Spiritual Headship

Okay, very good. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to church. I'm going to invite your brothers and sisters and friends here with us to open up your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter five by God's grace. We come to the time of our service in which we are going to be opening up the Scriptures. together, and we are going to be considering important matters of the Christian life, the life of the family, the Christian family.

That is what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks. We have been trying to address characteristics of a biblical family, of a Christian biblical family. And we have already spoken about the duties that parents have to their Children to bring them up in the admonition and the nurture of the Lord. And we have also spoken last week, if you remember about the spiritual duty of husbands two wives. We say that the spiritual duty of husbands to wives is to love them.

Today I want us to consider in the time that we have with us a verse 23 and we're gonna be speaking about a spiritual headship. If you pay attention to verse 23 of Chapter five of the book of Ephesians, there the apostle gives us a simple reason of why wives are to set need to their husbands as to the Lord, says in verse 23 for the husband is the head off the wife, even as Christ is the head off the church, his body and he's himself its savior. A very simple verse there that we have in verse 23. There's 23 gives us the reason why wives, Christian wives are to submit to their husbands. That reason is because the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, and Christ is the savior of the church.

So I want us to consider, I hope, in light of the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus, the truth that we have been forgiven purely by grace. Now what the will of the Lord is for the family in terms of spiritual headship. And as you know, this is not only a difficult topic, but also a controversial one in our days in which the definition of husband and wife and the family sometimes may be completely different to what the Lord says in the Scriptures. So we're gonna be reading actually two passages today. We're gonna be reading that passage in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 to 33.

And then also we're gonna be coming to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John in Chapter 14. So if you are able, please just going to those two passages in John Chapter 14, we're gonna be reading together a verse 18 through 21 verse 18 through 21 in John chapter 14. And also we're gonna be reading Ephesians chapter five verse 22 to 33. We're gonna be speaking about, as I said, spiritual headship. That word is difficult to pronounce to me.

So I hope that you can get the spiritual headship. We're gonna be speaking from verse 22 to 33. Let us come before the Lord and pray that his presence will be among us as we read and as we try to understand the scriptures. And then we will read those passages and address this important topic of spiritual headship. Let us pray.

Father, we come before you once again in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we present ourselves before you and we know that apart from your grace and you speaking to us, the scriptures are close to our hearts. You know, Lord, that the needs of my brothers and sisters and people here are different, but your word is enough and sufficient to provide to the soul of the person who seeks you. So as we come to this topic and to these scriptures, Lord, for some people, it may seem that it's not relevant to them. They may not have a wife.

They may not be a husband. They may not even have plans to marry or they may not even have intentions to marry. But we know that your word is your life that comes from inspiration of God and that is profitable for us all. as we learn of your ways and as we are corrected in your ways and as we are trained, Lord, in all righteousness. So I pray that as we are gathering here together, Lord, and sometimes the complications of our flesh and the infirmities of it and the limitations of our language or the limitations of our understanding, that when we gather here together and as we have the scriptures before us, Lord, that you will grant us of your Holy Spirit so that we can pay attention for 45 or 50 minutes or whatever is the time that you have for this message.

But not only that you will grant us of your Holy Spirit to pay attention to it. I pray Lord that you will grant us of your Holy Spirit to receive your word. We're so much in need of seeing Jesus Christ and the work that he has done. The truth that we can be forgiven in him alone. that whatever sin that we have committed can be forgiven in the person of Jesus Christ.

And as we are not only forgiven, we can also live our lives in you. So as husbands and as wives and children and single elderly, young, perhaps divorced or widow, whatever it is, the situation in which we are, We want to understand the things of the Christian life, not just simply as a list of morals that we need to follow, but better as we see Christ Jesus in all of it. So I pray that for my brothers, you will grant them the grace that is needed to depend upon Christ. I pray that for my sisters, you will do the same, that you will grant us the grace that is needed to see Jesus Christ and to depend upon him. I pray that for everyone within the sound of my voice, We will hear the words that we read, and we will consider the words that are expounded.

And insofar as they are in alignment with your will and with your truth, I pray, Lord, that you will speak to these brethren. I pray, Lord, that their marriages, for those who are married, will be strengthened in love, that the husbands will delight in their wives of the youth, and even in their wives of their old years, and that they will be strengthened to love them and to serve them. I pray for the wives, Lord, that they will be strengthened to honor their husbands as they honor Christ Jesus and to help me to them as they pursue to advance the will of God. I pray, Lord, for our children, those who are not in Christ, that you will be merciful to bring them to Christ. I pray for the single as they perhaps consider and desire to be married to a woman or to a man, I also pray, Lord, that you will grant them the love and the wisdom for them to have a family that honors you.

And I pray for the brother or sister who is here present and perhaps has never been married and will never be married or is alone or will remain alone. I do pray, Lord, that for them, for this person, that you will be sufficient, that they will be satisfied in Christ Jesus, That even though it is a great blessing to have a wife and to have a husband, to have children, to have offspring, that none of those things compare to the fact that we can be united and forgiven in Christ Jesus. and that we may be able to find pure satisfaction in Christ. So bless us, Lord, as we read and as we consider this topic, and I pray that you'll do this in Jesus name. Amen.

