Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for herHusbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;
26 sermons cite this verse
… it renews your mind. It purifies your thoughts. Another text that comes to mind is Ephesians 5, which is written to husbands. Husbands, love your wives just as, listen to how he puts it, Christ loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify her and cleanse her. Listen, by the washing of water through the word, the washing of water through the word, as you meditate upon scripture, you are giving your brain a bath. and you know what it needs it especially if you spend a lot of time on that little rectangular device of yours that I notice everybody now doing in traffic let alone in private our brain needs to be washed the best cleansing solution on the planet is the word of God so it will purify our thoughts it will also prepare us for the day because as you spend time in God's presence hear God's voice in his word talk back to him in your prayers your faith is growing and all of that will help you face whatever you face that day whatever situation is going to come at you you will be prepared for the day why because you are getting biblical wisdom. You're learning the mind of Christ. Remember Paul says we have the mind of Christ. …
… verse 26 through 28, God's creation of man and woman in his image to Genesis chapter 2, verse 24, God's institution of marriage between a man and a woman for the purpose, Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 through 33 of displaying the gospel and a husband's selfless sacrificial love for his wife, a wife's submissive respect and love for her husband, which leads to Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 4, and a father and a mother loving their child in a way that reflects the love of God for that child. There's so much we could talk about here, but just to bring the data on to bear on why this is so important, do you know what percentage of women seeking abortions are unmarried in our country. Approximately 86%. So almost nine out of 10 women in our country who seek abortions are unmarried. We in our culture have decoupled sex from marriage and the effects are tragic for children in the womb. the devilish fruit of sexual immorality is the death of millions of boys and girls and do you know who's the most influential person in a woman's decision to have an abortion research shows it's the father of that baby there's not even a close second And most fathers are at best abdicating that decision, if not encouraging it. …
… Paul said in the book of Ephesians, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her Paul said he loved me and he gave himself for me. So if you're ever tempted to doubt God's love, take a long look at the cross and think about what Jesus went through there and remember this. It wasn't nails that held him to the cross. It was his love for you. That's why he did it. To prove God's love. Jesus also died to absorb the wrath of God. You see, God plays by his own rules. And he has said, the soul that sins shall surely die. And he has also said, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. God is holy. His holy demands must be satisfied. You, I, us, we have all sinned against God. so there has to be a sacrifice. So God sent his son to be that sacrifice and Christ absorbed the wrath of God. Coming back to that moment when he said, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, or my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? …
… Ephesians 5, listen to these words. From God, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And listen to this. Gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives. Did you catch that? So this is the Bible commanding men to love our wives like Christ loves the church. So how does Christ love the church? He lays down his life for the church. So husbands, we love our wives by laying down our lives for them so that they might become Christ-like as a result of our love for them. So husbands, love your wife, nurture your wife toward that end. This is the word of God. So many marriages are falling apart because men are not laying down their lives in selfless love like this. …
… Ephesians 5 says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So a husband is designed by God to be a picture to the world of Christ's love for the church, a selfless, sacrificial love. And Ephesians 5 says, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. So a wife is designed by God to be a picture to the world of the church's love for Christ, a joyful, submissive love. And when this happens in marriage, the world will see a picture of the gospel. Now, when I use that word gospel, Well, some of you may not know what that means. You may be exploring Christianity. You're not a follower of Jesus yet. So let me pause for a moment and say, we are really, really glad you're here. And the gospel is what brings us here together today. You may wonder what brings over 10,000 people and multiple services across Washington, D.C., from over 100 nations and all kinds of political opinions together in our gatherings today. …
… How about Ephesians 5, 25? Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her too. Dudes, Paul literally, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling you how to love your wife. You don't even know what it says. In case you're curious, it's make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. Is this painful enough yet? Let's do one more, Colossians 3.14. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. See, maybe you're a little bit more influenced by Babylon than you think you are. And by the way, I know Taylor just got engaged. So congratulations to see. Okay. I'm not trying to pick on her, but I don't think that qualifies Taylor to give you more instruction about marriage than Jesus. Okay. Amen. In 10 years, she may or may not still be married, but this will still be the word of God. So the question is who shapes, who shapes your view of life and how distinguishable are you really from the world? In his book, The City of God, St. Augustine said that Christians, citizens of the kingdom of God, should be most distinguishable from the world around them in three primary ways. Called them his big three. Money, power, sex. If you want to know if somebody's really distinct from Babylon, those are the three areas to look at. Not the length of their hair or how many tattoos they have. The city of man, Augustine says, sees money as a tool for …
… You know both these texts. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. God wants a beautiful bride for his son, and Jesus does too. He's going to pay his life to have a beautiful bride. now what about brothers that's a picture of a wife being made beautiful here's brothers from Romans 8 29 God predestined the church to be conformed to the image of his son that's beautiful in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he called and those whom he called he justified and those whom he justified he glorified. So our glorification, our beautification as the church is conformity to Christ and it is as sure as predestination. Those whom he predestined he called Doesn't mean called, he justified. …
