I Love You Husband

This past Sunday, January 22, 2017, I started a new series of messages entitled, "I Love You." The series is taken from Ephesians 5:22-6:9. I am looking forward to walking through and unpacking these verses of scripture with my church family. The first message I shared was from Ephesians 5:22-24 entitled, "I Love You Husband." I shared three truths that were designed to encourage wives.

I. Recognize the significance and importance of your God given title.

Ladies, when you said "I do" to your Prince Charming, God assigned you the title of wife. There are a number of titles you could be given in life, but none compare to the titles that are assigned to you by God. Ladies, if you are married, you are a wife. The Bible says that an excellent wife has a worth that is far above jewels. (Proverbs 31:10) An excellent wife is one who is completely trusted by her husband. (Proverbs 31:11) An excellent wife is one who does her husband good. She orders her life to be a blessing to her husband. (Proverbs 31:12). An excellent wife is one whose speech is pleasant to her husband and family. The Bible says in Proverbs 31:26, "She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." An excellent wife is more concerned about the beauty of her heart than her external beauty. Certainly, charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised. (Proverbs 31:30) An excellent wife embraces her God given purpose.

II. Commit yourself to a proper God ordered relationship.

Perhaps, like me, you remember as a child filling out the worksheets where you had to connect the dots by drawing a line from the number one dot to the the number two dot and so on. If you followed the order then you would see a picture emerge. God has created a proper order and structure for the home that begins with proper alignment in the marriage. In order for marriages to work, both the husband and wife must fulfill their roles. I am quite certain there are homes across America that struggle getting on track with God's structure. There are homes where the husband is absent and quite frankly would rather his wife to lead because he simply does not have the ambition to do so. On the other hand, there are homes that are ruled by a strong willed woman. Neither is God's design.

Husbands and wives you are in a unique relationship called marriage. In Ephesians your relationship is compared to the relationship between Christ and His church. There is no other relationship in the world as wonderful and beautiful as that of Christ and His church. Now let's apply this for a few moments. You could tell me that you and your wife go together like leather in a new cadillac. Or, you could tell me you and your wife go together like cloth interior in a rusty datsun station wagon. One would seem to elevate my esteem and prominence. The other, well let's just say that would let the wind out of my sales a bit. Listen ladies, you and your husband are united in a relationship that is compared to Christ and His church. It is compared to the most wonderful relationship ever created. I know it may feel at times that you married Jethro Clampet, but you are in a divinely designed relationship. Take it serious and apply your heart and soul to your marriage. I encourage you to order your marriage the way God has ordered it. The husband is the head of the wife. The wife is to submit to her husband. Husband and wife are both equal recipients of God's grace with different roles to fulfill.

III. Possess in your heart a desire for oneness with your husband (and husband to wife).

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:22 that the wife is to submit to her own husband. This may be oversimplification. However, the husband and wife should be concerned about their own spouse, not someone else's spouse. There should be a mutual desire in each spouse to fight and preserve the fidelity of their marriage. Genesis 2:24 says, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

May God bless your marriage as you seek to establish a God honoring marriage and build a strong Godly family.