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[0:00] Thank the Lord for that. Would you take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of Ephesians? Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. We've been in this for several weeks now, and we are nearing the end of the book.

[0:13] So we are in chapter 5, the second half of chapter 5, beginning in verse 18, is where we'll start out this morning, Ephesians 5.

[0:24] We'll read from verse 18 down through the end of the chapter. As we go through the book of Ephesians, we are reading a letter from Paul written, yes, to the church in Ephesus, but also written with the intention of circulating that letter all throughout the early churches back then.

[0:45] So we can rightly take and apply what we learn from the book of Ephesians as though it was written for our benefit as well. We know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

[0:57] It is profitable for us for instruction, for rebuke, and for leading us into God's righteousness. So Ephesians divided into two sections, who we are and how we live.

[1:11] We've come through that first part, and we're now in the second half of how we live. So much of the study and the preparation that's done for this series comes from these two commentary sets, the Christ-centered exposition series on Ephesians and Warren Wiersbe's Bible exposition commentary.

[1:27] Those are great resources for your Bible study as well. The background of the book was written by the Apostle Paul around the year A.D. 62, and he was in prison at the time. So how many of y'all ever been on the inside, in jail?

[1:40] Anybody? Thank you. All right, good. I hope you accomplished, you know, what Paul did when he wrote a book of the Bible when he was in prison. No, that was amazing that God did that kind of thing for people in such an era when the church was not usually legal.

[1:58] It was being tried to be suppressed, and oftentimes they would find themselves on the wrong side of the law in those early days of the church. And yet God would use his effort through them to see the church just flourish and take off.

[2:13] And it's incredible to see what God used men like Paul to do, men and women, in those early church years. And Paul was very intimately familiar with this church in Ephesus.

[2:24] He had helped to start the church, and had spent two to three years as their pastor back. You can read about that account back in Acts 19. And so we are in the second half of this book, chapters 4 through 6, very practical.

[2:36] How do we live knowing our standing and our identity in Christ? How do we then live for Christ? So today we're in chapter 5, verse 18.

[2:47] Let's read it. Would you stand with me if you're able to? And let's read together Ephesians 5, verse 18. I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible. Don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit.

[3:03] Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing and making music with your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:17] Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. What does that look like? Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the church.

[3:30] He is the Savior of the body, Christ. Now as the church submits to Christ, the wives are also to submit to their husbands in every time. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church.

[3:43] Gave himself for her, blessing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.

[4:00] In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church.

[4:14] Remember that part about they too shall become one flesh, right? We understand that's why it's saying if you love your wife, it's like you're loving your own body.

[4:26] Verse 31. He will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

[4:38] This mystery is profound, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. A little clue there for us. Verse 33. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

[4:54] Let's pray together. God, I pray that you would give us understanding as we read through this passage, Lord. There are instructions all throughout this second half of the book of Ephesians.

[5:05] We understand you laid the groundwork in the first half of reminding us how great you are, how good you are, and how we truly have it made as your children.

[5:15] God, you have lifted us up from miry clay and set our feet upon a rock. We just thank you for all that you've done for us in Christ Jesus.

[5:28] Help us then to understand how we then can live a life that reflects you. Speak to us from your word this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

[5:40] Amen. You may be seated. Thanks for joining us in standing today. So the theme for our talk today is about, let me get back to it, the evidence of a spirit-controlled life.

[5:54] Okay? The evidence of a spirit-controlled life. Now, let me just point this out in case, you know, you're going to get distracted by this. That's on me. You see, that will control, and then the D is down on the next line.

[6:09] That was me. Okay? Somehow, on my computer screen, it looks perfect, and then when it gets up here, it doesn't. So that was me. I should have tested it and made sure it looked good on there, but apparently I needed to space that out a little better.

[6:24] That was for all the, what do you call those people who get, you know, OCD? There you go. Thank you. Y'all, the ones who answered that. You're the ones. That's what we're talking about as a test. All right.

