The Model of Christ in Marriage
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Ephesians. If you're looking for a place to sit, we've had some openings in the front. No reason for anybody to have to sit in the back room. So we're gonna look at submission, this morning. We're gonna look at wives submitting to their husbands.
Joel Brooks:This is going to be a a topic that's gonna be bigger than I can, cover in just such a short amount of time, so I've always heard the carnal sin of a pastor is to stir up more snakes than you can shoot. I might stir up more snakes than I could shoot, but if you have any questions, be sure to email me at jeff@rccbermingham.org, and, and I'm sure he will get back to you in all those questions. So Ephesians chapter 5. We'll begin reading in verse 21. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Joel Brooks: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.
Joel Brooks: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 2 shall become 1 flesh. This mystery is profound.
Joel Brooks:And I'm saying that it refers to Christ in the church. However, let each of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. This is the word of the Lord. It is to your prayer. If you would, pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our Father, I pray that as we open up Your Word, that through Your Spirit, You would show us this glorious gift of marriage, and to whom marriage points, which is of your great love, Jesus, that you have for your bride, the church. I pray that through your spirit, you would allow us to be receptive of these words, that you would give us an understanding, deep in our hearts and deep in our minds. Lord, we want everything that you would have for us. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So, not too long ago, I was doing a wedding, not at this church building, but at another church. And so, after the rehearsal, the the pastor of that church, he he pulled me aside and he he wanted to go over some rules for, for visiting pastor for preaching a wedding at that church. And that's not uncommon.
Joel Brooks:Most churches have their own rules, you know, and it might just be certain things you can use or not use at the building, or maybe rules about communion. Whether you can have communion or not. And so, so I was prepared to talk about those things, but this rule, it kinda caught me off guard a little bit, and he said, just know tomorrow, you're not allowed to read from Ephesians chapter 5. And I thought, oh, okay. And so I I I was a little confused by that and I thought, okay, maybe maybe I'm being asked not to preach on that, because who knows what what a pastor could preach on that.
Joel Brooks:And so I was like, well I'm I could just read from that. And he goes, no, we don't allow anybody to read from Ephesians 5, whether it's at a wedding or at any time. And I was thinking about this, I mean, it's one of the most rich passages we have in all of scripture about marriage. And so I I After he told me that I did, the only thing that you could do is I decided to just go and preach on Ephesians 5 for my for my wedding homily and thus can never preach a sermon at that church again. But but there is a hesitation, you know, that that pastors have, that people have when when approaching this text.
Joel Brooks:And I realize that as we come and we we read through this, that everybody is bringing in some some sort of baggage. You cannot help but read these words and you think about marriage through your own cultural lens or through some personal lens, but every person in here has a slightly different view of what marriage should look like. For some of you, the images that come up are images of great mutual affection, tenderness, love. And for others of you, there might be images of arguing, constant verbal combat. If not outright abuse.
Joel Brooks:And in a room this size, I bet there's everything in between. So for some of you, when you hear the word submit, you just hear the word submit and it's gonna it's gonna produce in you an image that you've actually been trying for years to forget. Because you saw in your mind what submission looks like. For others of you, you you grew up in, well, submission. Well, all you saw was love and tenderness in the marriage.
Joel Brooks:Yet, the wife would say that she submitted to her husband. So so so where is it? What does it look like? And what I want us to try to do, and I know we can't do this fully, but as much as you are able, try to lay down any expectation, any view you have of marriage. Just try to lay that down, and try to just listen to Paul.
Joel Brooks:Listen to God's word as to what he would say concerning marriage. And if you're single and you're here in this room, you think, well this doesn't Well I'm even here. I mean, what does a message about marriage have to do with me? Well, no. You know, for 1, you might get married someday.
Joel Brooks:But also, this is about far more than marriage. Paul says it's a mystery, but this mystery is ultimately about Christ and his church. That's what we're really learning about here is Christ and his church. Okay. So if you remember last week, we were talking about being filled with the spirit, and we talked about 5 participles.
