IN THE SAME WAY
- As the Church submits to Christ
- As Christ loves the Church
This last week I spent hours trying to get a mass mailing ready to send out to the community for Sunday school. Part of that preparation process was trying to figure out exactly how the mailing side of the postcard was supposed to look: what was the address supposed to be, what else did I need besides a permit number, did it have to be stamped, did I need labels, were the exact proportions required… And the post office gave me a booklet on how to figure it all out. The problem was: there were a lot of words and phrases I didn’t understand. And I was thinking: All I need is one big example. If they would just put one big example in this book that labeled everything that was there and why it was there, I then could start from that example and figure it out. Now I eventually did get it all taken care of, but if they would have given me one example, the whole process could have gone a lot quicker.
It’s nice to have examples. Then we have something to compare to and measure with. That’s why our text today is so important to understand. Ephesians 5 gives us two striking examples on how we as Christians are to live our lives. The first example is how the Church submits to Christ, and the second example is how Christ loves the Church. And in both instances Paul says that “in the same way” we are to carry out our roles and responsibilities in which the Lord has placed us. And all of us fit into both categories. In one way or another we all are to act like the Church submitting to Christ, and in one way or another we all are to act like Christ loving the Church. It just depends on the situation we are in at the time. So let’s deal with both of them in the order Paul does: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands.”
Paul is specifically dealing with husbands and wives in this section. But then he moves on to children and parents, and then slaves and owners. And in the book of Romans he speaks the same way about citizens and government. So although Paul makes a specific application in our text, the principle applies to all of us. All of us in this building can fit into this category. In the same way as the Church submits to Christ, you are to submit to others.
Now there are two words we have to deal with here. The first word is “Church.” Paul isn’t talking about a congregation here, or a physical church building. When Paul says that the Church submits to Christ he is talking about all believers. So in the same way as all believers submit to Christ, we are to submit.
And there’s the second word we have to deal with: submit. When we hear that word in our society today we think of it as a dirty word, don’t we? “Submit means subjection, submit means slavery, submit means being forced to do something that I don’t want to do!” No it doesn’t. Submit doesn’t mean any of those things. Paul is asking wives to submit to their husbands, children to submit their parents, employees to submit to their employers, citizens to submit to their government. Paul doesn’t say: husbands force your wives into submission, or parents force your children into submission, or government officials force your citizens into submission. Paul tells you to do the submitting. It’s something you do! Submit means willingly, willingly giving way to someone else’s decision. And in a Christian context we willingly give way to someone else’s decision out of love.
Now remember, the example for us to follow is believers submitting to Christ. And we can find a number of those cases in Scripture. In the OT, a young boy named Samuel was working in the house of the Lord under the supervision of Eli the priest. One night God spoke to Samuel and told him about the judgment he was going to bring on Eli’s family. The judgment would ultimately consist of both Eli’s sons dying and the ark of the Lord being taken by their enemy on the same day. When Samuel told Eli what the Lord had said the next morning, Eli didn’t complain nor did he fall down in despair. Instead Eli replied, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” Eli submitted to the Lord, he willingly gave way to the Lord’s decision even though it certainly wasn’t a decision Eli himself would ever make.
Many years later, King David spoke in a very similar way. At the time, David was fleeing for his life from his son Absalom. When they reached the desert David sent the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem with the thought, “if the Lord wants me alive, I’ll see the ark of the covenant again.” And then he added, “Let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” David submitted to the Lord, he willingly gave way to the Lord’s decision even though he didn’t know what it would be!
And that was the same attitude of the believers in the NT. At the end of Paul’s 3rd missionary journey, he made it clear that he wanted to go back to Jerusalem. But the other missionaries who were with him didn’t want him to go back because his life would be in danger. Paul, however, was not to be deterred from this course of action. And so the disciples there with him finally agreed to let him go, but not without saying these words, “The Lord’s will be done.” Those early missionaries of the NT era submitted to the Lord, they willingly gave way to the Lord’s decision even though they knew it could possibly lead to Paul’s death.
These are three instances of the one example: as the Church submits to Christ. Now my fellow Christians, submit to others in the same way. Wives submit to your husbands in everything. Willingly give way to their decision as any believer would to Christ. And it really doesn’t matter if the decision is good or bad. God doesn’t say submit to your husbands except if they sin, or except if they are wrong, or except if you know better than they do! Those things have no bearing on your attitude towards him. You are responsible to fulfill your own role, whether or not he fulfills his. Of course, if he tells you to sin in one way or another, you are to follow God rather than anyone else – even if he is your husband.
