EPHESIANS WEEK 14 - I AM LOVED

3. I AM LOVED

4. EPHESIANS 5:22-33
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own
husbands as you do to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife
as Christ is the Head of the church, His
body, of which He is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so
also wives should submit to their
husbands in everything.

5. EPHESIANS 5:22-33
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave Himself
up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the Word,
27 and to present her to Himself as a
radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

6. EPHESIANS 5:22-33
28 In this same way, husbands ought to
love their wives as their own bodies. He
who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated their own
body, but they feed and care for their
body, just as Christ does the church—
30 for we are members of His body.

7. EPHESIANS 5:22-33
31 “For this reason a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his
wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
32 This is a profound mystery—but I am
talking about Christ and the church.
33 However, each one of you also must
love his wife as he loves himself, and the
wife must respect her husband.

8. GENDER,
MARRIAGE, AND
SEXUALITY
ACCORDING TO
GOD’S LOVE

9. Jesus' love for the Church and
what that means for men and
women in the context of marriage

10. GENESIS 2:24
24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh.”

11. The big idea here is LOVE.
Six times in this short section the
word “love” is used.

12. There is no understanding of
love apart from the person and
work of Jesus.

13. And so He says that God’s love is
shown for us like a bride and a
groom. So He uses this timeless
metaphor.

14. As a church, we follow, submit to,
trust, enjoy, live life with Jesus like
a wife does with a loving, devoted
husband. That’s the big idea.

15. Only God in Jesus Christ loves
perfectly, loves humbly, loves
continually, loves unselfishly,
loves generously all the time
without fail.

16. The good news:
If that love comes from Jesus,
that longing for love is met,
we are loved perfectly.

17. That allows us to start loving
others with the love that we
receive, and it means we don’t
have to be in a relationship.

18. We can be single, like Jesus was,
and still be satisfied because the
loving relationship exists whether
or not we’re in a dating
relationship.

19. FIVE WAYS
JESUS LOVES
THE CHURCH

20. 1. AS HEAD

21. The church belongs to Jesus, and
ultimately it’s to be governed by His
Word. If He wants something, then
that should be done. If He doesn’t
want something, then that shouldn’t
be done.

22. Decisions get made in your head,
so Jesus is the One who makes the
decisions. Jesus is the One who
leads. Jesus is the One who is
preeminent.

23. Furthermore, this means that we
follow Him as Head and Leader, and
He takes responsibility for us. This is
what a leader is, by definition—
one who takes responsibility.

24. On the cross, Jesus is taking
responsibility for things that are
not His fault.

25. 2. AS SAVIOR

26. God comes in on a rescue mission to
save—to save us from sin, to save us
from death, to save us from hell, to
save us from Satan and demons, to
save us from the wrath of God.

27. Jesus says in John 14:6,
“I’m the way, the truth, and the life.”
It’s all singular and exclusive.
“No one comes to the Father but
by Me.”

28. He alone is Savior.
He says that He has come to seek
and save those who are lost.
That’s us.

29. 3. AS GIVER

30. “Where your treasure is,
there your heart is.”

31. Love is a commitment that
compels us to act, and part of that
action is giving. It’s generosity.

32. Jesus is a Giver, and when you
and I learn to be givers, it
transforms our whole life.

33. If you’re a giver, you’re a better
friend. If you’re a giver, you’re a
better spouse. If you’re a giver,
you’re a better parent.

34. 4. AS SANCTIFIER
AND CLEANSER

35. He loves us as Sanctifier and
Cleanser. We are dirty, are defiled,
and we are unclean, and that’s the
result of our sin.

36. Jesus is Sanctifier and Cleanser.
He’s there to clean you up and
help.

37. 5. AS NOURISHER
AND CHERISHER

38. He loves us as Nourisher and
Cherisher. A lot of this language of
loving a woman like Jesus loves
the church is about cherishing and
nourishing.

39. Jesus cherishes His people like a
good husband adores his wife.
He nourishes His people like Jesus
nourishes, encourages, builds up
the church.

40. WHAT DOES IT MEAN
FOR A WIFE TO SUBMIT
AND RESPECT LIKE
JESUS?

41. EPHESIANS 5:22, 24, 33
22 ”Wives, submit yourselves to your own
husbands as you do to the Lord.”
24 “Wives should submit to their
husbands.”
33 “Let the wife see that she respects her
husband.”
1 Corinthians 11, 1 Peter 5, Colossians 3

42. It does not mean that the wife is
less valuable, intelligent, or
competent.

43. Both men and women bear equally
the image and likeness of God.
They have equal dignity, value.

44. 1. It doesn’t mean that the
husband is more intelligent than
the wife.

45. Complementarian Theology –
like two hands.
Ex. Right hand is the dominant
hand.

46. The right hand can do things that the left
hand can’t do, and the left hand can do
things that the right hand can’t do. There
are some things that they both can do, but
they work together in a complementary
fashion, and we need them both.

47. And when Genesis 2:18 says she’s the
helper, that means that she is actually
more intelligent and more competent in
certain areas that he’s not. So they
work together so that together they’re
better.

48. 2. This does not mean that men,
in general, are to be ruling over
women in general.

49. 3. It does not mean that the wife
does not have independent
thoughts.

50. 4. It does not mean that the wife
cannot seek to influence her
husband.

51. PROVERBS 19:14
14 Houses and wealth are inherited from
parents, but a prudent wife is from
the LORD.

52. This means that to be really
helpful, a woman would be a
prudent influencer of her
husband.

53. 5. This does not mean that the
wife does not express her
thoughts and feelings.

54. 6. This does not mean that a wife
ignores all of her husband’s flaws,
but that she begins by encouraging
those aspects of his character that
are respectable.

55. 7. This does mean that a wife sets
a pattern for others to respect her
husband.

56. 8. It does help guard a woman’s
tendency to distrust, to despise,
to disrespect her husband.

57. This does mean that she takes
her cue from the Trinity and
Jesus.

58. Jesus Christ, the second
Member of the Trinity, the Son
of God. He submits to God the
Father.

59. So, you can be equal and under
authority.

60. WHAT DOES IT MEAN
FOR A HUSBAND TO
LOVE AND LEAD LIKE
JESUS?

61. “Christ is the Head of the
church.”

62. As Christ is the Head of the
church, it says, the husband is
the head of the wife.

63. Are you a good or bad head?

64. 1. Men are to take
responsibility, as Christ did.

65. They are to first take responsibility
for themselves, then they can
marry. They can consummate their
covenant and devote their life to
loving their wives.

66. 2. Men, we are not the highest
authority.

67. 3. Men, we are to love our wife,
not just marriage.

68. 4. Your most important human
friendship is with your wife.

69. 5. Love your wife and not just
what you hope she will
become.

70. 6. Love your wife, whatever
comes your way.

71. 7. Men, we have to be tough and
tender to love our wife as Christ
loved the church.

72. 8. As the family leader, men, we
take responsibility for the well-
being of the family.

73. 9. She is a garden; you are the
gardener.

74. In 1 Corinthians 11, it says that
the woman is the glory of the
man.

75. Another way of saying it is that
she reflects who he is and what
he does. And that he’s a gardener,
she’s a garden.