Ephesians 5:21-24 | "The Church is Subject to Christ" [ Walk Worthy ]
[Ephesians] Walk Worthy • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 15 viewsSunday, August 27, 2023. Ephesians 5:21-24 | "The Church Is Subject To Christ." Preached to Heritage Bible Chapel in Princeton, MA. This sermon continues an exposition through the book of Ephesians as part of a mini-series called: "Walk Worthy."
Notes
Transcript
I. The Reading
I. The Reading
21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
As a title for this sermon, I’ve lifted the phrase from verse 24:
“The Church Is Subject To Christ”
“The Church Is Subject To Christ”
“The Church is Subject to Christ.”
If this sermon were a train, Christ and the Church would be the two rails guiding that train.
Without Christ and the Church, this sermon, and all that follows, goes off the rails, quickly.
About 10-11 years ago, Marianne and I were in a Sunday School class at our church, and most of the couples in our class at that time were in the first few years of our marriages, and so we focused on marriage-related scriptures.
And as is usually the case whenever the preacher preaches on subjects of tithing or submission — what do you think happened? A new couple showed up! And this new couple came on the Sunday that we happened to be studying this same text.
When we read Ephesians 5, verse 22, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands,” that’s as far as we got in our study, because that’s all this couple heard, namely the wife, and she didn’t like what she heard.
I hope I’m not exaggerating in what I remember, but for the rest of that class, the wife argued, and challenged this “culturally insensitive teaching” of being subject to her husband, or being submissive to her husband, such that she could not move on to the rest of the text.
I don’t know if she knew the Lord, but she clearly wasn’t viewing this subject with Lord in mind.
If we are honest, submission to one another is not a natural posture for us as human beings.
It requires the work of God transforming our hearts, through submitting to Christ that frees us then to submit to others.
Submission requires humility which is the opposite of what IS natural to us — which is self-preservation and pride.
One commentator wrote that —
By His Wounds You Are Healed: How the Message of Ephesians Transforms a Woman’s Identity (Wives, Submit)
“People who do not know Jesus can only see this issue from the perspective of depravity.”
“They only see what is wrong with relationships between men and women, and they cling desperately to the mechanisms of self-preservation they have learned over the years.”
This wife in our Sunday School class could not let go. And very tellingly, her husband sat next to her mostly silent.
It seemed obvious that this command of Scripture was not understood.
And we were trying to be nice, and patient with our guests, bless her heart, but the class went off the rails, because our guests did not know this important truth: “The Church is Subject to Christ.”
This text cannot be understood apart from this context, that is the relationship of the Church to Christ.
This is the main relationship in view.
Even though there is specific application to wives and their own husbands, which we will consider, this text is ecclesiological in nature, in that it speaks of the Church.
And this text is Christological in nature, in that it speaks of Christ.
And to proceed without regard for either one of these guides, the Church and Christ, is to proceed into all kinds of error.
“The Church is Subject to Christ”
This is a fact of the Church.
The Word does not say “The Church WILL BE Subject to Christ” —
As if this subjection is something we can accomplish if we hear a sermon like this and DO something about it. No —
This is not an imperative - it is an indicative. It is not a command, it is a statement of fact.
The Word does not say “The Church WILL BE Subject to Christ” —
As if this subjection is something we may look forward to at some time in the future, but is not true of the present. No —
But “The Church IS Subject to Christ.”
This is a fact of the Church. This is a distinguishing mark of Christ’s Church, it IS our identity as the Church, as much as walking in love and walking as children of the light.
This is who the Church IS.
The Church is not rebellious to Christ.
If we are rebellious, we are not the Church.
The Church is not neutral toward Christ.
If we are neutral, we are not the Church.
The Church is not partially submitted to Christ.
This is not an “it depends” kind of thing, as if we are subject to Christ on certain issues but not on others.
We are not compromisers.
If we are partially submitted to Christ, we are not the Church.
Try this the next time you are standing on a flat surface.
Try to kneel and stand at the same time.
With one leg, bow your knee, as if kneeling, to take a posture of humility and reverence.
But at the same time, keep the other leg straight so that you remain standing.
— You can’t do both.
For the normal human it is impossible to stand straight and kneel at the same time. We must either do one or the other.
So being subject to Christ as the Church is all or nothing. And there is no other person I’d rather trust fully with my life, with my marriage, than the Lord Jesus Christ!
This subjection to Christ as the Church is not limited to the gatherings of the Church, but carries over, clearly, into certain other relationships within the Church, which is what Ephesians will begin to explain first with the relationship between a husband and wife in the context of Christian marriage.
The title of this sermon is “The Church is Subject to Christ,” but this phrase will also serve as the main movements of this sermon.
The Church (v.21)
Is Subject (v.21-22)
To Christ (v.23)
Application (v.24)
First, I want to draw our attention to the Church, with verse 21. The church is the “one another in the fear of Christ” and has been an important focus of Ephesians.
