Model Husband

God’s people would once again
take their Bibles and turn to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter five, and we are drawing near to the close. I spoke about this just briefly
last week, expressing my gratitude to God’s people and allowing
me to try something different. I asked for feedback. I didn’t
get any negative feedback. I didn’t get an exactly enthusiastic
throng either, but it’s at least been good for me just to get
back into this epistle and to feast on these truths and be
reminded, even if in rapid fire fashion, of not only Paul’s love
for this group of people among whom he labored for many years,
but just to see the richness of God’s word and its clear admonitions
to us. We find ourselves in chapter
five. Again, the plan was to review
the entire epistle in six weeks, six chapters. And if you would,
I want to go back to verse one of chapter five, and we’ll take
it in its entirety. He continues that theme of the
Christian walk, conducting ourselves in the world
with Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God
as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also
loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let impurity, pardon
me, but do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even
be named among you as is proper among saints. And there must
be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are
not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know
with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous
man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty
words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the
sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers
with them for you were formerly darkness but now you are light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists
in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what
is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the
unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to
speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all
things become visible when they are exposed by the light. where
everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason, it
says, awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you. Therefore, be careful how you
walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your
time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but
understand what the will of the Lord is. 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 be subject to one another
in the fear of Christ. Wives, Be subject to your own
husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife as Christ is also the head of the church, he himself
being the savior of the body. But as the church is subject
to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands
in everything. Husbands, love your wives just
as Christ also 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, that he might present to himself the
church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, but that she should 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
cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave 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,
let each individual among you also love his own wife even as
himself, and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.” This passage, as it sets up,
near the end of chapter five, Paul has been laying some practical
admonitions to the church. And this passage has long stood
as a clear admonition to husbands. And so most of you know that
on Wednesday night, we have been engaged in studying that book,
Exemplary Husbands, which would have been an apt title for this
particular section of scripture, verses 25 to 33, except it was
already taken. And so rather than engage in
plagiarism, I came up with my own apt title, Model Husband. And I know what you’re thinking,
because these passages, these verses, are indeed addressing
husbands. There’s just no doubt about it. But the foundation on which the
husband’s exemplary or model relationship stands is none other
than Christ himself. It’s Christ who is the exemplary
husband. All others are poor imitations
at the very best. And so we want to spend some
time in this passage this morning looking at the model husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. One pastor seized hold of what
is what obviously lays on the surface this discussion of husband
wife relations and the husband wife relationship. And he succinctly
stated it in these terms. As wives are summoned to obedience,
so husbands are commanded to cherish love. The apostle wished
Christian husbands to be patterns of domestic virtue and to love
their wives. Surliness, outbursts of temper,
passionate rebukes for mere trifles are condemned. Husbands are not
to be domestic tyrants, but their dominion is to be a reign of
love. Now, I believe every word of
that, but I don’t believe that that’s what the Apostle Paul
primarily was laying out in that passage. I’ve even heard it said
this way, that the marriage relationship, that marriage itself is the most
precious institution in God’s eyes on the face of the earth.
And for many years I believed that and I still believe that
it is a precious institution. It is God’s design for order
in the world. But there is absolutely no doubt
and I Believe that by the time we get to verse 33, you too will
see that there is no doubt that the most precious institution
in the world to God is the church. And the husband-wife relationship
illustrates the church, not the other way around. The husband-wife
relationship illustrates the relationship of Christ and the
church. It’s that foundation. on which
every husband, every man is to model his own relationship with
his wife. We can’t look to the husband.
We can’t look to mere men for an example of a godly and perfect
husband. But we can look to Christ, and
we must. In our passage before us, verses
25, down through 33. I want to look at how our Savior
exemplifies relational devotion. That’s what ladies want, right?
