Wives (Part 2 of 2)

The most of us will push back against the idea of submitting so what is God required wives to submit to the authority of their husbands.

Alister Beck answers this question by examining the ultimate purpose of a Christian marriage today on Truth for Life.

We can hear if I may use the first question of the shorter Scottish catechism. I think is the right starting point for any discovery of Christian marriage. It starts by re-orientating the question number one what is the chief end of marriage. The chief end of marriage is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. What is the chief objective of a wife. The same kind of a husband the same.

In other words, in the express terms of this verse for the wife to live in the light of this text. Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord for whites to live in the light of this text is I suggest to you ultimately about the gospel now in a way that I hope will prove both understandable and helpful. I want to gather all of my material under for words. Number one piety is really another word for godliness. If what it meant to be pious or to understand the nature of an all pervasive sense of God had to do with some esoteric expediency whereby we went off on our own into the woods and quantitative, that would be one thing but no, the poor wife is confronted by piety while she is confronted by her husband by her unruly children by our own personal challenges and she opens her Bible and is confronted by such a striking, straightforward statement.

Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord now to the second word and the word is mystery in order to get to this mystery should turn really to the parallel passage in Ephesians 5, Paul says, speaking of marriage and quoting from the Old Testament. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. And then here's our mystery. This is a profound mystery. But I'm talking about Christ and the church. The essence of it is simple that the mystery of the initiative taking the love of Jesus and the joyful submission of his bride in the church to his love is mirrored in healthy biblical marriages. I healthy biblical marriage is in some measure supposed to allow somebody to get a greater grass of the gospel and five Ferguson refers to marriage as a domestic cameo of grace domestic cameo of grace goes on to observe that in the marriage relationship gospel drama is being portrayed in a unique way through a human relationship are ladies wife's here you have it in a simple sentence as daunting as it is search the Scriptures to see what I'm telling you is accurate when a wife expresses submissive love for her husband. She is depicting how a believer responds to the Lord Jesus when she doesn't she is confusing the issue and marring the gospel. Now the husband is will see you next time is called to love and to care for and to protect his wife as Jesus does the church, but the wife since the wife were concerned with the wife is to illustrate how someone who comes to believe responds to Jesus love, and does so with deep and joyful submission. Our good friend Dick Lucas is the significant truth about a Christian woman's relation to her husband, is that it mirrors her commitment to her Lord and maybe it does. Maybe the same disgruntled attitude of a non-submissive wife to her husband simply represents her disgruntled on submissive attitude towards Jesus Christ as Lord third word is authority. Authority.

Why is the wife to submit to her husband, who says God says is the beginning and the end of the conversation right there when you read these verses in Colossians 4. Indeed, when you read the whole of the New Testament, it becomes immediately apparent that God has established in society both in government in the church and in the family what is referred to as a subordination list ethic subordination is ethic. We sang the Navy him this morning a number of the ex-Navy types were really getting a big lakes and were very happy about, and I'm glad that you are happy. I enjoyed it too, but every one of those individuals understands the subordination is that understands that it is impossible to have order ownership without on mitigated commitments to be obedient to the word of the commander. The captain of the ship rules ranges has to if it is to prevent absolute mayhem and confusion.

The same is true in an orchestra same is true in a sports team. The same is true in government. The same is true in all and that subordination list ethic is worked out here is that in these four statements. You will notice of the subordinate role comes first, and each occasion whites to the husbands, children to the parents invited comes a far clearer when you go to Ephesians 5, but the only way that human society can work without disintegration is if it works, according to God's divine order is not the time of the place will come to parents later.

But this is why it is not some casual issue when apparently intelligent young parents encourage their children to call them by their first name and to pay them no undue deference by dint of the fact that they are there children that is an attack in the very heart of a subordination list ethic which is not ethic is grounded in the very being of God, which it actually is insofar as within the Trinity. You have subordination not on account of inequality but on the basis of the quality equal within the Trinity call equal, coeternal, and yet playing the role taking the part lining up underneath because that's the way it works now contemporary actions against this very notion. There are many are no surprise sinful human nature has never liked this idea, but there is a logic unit and let me pointed out to you may not accept it, but I let me at least pointed out to you. The husband is the head.

Yes, the phrases used in Ephesians 5 with foot between the Billy gets tedious.

The husband is the head, not because he is bigger and stronger. But because God has constituted the order of the relationship.

In this way, and God has done so for his purposes.

