgery I have found some things. On youtube you can pull up the old Honeymooners episodes with Ralph and Alice. The king of my castle episodes, the you are a peasant episodes, the I am the ruler and you are nothing episodes. They are funny but they do not present God’s true order.
2. At times we can adopt that thinking: But it does not present a true picture of God’s order.
C. This is also at times misinterpreted: Eph 5:22-24 Misinterpreted because many place all the responsibility of submission upon the woman. Did you know God doesn’t do that? – Eph 5:22-24 – The woman is to take the place of submission, that is clear, that is Bible and many today have a difficult time with that which we will address later.
1. But notice whom God addresses the most in this passage: Eph 5:22-33 In twelve verses at the end of this chapter addressing the family God mentions the woman four times and the man nine times. God places the man in the position of leadership and responsibility and that includes submission.
2. How can I be responsible for the submission of my wife in our marriage? I am to make it possible for her to submit to my leadership in the home. I become responsible for making it possible for her to submit to my spiritual leadership in the home.
D. The way the passage begins leads to some misapplication and misinterpretation of the passage: The woman is not inferior to the man, nor is the responsibility of submission resting completely upon her. How then can the man make it possible for the woman to submit to his leadership and place of responsibility in the home? How can the man make it easier? The answers to that question are found in the text.
II. Submission begins with trust: Eph 5:23-24 Remember the picture that is being presented here. – Eph 5:32 – Submission begins with trust. There is coming a time when everyone ever born into this world will submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. Phil 2:10-11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That day is coming but in this present time most people reject the authority of Jesus Christ and will not submit to Him.
A. Have you today bowed before Jesus, have you acknowledged His authority over you, have you submitted to Jesus Christ? Why? The Holy Spirit draws all to Jesus, the Holy Spirit convicts all of the authority of Jesus, all know the work of Jesus, but most will not submit to Jesus. Why did you bow before Jesus, why did you acknowledge Jesus, why did you submit to Jesus Christ? Why?
1. Because we learned that Jesus Christ can be trusted, that is why: We learn it in different ways.
a. I learned that Jesus could be trusted by watching my parents and grandparents, seeing their faith in Christ.
b. I learned that Jesus could be trusted in a Bible believing, conservative, fundamental church hearing the Word of God.
c. Some learn that Jesus can be trusted in VBS, in Bible camp, from evangelists, from missionaries and so on.
d. Some learn Jesus can be trusted by the Holy Spirit revealing Him after the pattern of Romans chapter one.
2. You will not trust Jesus until you learn that Jesus can be trusted: Learning is the first step. Learning is not the final step.
B. Then after we commit to Jesus Christ, after we trust Jesus Christ, after we have been born again, we experience firsthand that Jesus can be trusted: We learned about Jesus, we are born again, then we experience firsthand that Jesus can be trusted.
1. It is wonderful to read of those who trusted Christ in the Bible and what Jesus did for them: Moses trusted Jesus and Egypt fell, Elijah trusted Jesus and fire came down from heaven, Daniel trusted Jesus and the mouths of hungry lions were shut, Peter trusted Jesus and walked on water, Paul trusted Jesus and was delivered from the attacks of Satan. It is wonderful to read of those ones.
2. It is wonderful to hear the testimonies of other Christians and what Jesus has done in their lives: I know people brought to their last dollar and had God provide. I know people who were told they had just months to live and God healed them. I know people who were headed for a tragic accident and God prevented it. Those testimonies are a blessing and they are an encouragement and it is wonderful to hear of those things.
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3. But when you experience those things in your own life it becomes even more wonderful: I know by experience that Jesus can be trusted and when you experience those things it is even more wonderful. My God can be trusted. My savior can be trusted.
a. My mother was told when I was five years old to get her affairs in order because of an aggressive brain tumor and she had just months to live. God took the tumor away and gave her 35 more years.
b. It was a fearful thing to leave a good, secure job and enter the ministry. Forty years later it has been the very best thing.
c. To hear that one of your children has an incurable disease is a terrible thing and then to see God take it away is a greater thing.
4. I have experienced that my God can be trusted: I learned it, then I experienced it.
C. For a wife to submit to her husbands leadership and authority in the home she must know that he can be trusted: Remember the picture that is being presented here. – Eph 5:32 – She doesn’t need to see that her husband is a good businessman, or a good truck drive, or good farmer, or good factory worker. She doesn’t need to see a big bank account and such things as those.
1. But in order to trust and submit she does need to see Godliness: She doesn’t need to hear it in lip service as so many give the Lord, she needs to see Godliness in her husband. – Ps 4:1-3 – Why could God use David, why did the people trust David, because David was a Godly man. David was not an older man, not a strong man, David was a Godly man.
2. If you want to be trusted you need to be Godly: Can she see Godliness in you?
D. What marks a Godly man? Several things we can look at.
1. A Godly man is going to be settled in his faith: 1 Tim 1:1-4 Paul was appointing a Godly man to the ministry and a Godly man will be settled in his faith. That means he is going to be consistent.
a. He will not be moved by false doctrines of which there seems to be no end. – 1 Tim 1:4
b. He will remain instant in season and out of season. The Word of God never changes and he will stand upon the Word of God.
c. He will be committed. – Heb 10:25
d. A Godly man is going to be settled in his faith, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
2. A Godly man will be an enduring man: 2 Tim 3:12-14 There will be trials and struggles along the way, there will be persecutions to endure, and the Godly man will endure. – 2 Tim 3:12
a. He will not stop because his feelings have been hurt.
b. He will not stop because something happened that he did not understand.
c. He will not stop because he has been disappointed.
d. He will not stop because he has been lied about.
e. A Godly man will be an enduring man.
3. A Godly man will be a new man: Titus 2:12-14 In his life old things will have passed away and all things become new. He will not look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, he will be different in that he is Godly.
a. He will not willingly walk in sin. – Titus 2:14 – I did not say he will never sin, but he will not willingly walk in, remain in sin.
b. He has a desire to be pure before God, unspotted by the world. – James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
c. A Godly man will be a new man, created in Christ Jesus.
4. A Godly man will not give into temptations: 2 Peter 2:9 For every man here, every individual here, Satan has something on us, some temptation that he places before us that we have given into in the past and he continues to use against us. A Godly man will not give into those temptations.
a. There are certain things that Satan sets before me, things that I have given into in the past, and they continue to be a struggle.
b. But a Godly man will find victory over those things in Christ. 1 Cor 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
c. The Godly man will draw strength from the Lord and not give into temptations. – 2 Peter 2:9
5. A Godly man will be one serving God: Heb 12:28 Godly men serve God.
a. Not all are going to be called into what we label as full time Christian service. Not all will be called to be pastors, missionaries, evangelist. But are they the only ones God has called?
b. Every born again child of God has been called into Christian service. – Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And for all it is full time.
c. Not all will live of the gospel as the Bible says about pastors but all have been given life because of the gospel and God has a place of service for all.
d. A Godly man is going to be found serving God.
E. Submission begins with trust: Can you be trusted?
III. Submission is secured by love: Eph 5:25-29 This will take longer to look at than trust so we will do it next week.
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Conclusion
Is it possible to have successful homes today? That answer is yes.
I. But we must remember the picture that is being presented: Eph 5:32
II. Wives are to take a place of submission:
III. Husbands are to make it easy for a wife to submit to their leadership in the home:
A. This happens when the husband proves he can be trusted:
B. This happens when the husband is Godly: