Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Me? Submit to you?
What if the true essence of biblical submission has been misunderstood all along? Join us in unraveling the profound insights of Ephesians 5:22 as we dispel myths that link submission with oppression. We shed light on the balanced perspective that both husbands and wives have pivotal roles in a Christ-centered marriage. By steering the conversation towards mutual respect and adherence to God's commandments, we emphasize that husbands are called to lead with Christ-like love. This episode promises to redefine your understanding of submission, highlighting its purpose in cultivating harmony and a God-centered relationship.
Achieving holiness in marriage is not just an aspiration but a divine calling. In the second chapter, we explore how couples can grow together in sanctity by engaging in heartfelt conversations about sermons and scriptures. We discuss the ideal of a spotless, blemish-free union that mirrors Christ's undying love for the church. By focusing on mutual respect rather than dominance, we unpack how prayer, humility, and effective communication can resolve imperfections, fostering a holy, harmonious marriage. Tune in to discover how these principles can elevate your marriage to reflect God's love in its purest form.
Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. It's so good to have each and every one of you here joining us on this podcast. You could be listening to any other podcast, any other Bible study podcast out there, but you've chosen to listen to this one, and for that I am eternally grateful. I thank you for everyone who's liking and sharing. Thank you so much for that. I really do appreciate it. It just makes us aware that we need the word of god each and every day in our lives. It doesn't matter, uh, if you're just deciding to live for god or you've been living for god for 20, 30, 40 years. We all need a daily dose of the word of god. Thank you all so much. Thank you, thank you and thank you, thank god for each and every one of you, every single day. Thank you, thank you. A quick word from our sponsors, though. You know we got to do that. Thank you so much for two parts lyricists for the intro and outro music. You can find them on spotify, and it's because the creation saying yes, I still have a new sponsor coming more on. That will be when everything is finalized. Thank you, thank you so much really. Thank you all for staying with us this long. For those of you who have been from the beginning and maybe you missed a couple episodes and came back just thank you all for coming back. Thank you all. I thank you for listenership is growing. Thank you so much coming back. Thank you all. Thank you, listenership is growing. Thank you all so much.
Speaker 1:Now let's get into what we're going to talk about today. We're going to take a walk through a very touchy subject and usually when people say this, when we talk about this subject, half of the listeners, half of the half listeners will be upset. When you preach these things, half of the congregation is upset and generally half that is upset is because they're walking in their place. But remember, we talked about at the very beginning that this Bible study, this whole podcast, is about applying daily, applying things daily from the Bible, right? So today we're going to talk about a very touchy subject and it's a word that people just don't like. That word is submission. That word is submission. Yes, now, if you did not turn on the podcast, thank you all for that. But we're going to talk about it and we're going to talk about it in its proper context, because a lot of times, when we talk about submission, we take it out of context and we turn it into something that God never intended it to be. As a matter of fact, a lot of problems that we have developed today as a society is because we have taken that word out of context and twisted it to our own evil game. So what are you talking about, jj? We're talking about Ephesians 5 and 22. We're going to start there, but we're not going to end there. Ephesians 5 and 22. We're going to start there, but we're not going to end there. Ephesians 5 and 22 says Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now, let's start right there. And then everybody just take a deep breath yeah, so that's exactly what everyone goes through.
Speaker 1:They hear when they hear, uh, why spit yourself to your husband? And immediately the image in your mind is some dude standing there and he's got his arms crossed and his legs spread open and he's dominant and assertive, and his wife is somewhere in a raggedy dress, on her hands and knees scrubbing the baseboards with a scrub brush. This is not submission, folks. I'll say that again. This is not submission, and we hear these narratives floating around the world today about what submission is, and it's not about the submission being conditional. You hear this a lot too. Well, I'd submit to him if he did this. Or I'd submit to them if he made this much money. I'd submit to them if he treated me like this. I'd submit to them if he treated me like this. The Bible does not give you a condition of submission. Don't worry, ladies, it's going to get on the men too.
Speaker 1:Basically, this verse says why submit yourself to your own husbands?