Very good. As I said, the spiritual headship, an important matter off the Christian life. We're gonna be reading together. John, Chapter 14, verse 18 through 21 1st. that is going to set the foundation of biblical obedience.

And then we will go into Ephesians chapter 5 and read together the portion that I mentioned there from verse 18, I think. So let us read together the Word of the Lord, John, the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 18. The Lord Jesus Christ says to the disciples, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you, yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. You will see Me, because I live, you also will live.

In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever, pay attention to 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I, Jesus said, I will love him and manifest myself to him. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ says there, in John chapter 14.

Now let us come to a fission's chapter five in John chapter 14. The Lord sets the foundation off biblical obedience. That is the love of God. Now here we're going to see an instruction to obedience in this case is going to be two wives and husbands. And more importantly, we're gonna be studying together.

Verse 23 when it comes to a spiritual headship. Let us read together. Verse 22 through 33. This is the word of the Lord. Wives Submit to your husbands.

Say, call to obedience. Once again, verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he may sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that he, that is Christ, may present the church to himself in splendor, without sport or wrinkle or any such thing, that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

Therefore, quoting Genesis here, verse 31, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers or concerning to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

And as I said, I want us to consider this idea there in verse 23 off a spiritual headship in a very rather simple way. The apostle is given an instruction to obedience both to wives and to husbands. Wives are to set me to their husbands. And on the other hand, the husbands are to love their wives. And we're told the reverse 23 that the reason why the wives are to submit to the husbands is because the husband is the head off the wife.

Of course, this is an a spiritual picture. The husband is not the biological head off the wife. It is the spiritual. head of the wife. So here we have a picture of this relationship between the husband and the wife.

This is spiritual picture, and we are told that the husband is the head of the wife. That is what I want us to explore this afternoon. And we have been doing this as part of this series of studies on the importance of what it is to have a biblical family. And if Perhaps I was going to try to put in one sentence, one word. What is the main thing that I want us to get from this is this.

That sometimes when we think that we want to be faithful to the Lord and do so many things, sometimes the greatest calling that we have is to serve the person that is next to us. Our wives, our husbands, our Children, our brothers and sisters within the context of the church or the local community in which we live. The greatest calling that we have it is to be faithful in that little thing that sometimes may be so simple. serving our wives, serving our husbands and giving our lives for the Children that the Lord gives us. And if the Lord does not give us wife or husband or Children, then just to leave in gratitude to him for what he has done and to be in service to those whom the Lord has placed around us.

And as you will know from your own experience and experience of just simply life, It is very difficult to be consistent and to be faithful in the things that God has called us to do. It is so much easier for me just to come and say to you what a biblical husband should be. Let me tell you that it takes lots and lots of effort to be one of those. And many times I have failed. And it's much easier to say what a biblical wife should be.

But you know, sisters, that it takes a lot, lots and lots, and it's very difficult to fulfill the calling of a wife. How? In a faithful way, in a way that is honoring to the Lord. And someone might ask, what is the key? What is the secret?

to remain faithful to the simple calling that God has given us of being a husband, perhaps, or being a wife of children. And even if we don't have husbands or wives and Children just to remain faithful in what the Lord has called us to be, perhaps a friend or a brother or sister to the people that have the Lord has placed around. I was thinking and considering the Bible gives a lot of reasons or answers to this. But I think that one word summarizes and puts everything together, and that is the word satisfaction. Satisfaction to be satisfied.

We can not do the things that God and Christ calls us to do if we are not fully satisfied in Him. If we derive our satisfaction from our relationship to others, or if we derive our satisfaction from our relationship to people that perhaps may be in our lives, then there is only time in which we're not going to find sources of being satisfied in other people, and we're going to be not faithful to the relationship that we have to others. But if we place our eyes on God, and what He has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. Then in Him alone we find the fountain of satisfaction that never ends. In God alone we find the love that does not depend upon human things.

In Him alone we find the fountain of strength and power that is needed to be faithful in whatever calling the Lord has given us, whether it's to be a husband, a wife, a child, a friend, a brother or sister. Our life to others is meant to be a reflection of what we know of God and what He has done for us. That's why the love of God is meant to be the center, the engine that moves the person, not to try to satisfy themselves or others with the things that we do, but try to live our lives in reflection of that great love which we have received. Think about this. How can I be a husband to my wife when it's difficult because of my sins and because of her sins?

Well, when I look to Christ and I see the love that He had for me in sending His Son to die for my sins, that I can be forgiven and that she can be forgiven. Or sister, when you think, how am I going to be a faithful and a good wife to my husband? Well, if you put your eyes in your husband, it's not going to work. But if you put your eyes in Christ Jesus, and you consider what He has done for you by sending His Son to die for your sins, in that great love that was manifested to you, you're going to find the strength and the power that is needed to love your husbands. And the same thing happens with all of us.

If we place our eyes on Christ, only in Him and in the cross of Jesus Christ, we are going to find what is needed for us to fulfill the simple calling that God has given us. To be husbands, to be wives, to be parents, to be brothers, to be sisters, to reach the community in which we are by the power of the Holy Spirit and be light and salt to those whom God has placed around us. In that way, the kingdom of God is built. Every time that we have a connection, a relationship, or a conversation one with one another, we should not be thinking, what should I get from this? But rather, how much of Christ can I share to this person?

How much of the truth of Jesus I can give to this person with my words, with my example, and with the lack of words of my behavior or relationship to them? Because the only benefit that a person can receive from us is not what comes from us, But it's what comes from God Himself. And that is, perhaps, the foundation of the whole thing. That we ought to be faithful to the Lord because of what He has done for us. And I really hope, my dear brothers and sisters, brothers, that you will love your wives more and more.

That as you behold their countenance and hear their voices, and as you see them sacrificing their lives for you and for your family, that you will love them more because of what Christ has done and the picture of that great sacrifice. That as you see your husbands and sisters, and as you see them, you know, sinful in many ways and lacking in so many ways, that you will be thankful that the God who sent His Son to die upon the cross for you, who governs and controls all the things that take place, has also appointed this feeble, weak man that is next to you to be your husband and that you will rejoice in that glorious gift of what it is to be husband and wife. And if the Lord has given you kids, that you will see them and that you will rejoice in this role that God has given you to be a father or a mother to those children. And if you are a child of parents, then that you will rejoice in the fact that you have a father and a mother. And if you do not have, If you do not have a mother, if you do not have a husband, if you do not have a wife, if you do not have children, none of those things should be or those people should be the source of your satisfaction.

Because the invitation here is not that you will be satisfied in your role of a husband, of a wife, of a child, of a family. but that you will be satisfied in Christ Jesus for what He has done for you in sending His Son to die upon the cross, that you will be forgiven and that you will have eternal life only in Him. That is the intention of everything that we've said. And today we're going to be considering this interesting topic of a spiritual headship that we have there in verse 23. As you know, this is a controversial matter because when we go to the world, We hear not only that men and a woman are the same, but there are certain behaviors in men by leading a woman that could be sometimes they use this expression, you know, a toxic masculinity or sometimes that they could be male chauvinistic, that there is no difference in absolutely anything.

I want us to bring the spirit. I hope of what the Lord wants us to understand from a spiritual headship. And second, of course, the biblical teaching about this matter. There is a couple of things that I want us to do. The first one usually start with the watch.

But this time I want us to start with the how. How can we live in our household and in our families and within the context of a church with a spiritual headship that honors the Lord? How can we submit to this spiritual headship that the Lord has designed for families and also in the context of marriage? How can the wives submit to the husbands and to the headship of their husbands? How can the husbands be the spiritual heads of their wives and of their homes.

How can the Children said need to the spiritual headship of the husbands? And how can we in the church know and identify and understand what is the spiritual headship? How can we do that first? Second, once we have understood the spirit, I hope, of obedience in Christ, then I want us to consider the what. What is this spiritual headship that we have there in verse 23?

We do want to understand it so that we do not bring our flesh or the things that the world says so that we define the relationship between husband and wife. Let us start with the first. How? And that's how it's going to be found in John chapter 14, the passage that we just read. Biblical obedience is ignited and strengthened and empowered by the love of God.

If someone was going to ask you just simply this, how can I submit to my husband? if he is all of these things? How can I lead my wife if she is all of these things? Or if the children will come, how can I set me to my father if he lacks all of these things and he's all of these things? The answer that we ought to give in Christ Jesus is that the commandment is only obeyed when the heart of the person has been captured by the love of Christ that is bestowed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The commandment cannot be obeyed just by virtue of the letter of the commandment, of the structure of the commandment. The commandment can be obeyed when the heart has been changed and when the heart has been transformed. So, biblical obedience. Whether it is to submit to your husband or whether it is to lead your wife as the head of your household is not rooted in the commandment itself. Even though we do need the commandment that says wives submit to your husbands and husbands love your wives.

The substance of it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one that gives us the power so that we will be Hearers of the word and more than hearers of the word. We will be doers of the word not because we're able to hear but because of the one who enable us to hear The apostle as he or better the lord jesus christ as he is going to die and going to the cross He's given all of these instructions to the disciples and one of those is about love in chapter 14 You may remember that glorious and beautiful verse there in John chapter 14 verse 15 the apostle says there if you love me the lord jesus christ better john chapter 14 verse 15 if you love me You will keep my commandments. If you love me, you keep my commandments. The keeping of commandments or the obedience to the commandment is contingent upon that which we feel or experience in our hearts towards Jesus Christ.

Our relationship to Christ is the fountain of obedience. We do not hear only the commandment, and even of ourselves we find what is needed to obey the commandment. Rather, the Christian finds in their relationship in and with Christ the power that is needed for the commandment to be obeyed. That's why he says in verse 21 of chapter 14, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

Obedience is rooted, or the keeping of God's commandment, is rooted in the love and the manifestation of love that I have for the one who sent his Son to die upon the cross for me. So when a person is a breaker of a commandment, or when a person is unable to fulfill a commandment, or when a person or a sister is unable to submit to their husband, or when a brother is unable to love their wives as they should love their wives, or when a child is unable to obey their parents in the law, or when we are unable to to love one another, to forgive one another, or to help one another. When we are unable to fulfill the commandment, the question is not so much, what does the commandment say? We do pay attention to that. The most important question is, what is there in your heart towards Christ Jesus?