Joel Brooks:I remember wowing you with participles, and y'all were trying to stay awake during that, but, but I described 5 participles, that really describe what being filled with the spirit looks like. And so the first participle was addressing. Addressing. We were addressing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And then, the next two participles were singing and making.
Joel Brooks:We are singing and making melody to the Lord. Then we are giving. We are giving thanks continually. And then the final participle is submitting. We are submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Joel Brooks:And when Paul hits this word, submitting, he, he apparently thinks it's, it's such a big deal. It's so important that he really needs to flesh it out. And so he's gonna talk about what submission looks like in the context of marriage. Then he's gonna talk about what it looks like in the context of a family, and then of work. And we're gonna look at marriage this week.
Joel Brooks:Next week, we're gonna look at family and work. But it's absolutely essential for every person here to understand that submission flows from being filled with the spirit. Submission is part of a spirit filled life. So if you're not filled with the spirit, simply put, you're not gonna have the ability to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This whole notion of submission, is describing what it means to be Spirit filled.
Joel Brooks:And I wanna say this early on, because I don't want you to make the mistake as we are going through Ephesians 5, and we're looking at marriage, that that you think what is being described here is how all marriages, for all of humanity, are supposed to look like. Because Paul is not prescribing this marriage for everyone. Yes, marriage is a gift to all of humanity. You see that in the first pages of scripture. How, how God gave the gift of marriage to us.
Joel Brooks:But this view of marriage here is not for all of humanity. Paul here is challenging Christians. He's challenging Christians for your marriage to look like this. But he's not challenging the world for their marriages to look like this. Because he can't ask the world to have a marriage like this, because they're ill equipped to have a marriage like this.
Joel Brooks:They don't have the right tools needed to live out this way. It would be like, you know, giving them a wooden spoon, and then asking them to dig a well. You know, you you can't do it, although they admire the depth and they and they they want that drink of water there that they see in your marriage. Something so satisfying that they don't have the tools to dig down that deep. Only the spirit of God gives us what we need to have a marriage like this.
Joel Brooks:And so, the tools that we need are the gifts and the fruit of the spirit. In order to have a a to submit to one another and to have a marriage that looks like this, we are gonna need love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control. Those are the tools needed and the world doesn't have them. So just to reinforce this idea of how necessary Christ is for this marriage, notice how over and over again, every command that Paul gives, he attaches to Christ. Every one of them.
Joel Brooks:We don't have time to go through all of them, but verse 21. We are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Verse 22. Wives are to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord. Verse 23.
Joel Brooks:The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Verse 25, husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church. Okay. Over and over again, Paul connects everything to Christ. Everything.
Joel Brooks:The command for wives to submit to their husbands is gonna be completely misunderstood by the world, since they aren't attached to Christ. They don't have the spirit of God living inside of them. So I would even go so far as to say that for the world to try to live out a marriage this way, it would be dangerous. Dangerous for them to do this, because they don't have the right equipment. For them to try to do submission like like this, it could be disastrous.
Joel Brooks:So it's no wonder that when the world looks at this, they think we're crazy. They think we're crazy. The world has a different purpose for marriage than Christians do. It's actually hard to really pin down, succinctly what the world's purpose in marriage is. Because really, it's changed over time.
Joel Brooks:It's, It's changed in different cultures and in different time periods, as to what exactly the world is looking for in marriage. You go through some cultures and sometimes it's about romance. There is more of a romantic notion. A way of ending loneliness. In other cultures and times, it might be more about securing one's social standing.
Joel Brooks:About having legitimate children. But the Christian purpose for marriage, it actually encompasses both of those. Yes. There is this romantic notion to it. There is this passion and and and curing of loneliness.
Joel Brooks:But it's also about social standing and and having legitimate children and being really a good marriage. Having a strong family. Being the building blocks of society. But then, it uses those things and it launches into something completely different. Something the world cannot fathom.
Joel Brooks:And it's this. Here is the purpose of Christian marriage. 2 fold. 1st, the marriage, or the the purpose of marriage is to display the glorious love that Jesus has for his church. The purpose of marriage is to display the glorious love that Jesus has for His church.