Speaker 1:And a lot of times we men like to stop right there. Us husbands like to stop right there. We don't want to consider the next few words as unto the Lord. So basically, what this means is wives, you are to submit to your husbands as you would unto God. What does this mean? I'm my wife's husband. If I tell my wife to do something that's against God, she does not have to submit to me. I'll say that again. I tell my wife to do something. If I tell my wife to go into Walmart and steal a box of honey buns, that is breaking God's commandment she does not have to do that. Okay, because it's asked unto the Lord.
Speaker 1:If I say, wife, we need to consider fasting, we need to consider this, we need to consider a closer walk with God, then, yes, and the reason why this is the case is because we have to read the next several verses to put it into context. Let's read those and then we'll discuss. For the husband is the head of the cases, but we have to read the next several verses to put it into context. Let's read those and then we'll discuss it. For the husband is the head of the wife. Now, I know this makes a lot of feminists very angry, but the Bible said it, not JJ, even as Christ is the head of the church. And here we are drawing a correlation the husband is the head of the wife and Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. I cannot stress to you enough what this is actually saying. As long as the husband is following Christ, he is responsible for both him and his wife's soul, because that's what God intended.
Speaker 1:Now, what that means is you have to read the next few verses to find out exactly what that means. Therefore, the church is subject and unsurprised to let the wives beat you to their own huckstoo in everything. Again, this does not mean wife, bring me a sandwich or I'll beat you up. It's very important that we distinguish what this means, baby. I think we should pray Well. I think well, baby, should we buy this thing? No, I think we should pray about it first. Or should we move to this place? I think we should pray about it first. I think we should ask God about it. If you want to open a church, I really think we need to ask God about it.
Speaker 1:You are submitting to your husband's ask unto the Lord, because the husband needs to be submitting unto the Lord too, and again, this is not a conditional thing. The wife is to submit to him as he submits to God. You do not have to submit to an unlawful or a sinful demand from your husband. Now, remember, I said that we're going to talk about the husband's truth. Husbands, love your wives. Now, right off the bat. You think all I got to do is just love her and tell her I love her and say see nothings and buy her something every now and again. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:The scripture does not stop. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church. Which means your love for your wife must be boundless. Your love for your wife must be boundless. Your love for your wife must be boundless. If your wife does something that sort of aggravated you one day, you have to be ready to instantly forgive her. I'll say that again. You have to be ready to instantly forgive her. You have to be able to give her everything that she asks for that is unto God, because, remember, she's submitting to you, unto the Lord. You are loving her, just as the way you want Christ to love you. You want Christ to love you unconditionally. You have to love your wife unconditionally and I know this is a rich comment from JJ. I get it, but this is what the Bible says, not JJ. And but the scripture doesn't stop there. That one verse does not stop there Because we want to forget this last part of it Husband, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
Speaker 1:You know one of the things when we were in English school or whatever, they say that a sentence is well-structured If you can take out a comma, part of the sentence, that's comma, and then the sentence still makes sense. So we'll do that. But remember, we're not taking away from the word of God, we're just examining this scripture as it's written. So, husbands, take out the love of your wives. Even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it Husbands. Even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, what is the one thing that Jesus said and gave himself for it? What is the one thing that Jesus said no love has any man, no love, no greater love than has any man that he would lay down his life for his friends. You have to be ready to do that for your wives. If you're not, you need to examine yourself. You need to examine yourself. If you feel, if you feel, that there's any sort of thing Going on between you, you need to be relieved right now and talking to God about you loving your wife. And you have to be ready when, when you go to God for something, you go to God.
Speaker 1:God, I saw, because when you go to God, I started this car. Let me tell you something. So I took my bike down to the mechanics the other day. They had this beautiful, big, pretty bike, motorcycle and man, it's a 1700cc engine. I said, ooh, my knees got weak. My knees got weak, my feet got happy and they said, oh, jj, it's only $8,000. If you want to drive it out of here today, I'll call the guy who owns it. And I said, ooh.
