Page1 December 30, 2012 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON CHRIST s LOVE FOR THE CHURCH MINISTRY INVOCATION O, God: We are thankful for the love that You have shown us and allowing us to remain as Your Bride. Your Love has kept, provided for, and protected us all of these days and we pray our receipt of continuous blessings as we live under Your sanctioning. In Jesus Name, Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Each time the apostle Paul discusses marriage between a husband and wife, he supports it by stipulating the love between Christ and the Church. The future consummation between Christ and the Church is the highest standard of human marriage. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture Ephesians 5:21-6:4 Key Verse: Ephesians 5:21 Lesson Scripture Ephesians 5:21-6:4 (NKJV) 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. 1
Page2 6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise: 3 that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. COMMENTARY 21. Submitting yourselves one to another. The way to have happy harmony. This submission is reciprocal, mutual, voluntary, and personal. It is opposed to rudeness, haughtiness, and selfish preference of one s own opinions. 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. The duty and manner of submission. The Christian home is a symbol of Christianity, and should be a little bit of heaven on earth. The word submit is an old military figure to line up under and means to subject yourselves in line in a specialized way. Christian wives will be ordering their lives in proper subjection to their own husbands as required in this relation in the Lord, for subjection to the Lord includes loyal living in the home. Submission is not slavish fear, neither is it forced upon her by a demanding domestic despot, but it is voluntary. There is no hint of inferiority, but a matter of authority and responsibility in the home. Husbands and wives are parts of a unit. The question arises, what if the husband is not a born-again believer? The Word of God gives definite instructions covering such a case. 23. For the husband is the head of the wife. The reason of submission. Authority and government are lodged in the husband. The home has its center and unity in the husband. The truest unity is conjugal duality. Even as Christ is the head of the church. Headship in a living union where Christ and His church become one. And he is the savior of the body. No husband can ever be savior, but he represents Christ symbolically as good provider and protector. 24. As so. This description of the submissive obedience of wives is clear, concise, complete, and correct. 25. Husbands, love your wives. The plain duty of husbands is now set forth. Husbands are to love their wives, not treat them as inferior subjects. Such love will lift a husband out of a state of arbitrary self-indulgence and capricious selfsatisfaction. Even as Christ also loved the church. Christ is the husband s ideal example. The measure of Christ s love for the church is to be the measure of the husband s love for his wife. Husbands owe their wives the same kind of love and loyalty as Christ has for His bride; supreme, self-forgetting, self-sacrificing love. In the economy of the family and after the manner of Christ, husbands are to reign in love. The church is called the body of Christ (1:22 23). Gave himself for 2
Page3 it. The measure and manifestation of Christ s love for the church. Christ gave Himself both in life and in death on behalf of the church. 26. That he might sanctify. The purpose of His death is set forth in the words sanctify, cleanse, and present. Sanctify means to consecrate, set apart for sacred service. And cleanse. The tense of this participle indicates antecedent action to sanctify. First there was the cleansing and then the sanctifying. With the washing of water by the word. The washing of water refers to the washing of regeneration (I Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5). By the word. God the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to accomplish God s purpose in redemption (Psalms 119:9; John 15:3; 17:17; I Peter 1:23). 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church. He Himself as loving, saving, and sanctifying Lord. The Bridegroom presents His bride to Himself. It will then be a glorious church arrayed in glory, with nothing to mar her beauty. Not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. In perfect purity. Spots are from without, wrinkles from within. But that it should be holy. Morally pure and wholly consecrated. Without blemish. Immaculate, just like the heavenly Bridegroom. 28. So ought men to love their wives. In the same manner and same measure as Christ loved the church, assumed all responsibility for her, and spared nothing that contributes toward His purpose for her. Husbands are under similar obligations to devote themselves, all they are and have, to their own (individual) wives. As their own bodies. Treat them as constituting their own personal bodies. The two have become one in marriage. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For he is completed and perfected in her, with whom he has become one flesh (Mark 10:8). 29. Nourisheth. That it may develop to maturity. Cherisheth. To foster with tender care, concern, and comfort. The best and highest interest of the husband is to recognize his complete identity with his wife. 30. For we are members of his body. Consequently we should understand and adopt His principle in our relationships with each other within His church. 31. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother. In response to this divinely given ideal. And shall be joined unto his wife. Once for all glued to his wife. Marriage is a picture of the union of Christ and His church. Paul insists on the sanctity of the family and treats marriage as an inseparable union between a husband and wife. And they two shall be one flesh. One unit of flesh by assimilation. God is insisting that both husband and wife joined in perfect union live up to the standard of Christ and His church. They are joined together in body, soul, and spirit and should be set apart to each other in a holy union of sinless human relationship. 3
Page4 32. Great mystery. This holy secret revealed in the Word of God is great. The comparison of the marriage union with the union of Christ and His church is the mystery. 33. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife. Husbands measure up to the ideal of Christ in His love for the church. And the wife see that she reverence her husband. Wives measure up to the church in its devotion to Christ. 6:1. Children. We come to the duties of children and parents. Obey your parents. The word means to hear as under another with listening and attentive ears, to give obedient heed. This duty has been recognized among all people, in all lands, and in all ages. The neglect of this duty is lamented. Disobedience to parents is a sin (Romans 1:30; II Timothy 3:2). In the Lord. God commands it. It is a Christian duty for children to obey their parents promptly, habitually, and cheerfully. For this is right. It is a moral duty, not merely becoming or an accepted custom. 2. Honor thy father and mother. Honor is the attitude of love, respect, and disposition of heart that produces obedience. First commandment with promise. The second commandment has a general promise, but the fifth has a specific promise (Exodus 20:12; Deuteromy 5:16). 3. That it may be well with thee. Both temporal and spiritual prosperity. 4. And, ye fathers. Mothers are included in this exhortation. Provoke not your children to wrath. The word provoke means do not irritate, exasperate, rub the wrong way, incite. This is done by a wrong spirit and by wrong methods, i.e., severity, unreasonableness, sternness, harshness, cruel demands, needless restrictions, and selfish insistence upon authority. Such provocation would produce adverse reactions, deaden his affection, check his desire for holiness, and make him feel that he can t possibly please his parents. A wise parent seeks to make obedience desirable and attainable by love and gentleness. Parents must not be godless tyrants. But bring them up in the nurture. Discipline in general education and culture must be exercised with watchful care and constant training. And admonition. Chastening, disciplining, and counsel by the Word of God, giving both reproof and encouragement whenever needed. Of the Lord. Proceeding from the Lord, learned in the school of Christian experience, and administered by the parents. Christian discipline is needed to prevent children from growing up without reverence for God, respect for parental authority, knowledge of Christian standards, and habits of self-control. 4
Page5 RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS The husband s rule of the household does not signify domination over those who abide in the house. Children can respond to parents in reflection of the lack of demonstrated love by their parents. CLOSING PRAYER O, Heavenly Father: We give thanks to you for the duality of relationships that we enjoy with Your Blessings. Teach us to honor our commitment to You by abiding in Your Word according to Your Promises to us. Amen. 5