Is Marriage Sacred?
How sacred are our sacred vows?
Part 1
Dear Jax,
I like the message you sent me of the man sharing scriptures with other men. One of the first scriptures, the man quoted was from Ephesians 5. I believe, his discourse was directed to the men, and it was good (I would like to share more on that later–which involves me identifying several of my own short comings–including areas of repentance). For now, I would like examine the scriptures that are given for the edification of ALL (you and I, and the whole body of Christ).
I believe it is important that we get the big picture point of view right, so that we can then look at individual roles, responsibilities, etc., and get them right as well. I can see that many of my views about marriage are evolving (growing), as I go deeper into the scriptures to get guidance, and wisdom.
The key repeating theme I keep seeing from Ephesians 5, is captivating me, (its message is repeated in Eph. 5, Col. 3, 1 Pet. 3, Tit. 2, 1 Cor. 11, and elsewhere). It keeps revealing the foundation upon which every successful marriage relationship is founded (but sadly so few possess). These scriptures (and others) are giving me a higher and more elevated view of marriage than ever before.
The foundational principle that is intriguing me is repeated so many times, in so many different ways, throughout the Bible. That makes it all the more direly important for us to SEE IT & RECEIVE IT, even as it has been recorded for us from God’s Heavenly Perspective.
This foundational principle seems to be shouting: “PAY CAREFUL & CLOSE ATTENTION TO ME!” LISTEN to MY vital life giving and heavenly rewarding MESSAGE. (Repetition is God’s Megaphone.). See: Proverbs 8:1–11
The sheer repetition of this principle, keeps saying: Don’t let MY MESSAGE become a mental idea that JUST sounds good. TAKE MY MESSAGE AND MAKE IT into a living practice that you hold onto tenaciously–that invades every area of your marriage relationship and your community relationships in Christ.
I believe that, as we practice this principle in our marriages, with our marriage spouses, we also will increase our ability to practice it in our relationship with Christ himself. And as we practice it with Christ, so will it increase in our relationships with one another.
And conversely, as we choose not to practice this foundational principle in our relationship with each other in marriage, we will also decrease our ability to practice it in relationship to Christ, and the practice of this foundational principle will also decrease in our relationship relationships with others in the body of Christ, and also those outside the body of Christ.
The Truth be told Jax: (as you already know), people today hold tenaciouly onto to all kinds of ideas, attitudes, and socially acceptable principles. But many do not come from the Word of God, and many actually oppose the Word of God. (Hence the vast majority of broken, VAIN, gospel dead relationships that cover the barren and fruitless landscape in our modern society.
I believe you can draw a direct line from all the modern dead and fruitless relationships back to their dead and fruitless modern theology. The lack of vitality in modern marriages and cultures are a simple reflection of the lack of vitality in their, spiritual life, that has been disconnected from the core Commandments involved in revelation of Christ. As Paul has said: “many have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof”
And Yes, I know: it doesn’t do any real good to point the finger at anyone else.
But contrary to much fake worldly wisdom: It does do a whole lot of good, to point out the very foundational principle doctrines that Christ, and the Apostles, used to build the Body of Christ.
In fact it would be criminal (and hypocritical) to claim to be a follower of Christ, and then not point out the very words Christ and the Apostles used to build up ALL Marriages, and ALL RELATIONSHIPS in the Body of Christ.
I dare say this:
The fundamental basis for all “TRUTH BASED RELATIONSHIPS” is RESPECT.
Without true biblically sound, deeply penetrating, God Ordained Respect (not modern pop culture, feministic, psyco-babble respect–which is not respect at all but a twisted from of codependency that tries to parade and masquerade as respect). Without God given and God founded respect, the God given foundation of the house cannot be laid. It is the very victim culture in which we live that we have become victims to …
The only way out of the demonic web, is to break free of the mold of darkness, and to flood it with God’s Light, God’s Word, and God’s Ways.
Probably one of the best things two people can do is lay out the godly definition of the word respect, and then examine ourselves and see how, where, why, and what has caused us to fall short of its true meaning and work.