Then, I want to explore what subjection or submission means, with verses 21-22. Both verses share the same verb and we’ll examine how subjection defines the relationship between Christian wives and husbands and the Church and Christ.
Then, I want to move to Christ, as all sermons must, with verse 23 — “The Church is Subject to Christ.”
Jesus receives the most attention in verse 23, being described as the head of the church and the Savior of the body.
What does this mean then, for the Church and for husbands and wives in Christ?
Finally, I hope to conclude this message with some pointed application from verse 24 (and will weave application throughout this text).
Keep in mind that we are considering just four verses today at the beginning of a much larger section related to this theme of subjection and relationships, particularly within households of faith.
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
We begin with:
A. The Church
A. The Church
5.21
5.21
21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Who is this “one another in the fear of Christ?”
They are none other than the Church of Jesus Christ.
This “one another” is critical to rightly understanding this text.
We are not subject to “all people” but to “one another in the fear of Christ.” This is the ecclesiastical context of this instruction — the Church.
One commentator pointed out that the word “church” is used nine times in Ephesians; six of those nine uses are within this section introduced here, between v.22-33; no other paragraph in the New Testament has such a high density of that word “church,” which is a word that means the “called-out ones.” (ICC).
The Church is “called-out” of the world, a Spirit-filled people, and belongs to God through Jesus Christ.
This is the same Church that has been a central theme in Ephesians thus far.
The Church that God chose, predestined, adopted, blessed, redeemed and forgave.
The Church that God loved and made alive together with Christ, saving us, raising us up with Him, seating us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ.
The Church that God not only redeemed, but also united — those far off and those near by the blood of Christ. Making one new man, abolishing enmity, establishing peace.
So that if we as hearers make it this far into this letter, and we have not yet turned away from it, then we can’t misunderstand the context of being subject to one another — it is within the context of Christ’s Church.
We are subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
The “fear of Christ” is the basis for how we as Christians relate to one another. It is with a reverence for Christ first, having a just a slight hint of trembling in that mix.
If an invading enemy army conquers a land, it forces the people who have been conquered into subjection through fear and great trembling.
But with Christ, we are not forced into subjection through fear.
Instead, we are freed — freed to be His subjects through holy reverence, because He conquered sin, death and the grave - the enemies that had power over us — enemies that we fear no longer.
And as Christians we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
All of these describe Christian worship.
So what is the point being made with “one another” and the Church? It is this —
This concept of being subject to one another is distinctly Christian and worshipful.
It belongs to Christ and the Church, not to the world.
The world knows nothing like this subjection and is not capable of understanding it.
So practically, as we begin to speak about various relationships with subjection to one another, we cannot speak of those relationships properly outside of a Christian context.
For example, marriage — we cannot speak of marriage properly without speaking of Christian marriage.
Of a Christian wife being subject to her Christian husband in the fear of Christ.
That is an essential distinction.
Subjecting ourselves to one another without a fear of Christ within the context of the Church will break down and lead to misunderstandings, to sin and even abuse.
“The Church is Subject to Christ.”
So our context for this instruction is Christ and the Church. These are the two rails that this train is guided upon.
Now let is consider the subject of submission.
B. Is Subject ( 5:21-22 )
B. Is Subject ( 5:21-22 )
5.21
5.21
21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
So what does it mean to “be subject?”
This word “be subject” means to “voluntarily yield” (BDAG).
It is worth noting that this word “be subject” is different from the word “obey” used in Ephesians 6:1 and 5 of children with parents and slaves with masters—
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
And —
5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ;
Those two verses use the word “obey,” but our two verses, verses 21 and 22, use a different word, translated “be subject.”
Children and slaves are instructed to be obedient, which has the sense of “doing what one says” (LN).
“Do what your parents say…and so honor them.”
“Do what your masters say according to the flesh…as slaves of Christ.”
That’s obedience. And while obedience is a similar word and concept to submission, it is not the same word used here for one another in the fear of Christ, and wives to their husbands.
Why is that?
The word “be subject” means to “voluntarily yield.”
We are to “voluntarily yield” to one another in the fear of Christ.
A wife is to “voluntarily yield” to her husband in the fear of Christ.
So this word “be subject” is not about a superior and an inferior, one who has authority and one who does not, a greater and a lesser — No.
This word “be subject” is about an ordering. A voluntary yielding. It is about leadership and following. It is about headship and responsibility.
The wife yields in a certain way to her husband, and the husband yields to a certain (if not greater) way to his wife being willing to give his life for her.
This verb “be subject” from verse 21 carries over into verse 22, into the marriage relationship.
That’s why in our English translations, the words “be subject” are italicized. The word “be subject” is not in verse 22, but is carried over from verse 21.