[6:35] Now that we got that part out of the way, the evidence of a spirit-controlled life. What are those? Well, obviously, if you are a child of God, then you have the desire in you to live by the spirit.

[6:46] Problem is, you also have some other desires in you. To live by what we call the flesh. Your own desires. Your own thoughts. Your own wisdom. Right? So it's important then to always have the spirit win that struggle between the spirit and the flesh.

[7:02] Does the spirit always win that struggle? No. Of course not. Oftentimes, we allow the flesh to win that struggle between what we want and what God wants.

[7:15] So what are the evidences of allowing the spirit to win? What are the evidence of a spirit of God-controlled life? Number one.

[7:26] We read about it right here in Ephesians 5. Number one, submitting to the Holy Spirit. Let's look back at verse 18. Submitting to the Holy Spirit. Instead of submitting to something else.

[7:39] And it gives some examples here. One, don't get drunk with wine. Well, it actually kind of started this theme in the verses leading up to this.

[7:50] Back up to verse 15. Pay careful attention to how you walk. Not as unwise people, but as wise. So it's setting the theme for what the following verses are going to talk about.

[8:03] So we're talking about wisdom. Wise living. Verse 16. Making the most of the time. Because the days are evil. Maximizing your time.

[8:15] We talked about that a little bit two weeks ago. So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Don't be foolish. Anybody ever told you that in your life?

[8:26] Don't be foolish? I've had it told to me a few times. As surprising as that is. Don't be foolish. Don't act like a fool. Fool.

[8:37] The Bible says somewhere, somewhere in that good book it says, The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. So actually, when you live foolishly, you live almost as though God does not exist.

[8:50] It's almost like we know that he does exist, but the way we're living is as though he doesn't. So that's what we would call foolishness. Living like a fool.

[9:02] So don't be foolish. Understand what God's will is. Verse 18. Don't get drunk with wine. You see, it's a continuation of this theme.

[9:13] Be careful how you live. Use wisdom. Don't be foolish. Understand what God's will is for us. Then it follows up with this command, a specific command, don't get drunk with wine, which leads to recklessness, reckless living, foolishness.

[9:38] Instead, be filled by the Spirit. I truly believe that wine is a common problem throughout mankind's history.

[9:51] It was certainly a common problem back then. Ephesus was a big city. It was a major center of politics, of religion, apart from God, man-made religion.

[10:07] Wine was commonplace. Drunkenness was commonplace. Terrible, terrible things would be done in the name of God at the temple, etc.

[10:21] And wine and alcohol would play a strong role in all of that. It would definitely lead to reckless living. Well, still today, drunkenness often leads to reckless living, does it not?

[10:35] And so, I believe this is a placeholder. This is representative of the idea of avoiding foolish, reckless living.

[10:48] So, don't get drunk with wine, yes. But I think we would be correct in saying, don't get drunk on anything that keeps you from being filled with God's Spirit.

[11:01] Whether it's wine, or whether it's any kind of alcohol, or whether it's something entirely different, not necessarily a substance, but something, whether it's our own ego, whether it's the pursuit of money, whatever it is that would keep you from being filled with God's Spirit because you're filled with something else, that, I believe, is what the warning in the greater context of these verses is saying to us.

[11:31] So, don't get drunk with wine. It leads to reckless living. Be filled with the Spirit. So, we've got a contrast here now. We've got this submitting to ourselves, and then we've got this submitting to the Holy Spirit.

[11:44] And they produce completely different things. So, now Paul's going to give us some examples of what submitting to the Holy Spirit produces. Look at verse 19.

[11:55] It's really interesting. The first one he gives us. Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing and making music with your heart to the Lord.

[12:08] Why do we sing in church? Because it's evidence of the Holy Spirit working in us. Why do we listen to Christian music and sing along sometimes?

[12:19] Why does this whole genre exist of Christian songs and music and music artists and songwriters and all this? Why is this a thing?

