10.3.21 Hillside Bible Sermon_ Contemplating a Picture

Sermon Summary

Ephesians 5:22-33 shocks us by calling wives to submit to their husbands but this would have been unremarkable for most of human history. Rather, the instructions to husbands were shocking when Ephesians was written! Called to love with sacrifice like Jesus, a Christian husband would have been considered unmanly by ancient society. However, in loving his wife with sacrifice, in looking to her good and using his authority as a servant, a husband showed the world what Jesus is like - the one who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but who humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross to save sinners who deserved judgement. On the other side of this, a wife so loved is reminded to respect and submit to her husband as a picture of the church's loving submission to Christ - a submission based on trust and respect. Together, husband and wife live as one - a further picture of the Christian life where Christ and his people are one in salvation. As a picture of Jesus and the church, the best of marriage reveals the Christian life to be one of joyful, loving union with Jesus.