What is the substance of your relationship to Christ? That when you hear the commandments of the Savior, you're not moved to obey the Savior. Some people may need the severity and the intensity of the commandment and the punishment, and they need to be told, if you don't do this, then this is the outcome that you are going to obtain. Well, it is good for us you have the severity of the commandment and the consequences of it. Let me tell you and submit to you that the obedience that glorifies God is not the one that is moved because of the fear of the severity of the commandment or the consequences that you will pay if you break it, but rather the obedience that is rooted in love to Jesus Christ and gratitude for what he has done going through the letter of the commandment and avoid in the consequences for breaking it is one thing to obey the Lord.

because you are fearful only. And another thing, to obey the Lord, because you have bestowed the love that He has for you in sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you. And out of this transformational love that is in the heart of the person, now the commandment of the Savior is no longer a burden to the flesh, but is sweet in the Spirit. And by the same Spirit, I'm empowered to hear that commandment and to obey it. Love to Christ is the engine of Christian ethics.

If the Christian has not seen the love of God that he has for your soul in sending his son to die for your sins, then the commandment is going to be a burden. Then the commandment is going to be impossible to carry. Then the duties of the Lord are going to be carried in the flesh and they will become burdensome. If the igniter, if the power is not your revelation of what He has done for you, then how can you abide in Christ as He says and in His commandments? A beholding of His grace for us is what is needed for us what is necessary to do.

That's why the apostle of the Lord says there in verse chapter 15 pay attention to chapter 15. It says in verse nine of chapter 15 as the father has loved me. So have I loved you abiding my love. We're saying if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abiding his love.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." What do I need as a husband to love my wife in a more biblical way? I need to behold by the gospel the love of God sent to me, the person of Jesus Christ who died upon the cross. What do you need, sister, in order to be able to submit to your husband as in the Lord? Not to look to him, to your husband, to behold the love that God has had for your soul.

That when you were a sinner, he died upon the cross for your sins. He forgave you and he made you his child. That by beholding that, the heart of the Christian is strengthened and is empowered. That's why Paul will say this to the Galatians. If you come with me to Galatians chapter 5.

Here is the combination of all of these Christian virtues and how they operate together in Galatians chapter 5 verse 6. Galatians, chapter 5, verse 6. Here we have the elements of this combination of biblical obedience, not only in the context of the family, but also in the context of the Christian life in general. Galatians, chapter 5, verse 6. We have in verse 6, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor circumcision avails or counts for anything, but only, that is, the only thing that counts for something is a faith that works through love.

That is that a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a faith that works. It's a faith that is alive. Not that we need obedience in order to receive justification and to be saved, but when we have genuine saving faith, genuine saving faith in our hearts towards the Lord Jesus Christ and towards God is a faith that is going to be living. And the way that this faith leaves and is manifested is through love. The qualifier of the good works of genuine saving faith is going to be love.

And not the love that you have for God. Because that love that you have for God is contingent and dependent upon your emotions. One day you feel close to Him. One day you feel far from Him. It's not contingent upon the love that you think you have for Him.

Because many times you have doubted the love that you have for Him. He's not contingent upon that. He's contingent upon the love that He has for you. And that has been manifested in sending His only begotten Son to die upon the cross. A love that is not contingent upon feelings or emotions, but something that has been done, already accomplished.

How has God manifested His love towards me? That He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross 2,000 years ago. before I was alive, to die for me. And in that, the love of God was manifested. So because He loved me first, I can love others and I can be obedient to His commandments.

The Apostle John makes that very clear in 1 John chapter 4. If you come to 1 John chapter 4, our love and our obedience is a reflection and it is contained in the love that God has had for us in the person of Jesus Christ. 1 John chapter 4 verse 7. 1 John 4, verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

The center of it is love. Verse 9, In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we may live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and has sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And in there, of course, is a duty towards husbands and wives.

The duty of love and of respect and of submission that we have towards one another is not contingent upon the attributes and the merits of the other person. But the duty that we have towards one another is dependent and contingent and nourished by the realization of God's love to us in the person of Jesus Christ, that when we were dead in our trespasses, and nobody would die for us. Nobody would give their lives for us. Nobody would give not even money for our lives. God sent his son to die for our sins, that we will be liberated, that we will be free, that we will be part of the family of God.

In that union with God, we can actually be obedient to the commandments of the Lord. It says in Chapter five, if you pay attention there in Chapter five of First John, this is perhaps the greatest combination of love and obedience. It says there in verse two, Verse 5, "...by this we know..." Verse 5, "...

by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome." This is, it says in verse 3, this is the love of God. that we love God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. The commandment is not burdensome when the igniter, the one that empowers obedience, is not our flesh, but is the realization of God's love for us in God sending His Son to die upon the cross.

So if I want to be a better husband, if I want to be a better wife, if I want to be a better father to my children, if we want to be better brothers or sisters, then that need that we have among us is a greater and deeper knowledge of God and what He has done. When we go deeper into who He is and how apart He is from me, then the love that He has had for me is greater and greater in my eyes. But if my life is living the things of the flesh and my head is poorly given, the Word of the Lord is just simply poorly given the things of God, then I'm not even going to be able to comprehend the meaning of the word love. And only my human interactions with others will be that which allows me to define my relationship with God. But that is not love.

That is human love. And human love does not compare with the love that comes from God himself. How can we understand this thing of faith? headship or spiritual headship is when we have a realization of the love of God. May the Lord grant us a deeper understanding of that.