So verse 21 is a transitional verse, completing the previous section while at the same time introducing this new section.
Verse 22 is more specific in the way subjection to one another in the fear of Christ is worked out through a specific relationship:
5.22
5.22
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
“Wives” and “husbands” and “the Lord” are the three people involved in a covenant of marriage.
And marriage is a covenant - not a contract.
A contract can be self-seeking for what I can get. A covenant is self-sacrificing, for what I can give.
A contract can be terminated. A covenant is meant for eternity.
A contract is based on my own word and guaranteed by my own contributions. A covenant is based on God’s promises and guaranteed by God’s faithfulness.
Marriage is a covenant and not a contract, because it not only involves a wife and a husband, but also the Lord. All three represented in this verse.
Because of this marriage is sacred. It is holy. It is Christian. God created marriage and defines its relationship for a distinct purpose that this text explains — marriage illustrates the relationship between Christ and His Church.
And for this reason, distortions of marriage must be recognized for what they are — distortions.
Open marriages, polyamorous marriages, polygamous marriages, homosexual marriages, common law marriages - none of these can illustrate the exclusive, holy, sacrificial covenant relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church, and therefore these biblically must be called what they are — distortions that must be rejected as not marriage.
Jerome said “True marriages are in Christ” (Jerome, ACC, 193).
Marriage cannot be rightly understood unless one is a Christian. (MLJ, Eph, 98).
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
This instruction is given within the context of the marriage relationship. Wives, be subject to your husbands…
This instruction is for wives, not women in general toward men in general. Not wives toward another’s husband. But exclusively, this is for wives towards their own husbands.
In Christian marriage, wives voluntarily yield to their own husbands, as to the Lord, as the leader, as the head, of that marriage.
By being subject to her own husband voluntarily, a wife is elevating her own husband. Respecting her own husband. Supporting her own husband in His responsibilities “as to the Lord.”
And Martyn Lloyd-Jones is right to point out that this might raise new problems for a husband that he has never had to confront before (MLJ, Eph, 87).
When a wife voluntarily yields to her own husband, as to the Lord, now that husband has a responsibility before God to lead his wife and marriage in the Lord.
And he may not know how to do that!
There is a real need for discipleship among men who are husbands or who will be husbands.
The marriage covenant should not be entered into lightly or ignorantly.
One of the most important questions to ask a couple that wants to be married is this — “Why do you want a Christian wedding - a Christian marriage?” Because true marriage is Christian marriage.
And if that answer does not produce a testimony of Christian conversion and following Jesus by both the man and the woman, that marriage should not move forward.
For a marriage without Christ and His Church is a marriage doomed, if not to fail, but to experience great hardship and difficulty, because it cannot do what it is intended to do by God — which is to illustrate and witness to the union of Christ and His Church.
And if counsel is not sought on the front end of marriage, be sure it will be needed on the back end when it falls apart.
Yes, we should prepare couples for marriage by asking about practical matters such as handling finances, and making decisions about holidays, and sharing possessions.
But it is much more important to prepare couples for marriage by explaining what that marriage means as they each together become witnesses for Jesus and His Bride the Church.
And as such, a Christian should never marry a non-Christian (MLJ, Eph, 116).
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
And a woman should not consider marrying a man who she is not willing to voluntarily yield to (MLJ, Eph, 110).
Because marriage has a Christian purpose — wrapped up in the phrase “as to the Lord.”
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
I like how Adrian Rogers said this:
What Every Christian Ought to Know Chapter 9 Every Christian Ought to Know How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
Submission is not for women; it is for Christians.
Indeed this attitude of submission is for all Christians before the Lord, not just wives.
If you are a husband who’s thinking about how to focus on sermon application this week — “how can I teach my wife to be subject to me...” before you do think that way, first understand that “The Church is Subject to Christ.”
And the same subjection that God expects of your wife to you, husband, God expects of you (as a member of His Church) to Christ Jesus our Lord.
I wonder, have you, husband, led your wife and family into a subjection to Christ through the Church?
You are a hypocrite, sir, if you are demanding from your wife what you are not offering first to your God.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
This means husbands are fulfilling their duties as husbands “as to the Lord” too.
There is no such thing as a Christless-marriage. There is only Christian marriage, or distortions of marriage.
This teaching of submission cannot be understood without Christ and His Church.
And today is the day for all husbands to seek the Lord for His help in leading their wives. It’s not too late.
That may mean humbling yourself, husband, and signing up for the next membership class, and covenanting with the Lord and this local body of believers first, so that you may lead your wife “as to the Lord.”
"The Church is Subject to Christ” and a husband and wife cannot relate biblically without Christ and His Church.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
What happens if your husband is disobedient to the word?
Then do whatever you can as a Christian wife to win him over by your behavior. Start here:
1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
That means that this voluntary yielding of a wife to her husband takes great faith in God, but that also means it pleases God for a wife to take this posture with her behavior toward her husband.