The reason for a wife's submission is because ultimately she submits to Christ, the same Christ, who has given the role of authority and leadership to them. They see this removes chauvinism. This removes the stretching peacock approach of man. This removes manipulation and tyranny on the part of men who got the thing completely, absolutely, totally wrong and it brings the wife as she seeks to live under the all pervasive presence of God as she seems to live in the context of the mystery of God. It allows her to open her Bible or to go to sleep at night or to exercise the responsibilities of the day by recognizing that ultimately our submission is to Christ alone and that her submission to her husband is as a result of you like about delegated responsibility entrusted to the man, according to God's Constitution in a mysterious way and for the end of God's own purposes not divine order is disturbed when wife's seek to rule their husbands and refuse his leadership and it is equally disturbed when husbands tyrannize their wife's often to the point of enslavement how grievous it is to hear wife's tell of how they were unable even to go and make a visit to their sister to welcome somebody into their home or to withdraw money from a bank account because they were in enslavement and in fear to the tyranny of their husbands. There is no question that it is very easy to get this wrong.

The devil loves when we get it wrong, but that does not mean that with God's help we shouldn't set about the task of getting it right. I must come to my final point to let me say one more thing before I do any attempt to suggest that the submission of a wife to her husband can be discovered trouble-free. Any suggestion that must be coming from somebody who's never been married or certainly somebody who is not read the early chapters of Genesis because it is it is impossible to deal with this issue except in the light of creation and the fall and redemption easy and vital it is that we view our marriages if you like the aesthetically or that we view the whole question theologically. Trust me, all the other good stuff will fall in line. All the other bits that you want to talk comes in either not giving you all that other stuff will take its place in a far more perfect environment than could ever be imagined.

You wife next week. We husbands if we will go simply and humbly to the Scriptures to recognize that God's concern is a redemptive concern that all of the focus of God is on redeeming a people that are his very own, and when he establishes marriage. He establishes it as a mirror image of Christ and the church so that it might become an evangelistic vehicle so that we might be seeing unbelieving people becoming the committed followers of Jesus Christ were having a good week without husbands are that's the issue going all the world and proclaim the gospel. He says speak if you have to. Francis of Assisi said, but in your marriage if you do these things.

Your children will say that's how it's supposed to be your neighbors will say what in the world happened to you. I have never seen Sgt. Riordan's in such a lovely way are you soft in the head. God made Adam any and it was fine. He made them inequality, but he gave them distinct roles you will remember that distinct roles if everything is continued as it was E would have been absolutely super as a helper for Adam there wouldn't be any problem whatsoever. She'd been perfectly content, and Adam would've gone along nicely, but then the serpent comes in in the fall. He listens to the serpent's voice, rather than to her husband's voice and Adam listens to his wife's voice, rather than to God's voice and as a result, the relationship between them is disrupted, an order is replaced with disorder and clarity is replaced with confusion. The expectation from that point on is that even now has a desire and order design for her husband is a will or can possibly be an ending wrong with that. Well, the fact of the matter is that it comes in the same verse as the word is I will greatly increase your pains and childbearing with pain, you will give birth to your children. This is part of the disruption by way of the fall and your desire will be for your husband. The word that is used in the phrase that is used, there is the same phrases used in the following chapter concerning sin being at your door. It desires to have you but you must master it and then the disruption of the fall. One of the implications is that a woman by nature desires to master her husband are getting.