Speaker 1:And then I realized that I should probably talk to my wife about it. I realized that I should probably talk to my wife about it, and then God said, well, maybe you should talk to her about it right now before you start lusting after me. So I went out, sat in the car and talked to her about it and she said no, and I was like, oh really, but I'm the head of the household. This is what immaturity will do to us. I'm the head of the household, I run the finances, and then God will quickly check you. You said that we need to stop frivolously spending money. Right, and now you are willing to assert your authority in an ungodly way to get something that you want Now. Is that something that God would do to the church? No, but you're supposed to love your wife as Christ loved the church. Christ will love the church in a fair and just way, in an unbiased way. He literally hung on the cross and bled and died for you. Are you ready to do that for your wife? So here we go Now. Here's what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1:You can't as a husband. We do not have the right. We do not have the right to demand submission to somebody we don't love, we do not, we do not have. Do you think that Jesus can just come down and just entreat the church any old kind of way? Do you think he can just talk to us any old kind of way? You think he could talk to us any old kind of way you think he would? You think that he could think about us any kind of way, he could treat us any kind of way? He's not. He's showing us an example of how to treat our lives.
Speaker 1:We ask God for something to give right. If he doesn't give it, there's a reason why. Right the same way, the same way, the same way that Christ loves the church and gives himself for the church and is there. You need to be there for your wife. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how you feel, it doesn't matter how tired you are. That is your job. You can't sit there on your throne, husbands, and claim to be head of the house, king of the castle, and treat your wife like she's dirt. Because God doesn't treat the church like that. And remember now she's submitting unto you as unto the Lord. So if you are not playing that role correctly, then you're creating a problem in your house and in your marriage.
Speaker 1:I just need that to sink in for a second. You are literally creating an opportunity for the devil to come in and say Well, he ain has admitted himself unto the Lord what you doing. And then you wonder why you're divorced. You wonder why you're fighting and arguing all the time. Now again, let me qualify this. I'm not saying to be a simp, god ain't no simp. So you aren't saying to be a simp, that's not. God ain't no simp. So you aren't going to be a simp husband, but there's going to be. And wives, wives. God is not requiring you to be a slave. Let me just throw that out there because I don't want the devil to be in this conversation Not requiring it.
Speaker 1:This is the joining of two flesh together. And, yes, god did put man at the head. But guess what? Not one head On this planet can turn without a neck. So, wives, you are the neck in this situation. You guys have to work together. God intended for this to be a togetherness. The same way, god intended the church to be together with him and not on a separate basis. I mean like literally going together, one spirit Together.
Speaker 1:Now, why is that? Why is that? Why is it that, after he gave himself for it, that sentence continues that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word, when your marriage is God and I'm talking about Honest thing, god when you go to church together. Have you and I'm talking to anybody Ever gone to church with your wife? Or you have gone to church with your husband? Have you ever sat in a sermon and heard two different things from the same sermon? The preacher said A, b and C. You heard B and C, your husband heard A and B.
Speaker 1:When you go home, you should be talking about the sermon, you should be talking about it and therefore washing each other, one hand washing the other and therefore the things that that was in my flesh that caused me to miss something out of the scripture, out of the word and out of the preaching and or out of the Bible verse or out of the Bible study. If I missed it, my wife got it. If my wife missed it, I got it, and we can help each other grow because why we have to be cleansed and we have to be sanctified. And why is that important? Keep reading the verse that he might present it to himself. Now we're still talking about how Christ is loving the church, and now we're talking about how the husband and the wife are interacting in this and we may present it with himself in glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That should be holy and without limit.
Speaker 1:So let me tell you guys, let me ask you guys, something when does this? We don't have to be perfect in this country. Where do we hear this? There is no perfect marriage Because he's trying to sanctify us and wash us and have us with no spot, no blemish, no defect and holy. So tell me again, walkers, where are we allowing this doctrine of there is no perfect marriage to creep into our zeitgeist? And then, because there is no answer to that, well, we know the answer. And then, because there is no answer to that, well, we know the answer.