Of course I’ll have to present more on this later: but here is a good intro to the subject covered in less than 7 minutes:
So as I end my introduction: I would like you to know that my goal here is to share with you the kingdom of God with all my mind, heart, soul, and strength. So let this be understood: If anything I share is out of order, then surely, I will be the first to elicit your critcism and correction–in the Lord.
Likewise, if there is anything here that is right and true, I expect, and I believe God Expects, that we should be putting it into practice with all our heart, as we submit ourselves to God. And as we submit ourselves to one another to abide in and live by the heavenly commandments that he has given us, so should we be spreading his heavenly commandments of eternal life to all those who live around us. That is our greatest privilege, divine right, and heavenly duty.
The above video does explain a nasty tangled mess, that husbands and wives can’t easily get into when they don’t understand what’s happening in their relationships. I think you will appreciate what is presented here. And I hope to address this problem in the midst of the Bible study below.
Please Note: when the Bible discusses the topic of submission, it regularly puts it into the context of this phrase “IN THE LORD.”
It is crucial for us to understand that it is not our feelings, nor our cultural lifestyle, nor our family background, nor even our personal values and individual ways of doing things, that the word of God dictates to us the commandment to submit ourselves to one another “in the Lord.” The reference point that God gives us for the work of obedient submission is himself alone.
Our submission is because we are in Christ, not in a specific church, not in a specific family, not in a specific culture, or in a certain economic class, or any other ideological group. It is because we are in Christ, that we are called to submit to one another in Christ. And most specifically as we have seen, the wife is called to submit to her husband in the Lord.
That simply means that unless her husband asks her to do something that is against the word of God, and against the Lord himself, and in anyway unreasonable, she is under obligation to try and fulfill her duty to her husband as best she can in the Lord.
If the wife is not able to handle the scope and measure of the duty, the husband is asking her to fulfill, then she is rightfully called to bring her grievance to her husband, and ask him to listen to her. If he does not listen to her, then she’s called to bring one or two others to hear her side of the story, and to hear his side of the story, and if the problem is still not resolved, then she can take her problem to the leaders of the church, and have them weigh the problem. And if the problem is resolved by the elders of the church, but there is no compliance in the wife or husband, then chances are they will be asked to leave the church until they can choose to comply with the decision of the leadership of the church. In such a way, a wife can protect herself from an overbearing, unwise, impractical, or insensitive and unreasonable husband.
That method of conflict resolution has mapped out in Matthew chapter 18. Although it is not directly directed towards the husband and his wife, it is a general practice given by Jesus that would include a husband and his wife in some kind of marital conflict.
It is my personal prayer and hope, that you and I will take up this standard in God in all of our future communication, that we will hold up the standard of God, and submit ourselves unto the Lord, and to one another in the Lord, from this day forward.
What do I mean by that?
When You or I, SHARE LIFE “in the Lord,” we have an inherent obligation to listen to and weigh the kingdom of God principles that are being shared.
We also have the inherited obligation not to make snap judgments, and not get immediately and prematurely offended when someone is earnestly trying to share a biblical principle with us.
That should be a part of our basic ethos, to protect an individual who is doing their best to try and share the deep things of the heart, and the spiritual principles embedded in the gospel. Even if the person sharing is young and inexperienced, how much more should we be patient, and caring, and mature, and generous with ourselves and them when seeking to live, share, and to grow in the gospel of Christ together.
What we would want for ourselves, should be the very thing that we should want for others around us. In such a way, we should become experts at sharing the golden rule.
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
The sooner we recognize this in our own communication patterns, the sooner we will be able to enjoy the fullness of Christ in all our relationships.
As I see it: We should make time and space for that sharing, and give it its due importance.
Should we not give it a high priority?
Should we not treat the sharing of our gospel faith, as though it is our highest treasure, and our most precious gift that we have to share with one another? Should we not Treat it like Treasure from Heaven? Would that not be its rightful place?
God commands us to give honor to whom honor is due. Whenever we seek to share the Word of God:
Should we not protect that time as sacred and holy?