[12:30] Because, one, there's an entire book of the Bible called the Psalms that's dedicated to musical poems and songs written to God and about God. And also, all throughout the Bible, and right here in Ephesians 5, it says singing music is one of the best ways that we can, one, worship God, but also it's evidence of God working inside of us.

[12:58] That doesn't mean that just because you sing a Christian song that you're filled with the Spirit. That certainly doesn't mean that. But it means that if you are filled with the Spirit, one of the chief ways that will express itself is through singing to God.

[13:13] Doesn't mean you've got to be up here in the next trio, okay? God didn't gift us all with the beautiful voices that we heard this morning. But that's okay. Doesn't mean that you have to join the choir, although there's seats available, okay?

[13:27] Y'all jump up here. Let's fill this thing up. But singing in the privacy of your shower, okay?

[13:37] It's all right. Singing in the shower is a good thing. Singing in the car by yourself. God loves to hear us sing, and He doesn't judge whether we're fit for American Idol or not.

[13:49] It's one of the chief evidences of a Spirit-filled life. Singing and making music with your heart to the Lord. And then secondly, giving thanks always for everything to God.

[14:05] Giving thanks is, man, hard to think of or come up with another evidence of the Spirit that is more opposite of what you and I do.

[14:19] We do not naturally want to give thanks to God. Naturally, our flesh, when we submit to our flesh, we just want to get, get, get for ourselves. We're not thinking about then showing gratitude to others and definitely not to God.

[14:37] But giving thanks is a key evidence of submitting to the Holy Spirit of God. Giving thanks always for everything, verse 20 says, to God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:53] We do it in the name of Jesus because He is our go-between. He's our intermediary between us and God. He's the way by which we can approach God.

[15:04] Otherwise, you and I would have no access to God. If it wasn't for Jesus and His sacrifice, remember what Sarah talked about with the kids down here? His sacrifice for us, that is what allows us then to have access to God.

[15:18] So, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we get to approach God and pour out our thankfulness to Him. Pour out our praise to Him.

[15:29] Say, God, I will submit to You because I am thankful, I am grateful for Your sacrifice, the love You have continually showed me. Even before I knew You, You died for me.

[15:44] You rose for me. You are alive today for me. And You extend the invitation to me always. Your arms are open wide. And that just makes me thankful to You.

[15:57] So, I want to give thanks. Every day, I want to give thanks to You, God. That is something that should be continually on our lips, continually in our minds.

[16:11] Parents, letting your kids hear you, thank God. Older brothers and sisters, letting your younger ones hear you, thank God. Continually.

[16:22] Every day, not missing an opportunity, whether it's in the morning, in your own quiet time with God, or whether it's in the evening. If you gather your family together and pray together and maybe read a verse of Scripture or sing a song together before you go to bed, have that family altar or family devotional type time together, that is a wonderful time to thank God.

[16:42] together as a family, but then individually, privately, by ourselves. Singing together, speaking to one another, making music in our heart to God, and giving thanks always to God for everything.

[16:58] The good, the bad, and everything in between. God, I know it's all part of your plan. There are people in our church right now, there are people in our service right now who are hurting deeply because of circumstances going on in their lives.

[17:11] But in the middle of it, and I've already heard them this morning say thank you to God for it. Thank you to God that we know that you're in control of it all.

[17:23] We don't have to try to figure this out on our own. We don't have to try to make sense of this mess on our own. We know it's in your hand. So God, I thank you for that. And then don't miss this last part.

[17:37] Before we dive into the next section, let's look at a couple other scriptures. James 4, 7. Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

[17:48] What does it mean, submit? Anybody want to take a stab at it? Submit. Give us a quick definition. Don't be scared.

[18:01] It's okay. Absolute obedience. It's good. Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

[18:11] So I feel like there's another picture of this struggle here, right? It's the devil, we have to resist, and God, we open up and say, God, have your way.

[18:23] Have your way in me. How many of you remember that old song, have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way? Yeah. That's that attitude of submission. God, whatever you want to do with me in my life, I have this other attraction, I have this other magnetism pulling at me.