Joel Brooks:And second, is this. It's to serve your spouse to the aim of who they will someday be. To serve your spouse to the aim of who they will someday be. Your spouse will someday be, because they're a Christian, they will someday be presented spotless, blameless, glorious before Jesus. And we are to serve our spouse with that end in mind.
Joel Brooks:Moving them in that direction. So those are the the two purposes in marriage. You don't understand those purposes. Nothing is going to make sense to you. I mean, if you're going into a marriage and you think, well, marriage is about me being happy.
Joel Brooks:Marriage is about meeting my needs. If that's what you view, then why sacrifice? Why submit? But if you're going into marriage with a view of, I get to demonstrate to the world the love that Christ has for the church, and I get to come alongside and to serve my spouse, all towards the aim of what they will someday be, Pure, spotless, glorious before Jesus. Well, I'll sacrifice.
Joel Brooks:I'll submit to that end. Alright. Let's look at this word, submit. Once again, we are being asked to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ that's attached to Christ. And then, wives are asked specifically to submit to their husbands.
Joel Brooks:Actually, in Greek, the word submit's not even there when it has the wives submit to your husbands. It's kind of an important detail. It literally just reads, wives to your own husbands. We borrow the word submit from verse 21. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, wives to your husbands.
Joel Brooks:So all of this is framed under, as we are submitting to one another, how does this look like? Wives to your husbands, it looks like this. And the word submit simply means to place yourself underneath one's authority. To place yourself underneath one's authority. It's often used in the context within government.
Joel Brooks:You you submit to a ruler. It can be used in a military context, where a soldier is submitting to to an officer or to the general. And the notion is this, that if everybody's making decisions, there's just mass chaos. So in order for that not to happen, some people submit to another for the common good. There's a submission for the common good.
Joel Brooks:Now hear me clearly say that submission does not imply inequality. It does not imply inequality. It does not mean that one person has more worth than another person. Actually, the term submission, when you're being asked to submit, it implies that you are equal. You're equal in your worth, but then you're being asked to place yourself in a role under.
Joel Brooks:But when you are told to submit, it's actually, it's actually implying that you are of equal value and of equal worth. You were just asked to have a different role. Now of course, we see this in God himself. We see this in the trinity. We would see God the father and God the son.
Joel Brooks:They're different persons, but they're they're equally God. They have equal power. They have equal personhood and yet, God the son submitted to the will of God the father. Equal power, equal personhood, yet Jesus submitted to his father. This wasn't always easy for Jesus.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you remember in the garden, how he's like, Hey, Father, if there's another way, I'd, I'd like it. If there's another way, if you could remove this cup from me, remove this cup from me. But then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Jesus submits to the will of his father, yet we would never say they were not equal in worth and in personhood. They're both glorious God.
Joel Brooks:So, when wives are being specifically asked to submit to their husbands, They are being asked to do what Jesus did, when Jesus submitted to the will of his father. Jesus is their model for submission. And hear me, submitting was not beneath the dignity of Jesus. Jesus never saw himself as, being undignified by submitting himself to the father. Wives of submission, belaboring this point.
Joel Brooks:Because we we have a hard time understanding this type of submission, Because for us, gender equality equals gender sameness. Gender equality equals gender sameness. Our culture believes that, inequality of worth, has to equal an equality of roles. If we are worth the same, then our roles have to be the same. But that is absolutely not true.
Joel Brooks:Men and women can be of equal worth, and have different roles. My wife and I, we were, a few days ago, just, we were just walking and I was just kinda going over this passage, with her. And, at one point, we're like, I can't even believe we have to say the, some things that are just so obvious. Men and women are different. We're different.
Joel Brooks:Women can have children. I can't there's there's just it's obvious. There are different roles, that we share. I mean, that we have differently because she's a woman and I'm I'm a man. God created us male and female.
Joel Brooks:Our worth comes in that we are created in his image. That's where our worth. We were created in his image, but we were not created the same. We are physically different. We are emotionally different.
Joel Brooks:And it's because we are not the same, but are actually different that we can complement one another. We can complement one another physically and emotionally, and when we do that, we actually better reflect who God is. God's image, when it says that we are His image bearers, we're created in His image, that's not just for man alone. God created them in his image, and it says male and female together, complementary in their natures, are reflecting the image of God. No one gender adequately reflects God's image.