They want their husbands to be devoted to them. They want their
husbands to be the right kind of man before God, but they want
their husbands to treat them well also. Jesus Christ is the only one
who models this kind of relational devotion, where he truly treats
his bride as the apple of his eye. His utmost care is given
to her. As we come to this passage this
morning, I want to look at five examples, five marks of Christ’s
exemplary devotion to his bride. the New Testament church. First
of all, verse 25, Jesus Christ loved his church. And make no
mistake, even though it’s in the past tense there, Jesus Christ’s
love and devotion to his church has not abated It has not diminished
at all. Jesus Christ loved his church and he still loves his church. This word points to a self-sacrificing
devotion. We’ll come back to that in a
moment. He presents here before us Christ’s
love as an example, as if you will, a standard for all men
for their wives. He doesn’t set forth mere men
and say, watch these other fellow Christian believers and do likewise. He puts before them none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ as the example. Christ we will see
in a moment, love the church enough to die for the church. And I’ve heard men mimic that
or say that or suggest that, but we know for sure that Christ,
Christ is one who has truly modeled that undying love. Jesus Christ, when he, we just
saw this, when he, drew his disciples into the upper room, remember? He’s literally marching toward
the cross. He’s now within hours of being
arrested and ultimately tried and crucified. He’s doing all
of this for his disciples, but he wants one last season with
them, one last evening, the last supper. And just before he introduces
that incredible foot-washing episode, John 13 one says this,
before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour
had come, that he would depart out of this world to the father,
having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to
the end. Jesus Christ had loved them and
drawn them to him. It was, it was a most precious
and delicate and intimate friendship that there’d ever been on earth.
J.C. Ryle spoke of this love when
he said, the love of Christ to sinners is the very essence and
marrow of the gospel. That he should love us at all,
care for our souls, that he should love us even before we love him. that he should love us so much
as to come into the world to save us, to take our nature upon
himself, to bear our sins and to die on the cross. All this
is wonderful indeed. That is love. That is the model
husband. That is the exemplary man in
his undying relationship, devotion. We look at Christ and we see
what kind of pity he had upon us, what kind of deep sentiment
was born from eternity past to look down on his flailing and
faltering and helpless people. And instead of giving up upon
them, Jesus Christ set his love on them. everything that we enjoy,
every blessing that we have, even as this epistle started
from the very beginning down to the meals on our table, everything
is because of Christ’s love for us, our relationship with him,
which was established on the forgiveness that he secured.
Everything is because of his love toward us, not our love
towards him. You remember Many of you, you
remember that time when you didn’t crave God’s love. You didn’t
want God. You didn’t love his law. You didn’t love the things that
God loves. Quite the contrary. We loved
our own sin, didn’t we? We loved what we loved. We wanted
what we wanted, and we didn’t want to be told otherwise. We
didn’t love God. that Christ loved us and he loved
us profoundly. He loved us to the point of drawing
us to repentance and to faith. Paul speaks of this incredible
love. And so many times you hear people
speak of this idea that they could possibly lose hold of Christ,
lose hold of their salvation, lose hold It isn’t because of us hanging
on to Christ, it’s because Christ laid hold of us and he will never
let go. Paul said it this way in Romans
8. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
difficulties that come into our life, difficulties that come
into the world, distress, What we now call stress, over those
difficulties, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, shall
any of those interrupt or circumvent God’s love for us? Paul answers the question in
verse 37 of chapter eight, but in all things we overwhelmingly
conquer through him who loved us. Not only do we Are we not
vanquished by all of those things that occur frequently in life,
but we actually are victors in them? And Paul says this in verse
38, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall
be able to separate us from the love of God. which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord, that’s the kind of love with which Christ loved
us. As one pastor said, no form or
phrase can break the golden chain that binds the heart of God to
his loved ones. It’s God holding on to us. It’s
God through Christ who has loved us and he will never let go. to everything that we have. Every
kindness that we enjoy, every blessing that we acknowledge,
every comfort that we have, every bit of peace that we enjoy
is all due to the magnanimous love of our Savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ. But I want you to glance at this
passage once again Husbands, love your wives just as Christ
loved the church. And he does picture this union,
this husband-wife relationship. And he does say that just as
Jesus Christ loved unreservedly his church, husbands are to love
unreservedly their wives. The church is not just metaphorically, but
the church is really and truly regarded as Christ’s bride. And that brings a number of very
key thoughts to our mind, doesn’t it? Sadly, in our own day and
age, some of these very principles on which marriage is built kind
of drift by the wayside over time that marriage isn’t what
scripture presents it to be. First of all, this bride belongs exclusively
to Christ. She is no part of no harem. She is not part of multiple marriages. She belongs exclusively to Christ. and Christ exclusively to her.
There are no other marriages, there are no affairs. There’s another point that comes
to mind as we look at this image of husbands loving their wives
as Christ loved the church. Not only is the church exclusively
Christ’s, she is the object, as we’ll see in a moment, particular
favor by Christ. This bride that he has brings
him joy. It is an object of glorious delight
to the Savior. Most of you men will remember
that day where you stood, right? You stood at the front of the
church and all eyes were on you. And those doors opened. And out
she came. And maybe you were a traditionalist
that hadn’t seen her actually in her wedding dress yet. And your heart skipped a beat,
didn’t it? Your heart thrilled to see your own wife. And that’s
Christ. That’s Christ looking at his
church. He puts her on a pedestal and beholds her as uniquely his. Because of that, she is exclusively his. And if you think of it, Jesus
Christ has a relationship with the church that he has with no
other group. Even the angels have a second
level relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, but with his church,
Jesus Christ pours out all of his love and all of his affection. And if you think of it, Jesus
Christ has elevated the church, taking her exclusively as her
bride forever. It’s forever. And that’s why
when Paul says, husbands love your wives, Christ loved the
church, it’s not supposed to be this revolving door. Not supposed
to be multiple marriages and harems and all this other nonsense. Jesus Christ took one bride. He took the church. God had brought
the Ephesians, and us, the gospel. Jesus Christ loved us enough
to lavish the truth upon us. Jesus Christ came, sent by the
Father in obedience, to take on human flesh and die
for you and I. That’s love. That’s love, and
that’s exactly what point two indicates. We’re looking at our
Savior’s exemplary devotion to his bride. Jesus Christ not only
loves his church, he died for his church. Look again at verse
25. It’s laid out there simply for
us. Husbands, love your wives just
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. Now this love, This particular
love that Christ has for His church, this love was so strong
that it led Jesus Christ to the cross. He died for His church,
but He died loving them. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. He would not be dissuaded. He died because He loved them.
He proved His love in His sacrificial death on their behalf. This is
Romans 5, right? God demonstrates His own love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. When Jesus Christ goes sacrificially
on our place, He is proving His love for us. He is exhibiting
in incredible terms, his devotion to his bride. That particular death was no
ordinary death. It’s not just that he would be
devoted faithfully to her his entire life and pass away peacefully
in his sleep one night, leaving all to her. That’s not at all. Jesus Christ came to die this
inglorious, inexpressibly painful death. He came to take on human flesh,
flesh that he had created at the foundation of the world.