[18:40] It's the world, the flesh, the devil, it's everything that is against what you tell me, and I'm going to resist that and instead, I'm going to open up to you, God.

[18:52] I'm going to submit to you. So that's James 4, 7. Look over here in Matthew 11. Come to me. Jesus extends the invitation. Come to me.

[19:02] What does submitting look like? What does submitting look like to a bad master? Well, that's scary, right? Submitting to a bad master? Hey, let's go back to our country's history of slavery.

[19:14] We get a real picture of what the wrong kind of submission looks like when you're forcing people to submit to evil, selfish, tyrannical men.

[19:27] So what does submission to God, by contrast, look like? Matthew 11 shows us. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened.

[19:37] I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Boy, slavery was common back then too. Slavery has been a problem throughout the history of mankind.

[19:49] If you go back and study ancient history all the way up to modern day, and we still have slavery, usually in the form of human trafficking, alive and well in the world today.

[20:03] And so I'm thinking of this book I read about a man who was born into slavery he raised up, he eventually escaped and with a group of people found some help and got away from this plantation that they served as slaves on and then he got on a ship that took him up to the northeast and was in Boston and then God saved him.

[20:31] God saved him dramatically and changed his life and changed his heart and he became a preacher that was then instrumental in liberating and starting churches for former slaves.

[20:43] It's an incredible story. But I'm thinking of what that yoke meant for them. For those slaves thinking about the hard physical labor that they were forced to do every day by their wicked master.

[20:58] So when Jesus references the yoke that would mean something totally different for a slave. For us dare say most if not all of us have never experienced something like that.

[21:13] But we can understand through the eyes of others how impactful that is when Jesus says take my burden on you take my yoke on you take my manual physical labor on you and learn from me.

[21:27] Why? Because I am humble. I am lowly. A couple months ago we talked about how Jesus is gentle and lowly. He doesn't lord it over us. He doesn't sit up there and wield his absolute authority and power over us and how much greater he is than us.

[21:43] Instead he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant Philippians tells us. He said I am holy we're going to get that right.

[21:57] I am lowly and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Boy that's not common in slavery is it?

[22:09] Rest. The master providing rest not just for your bodies but for your souls. For my yoke that yoke I told you to take upon you it's easy and this any burden that I place on you is light compared to what you would be carrying without me.

[22:31] So that's why Jesus extends this invitation to all of us. He says come to me. That's what submitting to God looks like. So we read about it just a moment ago.

[22:43] Practically are we singing to God? Again doesn't mean you have to join the choir doesn't mean you have to do a special in church but are we finding opportunities to sing to God?

[22:54] All throughout the Bible there are evidences of singing and there are even commands to sing and make music to our God. He'll appreciate it. Whatever voice or whatever skill level he gave you he will love to hear you sing to him.

[23:10] Secondly are we showing gratitude to God? Are we being grateful for what God has done in the past what he continues to do today and what we believe by faith he will do in the future?

[23:22] Are we showing gratitude to God? Look at this look at this quote. If you look at the world you'll be distressed. If you look within you you'll be depressed.

[23:35] If you look at God you'll be at rest. Why? Because he said come to me my yoke is easy my burden is light I'll give you rest for your souls.

[23:46] How many of you experienced rest in Jesus at some point in your life? Would you testify by uplifted hand? That's me. I've rested in Jesus. There's nothing like it is there?

[23:57] There's nothing like it. I wish I could live in that every day and you know what we can. We can. But that takes submitting to God's Holy Spirit.

[24:09] The woman who said that quote Corrie ten Boom she was a prisoner of war. she was caught up in the German enslavement of Jews back in the Holocaust.

[24:26] And a woman who went through the horrible things that she went through in her life was able to say yeah if you look at the world around you it's distress. If you look even within yourself you'll be depressed at your own shortcomings lack of faith.

