I was listening to a sermon this a.m. on Ephesians 5:25-33.
Ephesians 5:25-33 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 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 the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
The key to a strong Christian marriage is found in verse 18-21, being filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-21 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
As a husband, I strive to live for the glory of God and love my wife as Christ loves the church. Only by the filling of Holy Spirit, which is letting God's word dwell in you richly, can I attain to love my wife as Christ intended me to do.
Listening to this sermon, the Pastor stressed the importantance of dying to self.
Below is a quote on dying to self, although it is not found in th Bible it is truth.
This quote is not just for Husbands but for all self-professed Christians. We all must die to self.
The author is unknown from what I can find.
“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set aside, and you sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ, that is dying to self. When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself but take it all in patient, loving silence, that is dying to self. When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance, when you can stand face-to-face with folly and extravagance and insensibility and endure it as Jesus did, that is dying to self.
“When you are content with any food, any offering, any clothing, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God, that is dying to self. When you never care to refer to yourself in a conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is dying to self. When you see another prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God why your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self. When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less importance than yourself and humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion and no resentment rising in your heart, that is dying to self.”
Ephesians 5:25-33 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 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 the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
The key to a strong Christian marriage is found in verse 18-21, being filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-21 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
As a husband, I strive to live for the glory of God and love my wife as Christ loves the church. Only by the filling of Holy Spirit, which is letting God's word dwell in you richly, can I attain to love my wife as Christ intended me to do.
Listening to this sermon, the Pastor stressed the importantance of dying to self.
Below is a quote on dying to self, although it is not found in th Bible it is truth.
This quote is not just for Husbands but for all self-professed Christians. We all must die to self.
The author is unknown from what I can find.
“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set aside, and you sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ, that is dying to self. When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself but take it all in patient, loving silence, that is dying to self. When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance, when you can stand face-to-face with folly and extravagance and insensibility and endure it as Jesus did, that is dying to self.
“When you are content with any food, any offering, any clothing, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God, that is dying to self. When you never care to refer to yourself in a conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is dying to self. When you see another prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God why your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self. When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less importance than yourself and humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion and no resentment rising in your heart, that is dying to self.”