… your assignment is be the one who goes first. Ephesians 5.25 speaks to the husband. Gentlemen, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave every bit of himself for her. Gentlemen, love your wives as Christ loved the church and give your whole life for us. When did Jesus give his life for us? Not when we were lovable, but when we needed love. Not when it was easy for him, but when it cost him everything. and if you're in a relationship right now and you just, you feel the distance, the emotional distance, it's probably not because of one big mistake. There may have been a big mistake but it's probably because sometime ago, somebody stopped going first. So, I don't even remember what started this issue with Amy, but we were on vacation of all places. Years ago, all six kids, the whole circus. on vacation. And I don't know what happened, but I iced Amy out. Now, I wasn't rude. If she asked me a question, I'd answer it. …
… What's that sound like? Sounds like Ephesians 5 25 to 27 Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish brothers that hasn't been fulfilled yet that's coming the day's coming of a spotless wrinkle-free church and that day's not here yet and wonder if any of you grew up singing the song as i did in my southern baptist church in south carolina he's still working on me to make me what i ought to be we can sing that about our church he's still working on her she would rhyme he's still working on the church globally universally and your church my church still working on her realistic expectations so brothers we do well to grant that our churches are not perfect we are sinful humans who are ever so slowly becoming partakers of the divine nature. …
… It starts this way. Ephesians 5, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives. And all the women said, How so? Jack, I don't know how to do that. Yes, you do. Read the next line. Just as Christ also loved the church. Whoa, what does that mean? Just read the next line. He gave himself for her. Jesus is the head of the church. You, sir, if you're married, you're the head of your home. Yeah, amen. Yeah, amen. You're the servant. You're the one that is to give yourself for the welfare of your wife and family. You're the one to serve them in servant leadership. That's the picture of Jesus. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. And he loved the church by giving his life. This is what God says to us. This is a Christian relationship. This is a Christian man. And some of you, no doubt, maybe you're watching right now and you're saying, I'm not going to listen to this anymore. That's completely fine. …
… so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. You know what the Bible's teaching us? Exactly the role of a husband and the role of a wife. And if we go to the Bible and we go to God's kingdom and we say, God, how do we have a great marriage? God will teach us exactly what to do. Remember, the word is at conflict with the world and the world is in conflict with the word. I am not caring what the world says, but I do care what the word says. I'm going to build my marriage. Come on, everybody, clap. I'm going to build my marriage on God's truths. So I hear this from guys, all the guys, just both locations. Make some noise if you're a dude. All right. That was encouraging. That's the best I've ever heard. I hear this all the time. And God's like, you know, I just, I want, you know, whatever she wants and she can lead and I'm just going to serve. …
… Love your wife. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I'm telling you, the reason why the church, why we're in love with Jesus is he didn't come to control us. He came to connect with us. And the moment you have connection, that's real relationship. One of my favorite times of Jesus is preaching. He's preaching this crowd and he's preaching about the kingdom of God. And the Bible says half the crowd leaves. And he looks at his guys and he's like, guys, do y'all want to leave too? He's proving I do not control you. But if you allow me, I want to connect with you. I want to serve you. I want to love you. I want to unfold my plan for you. Come on, clap if you're grateful that you don't serve the God of God. You got free will. It's your decision to worship God. It's your decision to lift your hands. It's your decision to give your tithe today. …
… They begin to desire what Christ desires. They begin to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And they begin to think, how is that gonna look like in my life? The word feeding the character of Christ. We've got things backwards if we're always hitting on conduct and we never feed our souls with the word of God. We will live defeated Christian lives that way. However, when we feed our souls with the word of God, it will begin to change the way we look, the way we act, and the way the church looks in the community. Does that make sense? We've got things backwards in our worship if we're not being transformed into the character of Christ day, weekend, and week out when we come together. That's why the Word must be central in our worship. Now, I want us to look. We've looked at the Word's magnitude. We've looked at the Word's authority, the Word's relevance, and the Word's purpose. One final characteristic of the Word, reason why the word must be central in our worship. And it's because of the word's effect. Because of the word's effect. I want you to look with me at Acts chapter 2, verse 36. Acts chapter 2, verse 36. …
… Well, in this same passage, Ephesians 5, 25 says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So a husband's love for his wife is designed by God to be a picture, a representation of Christ, Jesus' love for the church. And Ephesians 5, 24, right before this says, now as the church submits to Christ, So also wives should submit everything to their husbands. So a wife's relationship with her husband is designed, intended by God, to represent, show the world a picture of the church's love for Christ. So follow this, because now we're really going super counter-cultural in ways that lead to all kinds of objection and misinterpretation and misapplication. So follow what God is saying here. A husband is designed by God to show the world a picture of Jesus by selflessly loving and sacrificially laying down his life daily for his wife. That's God's design for husbands, to show the world what the love of Jesus looks like in action. …