[24:41] but if you look at God that's where you'll find rest. That's where you'll find rest. I can testify to that. I know I feel it in my soul I feel the unrest when I take my eyes off Jesus.

[24:55] This last week I had a couple days where I wasn't resting in Jesus. And I had to get my attention some others kind of helped me get my attention say hey I can tell you're stressed you're not resting in God.

[25:10] I was on the phone dealing with some health insurance stuff. And some of y'all know Bo had a dental injury back last month and we're still trying to figure that out.

[25:22] He may have to see an orthodontist or something like that. But I'm on the phone. How many of y'all love dealing with medical insurance stuff on the phone? I don't know why there's not hands raised everywhere.

[25:34] I am so glad that I had to deal with that that day because I'm talking to this lady and she tells me what I need to know and it was fine. She was dealing with me just fine. But then she said by chance you don't know who Samuel was in the Bible do you?

[25:52] Well yeah I'm a pastor actually I should know that. She said really you're a pastor no way. And she proceeded for the next 10 minutes to preach to me about resting in God.

[26:05] And I literally like tears started coming to my eyes. I got off the phone and I literally just said in my office the door was shut and I said okay God I get it like everybody is coming to me the stinking insurance lady on the phone is coming to me saying you need to breathe you need to rest and you need to get your faith back in Jesus.

[26:24] That was just so impactful and it was such a real life way of reminding submitting to God is the best way it really is. Because y'all you and I can't handle it.

[26:37] We can't handle it. That's why we show so much gratitude to him. That's why we're so grateful and thankful to him. Singing to God gratitude to God and then lastly submission to each other.

[26:49] That's a big evidence of submitting to the Holy Spirit of God is submitting to each other. We got about 10 minutes left that I'm going to explain this part of it and then we'll be done. Number two submitting to each other.

[27:02] Now this word in this passage is one of the most controversial in the Bible. Maybe that's been something that you've struggled with.

[27:15] Oftentimes as a woman you'll read this passage and you'll struggle with this word submit. Now I'm a man and I can't sit up here and tell you what that looks like exactly for you in the context of your household.

[27:33] But I can preach to you what the word of God says. So look back at verse 21. Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. What does that look like?

[27:45] Well it explains. In the following verses 22 down through honestly into chapter 6 all the way down through verse 9 in chapter 6 we have different areas of examples real life real world examples of how we should submit to one another in the fear of Christ.

[28:07] Not in the fear of man not in the fear of an evil master but in the fear of God we're going to treat each other with this attitude of submission because we fear God we respect God out of love and reverence for God we're going to enter into this attitude of submission what does it mean well I did a word study on it okay and over the last two weeks or so how many of y'all remember last week I wasn't preaching this guy named Andrew Bunnell was preaching total loser just just kidding he's my older brother he did he did an amazing job did y'all enjoy my brother last week I did too of course I'm biased but I really enjoyed him and I pray someday he gets to come back and visit with us again but I was off last week so I had about the last two weeks to prepare for this sermon and I'm really really glad I did because it took quite a bit of research and study to make sure that what

[29:09] I'm preaching to you today is what I believe the Bible is truly saying so this word submit is the word hupotasso the Greek word it's a military term however in the non military usage which is obviously what this is wives submit to your husbands that's not a military relationship sorry guys you're not the general okay you're not her commanding officer so to speak and you're definitely not the king and if you think you are then she'll very quickly let you know you're not however so this is a non military usage and in a non military usage it is a voluntary attitude of giving in cooperating assuming responsibility and carrying a burden it's a little bit different than maybe we would first think when we read the word submit it's a voluntary attitude and truth be told y'all we should all be treating each other like this we should be cooperating choosing to give in instead of bowing up and fighting against one another we should assume responsibility and we should carry or bear one another's burdens just like we're commanded to in the word of

