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The Mission of Marriage

June 30, 2019

Scripture: Ephesians 5:25-33

Song of Solomon 5:16: “His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend.”

I. A Christian husband makes his wife a new creation through sacrificial love.

A. “Love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (vs. 25). Jesus sacrificed himself for His bride the church by dying on the cross for her sins. Obviously, only Jesus could die for our sins. So, no husband can die for his wife’s sins. But every Christian husband can and should make sacrifices of love for his wife. Every Christian husband is to be a representative of Jesus to his wife and to love his wife like Jesus loves His wife.

B. Ephesians 5:23 says that Christ is the head of the church. Christ has authority over the church. And verse 23 also says that husbands are the head of their wives. Husbands also have authority. What kind of authority? Husbands have been given the authority to be a servant-leader, to love their wives sacrificially. If a husband loves his wife in this sacrificial way, generally a wife will have no problem calling him the head of the home.

II. A Christian husband makes his wife a new creation through sanctifying her.

A. In vs. 26 and 27 we see the destination that God wants Christian husbands and wives as lovers and friends to head toward. What is marriage for? The goal is that we might be the new creation that Jesus wants us to be. And the destination is before the throne of God at the wedding feast of Jesus and His church. Jesus is going to present His bride the church to Himself at the end of time in heaven. And what is this bride going to look like? Verse 27 says that the bride will be presented in splendor.

B. Jesus has already made us holy by dying for our sins on the cross and giving to us the gift of His righteousness. And Jesus is also in the process of sanctifying us by removing all spiritual stains, flaws, sins and blemishes, to make us holy, glorious and blameless. Part of the husband’s responsibility is to be involved in the sanctification process of the wife – to make her more holy and beautiful. How beautiful? Ezekiel 16:14: “And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.”

III. A Christian husband makes his wife a new creation through   making his marriage his supreme priority.

A. In vs. 28-30 Paul calls the wife the body of her husband. Just like the church is the body of Christ so the wife is the body of her husband. We in the church are that united to Christ and we who are husbands are that united to our wives. How much of a priority then will the husband put on his marriage and on taking care of his wife? Your marriage then needs to be a high priority. If your marriage is not good, then nothing else in your life is likely to be good. This is the power of marriage.

Application:
Let’s journey together toward the new creation with the friends that Jesus has given us. This is what marriage is for.

Sources:
The letter to the Ephesians
Commentaries on Ephesians by Peter O’Brien and Bryan Chapell
“The Meaning of Marriage” by Timothy Keller