To take on human flesh and then ultimately be crucified by that
same flesh. So Paul says that the husband-wife
relationship, the love for the husband is supposed to be this
image, this, if you will, a pattern after Christ, a reflection of
his love for us. Not just this love with a feeling,
which is so common. but a self-abandoning kind of
love, a self-sacrificing kind of love. And we need to check our hearts,
men. We say that we love our wives, we say that we love them
even as Christ loved the church, and yet we won’t even take out
the garbage. Jesus Christ not only modeled
love but he modeled this self-sacrificing attitude. This is replete throughout
the scriptures how these two are blended. Love and sacrifice. Love and self-sacrifice. Ephesians
5.2. At the very outset of this chapter,
walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up
for us. It’s pointing to the cross. That’s
pointing to Christ’s willingness to die for his church. Galatians 2.20. You know the
passage, I’ve been crucified with Christ, it’s no longer I
who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself up for me as part of the church. You think
that’s a stretch? It’s exactly what Acts 20, 28
says. Paul called those elders to himself
there on the shore and he admonished them. He laid out his example
before them. And then he said, be on guard
for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased
with his own blood. If you have placed your faith
in Christ, you are part of his church. And you were purchased
as a lot, if you will, when Jesus Christ paid with his blood for
the church. And so the death of Christ then
becomes for us the proof of his love. It would be one thing for
Jesus to express like so many men do. We chuckled about this
the other night because even as you hear this quote, it’s
funny because we know there’s some truth to it. We know sadly
that there are some relationships like this. The quote goes like
this. Honey, I told you I loved you
when I married you. I’ll let you know if anything
changes. That’s what a lot of men envision their love to be. A mere brief and expression of
love for their wife. But Jesus Christ drives home
the point of his love. He proves his love in the fact
that he not only was willing to die on their behalf, on behalf
of the church, he actually did die. for the church. He came
knowing that he was going to die for the church. Paul makes
the point in Romans that very few would die even for a good
man. But this church, we think of
it now in its terms now, all of these devoted believers, all
of these faithful saints carrying their Bibles and dutifully looking
to the word, that’s not the church that Jesus died for. The church
that Jesus died for was at that time a ragtag sinful bunch of
dead sinners. Jesus Christ didn’t die for a
good and godly people. He died to make them saints of
God. The third example that Jesus
provides here in this passage This model husband exemplifies
relational devotion not only in his love for his church, not
only in the fact that he died for his church, but Jesus Christ
sanctifies his church. Look at verse 25 again if you
would. Husbands, love your wives just
as Christ also 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. You know that small word at the
beginning of verse 26, that gives us the purpose. Jesus Christ
loved his church and he died for his church with a set and
specific purpose that he would sanctify his church. It’s the
purpose. It’s the design of Christ’s love
and his death for the church. Jesus Christ wanted to prepare
them for a grand wedding ceremony. And as I said a moment ago, Jesus
Christ loved the church, not because it was so lovely. Jesus Christ died to make it
lovely. First things first. Not first
in the order of that passage, but first in the course of time. Look at the passage, verse 26,
where it gives us the purpose that he might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. That took
place first. Cleansing her by the washing
of water with the word took place first so that he could sanctify
her, set her aside. That cleansing speaks of just
it really refers to removal of defilement, washing one’s hands,
bathing. It is used of literal cleansing. It’s used of ceremonial cleansing
where the priests would wash before they went in to offer
sacrifice. It’s used of it here figuratively. Jesus Christ didn’t literally
bathe us. He doesn’t literally bathe the
church. And I don’t even believe that
you can construe this ultimately to point to baptism. We’ve said
for years, baptism doesn’t save you. It doesn’t wash the sin
away, regardless of what some of those old hymns suggest. Baptism
is an outward sign of an inward reality. It is the washing of
water with the word. It is. It is the process of God
bringing us to a right relationship with him through his word. In
fact, scripture points more frequently to a cleansing by the blood,
right? As we’ve talked even in recent
weeks. And so this symbol of baptism stands there. It’s clear. It’s an outward expression of
an inward reality. And frequently it’s spoken of
in these terms. I understand sometimes why young
people especially come and are quite confused about what baptism
actually does. Acts 22.6. Why do you delay? Get up, be
baptized, and wash away your sins calling on His name. Well,
there is no water clean enough to reach down and purge the sin
that stains the soul. No water, no literal water would
do that. Hebrews 10.22. Let us draw near
with a sincere heart and a full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water. I understand why people muddy
that up in their minds and get confused about the nature of
baptism. Titus 3.5, he saved us not on
the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according
to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by
the Spirit. Now those passages, individually, we would look at
them and we might be bewildered at the nature of baptism as well. But if you look at the totality
of Scripture, it isn’t saying that we can wash away anything
in the waters of baptism. That work, if done at all, is
already done by the time we take to the waters of baptism to proclaim
Christ. Bottom line significance here
is that having purified her, having cleaned his bride with
regeneration and faith, bringing each individual not only to repentance
for their sin, but faith in Christ alone. Having done that, Jesus Christ sanctifies his church. That word sanctify means to set
apart. It’s to devote or to consecrate. It’s to be set apart for a set
and specific purpose. And it points to being set apart
and ultimately made holy as a result of this having been set aside.