[30:32] God so you got that hupotasso we're going to take this just a tiny bit deeper okay I'm going to be watching your eyes and hopefully I don't lose two thirds of you in the next slide here here we go ready we're going to be looking at voice how many of you guys remember active voice passive voice anybody like active voice they're doing the action passive voice it's happening to you in Greek there's a third there's a middle voice that's what this is it's the word hupotasso my which is actually how this word is used in this context active voice means hupotasso put under someone else's power passive voice hupotasso you're accepting someone else's power over you the middle voice hupotasso my means voluntary supporting someone else voluntarily supporting someone else so it's a little different isn't it if it was an active voice it would carry a different meaning if it was in passive voice it would carry a different meaning but it's in middle voice which means it's voluntarily supporting someone else so when it commands us to submit to one another it's saying voluntarily support one another wives voluntarily support your husbands as you would the

[32:07] Lord because the husband is the head of the wife God instituted the husband as the leader of the home doesn't mean he's the smartest doesn't mean he's always the most fit for leadership but that is the order that God instituted God instituted us with different but equally valuable giftings men and women men and women compliment each other doesn't mean one is greater than the other or one is more important or one is more deserving but it means that we are there to support and compliment and offset each other and make a beautiful well rounded home so when we're commanded to submit to one another it's voluntarily supporting watch this quote real quick I'll try to get through it so we don't spend too much time here submission to Christ requires believers to submit to one another we just read that verse Ephesians 5 21 according to this verse where there is no mutual submission reverence for Christ is wanting or lacking or missing so if we're not mutually submitting to one another then we're not looking at Jesus as we should because the newness of the gospel at this time and still today in our lives because the newness of the gospel the good news of Jesus calls for new relationships a paradigm shift has occurred that now requires

[33:40] Christians including husbands and wives but not exclusively husbands and wives and we see that as it continues down through chapter 6 and we see it in other passages as well to be in mutual subjection to each other since the practical expression of subjection is servanthood this means that both husbands and wives are servants to each other in different ways yeah is that going to look exactly the same no are you going to expect the wife to do all the things a husband would more naturally do because of his abilities and giftings no are you going to expect the husband to do all the things all the time that the wife would more naturally be better at no if my wife expected me to cook all the dinners in our family then we would go hungry I'm I'm just not good at that like she is but we are there to serve each other in different ways perhaps in order to overcome the ruler legacy that men have inherited from the fall remember the fall of man when

[34:50] Adam and Eve sinned and then sin passed upon all men they took something that God instituted and distorted it God instituted this order in the home that he looks at the man as the leader in the home and he looks at the wife as equally valuable equally important a complimentary piece and then men took this and instituted this ruler legacy and that is the world that the Bible was written in there was this ruler legacy you know what's really interesting you look at so many religions across history and you look at so many cultures across history and they've almost always demeaned and devalued women Jesus didn't do that Jesus did the opposite so this ruler legacy that men have inherited since the fall of man it's specified probably because of that that Christian men must also love their wives to the point of

[35:58] Christ like self sacrifice just like Miss Sarah talked about sacrifice a little bit ago I mean to the point of dying for them laying down their lives women are not property men do not own them Jesus said love your wife like I love the church if anything there is a greater responsibility on the man toward his wife to be like Jesus loved the church did Jesus hold anything back from us does he absolutely live and plan and move and work for our good all the time absolutely he does God values us above everybody else I've said it before you're the background on his phone screen God loves you he's crazy about you he could not love you more could not love us more so that is how

[37:08] Christ loves the church and that's how men we're supposed to love our wives now Luke 22 a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest who is them the disciples that's right Jesus disciples his closest followers his closest friends they're trying to figure out who's going to be greatest and Jesus says the kings of the gentiles lord it over them those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors or you know friends of the poor but you're not to be like that instead the greatest among you should be like the youngest the one who rules like the one who serves for who is greater the one who's at the table or the one who serves is it not the one who's at the table of course but I am among you as one who serves man