A wife is submitting first to the Lord, before submitting to her husband. And so a Christian wife finds no trouble in obeying this teaching (MLJ).
Again, it cannot be said enough how distinctly Christian this is.
“The Church is Subject to Christ.”
Having considered the “one-another” nature of this teaching in the context of the church, and that being subject is a voluntary yielding, not obeying as a greater to a lesser but elevating as to the Lord, we now turn our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all of this points to.
“The Church is Subject to Christ.”
C. To Christ ( 5:23 )
C. To Christ ( 5:23 )
5.23
5.23
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
The marriage relationship moves us to Christ (as marriage is supposed to do).
A Christian marriage is a witness for Jesus Christ - who is the “head of the church.”
Again, this is why marriage can only be Christian or it must be called something else.
Because the husband is the head of the wife, not in an authoritarian way, not in a superior way, but in a reflecting way — as a testimony to something else — mirroring the headship of Christ and the church.
If a body does not have a head, it is dead. If a body has two heads — well that’s a problem. It will not function in a united or purposeful way.
How would we like it if our feet moved on their own, independent of our brain?
How would we like it if our hands moved on their own, independent of our brain?
So the husband is responsible for uniting his wife and his marriage with Christ and His Church, in a way that moves his wife and his marriage in the direction of Christ and His Church. That is his responsibility to lead in that way.
Where does the Church receive Her commands? From Her Head — Christ.
Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, so your pastors/elders are under-shepherds: pastoring, exercising oversight, being examples of Jesus to the body. Leading the body not according to selfish gain, not domineering, but leading according to the Word of God under Christ’s headship.
Headship is about authority and order.
This is true in the Church, and brothers and sisters — this is true in our marriages.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
That word “Savior” speaks of the blood of Jesus, when He gave His life on the cross in our place, for our sins. It is by His life, death, burial and resurrection that we are redeemed by faith in His name.
But that word “Savior” also has another sense. It can also mean “preserver” (BDAG).
A husband cannot save the soul of his wife, only Jesus can do that. Indeed, a wife’s faith must be her own, she cannot be saved simply by marrying a Christian husband — but must herself repent and trust Christ for salvation by faith.
But a husband can be the preserver of his wife in the sense that he nourishers her and cherishers her and providers for her, as Christ does for His Church.
Husbands — it is our responsibility to preserve our wives in this way, in Christ. Our wives may want to work, and our wives may make more money than us, our wives may be smarter than us — but it is our God-given responsibility as husbands to preserve our wives and our marriages in the same way that Christ preserves and sustains His Church.
We do not do it alone, we trust Christ to help us, but that is a way in which we illustrate the relationship of Christ and His Church through headship and also through preserving.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
Much more can be said, but let’s move to the final verse for today.
Our text ends with this summary:
Application
Application
5.24
5.24
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Here is the practical instruction for Christian wives. Knowing that in the following verses give much attention is given to Christian husbands.
Wives — be subject to your husbands in everything.
Voluntarily yielding to your husbands in everything.
This is done “as to the Lord.”
Your husband is not perfect and he will never be. But he will be more like Christ with your help, with your respect, and with your voluntarily yielding to him in obedience to the Lord.
Let God work on your husband, by you obeying God’s way here.
But if you want to make it more difficult for God to grow your husband, then start taking God’s place and leading your husband instead of letting God do that.
A deeper study of this phrase “in everything” in light of all Scripture will reveal that is a contextual statement.
I want to say that because this verse does not mean a wife should submit to a husband who is abusive, or who asks her to do something that dishonors her conscience or disobeys God.
This text again, strongly views both husband and wife as Christians in subjection to one another in the fear of Christ. That’s the context.
Outside of these bounds, the instruction won’t work.
But inside of these bounds, everything means everything — so that Christ is magnified and exalted in the home and in our marriages and in our worship.
Sermonic Eschatonic (Future Condition Focus)
Sermonic Eschatonic (Future Condition Focus)
It is interesting that so much attention is given to marriage.
And yet Jesus is asked a question by Sadducees in Matthew 22, related to marriage and the resurrection.
They asked about a woman who had many husbands on earth and say:
28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”
And Jesus responded with these words:
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
So this text compels us to ask an important question:
If in the resurrection "they neither marry nor are given in marriage” — why all this focus on Christian marriage this side of glory? What marriage will be left in glory?
And the answer is what this text has been pointing us to — the marriage of Christ and His Church.
7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
Brothers and sisters, The Church is Subject to Christ.
And the marriage of all marriages has come — between Jesus and His Church, His Bride.
This is a great mystery. But we believe by faith what the Scriptures teach.
But the table is set. The invitations are being sent out.
And “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
“The Church is Subject to Christ.”
I ask — Are you?
This is your invitation if you will receive it . . .