… to ask what his will for our lives is his will is for us to out serve our wives to love them in such a way just like christ loved the church and gave himself up for her we are supposed to do the same thing that's that's his will for our lives give ourselves to it Thank you. the Dijang people group in the northern provinces of China 595,000 of them hundreds and hundreds of mosques not one church not one Christian not one missionary no gospel no witness no Jesus and we're sitting over here saying what do you want me to do God give yourselves to the will that I have shown to you. I have revealed my will to you. I wonder sometimes, particularly over the last couple of years, I've really wrestled with this. Traveling into underground house church settings in Asia, seeing believers gather together, small rooms for literally 12 hours a day, sitting on little stools like we have in our preschool classrooms. …
… Now that sounds terrible until you connect it with this. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body just as Christ does the church. So we are members of his body. For this reason, and here's Genesis again, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself. And the wife must respect her husband. …
… Ephesians 5, Paul's talking about husbands loving their wives, but he makes an interesting correlation. He says, husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy. Not to get her to heaven, but to make her holy. Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. And to present her to himself as a radiant church, here comes sanctification without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. How? By the washing with water through the word. Jesus said this. He said, I'm coming. He's talking to his father, to you now, but I say these things while I'm still in the world so that they, us, may have the full measure of my joy within them. and then look down to verse 15. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. …
… Let's jump in to this week's message called Red Flags Relationship Killers. Ephesians 5.25. We're in part two of a series that we've called Love Actually. God's plan for real love. And we've got to get a better working definition of what love, true love is. because I can't draw from Disney or Hollywood. I cannot draw from the movies what they think love is. I got to go to the author of love to find out what real love actually looks like because when I was growing up, I thought love was the movie The Notebook. I thought love was the movie Titanic with Leo. Mariah Carey lyrics. And the older I got, the more I started to read God's word and understand his heart, I discovered what real love is. If we don't get a real love from a real God working definition, a lot of our marriages are going to end sour. They're going to end poorly. And I want to tell you, there ain't nothing, any married people here remember your wedding day. …
… in everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I'm speaking with reverence to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife, even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband." Now backing up to verse 18, just to remind you, those who are Spirit-filled, verse 18, with the Spirit, those who are joyful worshipers, verse 19, those who are constantly thankful, verse 20, and those who are mutually submissive are the ones who are going to enjoy the richness of marriage as the grace of life. …
… in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought to also love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and wife must see to it that she respects her husband." Now I understand in the culture in which we live the outright offense of a portion of Scripture like this, and there are many others that I will take you to this morning before we are finished. …
Now look again in verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. The Greek literally is, and gave Himself up for it. The husband ought to be willing to die for his wife. That's how much you ought to love her. sacrificial love. Servant leadership, sacrificial love. And he doesn't have to die physically to die to ego and pride and ambition and all of these other things. How is he to love his wife? Well, he's to love her passionately. And when I'm talking about passion here, I'm not talking about passion like sexual passion, though that is certainly one of the gifts of marriage. But I'm talking about a passion that says, I am willing to die for you. I'm saying, I give myself up for you. Do you know what most marriages need? Most marriages in America need two funerals and one wedding where both the husband and the wife die to themselves and come alive to Jesus Christ. …
… Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause, shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. That is, it's difficult to understand. But then he says, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. …
… she is number one in your life. The Bible says, husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself, some translations say, gave himself up for it. Your wife must know that she comes before the children. She comes before your own mother, your own father. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. Joyce knows that she is number one of all human beings in my life. She is number one. I know beyond a shadow of any doubt I am number one in Joyce's life. That gives me a sense of security to think that of all of the people who ever lived today and have ever lived, there is one person who loves me more than any other person on the face of the earth. What a feeling that is to my heart that she loves me that way. And she is to know that I love her, that she is number one. I need to treat her, therefore, as Christ treated the church, that Jesus gave Himself for the church. …
… so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Harmony in the home. We told you that in order for there to be music, and music that we like to listen to, there must be melody. We sing the same song. There can be harmony. …
… Ephesians 5 beginning verse 25. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. That all sound familiar, because that's exactly what we read last week in the Genesis 2 passage. This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respect her husband. You remember we looked at those two purposes last week. That first purpose, that purpose of procreation, which we said was more than just bringing children into the world, but bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That second purpose was illustration, to paint a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church, which is precisely what we see here in this text. Now, ladies, …
… but let's look at this here. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Why? That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In other words, my wife is not just part of me, but I am actually through the way that I treat her and nurture her, presenting her to myself. So when I am not doing these imperatives with my wife, I am actually inflicting harm upon myself. Look at the next part of the text. Look at what it says. In the same way, husbands should love their wives at their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. …