As a precious time to be treasured?
As a potential opportunity to receive
Precious gems and jewels from God?
Should we only listen to those things that are easy to hear? Only things the are pleasant and nice? Only focus on those things that make us feel good about ourselves? Only those things that will not challenge us and demand hard things from us? The answer to this set of questions would be yes, That is if we were building a kingdom of our own, in our own likeness, and according to our own pleasures and our own purposes.
But sadly, that is not the Kingdom of God Jesus came to build: a kingdom built upon our own preferences, pleasures, and popular ideas. In fact, Jesus came to build the opposite of that. He came to build something extraordinary. He came to build his Father’s heavenly Kingdom, something that looks nothing like any kingdoms of this world. Something not based and any teachings of man, nor man’s traditions–whci only get in the way of building what God has called us to build.
And I dare say: What applies to building the Church the Body of Christ, also applies to building a marriage.
The Marriage Paradigm of Jesus is ground zero for the paradigm of building of the Kingdom of God.
It is within the sacred roles of a heavenly, godly,
In order to do that he called his followers to an extraordinarily high level of personal sacrifice and level of commitment, that includes the laying down of one’s own mind, one’s own desires, and even one’s own life. And he said: that without making that commitment, and without doing that work, we are not worthy to be called his disciples.
These are not things that we cannot achieve, by our own, allegedly good intentions.
I believe, and what I have come to surmise, is that there is no way we can fulfill our duties in Christ individually,
I believe in order to thoroughly protect and give place to the sharing of the gospel treasures in Christ with on other, we shall need to deal directly with one type of spiritual problem that seeks to derail the sharing of the word of God in our modern day culture.
I will call that spiritual problem for lack of a better term, the spirit of emasculation.
One big area of deception and hinderance that needs to be seen, owned, and decisively dealt with is the spirit of emasculation. When men or women speak to their spouses in a narrow minded or back-handed sort of way, they can knowingly, or even unknowingly, be spiritually emasculating their spouses by sowing seeds of bitterness and resentment, by simply being unwilling to let their spouses speak or share their minds openly without a threat of retaliation, or without being rudely interrupted in the middle of their sharing, something important to them.
[The spirit of emasculation is particularly damaging to those who are not verbally confident, and are not completely competent in the way they use words to express their own ideas. Many times people like myself who struggle with putting thoughts into words, and mental pictures into sentences often carry with them the feeling that they will be emasculated in the process of sharing an idea even before the idea is completely shared.]
This problem is not limited to just sharing the gospel, but sharing any of the intimate concerns or matters, that are often sometimes difficult for the heart to share, but still certain insecure individuals feel such a deep need to share. Knowing that they won’t be able to fully and successfully communicate, what they feel they know to be true, but have difficulties sharing their concepts, especially in areas of spiritual progression. that one individual feels that it is important to share.
Sometimes, I believe it is in the midst of an attempt to share a concept, that a person has, that they can more clearly see the frailties and inconsistencies and problems with their concept, that they would not have been able to see if they hadn’t been given the opportunity to express it in the first place. But this process will be completely eviscerated in the presence of the spirit of emasculation.
This video demonnstrates how a spouse can do the opposite of giving honor to whom honor is due.
(2 min)
What might hinder our growth and progress in this pursuit of sharing God’s Heavenly Kingdom? Open to suggestions.
Sometimes the feelings and thoughts that the flesh likes to generate need to be submitted to the control of the spirit of Christ. Yes?
Especially when someone has spent significant time in prayer in seeking our benefit in Christ, we should at least hear them out, in a spirit of honor, and let them finish their sentences, and do our best to pay attention and seek to understand the principal they are sharing from God’s perspective. Right? Is not this the kind of behavior that is most honoring to God?
This allows everyone to grow, develop and mature at their own pace, Right? Without a spirit of fear or rejection?
Won’t that allow the Door of the Spirit to Open more and more, and allow us all to Grow up into the Full Measure and Stature of Christ, as quickly as we are able and willing to grow? I see this environment likened unto the fourth soil in the parable of the sower. The soil that reproduce some 30, 60, and 100 fold what was sown. (That is known as a miralce crop harvest.)