And the reason why I say that is not only because of the things that I've said in the last couple of weeks, but also because of the difficulties and controversies of this topic. If we return to Ephesians chapter five in Ephesians chapter five, as you know, and as I mentioned before, we have this idea of spiritual headship that the man is the head of the wife. very controversial thing, right? There are many people who will oppose to the idea of the headship of men in the household. And here, of course, implicitly in the context of the New Testament is not only the headship of the man to the wife, the headship of the man to the household.

The man is the head of the wife and is the head of the of the household. What is the meaning of this spiritual headship? I have point you to the most important thing, and that is how we can leave under this spiritual headship. And that is what I be holding off God's love in our lives so that we can be empowered into obedience. But the what is also very important because we can.

We don't want to define the watch just based in our own emotions and our own feelings. Here we have this word headship and I want us to explore the what? What is a spiritual headship? Well, here we have this picture on. I'm going to use a picture to tell you what it is.

But first I want to tell you what is not what it is not so that we can actually understand what the biblical teaching tells us. Spiritual headship does not mean that men are better or superior even of themselves to women and to children. The biblical teaching about headship does not mean that men, that the male, is superior or that is better to the woman or to the children and that even of himself, it is better than the family. That is not the biblical teaching. When we come to this scripture, there is an equality of being between all humans.

from creation to the fall, to redemption, and to judgment. When we go into Genesis chapter 1, we see that men and women were created in the image of God. They were created equal in the likeness of God. In terms of creation, there's equality between men and women. when it comes to the fall and the spiritual condition of fallingness.

Also, men is not less fallen than women, but men are equally fallen than women, seen entering into the world through the disobedience of Adam. And everyone is equally in a similar or in the same spiritual condition. There's no difference because men is better or the woman is worse. But when it comes to redemption, redemption is not one way for the men and one way for the woman. equal in that worth before the Lord.

Salvation is by grace through faith for the men and also for the woman. And actually Paul will tell us in Galatians chapter 3 and 4 that in Christ Jesus there's no slave or master, there's no woman or there's no man all at one in Christ Jesus. And even when it comes to judgment, there's no one judgment for men and one judgment for the women, all of us are going to be judged according to the standard of God, independently of who we are. So the teaching of spiritual headship does not put in any position men above women, saying that men are somehow superior or better than women. And hence, they have given a better role or a better responsibility.

We're all equal in that sense before the Lord. But the fact that there is equality in that word of creation and fallenness and redemption and judgment does not mean that man is equal to a woman. It is very clear to the eyes and very clear to the design that God has intended that even though the words of men and a woman are the same, that they are different. A man is not a woman and a woman is not a man and I don't have to prove that to you. God has decided that there's going to be two distinct genders, that there's going to be a male and that there's going to be a woman and that both of them are going to be important and integral in the creation decree and also in the way the redemptive history operates.

We are to acknowledge that one is to complement the other and that the other is not to become the other. So when we learn of the equal worth and value of men and women, but the differences of it is an offense to the Lord that a man wants to become a woman either from biological constitution or in emotional behavior or in just simply traits. And it's an offense to the Lord that a woman will want to become a man either in biological composition, in emotional traits or in terms of personality. God has made us in a particular way and we should be blessed by the way that God has made us. But also we should be satisfied with the way that God has not made us.

So if God decided that I was going to be a man, I should be satisfied that He decided that I will not be a woman. And if you are a woman, then you should be satisfied that God has made you a woman and that He did not decide that you will be a man. This is the equality of the word. However, when it comes to the relationships that men and women will have before the Lord, we do have the differences in roles and we do have the differences in what God has called them to be. And that is better exemplified here in the headship, a spiritual headship that exists between the men and the women or the men and its household.

If we were going to put it and just simply see the analogy that the scriptures give of the men being the head and then the woman being You know in submission to the head we know of course that this is an analogy that Paul is taking from the relationship of Jesus Christ to the church if you remember in very quickly with me to chapter 1 in chapter 1 in verse 22 the Apostle has told us that this is the analogy that he uses to speak of the relationship of the church and of Jesus Christ and from there we learn much of that headship a spiritual headship says in verse 22 of chapter 1 and And he put all things under his feet that is Christ and gave him that is Christ as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels all you know. So we have the Jesus Christ is the head. of the church. This is the illustration. This is the analogy that he uses.

And now in chapter five, he tells us that the man is the head of the wife. Let us just simply think about that picture. Picture my head or your head and your body. What are the things that we can conclude just from that simple relationship of the head to the body? Perhaps the first thing that we can conclude is that between the head and the body, there is a connection.

My head cannot be in separation from my body. If my head is in separation from my body, then that means that there's no longer Nelson. Or if your head is in separation from your body, then that means that your body is not there anymore and that your head is not there anymore. By virtue of that relationship of that illustration, better of head and body, we know that there's already a connection or a relationship. Just as Christ has a relationship and connection to the church, So the husband, by virtue of being the head of the wife, has primarily a relationship to her and a connection to her.

Second, we see that it's not only about a connection, but it's also that there's going to be an order or that there's going to be roles. My head has a particular order or role that is above my body and has a particular role that is different to my body. My head does not do the things of my body. My body does not do the things of my head. I cannot speak through my belly.