But it refers to being set apart, set aside for a particular use. Jesus Christ not only loved his
church and died for his church, but he took her and he set her
aside for a special and noble purpose. We have this image in
2 Timothy. If you would, turn there for
a moment. 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 20. Now, Paul is talking here pastor
to pastor and he’s ultimately gonna talk to Timothy about his
own life, but he uses this image of sanctification,
setting apart. And he uses what you and I all
have at home. He uses the special dishes, right? You have those, right? Those
are the ones that husbands are not supposed to touch, not even
to wash, right? Now, in a large house, there
are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of
wood and earthenware. We can wash those, right? Those
are the daily dishes. In a large house, there are not
only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and
of earthenware, some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore,
if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel
of honor sanctified useful to the master, prepared for every
good work. It’s the same image. He says,
Timothy, I want you to be set apart for a noble use, a good
use. How? Timothy might ask. Look at verse 22, flee from youthful
lusts. That power hungry, it isn’t just
talking about lust and the typical fashion that we understand it.
It’s all that power-hungry attitude. Flee youthful lust and pursue
righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call upon
the Lord from a pure heart. Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations
knowing they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bondservant must not
be… He basically tells Timothy, how do you go about sanctifying
yourself for a noble work? Set aside all that. Pursue righteousness
as a servant of the King. Back, if you would, to Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter five, when
Paul says that Christ’s purpose in loving his church and giving
himself up for his church was for the purpose that he might
set her apart for a noble use. To separate her out from the
world. to consecrate her for his own
purposes. Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians
as well. May the God of peace himself
sanctify you entirely. May he take you and set you apart
for a noble use. So what is true of the church
that Christ desires to set that church apart for a noble use
for his own purposes. It’s also true of each individual
believer, isn’t it? That when God lays hold of us,
he has a purpose in doing so. He wants us to be different.
We refer to one another frequently by the counsel of God’s word
as saints, right? We don’t allow any church to
take that word away from us. That is a God-given word that
we have. We don’t have to wait 50 years
after we die to be named a saint. We’re saints now. If we placed
our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are the saints of God, the
set-apart ones, right? And so what’s true of the entire
church? that the church is to be sanctified, set apart for
a holy use, is supposed to be true of each individual believer. Each Christian has a relationship
with God. Each Christian is set apart for
this holy purpose. Each Christian is placed on this
path where God begins the process of literal sanctification in
his life, purifying him. That too has a purpose. That
too has a purpose. Point four. As we look at our
model husband, Jesus Christ exemplifies his relational devotion to his
church, not only in the fact that he loved her and died for
her and sanctifies her, but he glorifies his church. He glorifies
his church. Let’s take a running start at
it, back in 25. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also
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,
that he might present to himself the church in all her glory,
having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she
should be holy and blameless. This is God’s work. This is God’s
work in His sanctified bride, the church, and all the individuals
in it. God slowly and patiently and
eventually purifying them for the ultimate purpose of presenting
this bride to Himself. Right? Now we have developed
these rules for weddings, you know, where you have to, the
bride has to be sequestered. Only the bridesmaids can go in
and attend to it, and they do her hair, right? And they do
the dress, and somebody carries the back of the dress, and only
they, you know, they’re the only ones that can be around the bride,
especially before the wedding. If you’re a traditionalist, and
if you want to make everybody wait while you take pictures, But in this passage, if you look
at it, it’s Jesus Christ that does the presenting. We have
all kinds of traditions. Now the father walks the bride
down the aisle, and we have this exchange, painful exchange, where
the father presents the bride to this groom-to-be. That’s not
the image that you have in this passage. Jesus Christ loves his
bride, dies for his bride, sanctifies his bride, glorifies his bride
to present her to himself. It’s an incredible image. The
ultimate purpose that Jesus had in dying for his church, in loving
his church so unreservedly was to present her perfectly before
him. to glorify His church so that
she is fully prepared to stand before Him as His beloved bride. What an incredible passage. What an incredible thought. And
this image is throughout Scripture, but think of Revelation. You’ve
read it. Let us rejoice and be glad and
give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb
has come and his bride has made herself ready. She is ready.