I'll get them sorted out. I can fix this character and so it goes on and all these years of the past. Since the Garden of Eden and every husband knows that the decision that was made in a moment in time by Eve become the habit of a lifetime to be unkind just to be honest in the in the creation we have perfected in the fall. We have disruption and when Christ comes as the second Adam, then the effects of the fall are reversed because Jesus is the second item obeys, where Adam failed to obey and Jesus bears the judgment that Adam desire and one day the promise of the Bible says there will be a new heaven and a new one. Everything that is disrupted and fractured and spoiled and twisted will be put to write when Jesus moved through Galilee and Judea in his earthly ministry he gave hints of this transformation didn't eat in his miracles. He restored site. He gave back a voice to someone who is new. He put relationships back together again, and in all of this he was establishing the mystery of this restaurant to process a mystery, which was then to be revealed in the church and in that liberation from decay in the smoothing out process of ever in there that sin is rumpled and distorted. It is supposed to be seen in Christian marriage see countercultural Christianity in America for the last 25 years. Let's just be dead honest has been about protesting picking up our particular political agendas and hammering it out with her in the front of a store or in the front of the clinic. Another these things are are irrelevant or or should be set aside in any way, but coincidently Christian marriages have been dissolving at the same rate as pagan marriages. Premarital sex continues to escalate at a phenomenal clip at the same time, the church continues to triumph itself by declaring the Lordship of Jesus, and so on, and pastors are inundated day and daily with the dissolving disrupting marriages as a result of the plane of disobedience of men and women to the dictates of the Bible irrespective of how they feel fact or not disturbingly true fact. But the countercultural impact of the church as being indicative of the restaurant of impact of the gospel as a result of who Jesus is and what is accomplished and where we are moving to is supposed to be a microcosm of the self giving love of Jesus and the joyful submission of the church to his loving embrace seen in the way my mother response to my direct and in the way my dad exercises love and care and protection from I'm is this a little of how Jesus loves us that you were so nice to mom today and that was a real bear. Today was I was surprised you didn't just chew them out right when you just give them the intermittent good honey. I felt like eigenvalue but you know, nothing would have been accomplished. I want to tell you is you. Finally, liberty. The non-Christian mind looks on at all of this, especially adverse like the 18th verse says this is the ultimate in tyranny. This is a dreadful bondage anybody it is prepared to even tinker around with this is Dr. than a brush handle what you need to do is get out from underneath that kind of religious hocus-pocus and come out into the real world and enjoy freedom where it's to be fun. How's it looking how's the alternative coming across.

We don't need to cower underneath and away from the challenges that come our way.

True freedom is found in all of our Christian lives by obedience to what God has made absolutely clear in the Bible. Paul puts it in two Corinthians 10 five in a phrase he talks about taking every thought captive taking every thought captive was.

I mean, in particular terms for a wife, but I guess it means when you read some of those magazines. You gotta take these thoughts captive, you've got to go bury them somewhere. There's so much nonsense in the all of those things saying you know is about time.

How long have you been married to that joker. Goodness gracious 26 years and he been a pain in the neck for 25 of them and that's the last 25 it don't you think it's about time you made it made a run for I head for the hills before finally, gravity takes over everything and you finally does drift away into oblivion. Don't you think that you are to take a second stab at it. Somewhere in there somebody else like a flaming kosher fire and so on. This illegal is not how you respond to that is a life I don't know. I suppose you can only take every thought captive to Christ can only say no this is not the way I need to think about things in the 17th century, a man by the name of Ferguson put it, as follows. A wife can never discharge her duty in any measure of conscientious tenderness towards her husband. Except she had a high esteem of the Lord Christ and be in the first place.

Subject to him that so from love to him.

She may submit to him. So you see it's the is the him with a H that's the issue. Although most of the books on marriage suggest that it's him with a re-age is the issue we start at the wrong place.

We conjugate a verb to be in English the week. I am you are he is in Hebrew conjugates in reverse. He is you are.

I am is it too simplistic to say that that reverse conjugation is the very issue that is being addressed here.

We start in the wrong place. No wonder we go so badly adrift in the final word to another Ferguson this time in the 20th century, and our thought is liberty as needed here rights marriage, then, is not a recipe for the subjugation of the wife, but a blueprint for her true freedom in a healthy loving relationship. Here, the wonder power beauty, holiness and transformation of the gospel can be seen not just by her husband by her children and by her neighbors.

We tell the gospel story as we live out a loving Christian marriage.

That's Alastair Begg with a message titled wives in our Truth for Life. We can series called the Christian family. You might be interested in knowing that as you listen to Alistair's full sermons.

You can follow along with written transcripts will find a transcript for each message you here on Truth for Life. When you go online to Truth for Life.org.

The link will take you directly to our homepage you'll immediately see the image of the days message and to the right you'll see a transcript prompt when you selected, you will be able to view the transcript and scroll through the text as you listen to the sermon this weekend is the last time were mentioning a book called God's Bible timeline. The big book of biblical history. This is a colorful brightly illustrated book that presents the entire story of the Bible in a sequential timeline. The book contains a series of 18 timelines. The trace biblical history from one era to the next so you can see what happened during specific periods.

The illustrations make the timeline easy to follow.

There are charts and maps and pictures that help the Bible come to life for you. God's Bible timeline is a book that your whole family will enjoy reading you can find out more and see some sample pages when you go to our website. Visit Truth for Life.org and Bob Lapine with the question for husbands. Do you really love your wife here why your love may or may not be all you think it is next time on Truth for Life weekend. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living