Therefore, when others are sharing, we should be slow to speak, and slow to get angry, quick to listen, even when the subject matter is convicting us and causing feelings of discomfort.
We should not allow our flesh, or the enemy’s accusations, to cloud our thinking, and causes to shut down the communication of God’s word, and God’s kingdom being shared in our midst.
I firmly believe that: We are to take our model of learning new things (and old things) from the Bereans. In other words, we should try to mimic, and emulate their mindset, and their behavior.
I believe if we continually make ourselves too busy to do this, to busy to share treasures from the Word of God, then we might just too be busy for God.
We also might just be too busy for His people, too busy for His fellowship, and to busy for real Life–genuine authenticated Spiritual Life, outlined in the Word of God. If we continally choose to walk down the road of too busy, we may find ourselves at the edge of the cliff on the broad road that leads to destruction before you know it. And by then it might be too late to make the necessary changes.
The Bereans layout the model endorsed by the whole New Testament, on how we should approach someone sharing the Word of God with us. See below:
Acts 17:10-12 (NIV) In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.
On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
The sooner you and I (and all believers) learn this model of living and sharing, giving and receiving: God’s Word and His Kingdom, the sooner we will see His Glory come.
The sooner we defeat the lies, accusations, gossip, slander, libel, deceptions, misinterpretations, temptations, and seditions of the devil and his angels, the sooner we will overcome, his destructions, his confusions, and his robberies from our lives. Hence making our Lights Shine, and our words and deeds will bring Praise, and Joy, and Honor to God..
The sooner we put on the armor of God’s Word, and learn how to skillfully and artfully use the weapons in God’s Spirit, the sooner we will be most effective at identifying, exposing and destroying the works of the devil.
Below is a one minute clip about men and the weakness, vulnerability, and insecurity: And yes, this is pretty standard across the board.
Some home spun advice from a Jewish Rabbi ….
Do you know the Biblical pattern that God designed for a husband and wife to enrich and successfully construct their building of a Biblical God Honoring Marriage?
Below, God willing, I hope to present the advantageous foundation necessary for every lasting relationship in Christ. And also provide some reasons why some relationships do not succeed, and never live up to their God-given potential.
Below is the Biblical Pattern repeated over and over again.
You will notice the Biblical Pattern always starts with the same foundation: The Work of Submission. This pattern is repeated over and over again in the biblical marriage paradigm.
If you look carefully: You will notice that the first step in the marriage paradigm …
Begins with the Command to Submit
Interestingly, enough, the first step of submission begins with the commandment of the wife to submit (or even become obedient) to the authority of the husband. Later on, there’s the suggestion that not only does the wife submit to the husband, but the also husband submits to the wife in the Lord–so that they can ultimately serve one another in Christ. (I also hope to present the fact that we are not supposed to submit to one another’s feelings. I hope this will be more clear later.)
But initially, it is clear the whole process begins with the wife submitting herself and her will to the authority of her husband as she recognizes that her husband is the head of the house in Christ.
The next six scriptures seek to confirm this fact (although there are plenty more Scriptures we can reference, these are the most common and most direct).
- Ephesians 5:22-24
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be [submitted] to their own husbands in every thing.”
. - Colossians 3:18-19
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”
. - 1 Peter 3:1-2
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.”
. - Titus 2:4-5
“That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
. - 1 Corinthians 11:3
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”
. - Genesis 2:24
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
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Notice: No where does the scripture say the wife should submit to her husband because she feels like it. Nowhere does it say that she should submit to her husband because it’s the easy thing to do, or because it will make her feel better about herself, or so that she can get some material, or emotional benefit from him, or because it will improve her self-esteem, etc.
No where does it say there won’t be hardship. No where does it promise that your heart will not be broken in the process of working out your relationship differences. In fact, it says the just opposite, as you very well know.
28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I [would] spare you [from this heart break and trouble.]