She is glorified. God has done the work. Revelation
21, 2, I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. See,
that’s the nature of glorification. Glorification is justification
plus sanctification. It’s this process of God purifying
his bride. having saved her, purifying her
for himself, and presenting her to himself in all her glory. As one pastor said, not only
are spots and wrinkles excluded, I mean, it says that literally
in the text, doesn’t it? But every similar blemish, the
terms taken from physical beauty and health, And so he has this
picture, you know, they’re back in the makeup room and heaven
forbid on wedding day, we’ve got a blemish that we’ve got
to attend to. Jesus Christ attends to everyone. He uses this picture, doesn’t
he? Of the preparation on the wedding day, but he uses these
human features common to all of us to point to that spiritual
perfection that one day, he says, we will all enjoy. He goes on
and says, such then is the ultimate perfection and destiny of the
church. In her spotless purity, the love
of Christ finds its extreme and glorious design realized. Perfection is secured by a process
of continual and successful operation and shall be ultimately rejoiced. This is Paul’s language of Philippians
1, right? He who’s begun a good work in
you will complete it to the day of Christ Jesus. The church will
be glorified. The church will be purified.
The church will be made holy to the point where it is in full
glory when Christ presents the church to himself as his beloved
bride. Romans 8.16 speaks of this, the
spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children
of God and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow
heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him in order that
we may be glorified with him. That idea of standing before
Christ in perfect purity, no sin, no thought of sin. Paul says it likewise in Philippians.
Speaking of God who will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion
of the power he has given to subject all things to himself. You will be glorified. If you have placed your faith
in Christ, one day it’s a long way off. And it seems impossible
sometimes, doesn’t it? One day you will be glorified. Colossians, Paul says it this
way, the parallel epistle, when Christ who is our life is revealed,
then you will also be revealed with him in glory. You’ll see
Christ in all of his glory. You will be glorified as the
church is presented as a bride to Christ. There’s a fifth and
final example that Jesus Christ models for us as husbands. Our Savior exemplifies relational
devotion in that he loved his church and died for his church
and sanctified his church and glorifies his church and in the
fact that he tenderly cares for his church. It’s still his church. We’re not glorified yet. We’re
not perfected by any stretch. We have only to look at our own
lives to know that, but one day we will. And in order to glorify
us, Jesus Christ tenderly cares for his church. Look at verse
28. 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. When was the last time church
ended And we looked over to our God-given wives and said, dear
woman, you’re hungry. Let’s rush and get something
to eat. That’s the image that he’s using
here. Obviously, he’s not saying that it’s a sin. He’s not saying
that we have to be taught or coached to love our own bodies. It comes naturally. It’s the
law of nature. Husbands ought to love their
own wives as their own bodies. Because she is of us, because
she is part of us, we should love her and care for her. It
only makes sense. It’s the law of nature. We obviously
care for ourselves. It would be absolutely unthinkable
not to care for our own flesh, which is what our wife is. For no one ever hated his own
flesh, but, get this, nourishes and cherishes it. Both of those
words in the Septuagint are found to
point to the tender care that a mother would give to her baby,
her infant child. And the first one, this idea
of nourishing, just talks, it’s a broad idea of just loving care. And he points to the care that
a man provides to his own body in feeding it and caring for
it. The only other place that this
word is used, it’s just half a dozen verses away, Ephesians
6, 4, it just says, fathers, do not provoke your children
to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction
of the Lord. That’s the only other place that word is used.