Joel Brooks:It's the complementary nature of the 2. So C C S Lewis, he paints this out, I think better. I think it was C S Lewis. I really, honestly, I don't know. He he has a gift of metaphor, so I'm gonna ascribe it to him.
Joel Brooks:If it wasn't him, it's mine. Alright. I'm I'm I'm coming up with this. But he describes a man and a woman dancing. So picture a man and a woman dancing, and so if they're dancing and they both decide they're gonna do the exact same moves, there's kind of beauty in it.
Joel Brooks:So so picture, you know, there's a man and woman, they're they're both looking forward and, you know, one goes to the right and the other goes to the right. I'm dancing before you. It's never gonna happen again. No shuffle till they both shuffle to left at the same time, both raise their hand, you know, at the same time. So they're doing the exact same thing.
Joel Brooks:And there is some beauty in that. There's a beauty in symmetry, in sameness, but there is not intimacy. There's not a intimacy when they're doing the same thing. Intimacy comes when they don't do the same things, but they actually recognize they are different, and they lean into their differences. So when you dance, instead of facing the same way, they turn and they face one another.
Joel Brooks:And maybe the husband has his hands on his wife's hips, and she has her hands around his his neck. And then maybe when the husband steps forward, she steps backwards. And it becomes this beautifully intimate dance. Far more glorious than when they were just doing the same thing. That's marriage.
Joel Brooks:It's marriage. 2 people of equal work or worth doing different roles, but becoming something so much more beautiful, reflecting who God is. As a matter of fact, they complement, these 2 genders can complement one another so well, they actually become one flesh. They become one flesh. That's what Paul says when when they will become 1 flesh, 2 shall become 1 flesh, says that in verse 31.
Joel Brooks:Just like Jesus and His father were so close to one another, they would say, Jesus would say, I and the father are 1. Different persons, one submitting to the other, but still, we are 1. The same thing a husband and a wife, and their complimentary natures, can be so united together, they can say we are 1. Alright. So within a marriage, God has assigned different complimentary roles.
Joel Brooks:Wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands, hear me here. Never are you told to tell your wife to submit. Paul addresses the wives here. He doesn't address the husbands and say, husbands, get a handle on your wife when you get her to submit.
Joel Brooks:It's not there. He addresses the wives. He says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the lord. So, husbands, this is never something that you force upon a wife. It's been abused over history because people have tried to do that.
Joel Brooks:And wives, you need to understand what submission looks like. Submission does not look like this. Never disagreeing with your husband. Mindless obedience. It doesn't mean you have to keep your opinions to yourself.
Joel Brooks:Or that you always have to be passive and wait for your husband to take the lead. For your husband to take charge. And that you're just supposed to follow. That's not what submission looks like. And I want you to notice here that, actually Paul does not give us one specific example of what submission does look like.
Joel Brooks:It's it's remarkable as he's unpacking this, not one concrete example that's intentional. Because submission is gonna look like different things, in different contexts, within different personalities. So for some of you, submission might actually look like, confronting your husband. Confronting your husband on maybe an issue of sin. Perhaps, you're you're quiet natured.
Joel Brooks:You'd rather avoid conflict. You're a 9 on the Enneagram, for those of you who are, like, obsessed with that. Your husband's an 8. So you, you would just rather It's your personality, it's your will, just to kind of be quiet and let things slide. But submission says this, it's not what I want.
Joel Brooks:It's not my will. It's not my will that matters here. And I made a vow to my husband. I made a vow to my husband, that I was gonna serve him towards the aim of what he will become. And I need to serve him towards the aim of becoming a holy, righteous, glorious, spotless person before God.
Joel Brooks:And me being quiet is not gonna do that. So submission might look like, no. You need to confront your husband over an issue. Passionately confront him. Or submission could look like when it's the 2 of you who can't agree on an issue.