I cannot eat with my ears. My head does not do the same things that my body does. So it is not only that there is a connection, a relationship between the head and the body, there's also an order. In this case, the head is in one particular place, and the body is in another particular place. And because there is a relationship, and because there is an order, there is going to be different function and different authority.

The reason why I move my head is because my head gives the instruction to my hand to move. In order to give this instruction, it needs to be connected, related to it. If I cut my head, even if my head thinks to move the hand, my hand is not going to move because that relationship of order only depends upon the relationship. Another that might sound silly, and I'm sorry about those three things that I have just said there, but these are the three most important things that we need to understand about a spiritual headship. Spiritual headship is the relational order of authority that God has ordained for the household.

Relational order of authority. It is not only authority, it is relational order of authority that God has ordained for the relationship of husband and wife. It is the relational order of authority. It is relational because the The first thing that should exist in a marriage for authority to be given to the husband is that the husband leaves the mother and the father severed from the mother and the father and then unite in one flesh to the wife, which is what the apostle says there in verse 31. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

It is relational. That which governs your connection to your wife, my dear brother, is not your authority as a man primarily. It is your relationship to her as one flesh. The reason why a husband is the head is not because men equal authority and men authority equal decision makers, and they are the ones that are to be followed. That is not the order.

The reason why there is a role for a man is because this man has given up to any other relationship in this world and has decided to enter into a relationship of one fleshness with this woman. This man has said no to all other women in the world. This man has said no to father and mother. This man has said no to any potential other relationship. And in the moment of giving up all of that, He has willingly decided to enter in this glorious relationship with this woman.

And that is the foundation of how they operate. The union that they have. Why? Because that's how the church operates. If Christ Jesus does not come and indwell us with his spirit and makes us one with him, none of his authority makes sense in the ears of sinful people.

The reason why we call our Lord our Lord It's because He's our Savior. It's because He came to die upon the cross in a manifestation of His love. And because we are united to the Savior. It's that He can speak His words. And we can obey Him.

And His authority makes sense. Because if there's no connection or relationship to Christ, then the commandments of Christ are of no meaning to the person that is in disconnection from Him. The same thing happens with us brothers. The reason why our authority makes sense is because the foundational relationship that we have with our wives, and that is that God has appointed one woman to be our wives. And that means one, that we have given up.

the things of this world to be united to her. And in being united to her, we now enter into this relational order that God has established. This glorious relational order is more clearly and beautifully expressed in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. If you come with me, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in which we can see this relational order of authority, not only for husband and wife, but Christ to men and God to Christ. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3. We're just gonna read that verse there. This is a passage that speaks about the order of worship. It's just in verse 3. But I want you to understand 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3.

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife or the woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Simply stated there, the head of Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the head of men, and men is the head of the woman or the wife. There we have a relational order of authority.

Is Jesus, the Son of God, lesser in value or substance than the Father? Of course not. The Son of God is equally... not only God, but is part of the Godhead. There is equality between the Son and the Father.

But when it comes to this relationship of authority, we have that God is the head of Jesus as the Christ, and Jesus as the Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman. A relational order of authority. What is the primary thing that regulates that structure is not the authority that they have is the relationship that they have. And just as I said in the beginning that love is meant to be that which moves the relationship of authority. Love was that which moved the relationship authority of the Lord Jesus Christ when he came to this world.

He loved the Father in that He gave Himself in obedience to what the Father called Him to do. He sacrificed Himself, yes, for us, but also in love to the Father that appointed Him to come. He completed the work that the Father gave Him to do because God is love. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are love. And in that love that they had for each other, that is that they moved into this history of redemption towards a bride.

Brethren, in and of ourselves, there's nothing in us that can initiate the love of God. But it's rather His mercy that is bestowed upon us that makes us lovable in the eyes of the triune God. Love and this relational connection and aspect that is so difficult to understand between God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is what moves this relationship of authority, that the Son is the Son and the Spirit is the Spirit, and the Father is the Father, that the Father decrees and that everything is for the glory of the Son and happens by and in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the God who creates all things for His Son and unto His Son through the means of the Holy Spirit. That God the Father is the one who decrees the salvation of those who are going to be redeemed.

How? Through the accomplishments of the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit that comes and applies that. One is less than the other? No. is the love of God that unites them and gives them all the glory.

Because the question is not about who is superior, but whom do I love? So when it comes to the relationship of husband and wife, the question is that you have more authority than me. I have less authority than you. The question is, whom do we love? If I love the Savior that created you, saved you, redeemed you.

If I love the God of this universe who appointed you to be my wife or my husband. If I love the God who controls all things, then my relationship to you It's not contingent because a title that you have, well, it is important. It is contingent upon that what he says, who loved me and called me to be the person that I ought to be next to you. So submission to the authority of the husband is no longer contingent upon the accolades and the smartness and the imaginations and the words of the men, but rather upon the words of Christ. That says, be obedient to me, and I will give you that which is necessary for you to be faithful in what you've been called to do.

But to the husband, how can I love this woman? If I hear these words all the time, if it's all the time negative and all this, of this behavior that I don't like, of this thing that I don't like, how can I love this woman? If our eyes are placed on those things, then it is going to be impossible to respond in love. If we look to Christ and we remember from where we have been taken and fallen, then we understand that a spiritual headship is not about someone having more authority than the other, but it's relational order of authority. And it is true that the man has been called to be the head and hands in order of authority.