Notice: The wife’s submission is an act of obedience to God. It is not a reward for the husband’s goodness or virtue. It is not a benefit that the husband is supposed to earn, by doing what the wife wants him to do.
In other words, the command of God for the wife to submit to her husband., that is not intended to be used as a point of negotiation, control, or manipulation in any way.
Notice: It is God who is requiring the command to be met, not the husband.
Yes. There is an intended benefit for the husband when the wife obeys the commandment. And yes, there is an even greater reward and benefit for the wife for obeying the commandment, but that benefit it is tied to obeying God.
By obeying this commandment, it greatly frees up the environment in the home, and in the marriage for the husband to carry on the mission of obeying God’s commands specifically designed for the husband to complete, and not getting tangled up in trying to get his wife to obey her commands. This also helps avoid both of them from getting into fights, friction, heated debates, and so much broken communication.
Important Note: The character of the wife’s submission is to look like this:
- “as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be [submitted] to their own husbands in every thing”
- therefore: the character and nature of the wife’s submission is to equal or mimic that of her submission to Christ himself.
. - It is pretty hard, if not impossible, to appeal to any higher authority, or any higher position, or make any stronger a case for this principle (to be made active and become a front and center operating system in the midst of the marriage) than that which is being made.
- Therefore, to in any way dismiss this principle, disregard this principle, or negligently handle this principle, would be a direct violation of the word of God in a person’s life.
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Personal Note: One of the quickest ways to melt the heart of a frustrated husband, is for him is to see the godly submission of his wife being displayed for real, purely for the reason to obey Christ (not in order to get some benefit). When the husband sees his wife seeking to honor his authority in Christ (even though she clearly doesn’t feel like it), and to honor his position in Christ, that greatly increases his leadership capabilities, to calmly lead his family, and community in Christ.
When a husband, or any man for that matter, perceives his authority, and sense of self-respect being attacked, there is an immediate fight or flight mechanism and enacted, and that calm and gentle personality can, very predictably go into fight mode.
One of the quickest ways for a wife to harden the heart of her husband and cause the environment to be changed from Grace to Bondage, and to make him actually want to hate or at least resent, and be bitter about his leadership position in Christ in the home, is to charge the environment and relationship with a lack of submission attitude or countenance, which may quickly devolve into a spirit of rebellion, contempt, pr worse (which the bible calls a spirit of witchcraft).
I believe and have seen that: Such friction, frustration, confusion, and depression, is a direct attack on the leadership of Christ in the home.
Satan wants to take out the Leadership position of Christ in the home. He wants destroy the husband’s authority, to try to override, diminish, derail, or corrupt the work of Christ in the Home. And he is very successful at doing this, it seems almost effortlessly: Causing constant Strife and Division in the Home. Do you know what I am talking about?
One more important thing to Notice: The Wife’s Command to Submit to the Husband is only set to last for a limited period of time. See below:
39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she so abide [single and alone], after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
The good news is: Once the Happy Wife chooses to be Happy, she will take her happiness into every relationship, and sow seeds of faith, hope and love. She will defeat fears, and doubts, and depression. She will overcome co-dependence. She will not need a man to get her, or give her what see thinks she needs. Her trust will be in Christ, and nothing will be able to rob her of her joy. Her real treasures will be rooted and grounded in heaven, where moth cannot destroy, nor rust corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. Check this out:
Submitting to your husband, if you are a wife, is your duty to God (not your duty to your husband). In other words, your husband cannot make you submit yourself to him. That is a basic impossibility. Can you ever imagine that happening? Good luck!!!
Either you carry honor in your heart for your husband, because he is the head of your household, like Christ is the head of the church, or you don’t.
The more your husband tries to teach you that it’s your duty and job to submit to your husband, especially in the midst of a heated conversation, the greater that chance that you will rebel against your husband, and despise his authority.
So maybe you can see, a little of the dilemma here, and why the apostles took it upon themselves to teach this to the churches, so that every family would know, how they are to operate under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, especially in the marriage covenant relationship. God has given us us clear a picture of what he requires, and what we need, as he possibly can. The rest is up to us to apply his word to our own personal relationships, and especially our marriage relationship in the area of submission.