And so it’s quite different. It literally means to attend
to faithfully, to pour your life into someone. And the second
word is very similar to it, cherish. And in its simplest form, it
just means to supply warmth, to cuddle, right? As a nursing
mother does an infant. And the only other place that
word is used is 1 Thessalonians 2, where Paul speaks of his own
ministry. This is quite a testimony for
a ministry. We never came with flattering
speech, as you know, nor with pretext for greed. God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men,
either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ,
we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among
you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Now, I don’t know about you men. I fail miserably at nourishing
and cherishing. But Jesus Christ doesn’t. Jesus
Christ has loved His church and still loves His church. He’s
died for His church. that love for His church has
not abated. In fact, it’s stronger than ever.
He not only has died for His church, but He set His church
aside for a special purpose. He’s in the process already of
making them more and more holy every day. And toward that end,
He is nourishing and cherishing them. He gives them His Word. He gives them His own Holy Spirit
to lead them. He gives them gifts for which
to serve one another. He gives them leaders and servants
within their midst. He preserves the unity of the
body in their midst. When Paul closes this, there’s part of us that would
look at this and think that Paul has lost his way. Paul isn’t
really sure anymore what he’s talking about. He hasn’t lost his way. He knows
precisely what he’s talking about. And it isn’t even primarily about
a husband loving and serving his wife. It’s primarily about
Christ modeling that. Look at verse 31. He quotes,
I mean, this is amazing. He quotes Genesis 2.24, which
any good pre-marriage counseling
should include. For this cause a man shall leave
his father and mother, shall cleave to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh. They become a family unit long
before there are children. Leave and cleave. And Paul says, by the way, this
mystery is great. This mystery of Genesis 2.24
of the relationship between a man and his wife, that intimate union. This mystery is great, but I’m
speaking with reference to Christ and the church. That was the
real mystery. The world had never known a relationship
like that. The world had never known. And
that’s why it’s a mystery, because it’s now revealed. It’s the union
between Christ and his people, the church, that they are in
an intimate bond, not unlike the husband-wife relationship. And that’s why Paul, at the very
end, He says, nevertheless, by the way, back to where I was.
Nevertheless, let each individual, I started by talking about husbands. I’ve interjected it throughout
this passage. I’m not gonna leave off. Such a great illustration. The
husband-wife relationship that the church and Christ have. Nevertheless, let each individual
among you. love his own wife even as himself
and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband. We have before us relational devotion exemplified. This is a perfect model. This
indeed is the exemplary husband. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ who
exemplifies perfectly what it is to be devoted to his bride,
the church. Would you bow in humble gratitude? Our merciful God, we come before
you and we thank you for these words and we thank you for our
Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who before we were even born,
before we even knew there was a church, Jesus Christ had already
purposed to come and to die for that church. Lord, we thank you
for his example. We thank you for the fact that
we have been set apart individually, collectively as a church, and
Jesus Christ will perfect us in time. Lord, because of that,
We thank you and praise you. We pray for your grace. To esteem
highly the church. To look to serve her with our
own giftedness. To look to support her in prayer. And with whatever means God gives
to us. We look, Father, to preserve
the unity in this church. We look to love and cherish the
church and seek to build her up for your glory. Lord, what a horrible thing it would
be. Someone came upon a beautiful
country church filled with people humbly singing their praises
to God and contended themselves just to peer through the window. Lord God, if there are any who
are on the outside looking in, who don’t know this savior, who
loved and died and will glorify his church, may they repent of
their sin even today and place their faith wholeheartedly in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.