Speaker 1:The answer is when we start taking scripture, first start scripture that allows that demonic influence to come in. And because we can't fix it on our own, we just throw up our hands and say, well, there's no perfect marriage, there's no perfect husband, there's no perfect wife, because no man is perfect and therefore the marriage can't be perfect and there's just going to be issues and we have to learn to deal with it. No, because that's a spot, that's a blemish, but we're supposed to be grooming, using the word that God has given us, using the spirit that God has given us to watch us so that we may be presented back to him without any spots of worship. But let's not forget that that verse continues. So are men to love their wives as their own body? There is not one person, not one, who can honestly say that they love anyone more than they love themselves. As a matter of fact, the verse goes on and says he that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Speaker 1:If you want to have peace in your house, cousin, be peaceful. I didn't say be a siffle, I didn't say be a pushover. I said if you want peace in your marriage, be peaceful. Why? If you want peace in your marriage, be peaceful. You get what you give, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but you will eat it, cherish it. You will put clothes on it. You will turn the air conditioner on to the right temperature. You will buy the shoes that are comfortable. You will wear the underwear that feels nice to you. You will cherish that flesh. Therefore, you should be cherishing your wife just that much, just the same way as you want to be cherished, the same way you cherish yourself. Why? Because the Lord cherishes the church just that way.
Speaker 1:Submission is not a sentence, submission is not a prison, submission is not an evil thing. As a matter of fact, if we go back and look at this scripture here, close from 2 to 29. We only have one verse about wives and then we kind of have like a half of it, but this was really about the wives and the husband's interaction. And then most of the sentences, most of the lines between 23 and 29, was about how the men are supposed to do it. We don't get to make those rules, guys. We don't get to make those rules. We ain't God. And I get that.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes when you get into an argument with your wife, she'll say you ain't none of my daddy. This is true. I want to be a better man. I want to be a godly man. Her husband, her daddy's a godly man. You're never going to match up to that guy. That's just how that is. Sorry, that's just in the book.
Speaker 1:But you are striving to this. Why? Because you are wanting your marriage your wife and you to be spotless, without blemish, and holy. You are striving for perfection. You are not accepting imperfection, because this is not godly in itself. And so if your wife is submitting to you, and while your wife is submitting to you, and while your wife is submitting to you, if you're accepting a spot or blemish or something that's imperfect, guess what she's going to do she's also going to accept that spot, the blemish, that thing that's imperfect. And then what happens to your marriage? It not only does it not live up to the fullness of a capability, but now you end up running into a risk where you might not be making it to the place where you want to make it. And then you see these marriages, after like 25, 30 years, breaking up and they say well, there's irreconcilable differences Because they never resolved that thing, they never resolved that spot, they never resolved that lens, they never resolved that spot, they never resolved that lens, they never was able to. Now you want to know what that is, or how to do that.
Speaker 1:My suggestion is probably number one is going to take prayer. Two, it's going to take humility on both of your ends. And three, communication. And all three of these are equally hard. I don't have a magic book for it. I just don't. I just don't. But I'm telling you this is what the Bible tells us. This is what the Bible tells us to do, and this is how the Bible tells us to do it. The best way to kind of work out the details is by reading this and talking to God about it and talking to each other about it.
Speaker 1:Remember holiness without spot, without limit, because we love each other as much as we love ourselves, we love ourselves as much as we love each other as much as we love ourselves, we love ourselves as much as we love each other. The only way it works Submit. Why submit yourself to your husband as much as he submits to God? And then why husbands? You have to be the head of the household in the godly way that the Bible describes. You're not some domineering angel, right? Thank you all so much for joining us. If you have any comments or questions, make sure you send them to me at welcomebebiblestudy at gmailcom and I can't believe I forgot to say that at the beginning of the podcast. Thank you all so much for your questions. I really do enjoy them. Again, it's welcomebebbiblestudycom. When you're out and about today. Tell somebody that you love, tell somebody that you got love, and remember the road to heaven starts with Acts 2.38. Repentance, baptism in Jesus' name and get in the Holy Spirit. All right, love you all very much. See you on the next one.