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Submission the High Privilege, Precious and Powerful Attitude Ephesians 5:22-24 July 25, 2021 I. Introduction: A. They did it again! The world has hijacked another beautiful word from the Christian experience and marriage and has turned it into something negative so people avoid it or twist it or try to redefine it. 1. A hijack is when someone unlawfully seizes something that is not theirs and they take it to use it for their own purposes and advantage! 2. Satan, the god of this world, has done that because as the father of lies he will distort anything that will further the glory of God 3. We saw earlier in this series that Satan has hijacked the word helper and tries to use it as something to make a wife feel inferior to her husband and that her role in the relationship is insignificant. 4. He has done the exact same thing with the word submission! He has convinced us it is an outdated concept that needs either to be rejected or redefined! B. This morning my goal is to encourage women who have embraced this glorious attitude but who may be a little battle weary as they have taken a beating from the world and from other women for it. 1. I want you to know from God’s Word, from God’s perspective, from the eternal and heavenly perspective you are on the right path 2. So today, I want to share with you three biblical perspectives about submission that will encourage you in this difficult journey as you walk in a world that is seeking to squeeze you into its mold. • The first is … II. Submission is a high position, a high privilege! A. If you take your lead from the Bible and not from the culture, we see that submission is a high position and high privilege that a wife has in her marriage because it is the unique and important role of picturing for us and the world the response that the church should have towards Jesus! B. Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 5:22 1. As I read this I want you to watch for two things: a) Why a woman should submit to her husband b) How the wife’s response to her husband is modeled off of the churches’ response to Jesus c) Read 22-24 d) Read v 33 – we see here as he summarizes the section himself that submission is an expression of respect! 2. We see right off the bat when he says in v22 “your own husband” that a woman’s submission is directed towards her husband only and not all men. a) We learned last week in v21 there is to be a general attitude of submission every believer towards one another, but here it is addressing the husband wife relationship 3. Next we see that submission is to be as to the Lord - v22 a) This submission that a wife gives her husband is an act of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ b) She places herself under the authority and leadership of her husband ultimately for the Lord’s sake 4. Verse 23 tells us why she should submit to her husband. Read a) The reason is that the husband is the God ordained head, the God ordained leader and authority of that relationship. b) We see that it is the same position that Jesus has over the church. c) Now you may be feeling there he goes – he is telling us wives we are inferior to our husbands, doormats for them to step on and order around! (1) No, we learned a few weeks ago that men and women are absolutely equal in dignity, personhood and spiritual standing before God, but we are gloriously different in makeup and function. (2) If you say that submission makes you inferior or a doormat then you are taking a shot at the trinity and the Lord Jesus Himself. because Jesus lived his whole life in submission to the Father as He did nothing of His own initiative but only that which the Father told Him to do (3) Listen to what 1 Corinthians 11:3 says (a) To say the headship of man over woman makes a woman inferior to man is to say that Jesus is inferior to the Father. (b) And that is a shot at the very core of Jesus as God and the trinity 5. To say that role or function of a wife as being submissive is insignificant or lowly then you miss the whole point of Ephesians 5. a) Read v24. b) In this passage we learn that the wife has the high privilege and high position to picture for us the response that Jesus’ bride, the church has to Him C. I am going to take this high privilege high position idea even a step further – submission pictures for us what true worship looks like. 1. A while back I did a message on worship and explained to you how I define it in light of the Hebrew and Greek words for worship a) The Hebrew word means to bow down and the Greek word means to kiss towards. 2. So the heart of worship is not singing songs but an entire life in submission to God (authority and leading us through His word and will) out of love and respect for Him! D. There is no picture that Satan wants to put his graffiti on more and distort more than the picture of submission – lovingly, willingly and respectfully responding to Jesus in obedience as my service of worship to Him. 1. Wives you have the high privilege of modeling for us what the heart of worship really looks like since things are better caught than taught, better understood when lived out in front of us than preached in a sermon! 2. The world desperately needs that picture, the church desperately needs that picture, marriages desperately need that picture, our kids desperately desperately need that picture, Pastor Pat desperately needs that picture so I can excel still the more in my responses and worship to the Lord. 3. I want to thank you ladies and my lovely bride Kimberly who have embraced that high position and high privilege of submission as a wife for what I have already learned how to better walk with and worship the Lord from your example! • Turn to 1 Peter 3 as the second perspective we learn is that III.A heart of submission is precious to the Lord A. This passage in v1-6 is driven by the idea of submission. Read v1a B. As we go down to verse 3 and 4 he tells us that submission is much more than external obedience but rather is it is an internal quality that resides in the hidden person of the heart. 1. We learned last week that while obedience is an external act that does not require either willingness or a bond with the person I am doing it with, submission on the other hand is a willful and respectful act, which is done towards someone with whom I have a bond. 2. Watch for this heart attitude of submission as I read this. Read v3-5 C. What I want to encourage you wives with today is what it says right at the end of v4 about those wives that have this imperishable quality in their hearts. 1. Read v4c – precious to the Lord. Read again – read again 2. While submission may be looked down upon, be distasteful and considered outdated by the world you need to know that a heart of submission by a wife is precious in the sight of God. 3. Let me encourage you to be like Sarah and do not let anyone frighten or intimidate you from that high position of submission. Read v5-6 • Finally I want you to know that IV.Submission is powerful A. Look back at v1 in this section. Read v1-2 B. Submission has the power to influence! That is all done without a word of trying to convince him with your many words, but rather behavior that wins him over! C. Here is the reality – when a husband and wife are walking with each other, valuing and plugging into their differences as a blessing, which we learned in Genesis 2, and submitting to each other out of respect for each other and the Lord as verse v21 teaches. And here in v22 -33 when a husband is submitting to his wife by loving her by laying down his life for her and she is respecting him by submitting to his leadership then submission rarely becomes an issue but rather is a beautiful dance! 1. When you walk like that – humbly listening to, valuing, and considering the other’s opinion as they seek a win-win decision! 2. Kim’s attitude of respect and willingness to submit opens my heart to listen to her even more. 3. In 43 years of marriage, I have had to pull out trump card of submission because of my position as head in our relationship only two times! D. I think the book of Esther is the strongest example we have in Scripture of the power of submission. 1. In the first chapter, we see king of Persia and Media gave a command for his queen to come join him at the banquet he was throwing and she refused. 2. This made him very angry and was concerned that her behavior would become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on upon the leadership of their husbands in their homes! a) Read Esther 1:17-18. b) As a result, she was removed from being queen! 3. After a long search for a new queen, Esther a Jewish woman became the queen. She was a beautiful woman who had great favor with the king as she walked respectfully and submissively to her husband the king. 4. Long story short, God used the influence of this woman upon the king to save the lives of the Jewish nation from slaughter and to protect the line of the Messiah. E. Humble, respectful submission carries a powerful influence with a husband that will open a door to influence him. 1. There will be many significant situations in life when that opportunity to influence your husband will present itself. 2. At those times like uncle Mordechai told Queen Esther. Read Esther 4:14d