Joel Brooks:And one of you has to make a decision. And so really, you know, you I know this is how it works for my wife and I. We've, we had a really hard time actually thinking through this, because Lauren and I, we just talked through everything and normally we always just come to a mutual decision. But there's times when we just think, we just can't, we're on different pages, we just cannot come to a decision and then I have to decide. And Lauren loves that.
Joel Brooks:She actually loves it because she's like, you know, God will judge you for your decision. And she's right. I mean, she's actually right. You know, we we we can't decide, somebody has to, and God says, well, my role as the head of the wife is, well, it falls on me, but I'm judged for it. I'm judged for that decision, not her.
Joel Brooks:So that could be what submission looks like. It's it's actually interesting. Lauren reminded me of this in between services. She said if if I wanted, I could share this. So I got her permission.
Joel Brooks:That's how our relationship works. But I've never even really ever talked with her about submission. But there was one time that, we're living in a really small house and Lauren just kept wanting a bigger house. She was just, she just was, she wanted something else. And we had a little 2 one and so we'd go on walks around the neighborhood and, she would always wanna go in the open houses.
Joel Brooks:She was looking at the open houses, as they were advertised on not online, in the paper. Alright. And, and finally this kept going. I kept like, We really don't need a house. We're we're fine.
Joel Brooks:We don't have any kids and all this. And finally, I said, Lauren, it's like, would you just trust me in this? Like, we I really don't think we need a new house. And so, she said, okay. She goes, I'll do that.
Joel Brooks:She used the word. She goes, I'll submit to you in this. Like, okay. So we bought our new house 2 2 weeks later. It's how it works.
Joel Brooks:It's the house we're currently in. And I still remember that so vividly. We're going on a walk in a neighborhood and we stumble up on our house and a lot of you have been there. You know, it's it's a gorgeous house. It's over a 100 years old.
Joel Brooks:And, it had a open house sign on it. And Lauren looked at it. She was quiet. She just looked at me, not saying a word. Just being the submissive wife, not doing I was like, alright.
Joel Brooks:Why don't we go in? She's like, well, I mean, if you want. And so we ended up getting this house. So that's what submission looks like. Alright.
Joel Brooks:So so wives, if you think submission is is difficult, just wait till you hear what's asked of the husbands. All right. Once again, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her. So husbands are being asked to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Joel Brooks:Meaning, you know, Paul saying, hey, husbands. You you remember Jesus? Remember how he loved you? Remember how he was mocked for you? Beaten for you?
Joel Brooks:How people falsely accused him of things and he just endured it? And ultimately, he was nailed to a tree out of his love for you. You remember that? There's your model. That's what being a good husband looks like.
Joel Brooks:Serve your wife that way. You were called to love and sacrifice for your wife, All for the goal, once again, of someday being able to present her before Christ as beautiful. So a husband is called to die to his desires, all in order to serve his wife towards that end. And one of the ways that Paul fleshes out here, we don't have time to like, really dive into this, is he mentions, you know, sanctifying her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water of the word. And then, he talks about husbands doing the same with their wives.
Joel Brooks:And, one of the ways we serve our wives, husbands, is by washing her with the water of the word. Consistently reminding her of truth. Adam failed at that in the garden. Literally, he just stood there. Where's Adam?
Joel Brooks:As Eve is talking and and starting to believe the lies of the enemy. Adam's just sitting there watching. Wondering what's gonna happen. I mean, he failed. He didn't remind her.
Joel Brooks:Hey, Eve. God's word. Remember what God said? He's silent. So one of the things we do is we we wash our wives with the water of the word.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't say, you know, you throw the stones of truth, you know. They're like, you know, wife, you did this. You're supposed to be kind, you know. We don't throw stones of truth at our wife, we wash. It's a tender thing.
Joel Brooks:Picture this. The image is this, of Jesus going to his disciples the night before he's betrayed, and he kneels down, removes their sandals, and begins to wash their feet. And Paul is now saying, husbands, that's the image I want you to have before you. You do that with your wives. You tenderly wash her with the water of the word.