Without that biblical submission, there is no biblical relationship. It is through that submission that God works his righteousness, and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven to all who will follow his path of obedience.
In the kingdom of God, the obedience of one, calls forth the obedience of another. That is the spirit of grace at work. But …
When the wife refuses to submit to her husband: she refuses to honor her husband, She refuses to love her husband, and she chooses to deny God’s heavenly instruction, and direction..
In fact the word of God teaches: She is choosing to:
- refuse to submit to Chist
- refuse to honor Christ
- refuse to Love Christ
With such earthly disobedience the whole heavenly biblical paradigm falls apart.
In the kingdom of this world:
- the disobedience of one
- calls forth the disobedience of another
- birds of a feather flock together
- “… they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot [sin/disobedience], speaking evil of you: 1 Peter 4:4 (KJV)
In such an atmosphere you can quickly see how a culture of dishonor can develop.
Side Note: There are lots of ways that people can choose to get around the call to submit, and also to persevere, to deny the flesh, to not follow the culture, to not suffer for doing what is right, to reject the call to endure under hardship. And how many attempted to skip the Call to be faithful, especially when others around you are choosing to be unfaithful.
One thing that really helps the husband, is to know he can trust his wife to be humble and simply admit when she is wrong. When she has misprioritized the most important things and made them a low priority, and made the least priority items the highest. When she is continually nagging, criticizing and causing strife and division in the home, when she is dismissive, and impatient, and a royal “_______” to be around. And she just continues her divisive and disruptive self centered behaviors with no apology, no recognition, no repentance, and no contrition. Check out this short clip–this women has apparently repented and totally transformed her marriage: going from hell to heaven, from drugery to joy to live with …
By the way, I like this woman’s short clips, she really speaks to the man’s side of the story, and shows the ways of women, and reveals how she has repented from following them.
If Jesus ever suddenly decided to rebel against his father, if he ever refused to submit to his father’s authority, if Jesus ever decided cut loose and to go his own way, to do his own thing, and chose to disrespect and dishonor the wishes of his father, to blame the father for his current suffering, to dismiss the work and mission of the father, and reject the Great Commission of the kingdom of God, the entire kingdom of God would falter. The entire destiny of heaven would be aborted and destroyed.
Notice: The Father’s Word, does not say to submit to your husband, only if your husband is perfect: Only if your husband, sweeps the floor. Only if your husband is handsome. Is charismatic. Is super affable. And … Only if your husband, does all the chores you think and divine that he should or should not be doing, and meets all the expectations that you have of him.
In fact, it doesn’t even say, that you should submit, only if husband is biblically correct.
It even says to submit to him, even if he is an unbeliever.
As you can see from the above scriptures, the duty of the wife is to submit to her husband: Period. There are no mitigating circumstances allowed in the gospel to support her decision not to submit.
In other words, you happiness in this life is completely independent of your husband.
If the Biblical Paradigm: If you are happy, your husband is not responsible. If you are unhappy, your husband is not responsible. He is responsible for your emotional or spiritual life. Neither are you responsible for his. Yes, he contributes to your happiness, and so should you contribute to his, but not responsible. That is co-dependence.
That may come as a shock to some, but hopefully it will be a relief to many. Especially you and I.
The Scriptures do not list all the benefits. The wife shall receive for her work of submission.
But . . . it is the nature of the kingdom of God to reward those who diligently seek to obey the commandments of God,
So we should notice the rewards that the wife shall receive, won’t even come from her husband.
They will come from God himself. Just as the husband has a duty to obey the commandments of God, his reward will not come from his wife’s obedience. His reward will come directly from God himself. But that doesn’t mean his wife won’t be radically and immensely benefited by his own obedience.
But in some cases, both the man and his wife will suffer the consequences of obeying Christ. And yes, they may suffer greatly in this world, due to their direct devotion to doing the Will of God.