[38:08] Jesus flipped this whole narrative on its head he flipped this whole thing on his head he's saying boys the discussion is not over who's in charge the discussion is not over who's greater the discussion is not over who gets to be the boss the discussion is over who can serve the most that's what Jesus was trying to institute again this quote flips it on its head patriarchy is not the bible's message what are we talking about we say patriarchy how many of you guys have heard that word out there in the world patriarchy god instituted something there are the patriarchs of the bible anybody know abraham isaac jacob they're called the patriarchs of israel so we're talking about something different than that this man-made patriarchy is this ruler legacy that we talked about a moment ago it's this distortion of the man-made order that god i'm sorry the god ordained order that god instituted in the home etc and then men turned it into this domination idea that men are superior to women and this became called the patriarchy the patriarchy is not the message of the bible but it is the cultural backdrop of the bible it was happening in the world that jesus walked and it's still happening throughout much of the world today and christians should stand against it because the gospel message of jesus stands out from that in sharpest relief in other words it is very very obviously different what jesus preaches for the home for how we're supposed to submit to each other very different than what man preaches through this idea of what we call modern day patriarchy it's not servant oriented it's not mutually submitting to one another first peter five here's another example of mutual submission all of you should be submissive to one another here's another example of submission right younger people submit yourselves to elders in ephesians six we see children submitting to your parents slaves submitting to your masters there's all these real world real life examples of submission but the whole command that started all this was back in verse 21 we are supposed to submit to one another in the fear of

[40:50] Christ and it's repeated again in first peter five all of you are to be submissive to one another in case the masters think that they rule the day in case the parents think that they rule the day over their children and can treat them however they want in case husbands think that they rule the day over their wives instead all of you must be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility because God resists the proud this man-made patriarchy emphasizes pride it builds the ego it puffs us up I'm in charge you obey me but God resists that he said I resist the proud but I give grace to the humble man we need grace we need God to extend grace to us it's crucial we must have it so less hierarchy more humility less hierarchy more humility more humility who's in charge doesn't matter that's what the disciples were trying to figure out who's the greatest he said no it's not about that it's about being humble less who's in charge sorry for that up top who's in charge and more how can

[42:21] I serve y'all that is a real world example that needs to characterize our church and our homes less who's in charge and more how can I serve you it's less why didn't you listen to me why wouldn't you do what I said and more how can I serve you that's who Jesus was who Jesus wants us to be therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time and you can cast all your care all your anxiety all your fear all your worry all your suspicion on him because he cares for you then you'll find rest in God right that's why we submit we submit to God and we submit to each other and we're done with this release the pressure of the pecking order embrace the freedom of mutual submission let's read it again release the pressure of the pecking order embrace the freedom of mutually submitting prioritizing serving loving one another we've been saying this verse week after week let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think then you'll know God's will so here's our point to ponder for today how does

[43:49] God want me to change the way I think so I can see my relationships as Jesus would see them I can see my wife as Jesus would see her I can see my husband as Jesus would see her and then we can mutually serve and submit to one another wives you can submit to your husband because you're submitting to God men you can love your wives as Christ loved the church because you're submitting to God and you're submitting to each other that's our command from the scripture that's our command here in Ephesians 5 so we submit to God's spirit in us when we voluntarily not by force but voluntarily submit to each other would you pray with me God I pray that we would submit to you I pray that we would submit to each other sometimes it's easier to submit to you than it is to each other but truthfully we're not submitting to you unless we're submitting to each other you commanded us all throughout the scripture to submit to one another and God I pray that you would help us to do that empower us forgive us when we don't treat each other as we should forgive us when we hold back forgiveness when we hold back patience when we hold back love when we hold back preferring each other and we're in it for ourselves

[45:07]  I pray that by your spirit in us you would change the way we think and we could find the rest of submitting to you which then in turn causes us to submit prefer each other prioritize each other serve each other however that looks in our lives God I pray that you'd show it to us right now in this moment of prayer before we dismiss I pray that you'd show us how we can submit to you and to one another it's in Jesus name we pray amen