These men has authority over the household. And the question is, what is this authority the man has over the household and over the wife? I think that is given to us, and if you allow me for 10 minutes, I will finish this, is given to us in Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis chapter 2, we have the purpose and the role of this authority that was given to men and to the wife. I'll try to summarize it in one statement so that it will not be too long as we conclude this in Genesis chapter two.

You remember that men and women were created equally, as I said, as I mentioned before, the man was created first and then the woman was created. God spoke to the man and then he created the woman from the side of the man. Here we can have the story. I'm going just to summarize it in a simple statement. It says in Genesis chapter two, verse 15, Genesis chapter two, verse 15.

The Lord The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. A purpose has been given to the man. That is, you work and keep the Garden of Eden. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden. Adam, this garden that I have made, that you are to work and to keep, you can eat from whatever tree that is found in there.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Then, verse 18, the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper feed for him. Now out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man and see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast and to the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper feed for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleeve to fall upon the man. And while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

And the man said, this is as last. Bone, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of men. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

God spoke to the man, a commandment and instruction was given to him. that he was to keep and to preserve this garden, that all the provision from God the Father was given to him. Because every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of life with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning. All provision was given to men there for him to work and to keep this garden. And then a woman was brought next to him to be a helper me to this man that was given the voice of God that was given the instruction of God to keep and to preserve the will of God for this new creation.

What is the role of men? The role of men is to advance. the will that God has for him, for his people and those who are around him. The reason why we exist, my dear brother, it is not only just to have fun and to spend 50 or 60 or 80 or 90 years. But the reason why we exist is to advance the will that God has for our lives.

We are instruments in the hands of God as the will of God is advanced. And when I say the will of God, the will of God in every aspect. As I'm a man, God has a will for my manhood. As I'm a father, God has a will for my fatherhood. As I'm a husband, God has a will for me to be a husband.

As I'm a brother, God has a will for me to be a brother. As I'm a worker, God has a will for me as I'm a worker, as I'm a student. God has a will for me as I'm a student, as I'm a citizen of this country. He has a will for me to be a citizen of this country. As I interact with other people, God has a will for me to hear His voice.

See his design, what he wants me to leave according for his glory and to advance that will in whatever place I have been put and to advance it for those whom God has placed with me and around me, especially the woman that the man has been given. A man and a woman come together to advance the will that God has for them. When people give themselves to build enterprises and to do all sorts of things. When men give and obtain money to build empires and to build things that time will take and they will perish. When men gives themselves to know and understand things that are going to pass away.

The man of God is one who asked this question. What is God's will for my heart? And what is God's will for my wife? And what is God's will for my family? And God, give me the grace that is needed for me to hear your voice and to be an instrument in your hands so I can advance.

the will of God that you have for me. And in doing so, the man is called to be the one that gives direction. He's the one that is meant to lead. He's the one that wants us to hear the voice of God and lead the coming together of the family in discerning the will of God. This is the role that has been given to man.

Is the authority of man coming from himself and from his own authority and from his ability to make the best decisions? No, it is coming from the one who says this is the garden. Go and eat of everything that you have. This is my word. You know what you have to do.

You have the things that you don't have to do. Now submit to what I say. Come to me and you will receive in me everything that is needed so that you take your wife with you and together you advance. in the fulfillment of the will that I have. And how can I know your will, Lord, if there's no longer a garden, and certainly there's not a tree that I need to plant?

Open the words that I have. Just as I spoke to him there and I reveal myself to him. So now open my word so that you will discern what is the will that God has for you and what is the guidance that you are to take. And as you do so, discern your Lord and your Savior and encourage the person that is next to you with a relational order of authority. No one that says, just do, do, do, do, do, do.

Because I say so, and I'm the husband. And Christian says that the wives have to submit to their husbands. But rather, because one person, that is the man, beholding the Scriptures, has been so mesmerized by the love of Christ in saving him, that now he understands that not sacrifice, compares to the sacrifice of his Lord. So that forgiving her sins or forgiving her words is no longer a burden because he forgave me. Being with her and directing her in the things of the Lord is not only a religious duty that I have to do, but rather is the word that comes from above through me for these that is a daughter of God.

No longer I find in my children a burden but rather the power of the Spirit nourishes the soul of a man in a family to carry." Easier to say, brethren, so difficult in our flesh. So easy to someone might believe that this is how you leave every day. It's not. So I might think that this is the way that I wake up in the morning and I go for 24 hours.

It's not. Don't not even think that way. I'm speaking not from my life. I'm speaking from that which is this in the Scriptures. Brother, we need a realization of the love of Christ.

So the men will be men. according to what is written. And wives will delight in being wives according to what is written. And you know what are the three simple characteristics of this relational order of authority in which man is to walk in alignment with the will of God and taking his wife and his family? These three little things that Paul gives us here in Ephesians chapter 5.

He will return and finish with this. The three little simple things that we have already mentioned in the past. Chapter 5, verse 25. Sacrificial love, verse 25. Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Diligence in the word of God, verse 26, that he may sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word. an eternal perspective, verse 27, so that he may present the church to himself in a splendor without a sport or wrinkle or any such a thing that she may be holy and without blemish. How are we husbands to be heads to our wives? We are to be heads to our wives in the same way that Christ is the head to the church. How is Christ the head to the church?