I see this as just one of the many ways God chooses to refine and prepare his children for their ultimate work in Christ. Through this call to serve one another as Christ served his father, his sons and daughters learn to endure hardship, learn to overcome trials, learn to become wise and humble in relationships, learn to give without expecting to receive anything in return (except from the Father alone)
:
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
This woman does not teach women to seek teachings that will say what itching ears want to hear:
Our hardships might well include many difficulties: So if we can become skilled at learning the little hardships in marriage, maybe some day we may grow up to handle greater trials, coming from greater hardships and spiritual attacks in this world:
32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Here’s an example of One Man fighting the system today, in order to present the Gospel of Christ:
I think you will really like this presentation on so many levels, especially about the challenges of being a believer in the Work Place.
I think this is really an exceptional presentation.
Enduring Hardship encompasses more than just social injustices in social rejection.
Yes, We might some day suffer the confiscation of our goods. As the early believers did.
Yes, We might some day suffer physical hunger, and maybe someday advance to the ability to handle the physical abuse of torture, and even martyrdom.
But whatever we suffer in this life, we will gain a greater reward in the life to come.
32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Note: Paul wrote this from Jail in Roman, to the People who knew His Testimony of being jailed in their own town, and being miraculously and somewhat supernaturally released.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
So we see that Paul had grown in his faith, he was ready to give Jesus his all–hook, line, and sinker. Paul was told from the very beginning how much he was going to be called on to suffer for the sake of the name of Christ. And Paul stood true to his course.
A key factor in our vertical relationship is that it is not based on temporary pleasures, nor temporary rewards. It is based on eternal pleasures and eternal treasures that rust cannot corrupt, moths cannot eat, and robbers cannot break in and steal. The true treasure of heaven is the commodity of souls brought into the kingdom of God through the individual obedience of both the wife and the husband working together to serve the king of heaven.
The fact is, that two people in full repentance, and in full commitment who will gratefully turn away from the deeds and pursuits of the world, and turn away from loving the things of the world, but instead fully commit to obedience to the father, and the son, and to one another, in the Holy Spirit, cannot be more blessed, more empowered, and more productive, nor more fruitful in the kingdom of God.
But even as the scriptures teach, this is a rare condition, sadly.
And the further an individual walks away from the word of God, and from doing the will of God, the further they dig a hole, closer to the lake of fire, following the will of the “father of disrespect,” dishonor, despising, deception, and destruction.
In this heavenly cosmic drama: All we can do is play our own parts (we cannot play or do the parts of one another.) We can only choose the road upon which we will make our decisions to follow. The narrow road leads to life. The final destination of the narrow road ends in our final submission to God, submission to his word, and his ways, and his will—this leads us to our final destination: heaven.
The final destination of the wide road, which is characterized by disobedience to God’s word, disobedience to his will, despising his authority and making excuses, and self justifying every rebellious choice we make upon this broad road—all that will lead us to the final destination, the lake of fire. The final abode of the devil and his angels.
As one will notice: the final warning for the wife’s lack of submission to the authority of her husband, is that the Word of God will not be blasphemed.
And just how does the scripture teach that the wife’s lack of submission will come about?
The Bible teaches us that like Eve, the woman will be deceived. She did not submit to her husband’s warning or word. God says that Adam was not deceived. But he fell into sin following the direction of his wife why? Because she was deceived. As a result of Adam’s lack of leadership, the enemy gained control over the whole world. And all of that is the work of the old man—the man of sin.
But that’s not our calling today: we are called to abide in the new man, the man Christ Jesus, the man who submitted himself to the word and will of the father, the man who sacrificed himself for the good of all. Jesus made a Way for all to come to the father through the message of the gospel. Then he gave the apostles authority to take the message to the nations. Since Then, the father and the son have passed on this authority to the husband and his wife to fulfill the work of the ministry placed in the hands of the husband, and worked out through the beauty of the relationship with his wife.
The husband is not above the wife, nor is the wife above the husband, both submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Both seek to honor and serve one another, doing the will of the father from the heart. But there will be a problem.