Joel Brooks:Now, I talk with husbands all of the time, who say that they want to be a better spiritual leader in the home. And, they know they're failing in that area and they're like, I really just, I wanna be a better spiritual leader. You talk to their wives, and their wives are like, Yeah, he's failing in that area. I'd love for you to make my husband a better spiritual leader in the home. And I get what they mean when they say, spiritual leader, but I want you to notice that Paul never uses the phrase, spiritual leader here.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't use it. You're never gonna you're not gonna find that word in the spiritual leader in the Bible. As a matter of fact, when you study Paul's letters, he never talks about leadership. He never uses the word leader. At times, it seems like he goes out of his way to avoid using the word leader.
Joel Brooks:And you find that in 1st Corinthians a bit, a bunch. You never see him talking about the spiritual gift of leadership. I hear about the spiritual gift of leadership all the time. The problem is, Paul never talked about it. So so he he doesn't use that word leader.
Joel Brooks:He avoids it. Instead he uses this word headship. But I think he is avoiding that word leader, because of the images it conjures up in us, when we think of a leader. But that's not how Jesus led. That's not how we're asked to lead.
Joel Brooks:I mean, yes, if you wanna use the word leader, Jesus was a leader, but unlike any leader the world has ever seen. Jesus did not lead by forcing His will upon another. Jesus led by submitting His will. Submitting His will in humble service. Even when it meant death.
Joel Brooks:So if you could think of leadership that way, that's fine. Keep it. If you could keep it. Husbands, that's how you're being asked to to lead. It's it's really being asked to serve.
Joel Brooks:It's a humble leadership. It's a daily giving yourself up for your wife. And hear me, when you do that, you display the love of Christ. Not just for your wife to see, but for the whole world to see. You make marriage become so much more.
Joel Brooks:It becomes a symbol of Christ's love for his bride. Now, I love the image. I love the image that the apostle John has in Revelation 19 of the marriage to come. All of our marriages, you know, point to that great marriage to come. Where Jesus, he comes and he takes his bridegroom, and there's that great wedding day.
Joel Brooks:And this, you read about it in Revelation 19. He unpacks this. And the big thing is when you introduce the groom. And when when the apostle John introduces the groom, he introduces him as the lamb. That's Jesus' title, the lamb.
Joel Brooks:And it's so interesting, because John has all of these other names and titles that he can use to introduce Jesus on his wedding day. I mean, he's got almighty God. He could say, here's the Messiah. Here's the Lord God Almighty. Here is the creator of the universe.
Joel Brooks:Here's the Ancient of Days. Here's the Lion of Judah, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, or the Lord of Lords. He's got all of these titles, but on the wedding day, he actually chooses to present Jesus as, here's the lamb. The lamb. And the reason he does this is because on a wedding day, I mean, I know this.
Joel Brooks:As as a groom, you wanna look your absolute best. I'm never gonna look like I did, you know, on that day again. You you want to look your absolute best. You want to look glorious. And the glory of Jesus is most beautifully displayed when He is seen as the sacrificial lamb.
Joel Brooks:That's the glory of Jesus. Christ's glory is most seen. His love is most demonstrated when you see Jesus as the sacrifice for sinners. And so, that's why John calls him the lamb there. And so hear me, husbands.
Joel Brooks:You will never be more glorious than when you sacrifice in humble service for your wife. When you give yourself up for her, just as Christ gave himself up for the church, there's nothing more beautiful and glorious. And wives, you will never be more glorious than when you submit to your husband, Just like the lamb submitted to the will of his father. When you do this, your marriage becomes way more than any other marriage the world has to offer. It becomes something with far more joy, far deeper in its meaning.
Joel Brooks:You actually be get to become a reflection of Christ's love for us. If you would, pray with me. Father God, once again, we ask that through your spirit, you would come and move in our midst, so that we can make much of Jesus. Jesus, you were you modeled this for us. We see submission modeled perfectly through you.
Joel Brooks:We see sacrificial love model perfectly for you, but you're not just a model. Through your spirit, you give us the strength to live this way. You give us the tools that are necessary to have a marriage, like the one we just read. And so I pray that for those of you, for those of us in here who are married, we would have a marriage that looks like, Jesus, your love for us, and for those of us who are not, Lord, I pray that you would submit that picture, that picture of marriage and what it means and just how much you love us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
