Ephesians 5:21-33

Instructions for Christian Households

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

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.

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. 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. 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.

Pondering Point

The call to submit to one another in Ephesians 5:21 comes at the end of a section encouraging us to imitate Christ (who submits to God the Father). It then leads into a conversation about relationships between spouses, between parents and children, and among others. Submission itself occurs in relation to other people, but the motivation for submission comes from our relationship with Christ.

Too often our behavior as spouse, parent, or boss is not worthy of such respect. But Jesus is always worthy of such respect. Our motivation is to be solely in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ our Lord – and not negated by poor behavior of others.

God calls us to be people of light and imitate Jesus, whose light has shined on us. We don't want to reflect the attitude of the world. We don't want to reflect the attitude of our boss or parents or spouse. We want to reflect the attitude of Christ Jesus in our marriages, in parenting, and in our lives outside the home as well.

Prayer

Remind yourself that you are a disciple of Jesus serving in ways that glorify God the Father.

Then pray: Father God, grant me a spirit and willingness to submit to others in my family out of reverence for Jesus Christ my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Micro-Group Connections:
A Disciple's Lifestyle

Micro-Group Moment:

Considering Apostle Peter's life as a case for participating in Micro-Groups

Matthew 19:4b-5

At the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”. 

Pondering Point

8:14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
~ Matthew 8:14

We all get born, but we don’t all get born into God-centered families like Jesus. The disciple Peter is an example of a second naturally-occurring Micro-Group or Small-Group scenario, that of marriage (Matthew 8:14).

As with birth families, some families created through marriage are God-centered others are not. Of course, not everyone gets married, but for those who do, this naturally-occurring relationship is intended to be built around God – for the couple and when a blessing of children come along with it.

Thing to appreciate about Micro-Group/SG in the life of Apostle Peter:
➢ God loves to use a marriage and family that is centered around Him to bring people into a life of discipleship.