The enemy will whisper, speak lies, throw darts, multiply, accusations, cause confusion, hurt feelings, and do anything and everything in his power to destroy the relationship between the husband and wife, just as he tried to destroy the relationship between Christ and the father, and between the church and Christ, and between Adam and Eve. There is nothing new under the sun.
Therefore, it is the responsibility and work of both the husband and the wife to diligently seek to do the will of the father, and to fulfill the work of the son, and ultimately allow the power of the Holy Spirit to infuse their faith, their will, and their works, with all the glory, all the honor, all the hope, all the grace, all the power, and represent all the majesty of the kingdom of heaven, on earth, even as Jesus and his disciples did in the first century.
You will notice the first step in the marriage relationship paradigm, begins with the wife, submitting herself to her husband.
Have you ever dishonored your husband?
- Have you ever disrespected your husband?
- Have you ever talked behind your husband’s back?
- Have you ever rebelled against the will of your husband?
- Have you ever made secret plans to connive, and condemn your husband, and completely rebel against his authority and his leadership?
If you personally do not like your husband’s leadership style, what does the Bible say to do?
If you personally do not like her husband’s spiritual leadership and work ethic, what does the Bible say to do?
If you have a specific conflict with your husband, what does the Bible say to do to resolve that conflict?
If you follow the word of God, what do you think the end result will be in your relationship with your husband?
You will notice the first step in the marriage relationship paradigm, begins with the wife, submitting herself to her husband.
When a husband sees that his wife is not obeying the word of God, not following the directions of God, and not fulfilling the duties of a wife, what should the husband do? What is his biblical responsibility to his wife and to his family? Is it not his duty, his responsibility, and his spiritual role, and commission from God himself, is it not to call his wife to repentance?
Is it not his responsibility, to apply the scriptures, which are the way, the truth, the life, and the light given to guide him and her?
If the wife interrupts the husband, if she overrides the husband, if she dismisses the husband, if she shows open contempt for her husband, if she despises her husband, if she dismisses the word of the husband, if she never even examines the word her husband is sharing, misunderstands, and condemns the way her husband is fighting for his relationship with his wife: what should the husband do?
When the council of the husband is rejected, what should the husband do? If the wisdom of God’s word is never received by the wife, and she never researches the evidence of his counsel, in the word of God, what does that say about the wife?
What does that say about her role to fulfill her duty of submission? What does that say about her duty to honor, respect, and receive the counsel of her husband?
You will notice the first step in the marriage relationship paradigm, begins with the wife, submitting herself to her husband.
When did you stop honoring, stop listening, stop respecting, stop believing, stop submitting to your husband?
Did you ever walk out the biblical paradigm with your husband?
Did you ever fully submit to his leadership?
Did you ever honor your husband as the head of the household?
- Do you know how many times you openly refused to submit yourself to your husband?
- Do you know how many ways you directly dismissed yourself from fulfilling the commandment to obey your husband?
- Do you know how much costly damage has been done to the kingdom of God and how many souls may have been affected and unreached due to the lack of obedience and lack of submission present in the home?
What did you do instead of submitting to your husband?
- Did you deny your husband?
- Did you despise your husband?
- Did you dismiss your husband?
- Did you deceive your husband?
- Did you ultimately plan and connive to betray your husband?
What did you do instead of submitting to Jesus and obeying his word?
- Did You denied his Lordship.
- Did You despised his word.
- Did You dismiss his word and will (and replaced it with your own).
- Did You ultimately betray your vow to him.
If you did any of these things, where is your repentance, where is your contrition, where is your humility, where is your seeking forgiveness, seeking restitution, seeking the restoration of your righteousness?
You will notice the first step in the marriage relationship paradigm, begins with the wife, submitting herself to her husband.
The Holy and Sacred Marriage Bed:https://youtu.be/BJGWgmGIJWs
Various Marriage Short Clips (under 4 mins, mostly)
Ok, this one is more humor than anything else.
Sex, Affectionate Touch, Fun & Playfulness, Appreciation, Respect.