I AM LOVED

EPHESIANS 5:22-3322 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

EPHESIANS 5:22-3325 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

EPHESIANS 5:22-3328 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of His body.

EPHESIANS 5:22-3331 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

GENDER, MARRIAGE, AND

SEXUALITY ACCORDING TO

GOD’S LOVE

Jesus' love for the Church and what that means for men and

women in the context of marriage

GENESIS 2:24

24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

The big idea here is LOVE. Six times in this short section the

word “love” is used.

There is no understanding of love apart from the person and

work of Jesus.

And so He says that God’s love is shown for us like a bride and a

groom. So He uses this timeless metaphor.

As a church, we follow, submit to, trust, enjoy, live life with Jesus like a wife does with a loving, devoted

husband. That’s the big idea.

Only God in Jesus Christ loves perfectly, loves humbly, loves continually, loves unselfishly, loves generously all the time

without fail.

The good news: If that love comes from Jesus, that longing for love is met,

we are loved perfectly.

That allows us to start loving others with the love that we

receive, and it means we don’t have to be in a relationship.

We can be single, like Jesus was, and still be satisfied because the loving relationship exists whether

or not we’re in a dating relationship.

FIVE WAYS JESUS LOVES THE CHURCH

1. AS HEAD

The church belongs to Jesus, and ultimately it’s to be governed by His Word. If He wants something, then that should be done. If He doesn’t

want something, then that shouldn’t be done.

Decisions get made in your head, so Jesus is the One who makes the

decisions. Jesus is the One who leads. Jesus is the One who is

preeminent.

Furthermore, this means that we follow Him as Head and Leader, and

He takes responsibility for us. This is what a leader is, by definition—one who takes responsibility.

On the cross, Jesus is taking responsibility for things that are

not His fault.

2. AS SAVIOR

God comes in on a rescue mission to save—to save us from sin, to save us

from death, to save us from hell, to save us from Satan and demons, to

save us from the wrath of God.

Jesus says in John 14:6, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life.”

It’s all singular and exclusive. “No one comes to the Father but

by Me.”

He alone is Savior. He says that He has come to seek

and save those who are lost. That’s us.

3. AS GIVER

“Where your treasure is, there your heart is.”

Love is a commitment that compels us to act, and part of that

action is giving. It’s generosity.

Jesus is a Giver, and when you and I learn to be givers, it transforms our whole life.

If you’re a giver, you’re a better friend. If you’re a giver, you’re a better spouse. If you’re a giver,

you’re a better parent.

4. AS SANCTIFIER AND CLEANSER

He loves us as Sanctifier and Cleanser. We are dirty, are defiled, and we are unclean, and that’s the

result of our sin.

Jesus is Sanctifier and Cleanser. He’s there to clean you up and

help.

5. AS NOURISHER AND CHERISHER

He loves us as Nourisher and Cherisher. A lot of this language of

loving a woman like Jesus loves the church is about cherishing and

nourishing.

Jesus cherishes His people like a good husband adores his wife.

He nourishes His people like Jesus nourishes, encourages, builds up

the church.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A WIFE TO SUBMIT

AND RESPECT LIKE JESUS?

EPHESIANS 5:22, 24, 3322 ”Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” 24 “Wives should submit to their husbands.”33 “Let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

1 Corinthians 11, 1 Peter 5, Colossians 3

It does not mean that the wife is less valuable, intelligent, or

competent.

Both men and women bear equally the image and likeness of God. They have equal dignity, value.

1. It doesn’t mean that the husband is more intelligent than

the wife.

Complementarian Theology – like two hands.

Ex. Right hand is the dominant hand.

The right hand can do things that the left hand can’t do, and the left hand can do

things that the right hand can’t do. There are some things that they both can do, but

they work together in a complementary fashion, and we need them both.

And when Genesis 2:18 says she’s the helper, that means that she is actually

more intelligent and more competent in certain areas that he’s not. So they

work together so that together they’re better.

2. This does not mean that men, in general, are to be ruling over

women in general.

3. It does not mean that the wife does not have independent

thoughts.

4. It does not mean that the wife cannot seek to influence her

husband.

PROVERBS 19:14

14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

This means that to be really helpful, a woman would be a

prudent influencer of her husband.

5. This does not mean that the wife does not express her

thoughts and feelings.

6. This does not mean that a wife ignores all of her husband’s flaws, but that she begins by encouraging those aspects of his character that

are respectable.

7. This does mean that a wife sets a pattern for others to respect her

husband.

8. It does help guard a woman’s tendency to distrust, to despise,

to disrespect her husband.

This does mean that she takes her cue from the Trinity and

Jesus.

Jesus Christ, the second Member of the Trinity, the Son of God. He submits to God the

Father.

So, you can be equal and under authority.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A HUSBAND TO

LOVE AND LEAD LIKE JESUS?

“Christ is the Head of the church.”

As Christ is the Head of the church, it says, the husband is

the head of the wife.

Are you a good or bad head?

1. Men are to take responsibility, as Christ did.

They are to first take responsibility for themselves, then they can

marry. They can consummate their covenant and devote their life to

loving their wives.

2. Men, we are not the highest authority.

3. Men, we are to love our wife, not just marriage.

4. Your most important human friendship is with your wife.

5. Love your wife and not just what you hope she will

become.

6. Love your wife, whatever comes your way.

7. Men, we have to be tough and tender to love our wife as Christ

loved the church.

8. As the family leader, men, we take responsibility for the well-

being of the family.

9. She is a garden; you are the gardener.

In 1 Corinthians 11, it says that the woman is the glory of the

man.

Another way of saying it is that she reflects who he is and what

he does. And that he’s a gardener, she’s a garden.