He loved the church sacrificially. He sanctifies the church through his word for that eternal perspective of what it is to come. What is the heart of your authority, my dear brother? It's not your voice being raised, or raised, or put high, whatever is the word that we have. It's not the countenance that just force someone to do something.

The heart of our authority is meant to be sacrificial love. John Chapter 14. The response, the positive response of those whom God has placed around us should not be only ignited or empowered by the severity of the commandment or the promise of the consequences of what happens if it's broken, but rather by the love that has been demonstrated for the person and the instruction that has been given. One thing is for us to hear. Don't do that.

And I will not do it because my dad or mom will come and hit me and do all of those things. And I'm fearful of that. Another thing is don't do that. My dad and my mom loved me in such a way that I know that if I do that, they will come and hit me. But I don't want to disappoint her.

I want to walk in the ways they have instructed me because I saw how they love me. And I know that if I actually go and do that, they will come and discipline me and instruct me. And I know that that is not going to be nice, but I don't want to do that because I love them. And yes, I'm fearful of the consequences of that because that's part of her flesh. But my dear brother, the authority that God has given us should not be greater in manifestation than the love that we have for those whom God has placed around us.

If our authority is greater in the manifestation of our love, then there is another like a balance of the attributes of Christ towards his bride. Sacrificial love, the love that gives itself second. And as I said there in verse 26, My dear brother, it requires that your leadership as you find alignment with the will of the Lord will pursue to sanctify your bride. through the word of the Lord, it says in verse 26, that he may sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. There is a spiritual duty in our households, and that is that whatever limitation we have, even if the Lord only has allowed us just to be able to read the scriptures, that we will be the ones that take our wives and our children and open this book and pray with them and read with them and speak about the things of Christ.

that we will pour slowly, step by step, the words of Jesus Christ in the mind and in the heart and pointing them to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that just as Christ sanctifies the church through the cleansing of the word, that we will also, husbands, exercise our spiritual headship and our love towards our wives and children by bringing the word of God that sanctifies them and to bring them to the feet of Jesus Christ. How in an eternal perspective that one day this wife of me or these Children of the Lord has given me or the people that are around us, they will be presented before the Lord. And on that day, the only thing that matters is how much of Christ are in them because all of the things are going to pass. May the Lord grant us that which is needed, my dear brothers and sisters, and my dear friends, to understand the greatness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God sent His Son to die upon the cross because He loved us.

And by beholding that glorious truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will desire to fulfill the commandments that have been given to Christ. Not because of the severity of the commandment or the fear that we have of the consequences when breaking them, but rather because we are compelled by the love of Christ. As the apostle says in Corinthians, we're compelled by the love of Christ, and we're willing to leave for the one who died for us and leaving for the one who died for us. He's advancing his will according to what is revealed in the Scriptures. Amen.

Amen. Let us pray. Father, as we come before you, and as we consider all of these things, and as we have them in the scriptures, Lord, so difficult and so impossible that it is, Lord, for us to fulfill these things in our flesh. I do pray for my brothers here, that if there is anything that is true and anything that is worth, that you will live it in their hearts. Encourage them, Lord, please, to love their wives, Encourage them, Lord, to lead their wives.

Encourage these brothers, all of us, husbands. Encourage us, please, Lord, to advance the will of God with the help that you have given us. Help us, Lord, please, to desire to live our lives for you. Help us, Lord, please, to desire to glorify you in all things. I pray for the wives, Lord, as they as they leave lives before you, Lord, that they will desire to be obedient to you.

because of the great love that you have had for them and saving them. Lord, and as we consider all of these things, that the main thing that the center of all of it would be the love that Christ has had for us, whether we have a husband or whether we have a wife or whether we don't have a husband, we don't have a wife or we have children or we're not never going to have a wife or a husband. Lord, I do pray that the love of God would have been clearly manifested through the scriptures that we've read. I do pray, Lord, that if there is anyone among us who is not in Christ Jesus, if there is anyone among us who has been walking their lives in rejection of the things of God, that if there's anyone among us, Lord, who has been walking in a way far from Christ and the things of God, Lord, I do pray that whatever word that has been said about the gospel and about Christ and about your completed work, that you will use that, Lord, for the salvation of this person. that this person may know that there is forgiveness in Christ Jesus when we freely come, that there's nothing that we should bring, that there's nothing that we should be, only just to come to the Savior, repent out of our sins, and sit at the feet of Christ, trusting that He's enough for us to be forgiven, that it's not about our works or deeds, but it's about what He has done upon the cross for us.

I do pray, Lord, that you will strengthen us in that glorious truth. I pray, Lord, Strengthen the brothers who are single, the sisters who are single. I do pray for the brethren who are not here present this afternoon, Lord, and we bring them before you. And I ask, Lord, that you will also bless them with your word and with your Holy Spirit. As we are going to partake of the table and as we are going to behold the greatest of the weddings, the wedding of the Lamb of God, with his bride in the table, Lord, I do pray that you will grant us a heart of reverence and a heart of rejoicing in the fact that you are the one who has loved us and redeemed us.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.