Well, hi, and welcome again to another edition of From the Pastor's Pen. My name is Pastor Carl Miller, and I'm the pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in New Braunfels, Texas. And today's edition is entitled, Love Fueled Sacrifice, Part Three. And our focus texts come from Proverbs 31, verses 10 through 12, as well as Ephesians 5, verses 22 through 24. In Proverbs 31, beginning in verse 10, we read, Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. And from Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 22, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Amen. Well, thus far in this series, we've considered the wonderful truth of the Lord Jesus Christ being the great and perfect example and model of love-fueled sacrifice. In part two, we began considering how Christian marriages are to display and model such sacrificial love, as our focus was on the duty and walk of godly husbands in service to Christ and with their wives. In the preceding context to his word to husbands in Ephesians 5, God also gives helpful and important instruction and command regarding love-fueled sacrifice in the duty and walk of godly wives. We also find helpful lessons in Proverbs 31, among other places in Scripture, don't we? As was true last week, people young and old in a variety of stations of life can glean good things from these lessons. So if that applies to you, don't check out and keep listening. Well, it's good and right to recognize that love-fueled sacrifice in godly wives is multifaceted in their relationship with their husband. At the beginning of this picture of the model woman and wife in Proverbs 31 that King Lemuel's mother taught him, you can clearly see the beautiful fruit of sacrificial love and diligent faithfulness in and through both the character and conduct of this virtuous or excellent wife. It's true that godly men want to find and marry such a woman, and women want to be her. for she's an example of the godly wife who brings blessing to her home and the covenant community. So what does it mean to be a woman of virtue? What do virtuous wives look like? The Hebrew word can literally be translated a wife of valor. A virtuous woman is one who holds to the high moral excellence that God teaches you in the Bible. She is able, competent, pure, and honorable. She has integrity. She is noble and decent. As you examine your own heart and life, ladies, are these qualities true of you? What has the Lord shown you to be areas or skills that you desire to grow in? Further, why is it important for you ladies to prayerfully consider and value such things? Because Lemuel's mother's message wasn't just about the search. It was about the great value and worth such women possess. They should be considered to be of far greater worth than precious stones. And let's consider these statements that were made in Proverbs 31 briefly. First, for her worth is far above rubies. Wives of virtue, do you see your value through a lens of humility? Your self-sacrificial love should never be part of any boasting. but rather seen as part of your virtue and beauty. By God's grace and work, you are rare, and therefore all the more precious. With time and experience, you grow in understanding that as you grow in processing and practicing godly virtues, the more you aren't valued by the world. This is true no matter what the world and your flesh try to sell you otherwise. What does the world truly desire to do with you? Minimize you. Marginalize you. Convince you to abandon virtue and go mainstream. The world tells you that you need to be void of godly virtue and full of fleshly appeal and seduction. But all of God's people need to value what God values and says is true, good, and beautiful in a godly wife. Husbands, can your wife tell that she is far more valuable than a ruby or a pearl? When you put the ring on her finger and you got the ooh and the ah and the hey This is really valuable, honey. This is beautiful Is she more precious to you than that diamond in that ring or that emerald? Show her prove it Show her how you value her and her self-sacrificial love of you. Young men and single men, I encourage you to show that you value such godliness in Christian women in what you say and do coupled with what you don't say and don't do. Young women and single women, I encourage you to prayerfully examine virtues in your life and seek to grow in those God reveals in Scripture. But secondly, let's consider the heart of her husband safely trusts her. Ladies, can you be found trustworthy? As you have a heart to serve your husband and family and love and seek to be faithful in doing so day in and day out, your husband takes joy in the fact that he can safely or confidently trust you without concern. Notice that he does so from the heart, which is a place of vulnerability that is protected. This is another piece of your great virtue, as you talk of and handle all matters regarding your husband with discretion, as you stand with him in his interests and don't betray him. Further, your husband safely trusts you with what he confides in you, along with all that you do to help manage the home and family. But thirdly, he'll have no lack of gain. Do you value good growth in your husband, ladies? Consider your own interests as well as his, Philippians 2.4. Don't look for ways to take from him, but rather, as you as a virtuous wife are a wise steward of the affairs of your husband and home, God is often pleased to bless in using you to bring growth in many areas of his life. And in doing so, you bring happiness as by divine grace, he prospers spiritually, emotionally, physically, and even publicly. Proverbs 31 verse 23. But fourthly, she does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Ladies, show your love to your husband not by a foolish fondness, but by speaking truth to him in love, by showing your care for him in ways he can see and are meaningfully good. Fight and flee temptations to snap in anger, to harm him, or do other sinful things against him. Show the love of Christ in providing what is good for him, both in sickness and in health. Diligently care for him with tenderness. With courage and in love, stand in front of trains in his life and mine that would lead to destruction. Never willfully do anything that might damage his person or reputation. If you survive your husband, continue to protect his good name even after he's gone. But also considering Ephesians 5, 22 through 24, it's true that today many miss the beauty and strength of biblical marital submission. The egalitarians rage against it. Satan loves to attack biblical marriage and undermine and destroy it and the concept of it, even distort and in many ways try to remove marriage altogether from the world's vocabulary and practice. And yet our Lord preserves and provides clarity to guide you to its glorious beauty, meaning and importance in his word. Wives, never forget the beautiful role you play with your husband in the mysterious display of Christ's marriage and union with his church. Your biblical submission to your husband is one piece of how you put the sacrificial love of Christ on display to him, to the church, and the world to the glory of God. A simple practical example of what submission looks like is in a situation where a decision needs to be made. The husband and wife talk about the situation together. The husband seeks and listens to his wife's counsel and then perfectly makes a decision. Husbands, you need the vital input and wisdom of your wife. Where the rubber meets the road in submission is when the wife may not agree with her husband's decision, but nonetheless lovingly yields and supports her husband in the decision. Y'all then walk forward accordingly together. Again, this is some non-exhaustive food for thought and walk. The list of helpful things and the good fruit of love-fueled sacrifice to your husband goes on. What would you add to this list, ladies? I'll leave you with this good word from Martin Luther. Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. Well, God bless you, and I hope that you are blessed by this devotion here today. Join me again next time for another edition of From the Pastor's Pen, and I'll see you then.