Kids, it goes the same for you. Listen to your parents as you would listen to Jesus himself. It doesn’t matter if your parents are wrong, it doesn’t matter if they are being unfair, it doesn’t matter if you think their rules are stupid. God wants you to listen to their decisions and to follow them out of love for Christ.
Employees, the same principle applies to you. Submit to your employer as you would submit to Christ, regardless of how your employer treats you. Everyone here, the same goes for you. Submit to the government you are living under as you would submit to Christ. It doesn’t matter if you like the people in those positions or not. It doesn’t matter if you voted for them. It doesn’t matter if you think you could do a better job! Paul says that we are to “submit ourselves to the governing authorities” because they have been placed there by God.
We are all to submit to those who have a position of leadership among us. Now wives, kids, employees, citizens, don’t get the wrong impression. Just because a person has a position of leadership and you are to submit to that person, doesn’t mean that the person is better than you in any way, shape, or form. They simply have different roles and responsibilities. We can’t all be leaders in every situation we are in. That would just create chaos. So God in his wisdom has already set responsibilities for us so we don’t need to figure out who is always in charge in a given situation.
Let me give you this example: during a basketball game, five guys on the same team play at a time. The coach designates the point guard, the one who brings the ball down the floor, to call out the plays to his other four teammates. Now, does that make the point guard more important than another player? No! He simply has been given a different responsibility. There is equal standing among all of the players just as there is equal standing among us. Your role at some points in your life is to submit. Submit to those in leadership positions in the same way as the Church submits to Christ.
Now although Paul does address those who should submit to those who have been given the responsibility of leadership, he spends twice as many verses on those who have that responsibility. “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.” Again, Paul makes the specific application to husbands and wives in these verses, but he carries this concept out in other places for anyone that has the responsibility of leadership. That, of course, includes husbands to wives, parents to children, older brothers and sisters to younger brothers and sisters, employers to employees, and so on. If you possess any sort of leadership in any part of your life, you are to love those you lead as Christ loved the Church – as Christ loved us.
That is a tall order. Do you realize what that means? Christ gave himself up for us. He sacrificed his own life so that we could be saved! “This is how we know what love is:” John says, “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” That is the ultimate sacrifice of unselfish love. That is taking our best interests into consideration without even worrying about his own. That is the love you are to show to those you lead. A love that loves despite what they do to earn it. A love that loves even if there is nothing they do to love.
If you wife nags you and complains and is controlling, it doesn’t matter. Love her like Christ loves you. If your children never listen to you, talk back, and throw fits, it doesn’t matter. Love them like Christ loves you. If your younger brothers and sisters or your employees or those you are in charge of make fun of you and make your life more difficult than it should be, it doesn’t matter. Love them like Christ loves you.
Can you do it? Are you, you who have been given the responsibility to lead, are you up to the challenge? Can you love them as Christ loves you? I can’t. I cannot love as Christ loves. I’ve tried and I can’t do it. No one can love perfectly as Christ loves perfectly. Because we are too selfish. We would rather care about our own interests instead of others. And as far as that goes: we can’t submit to one another as we should either. We can’t submit like we should because we are too selfish. We would rather care about our own interests instead of others. We have all sinned on both sides. We have those two wonderful examples of which Christ is the center, but we fail to live up to them every day.
Yes, we fail at following those examples. But look again at who is in the center of them. “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her… to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain, or wrinkle, or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Christ, the center of those two examples, the center of our lives, has washed our sins of selfishness away. He has purified us so that we are without the stain of sin, so that we are without any wrinkle of unrighteousness, so that we are without any of the blemishes of blame that we so deserve. And even though we are selfish, and have proved ourselves to be over and over again, he will present us on the last day as holy and as blameless. He will present us before the judgment throne not as people who could not keep the examples he set, but people who believe in the one who made them. Christ has cleansed us, he has made us holy, and he has given us a new life.
Use this life to live as Christians. And do you see how well Christ’s plan works if it is followed? If those who are being led look out for the interests of the leader because they ought to submit, and at the same time the leaders look out for the interests of those they lead because of love, than that would be a wonderful relationship, wouldn’t it? Each would be looking out for the other’s best interests – and that’s the way it should be. That’s theoretically the perfect relationship. Whether it’s with your spouse or children or parents or employer or people. In the same way as the Church submits to Christ, we are to submit to others. In the same way Christ loves the Church, we are to love others. May God help us in this way of life. And he will. He will feed us and will care for us in every way, after all, Paul says that “we are members of his body.” May the Lord help us to treat each other in the same way.
Amen.
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